Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Baked Coconut Curry Chicken


I found this online and made this for a family BBQ (among other chicken and meat dishes). It came out delicious and my brother really enjoyed the leftovers the next day.
2 1/2 pounds chicken (I use chicken legs and boneless, skinless thighs & breasts, but you can use whatever combination of chicken you enjoy most)
1 can coconut milk
2 cups chicken broth
2-3 teaspoons cayenne pepper (depending on how hot you like your food)
2 tablespoons curry powder (again depending on how much you like curry)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon sugar
salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Wash and pat dry the chicken with a paper towel. Pour the chicken broth and coconut milk in a baking dish then lay the chicken in the broth. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Then sprinkle the rest of the spices all over the chicken and broth.

Cover the baking dish tightly with aluminum foil. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove the dish from the oven, carefully remove the foil and turn chicken and mix up the broth mixture so the coconut milk breaks up. Put the baking dish back in the oven uncovered for another 30-45 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked and very tender.

I cook this chicken a little longer than necessary because I like the thighs and breasts to sort of shred and since the chicken is in a broth, it does not dry out with the extra cooking time.

Once you remove the baking dish from the oven, carefully pour the sauce into a saucepan and add 1 tablespoon butter. Mix using a whisk, bring the sauce to a boil and whisk till smooth and reduced. Taste the sauce to make sure it is spicy enough for your liking...if not...add more cayenne pepper and curry powder. Serve chicken over rice and pour the sauce over the chicken and rice.

This recipe is easy and quick because you basically throw everything in the baking dish.

As the Curry Chicken bakes the sauce starts forming, this is why you pull it out half way through the baking process to give the sauce a mix and turn the chicken.

To thicken the sauce, you pour it in a pan and bring it to a boil and let it reduce. The sauce should be a little spicy and a little sweet.

If you don't like using chicken on the bone, you can use just boneless chicken but I do advice you use both breasts and thighs as breasts do tend to be more dry and the dark meat really adds to the dish. If you use all boneless meat, before serving, shred the chicken and mix up the dark and white meat. If you are vegetarian, substitute the chicken with tofu chunks or veggies, but obviously you won't need to cook these as long as chicken.

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