So we headed out to her local store. I really love food shopping when in different countries, I especially love the locally grown produce found in market stalls, I would rather food shop than any other type of shopping.
My crazy globe trotting life style happily allows me to indulge my passion with new and different foods and ingredients. I like to think of myself as a sort of female "wanna be" version of Anthony Bourdain.
However, shopping for the ingredients in Johannesburg proved much more difficult than I imagined, stupidly I thought everything was going to be easy to find, but I was quite wrong. We scoured the shelves of 4 different supermarkets, and various market stalls looking for Peanut oil, and Groundnut oil, but all I could find was olive oil and other common vegetable oils. I also needed but couldn't find Kaffir Lime Leaves and palm sugar, the shop assistants didn't even know what they were; shallots were apparently out of season, so I ended up substituting the elusive ingredients for lime leaves, grape nut oil, brown sugar, and baby onions. The resulting curry was quite good, but it's definitely better when all the correct ingredients are used.
Hint: Always replace opened jars of herbs & spices within 12 months, you would be surprised how quickly the flavors dull once exposed to the air.
Daisy’s Caribbean Curried Chicken
2lb skinless, boneless chicken thighs
2 tbsp peanut oil
2 medium red onions, peeled & chopped
14fl oz coconut milk
4oz chicken stock (preferably home made)
1 tsp palm sugar
2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp Honey
2 cinnamon sticks
6 star anise
5 kaffir lime leaves
10oz button mushrooms, halved
Salt & freshly ground pepper
CURRY PASTE
8 garlic cloves, peeled and diced
5 long red chilies, trimmed, deseeded & chopped
3 lemongrass stalks, trimmed, outer leaves removed & thinly sliced
2” piece fresh ginger, peeled & diced
5 large shallots, peeled & chopped
Bunch fresh Cilantro, stalks removed.
Freshly squeezed juice of 2 lemons
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tbsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground star anise
2 - 3 tbsp groundnut oil
Make the curry paste first. Put all the ingredients except the groundnut oil into a food processor and mix until well blended. With the processor still running slowly pour the groundnut oil into the mix and blend for another 1 minute. Set aside.
Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces. Heat the peanut oil in a cast iron pan over a medium heat. Add the curry paste and stir well until fragrant. Add the chopped onions continuing to stir for 5 minutes. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and add to the pan, stirring well to coat the chicken pieces. Add the lime leaves, cinnamon stick, star anise, coconut milk, chicken stock, palm sugar, soy sauce, honey and fish sauce, bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and cook for 40 - 50 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and tender. Skim any oil off the surface. Add the mushrooms, and cook for another 4- 5 minutes.
Serve with coconut rice, sweet mango chutney and crispy bananas.
 |
| Crispy Bananas |
Crispy Bananas
6 slightly green Bananas
1/2 cup Demerara Sugar
1/2 cup freshly squeezed Lemon juice
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
Peanut oil for frying
Pour about 1" of peanut oil into a deep sided saute pan, and place over a medium high heat. (Don't let the oil get smoking hot)
Slice the bananas in half lengthways, and cut each length in half, making 4 pieces for each banana.
Place the sugar and nutmeg into a small bowl, the lemon juice in another bowl and dip the banana pieces into the lemon juice and then roll in the sugar to throughly coat, immediately put the bananas into the hot peanut oil and fry turning once only for 1 - 2 minutes. Remove carefully with a slotted spoon and drain on crumpled greaseproof (parchment) paper, place in a serving dish and serve immediately.
This is a fabulous side to serve with curry
note: The bananas cook very quickly and will become too soft if fried for too long, watch them carefully.
Enjoy :o)
No comments:
Post a Comment