Curry Flavoured Clay Baked Red Chicken

Today we are going to do a take on a curried "red baked" chicken in the clay baker. It uses a paprika and curry powder based paste along with a top off roasting technique for bold and slightly spicy flavours.

This recipe is best suited for whole chicken legs or a combination of drumsticks and thighs. The portions given here are for 4 or 5 whole chicken legs. 

To begin you want to make your paste.

Red Paste Ingredients:

4 tablespoons curry powder
2 tablespoons paprika
1 small knob of ginger minced
2 minced cloves of garlic
a few dashes of cayenne pepper to taste (I like around 4 or 5 dashes)
salt and pepper to taste
5 ounces of melted butter
1 small onion diced

Melt the butter and add all the ingredients except for the onion. Stir gently over low heat until fully blended.

Prepare and soak the clay baker for 15-20 minutes for use as per usual. (If you are new to clay baking, you can read this post on the basics from a previous blog: The simple art of Clay Baking)

Add your chicken pieces to the baker and top each piece evenly with the paste, reserving half of the paste for later.

Top the baker and place into a COLD oven (you must always place clay bakers into a cold oven). Turn the oven up to 425 degrees and bake for 40 minutes with the top on.

Towards the end of the first part of the cooking time, reheat the reserved paste and add the diced onion, blending it over low heat.

After 40 minutes remove the clay baker from the oven keeping the heat on. Remove the top and set safely aside. Be careful when doing this as the baker will be exceptionally hot.

Spoon the rest of the paste with onion evenly over the chicken again.

Place the baker, now top off, back into the oven and increase the heat to 500 degrees.

Bake for 20 minutes more. (Always remember that Health Canada says chicken pieces should be cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees).

If you are using whole legs, I like to split them at the joint before serving.

This flavourful dish goes well with either red or white wine, and is perfect served with a side of rice and / or a garden salad.

Enjoy. 

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Clay Baked Caribbean Style Curried Chicken w. Green Seasoning and Scotch Bonnet Pepper Sauce

Today we are going to take a look at making a Caribbean style curried chicken dish that uses a Trinidadian Green Seasoning as well as a Scotch Bonnet pepper sauce for kick. We will be making it in the clay baker as clay baking produces very moist chicken and works really well when doing curries.

If you do not know about clay baking and the basics of it, this handy post on one of The Left Chapter's precursor blogs, The simple art of Clay Baking , will bring you up to speed.

Green Seasoning is a staple for certain regional West Indian cuisines and can be found in most Caribbean grocery stores. We used a Trinidadian style one called Geeta that is medium spicy and full of bold green onion and cilantro flavours. If you cannot find one or want to make your own a good recipe can be found here. While you can use any Scotch Bonnet sauce we used Spur Tree Jamaican Crushed Scotch Bonnet Pepper Sauce which is fiery and delicious.

This recipe works very well for skin-on drumsticks or thighs, but here we used three large, whole chicken legs.

Ingredients:

3 skin-on whole chicken legs
1 large onion diced
3-4 cloves minced garlic
4 tablespoons curry powder
1 cup Green Seasoning
1 teaspoon Scotch Bonnet Pepper Sauce or more if you want it really fiery!
salt and black pepper to taste

Season the chicken with the curry powder, salt and pepper. Mix all of the other ingredients together and then pour over the chicken in a large bowl or pot. Toss the chicken until it is evenly coated with the mixture. Let the chicken sit in the fridge for 1-2 hours.

15 minutes before cooking soak your clay baker by filling both halves with cold water. Empty and place the chicken in the clay baker, cover and place, as always when clay baking, in a COLD oven turning the heat to 425 after you have put it in. Cook for 60 minutes.

This dish is perfect served with rice or rice and peas.

Enjoy.

See also: Clay Baked Spicy Curried Goat

See also: Clay Baked Garlic Chicken

Robert Carrier's Cookery Cards w. Vitello Tonnato, Saltimbocca all'Alfredo & more -- Vintage Cookbook #TBT

Vintage Cookbook: Robert Carrier's Cookery Cards

Publication Details: Thomas Nelson, 1966


This week's installment has two of may favourite things -- postcards and food!

For a time publishers released sets of "cooking cards" that would have a photo of the dish on one side and the recipe on the reverse. These were usually the size of a standard postcard and we looked at another example before, 1968's Japanese Cooking Cookery Cards with Sushi, Tempura, & more. 


What is terrific about this format is that they were sturdy and easily portable, meaning it was no problem to bring with you to the grocery store so that you could make sure you got everything you needed.

Today we are going to take a look at a set of cards made by famed sixties chef Robert Carrier who wrote award-winning cookbooks that aimed to bring "haute cuisine" to the masses!

These cards feature some excellent recipes that range from the relatively easy to the more gourmet.

This set had twenty cards. In this post we will look at the first ten cards -- you can look forward to a future post with the other ten!

(Click on images to enlarge) 

Slow Cooked Curried Goat Stew

Curried Goat Stew with Rice & Salad

I have looked before at cooking goat -- a delicious and rich meat that is widespread in cuisines around the world.

Today I will look at one of my favourite dishes -- slow cooked curried goat stew.

The very long cooking time ensures that the meat comes out fall-off-the-bone perfect. This one is tomato based with a hint of heat (though you can kick that up if you  wish).

For this dish you need a slow cooker.

Coat nicely with curry powder.

First take four or five slices of ginger and crush them. Place them at the bottom of the slow cooker.

Then add around two pounds of bone-in goat meat cut into stewing pieces. Coat the goat meat all over with curry powder. If you have any I like to also top the meat with a couple of tablespoons of jerk seasoning as well though this is optional. Salt to taste, sprinkle all over with 2 teaspoons of dry mustard powder and, finally, with two tablespoons of freshly ground black pepper.

Then add the following ingredients:

1 large (796ml/28 oz.) can of diced tomatoes (herb and spiced variety if available)
The same amount of beef stock (just fill up the can!)
2 tablespoons of soya sauce
2 tablespoons of  Worcestershire sauce
6 minced garlic cloves
2 bay leaves
2 teaspoons of ground cumin
1 teaspoon browning liquid (optional -- it primarily aids with visual appeal)
1 tablespoon Vegeta Food Seasoning (optional -- but adds richness)

Finally, take a Scotch Bonnet pepper, slice it down the middle on one side (do not cut in half) and place it whole into the stew. This will release the seeds (and thus the heat) slowly into the stew. This makes for a very mildly spicy stew. For a spicier one do this with two peppers. Three will make it truly fiery.

Cook on low, covered, for 10-12 hours

Set the slow cooker to low and cook, covered, for 10-12 hours.

The aromas of this cooking all day (or night) through your house or apartment will be sublime!

When done, stir thoroughly and remove the bay leaves before serving. You can serve the portions out of the cooker basin and, as most are removable, store leftovers in the basin in the fridge to be reheated the next day in the cooker again. That takes 1-2 hours on low.

Serve with rice or rice-and-peas, a side of naan, roti or crispy French style bread, a nice, simple green salad, extra Caribbean or Indian style hot sauce on the side for those who might want it and, of course, a hearty red wine.

Enjoy.

See Also: Clay Baked Spicy Curried Goat

Clay Baked Spicy Curried Goat

Though its popularity and use in North America is much less prevalent,  goat meat is the most widely consumed red meat in the world and features prominently in many cuisines. While it is making some inroads on major food retailer's shelves in Canada, it is still often only found in specialty stores or in markets.

This is a real shame, as goat is a delicious, tender meat with a distinctive flavour that has a nice hint of gaminess.

I have tried goat cooked a variety of ways, but I find that I both order it and cook it curried or West Indian style most often. It lends itself to these flavours perfectly.

Today I will share a basic recipe for spicy curried goat done in a clay baker. I am using the clay baker as it is a cooking method that will produce very moist, fall-off-the-bone goat in a relatively short time, as well as making a thick and flavourful gravy as the goat cooks.

If you are not familiar with the ancient and very accessible technique of clay baking, we did an introduction to clay baking that you can take a look at on The Simple Art of Clay Baking. 

For this dish you need 2-3 lb. cubed goat meat, preferably bone-in. As always with a clay baker fill both sides with water and let stand for 15 minutes. After emptying the water out, take the goat meat and place it in the clay baker and sprinkle curry powder over it so that it covers the meat. Pour in one full bottle (350 ml.) of a Caribbean style curry cooking sauce (Grace makes one) or, if not available, the same amount of water and a tablespoon of curry paste. Add an equivalent amount of beef or chicken stock (or water and a bouillon cube as it will dissolve during cooking).

Add either 1 or 2 crushed scotch bonnet peppers (simply push on them with a spoon and then toss them in) or 1-2 tablespoons of your favourite Caribbean style hot sauce.  You can, of course, omit this, but that does change the flavour, and not for the better!

Add a small piece of crushed ginger, a half a teaspoon of browning liquid, a teaspoon of dry mustard, and a teaspoon of salt.

Again, as you always must with a clay baker, cover and place in a COLD oven. Set the heat to 400 degrees.

Cook for two hours. After the first hour, remove the baker, stir the goat and put back in.

After two hours, remove from the oven, skim off any fat, remove any undissolved ginger, add one tablespoon of flour to the liquid and stir it in gently until it is all dissolved. This will thicken the gravy. Let it sit for about 5-10 minutes and then serve!

This dish goes wonderfully with rice or rice and peas, with roti or naan style bread or with a french style bread, and with red wine.

Enjoy!