Chicken Apple Curry

I’m on a roll, now that I’ve discovered how simple it is to make curry powder. But my apples keep coming (I know, I shouldn’t complain), and I just made the lamb curry, so I thought, aha! Chicken Curry. But I needed a recipe that included apples, so I went a-hunting again.

My first discovery was that chicken curry recipes are much more diverse than lamb ones (I suppose a lot of people don’t like lamb, or can’t find it in their local stores). A quick scan of Epicurious produced Thai chicken, Malaysian chicken, Siamese chicken, Javanese chicken, and coconut chicken. Actually there are a couple of good Thai restaurants around where I live, and I do like Thai food, but I was trying to compare apples to . . . you know.

I did like the last curry mix, but it seemed almost timid. (I’m never been convinced that you can taste a quarter-teaspoon of any spice in a dish that serves four or six people—unless it’s cayenne pepper.) So I dialed up the ingredients just a bit, and since I figured that apples are just a bit sweet, I added cloves. Still, you’ll notice the similarities.


Curried Chicken with Apples

Ingredients:

Note: This recipe serves four, but as usual I cut the recipe in half for the two of us, and that's what you see in the pictures.) 

1 Tblsp butter

2 Tblsp neutral oil
4 boneless chicken breasts, skinned (I happen to like the skin, but I did bone the chicken)
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
curry powder:
1 Tblsp ground coriander
1 Tblsp ground cumin
1 Tblsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground cloves 
salt and pepper


2 apples, diced (or one large apple: I used one Northern Spy from my tree, and it was a big one. Here’s a description of the variety:

Northern Spy apples are a very late season, large and stout apple with carmine red skin married with streaks of yellow and pale green. Its tender-crisp flesh is creamy yellow and juicy. It imparts a bit of a tartness in its bite, but more of a cider-quality flavor with hints of pear and sweetness. Originated in New York state around 1800.

It holds its shape well in cooking too.

1/2 cup golden raisins
2 cups chicken stock

Instructions:

Melt the butter with the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Season the chicken lightly with salt and pepper.

Add the chicken pieces to the skillet and brown on both sides, then set aside.

Add the onion and garlic to the skillet and sautee until translucent (about 5 minutes).  Stir in the curry powder.

Add the apples and raisins to the skillet and toss to distribute the spices, then return the chicken to the skillet. Add enough chicken broth to cover.

Cover the skillet and simmer at low heat until the chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes. Place the chicken on a platter and keep warm, and simmer the liquid/fruit mixture until the fruit it soft and the liquid thickens. Test for seasoning and add salt if needed.

Serve on white rice, with the sauce spooned over the dish.

Coming November 7th! Available for pre-order!

One reason that I decided to use the Northern Spy variety for this dish is because it is late to ripen and keeps well--so Meg could have brought her own Northern Spys to the WinterFare event in A Late Frost.

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