Project Take a Break From the News is rolling along nicely — I’m two episodes into Bones, the dishes are done, the laundry is going, and I have a nice chicken and potato curry simmering, to which I’ve added a cup of wine that my mother would never have thought to add, but I quite like its effect on the curry sauce. If it works for coq au vin, to activate flavors that mere water would not, why not for curry?
Chicken Curry (with wine) (1 hr. — serves 8-10)
3-5 medium yellow onions, diced
3 T vegetable oil
1/4 t. black mustard seed
1/4 t. cumin seed
3 whole cloves
3 whole cardamom pods
1 cinnamon stick, broken into 3 pieces
1-2 T red chili powder
1 T Sri Lankan curry powder
12 pieces chicken, about 2.5 lbs, skinned and trimmed of fat. (Use legs and thighs — debone them if you must, but they’ll be tastier if cooked on the bone. Don’t use breast meat — it’s not nearly as tasty.)
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
1/3 c. ketchup
1 heaping t. salt
1 c. wine
1/2 c. milk, optional
1-2 T lemon juice
1. In a large pot, sauté onions in oil on medium-high with mustard seed, cumin seed, cloves, cardamom pods, and cinnamon pieces, until onions are golden/translucent (not brown). Add chili powder and cook a few minutes, until you start to cough. Immediately add curry powder, chicken, potatoes, ketchup, and salt.
2. Let fry for a few minutes, until the chicken and onion are starting to brown, stirring occasionally. Add wine and scrape up the fond to deglaze the pan.
3. Lower heat to medium. Cover and cook, stirring periodically, until chicken is cooked through and sauce is thick, about 20-30 minutes. Remove cover, taste, and add milk if desired, to thicken and mellow spice level; stir until well-blended. Add lemon juice; simmer a few additional minutes, stirring. Serve hot.
