Roasted Curried Chicken

This curried chicken dish has become a favorite around our house. I made it for company a while back, it was a big hit. I even made it ahead of time and took it on a recent camping trip. It lends itself to all kinds of situations. It is simple to make and can be adorned with many food toys.

You can even leave out the chicken and use the same recipe as part of a vegan feast.

There are two secrets to this recipe, of course they won't be secrets once I tell you...
First if at all possible make your own curry powder. It's simple once you have the ingredients.
You can make up a batch and store in a closed container for several months. 
It is so much more pungent and flavorful !!
If that just doesn't work for you this recipe will still be great with a mixture you buy in bulk from the store. The stuff in cans or bottles is pretty useless.
The second secret is the longer slower cooking. I cook the chicken for two plus hours at 350 F.
You can also try it in the slow cooker, my daughter did it that way, adding more liquid and it came out great.

The Curry Powder
This recipe will make enough for several dishes.

Ingredients 

• 2 tablespoons whole cumin seeds, toasted
• 2 tablespoons whole cardamom seeds, toasted
• 2 tablespoons whole coriander seeds, toasted
• 1/4 cup ground turmeric
• 1 tablespoon dry mustard
• 1 teaspoon cayenne

1) Place the whole seeds in a cast iron or other heavy bottom pan, one that will allow the seeds to be in a thin layer.

2) Toast the seeds over medium low heat, shaking the pan often until they turn color and smell good, 10 to 12 minutes.

3) Allow the seeds to cool.

4) Using a small coffee grinder or mini food processor, grind the seeds into a fine powder.

5) In a bowl add the ground seeds to the turmeric, dry mustard and cayenne, mix well.

Laurie's Roasted Curried Chicken

Ingredients
1 whole chicken cut into parts or an assortment of chicken parts, bone in, skin on.
2-3 tablespoons fresh curry powder
1 teaspoon salt
1-2 tablespoon olive or sesame oil
potatoes, carrots, squash, onions ( optional).

1) Preheat the oven to 350 F.

2) In a small bowl mix together the curry powder, salt and the oil to form a paste. 
You can also do this as a dry rub, just leave out the oil.

3) Place your rinsed and dried chicken parts in a lightly oiled glass baking dish. Smear or dust with the curry powder. Be very generous with the curry.

4) Add small potatoes ( large chunks of carrots, onions and winter squash are good too).

5) Cover  tightly with foil and bake for at least two hours. The chicken should fall off the bone.

6) You can serve it with rice, couscous, quinoa or flatbread. 

7) For condiments offer yogurt, peanut sauce, chutneys, fresh mint, soy sauce, lime slices...

Note: If you plan to try this in a slow cooker, add 1 cup water or coconut milk. Start it on the highest setting for several hours, them turn it to low for several more. You want it to fall off the bone just like in the baked version.

Here's Bob's comment on this recipe !!

Pork Shoulder In the Slow Cooker

We happened to go to the Sunday farmer's market a couple of weekends ago and were delighted by the variety of vendors there. One guy was selling meat he had raised in near by Soquel, less than 30 minutes from us.
I am a big proponent of getting your food as locally as possible !!
I bought a couple of small pork shoulder roasts from him, each one about the size of a softball.
I didn't take many photos of this dish because I had no idea it would come out so well...I should know by now to photograph anyway ;-) I have to admit, sometimes I just want to cook and not have to document every step. Luckily this dish was easy enough to remember.

I started by coating the roasts with a rub the night before I was going to cook them. I covered them and returned them to the fridge.

Here is what I used, it is very flexible. Mix all the ingredient together in a bowl.

Laurie's Rub
1 tsp onion granules
1 tsp smoked paprika
1-2 tsp Kosher salt
1/2 tsp celery seeds
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp Herbes de Provence*

*(it's a mix of oregano, rosemary, thyme, bay, lavender, basil, I was just being lazy you could use just dried basil and oregano or any other combination)

The next morning I got out my slow cooker/ crockpot.
Into the pot I put:
1 chopped  onion
1 pint stewed tomatoes
1 cup pineapple juice

I added the rubbed pork shoulder roasts and turned it to high just to get it going. After a couple hours I turned it down to low and let it cook the rest of the day.
It cooked about 8 to 10 hours.
I did push the meat around a few times to cover it in the sauce.
Towards the end I helped it fall apart, so more of it could soak up the liquid.
The herbs from the rub cooked down with the tomatoes, onions and pineapple juice and made it's own barbeque sauce.
The house smelled divine !!
I served it with mashed potatoes in a bowl and a side of kale salad.
Perfect for the cold rainy day it was.