Curried Chicken Thighs

I love Indian food. The colors and the spices are just so comforting. The whole house has that certain aroma. When most people think curry, they think hot and spicy, well that isn’t always the case. The spice level of curry is regional dependent, some are hot and some are not. Spice levels get adjusted, and, I’m looking for depth of flavor not heat. So read on for curried chicken thighs, its delicious, with the perfect spice and heat.

The history

Curry has been around for thousands of years, and is served across the Indian subcontinent. From Afghanistan to Korea and Hong Kong. The curry we, as westerners, are the most familiar with is Indian. Because India was under British rule for many years, “curry powder” was brought to England in the mid 18th century, and Indian food has been popular there ever since. It’s approximate translation from Tamil is a “sauce for rice”. The primary ingredients being spices; Turmeric, Cumin, Coriander, Ginger, Chiles. That serves as the base sauce, to that would be added ingredients available locally. Vegetables, meats, served over rice. There is tremendous variation from region to region and even village to village. In southeast Asia coconut milk is an ingredient, in Thailand the heat is turned up with Thai Chiles. .

The building blocks

So, curry is not about heat, but about flavor. I will stick with original curry spices to make my curry base. And my vegetables will be onions, peppers and garlic. The meat portion will be chicken thighs, as the name of the dish suggests. I like chicken thighs, they have a good flavor and consistency, and hold up well when cooked. Remove the skin and bone, and cut into cubes, and let them marinate in the spices while the rest of the ingredients are prepared. Remember, when handling raw meat it’s important to clean up well, please read my post on safe food prep

The cooking

When building a dish, the base has to be the aromatics. I see this in all dishes. Dice the vegetables and sauté over medium heat till soft. Then add the meat that has been marinating in the spices, stir everything around, keep covered and allow the aromas to release. Now add the tomatoes, tomato paste and chicken stock. Turn up the heat to bring to a boil, turn to low, stirring everything, let cook a while. The consistency may be a little soupy right now but, over the course of the next 20 mins or so it will thicken up considerably, the tomato paste helps this happen.

While the curried chicken thighs are doing their thing, time to cook the rice. Plain white is fine, or Jasmine if you would prefer. The ratio is 2:1. Bring 2 cups of water to a boil, measure 1 cup of rice and rinse, add the rice to the boiling water, lower the heat to low, cover and set a timer for 15 mins. don’t touch it while it cooks. When the timer goes off, leave the lid on, but remove from the burner and let sit 5 mins. Now remove the lid and fluff the rice, it’s perfect. Serve the curry over the rice. Thank you for reading and enjoy dinner.