mickle's pickle

No pictures, but I do have a chicken recipe for you. Very adaptable and very delicious.

Here is the original from around the late 1960s/early 1970s:

Country Captain Chicken Curry (CCCC) (Alison Holst)

6 servings

1 jointed chicken
½ cup flour
3-4 Tb oil or fat
1 large onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, sliced
1 green pepper, sliced
1 Tb brown sugar
2 tsp curry powder (or less)
1 tsp salt
½ tsp thyme
1-2 tins chopped tomatoes
¼ cup currants

Joint chicken into 12 pieces. Dry joints, then flour them evenly and brown over high heat a few pieces at a time in butter or oil, turning when necessary. Remove from pan when golden brown. Lower heat and add sliced onion, garlic and green pepper. Cook 2-3 min without browning, then replace browned joints in the pan, skin side down. Add sugar, curry powder, salt and thyme, then tomatoes. Cover, bring to the boil and cook over low heat for 15 min. Turn, add currants, cover and cook 10 min longer, until the chicken is tender.


Ah, those distant days when the only peppers available in NZ were green. I loathed them!

Now for the Mickle 2009 version. I use skinned and boned chicken thighs and don't bother with flouring them (incidentally making the dish gluten free). I like red and yellow peppers so add heaps, but it is absolutely okay to leave them out. I've never added currants. I boost the flavour with ground cumin and coriander and dried oregano. And I add other veggies too - variations have included sweet potato, canelloni beans (canned - rinsed and drained) and mushrooms. And I thicken it at the end with a slurry of arrowroot powder and water. Cornflour would work well too.

Need to hide veggies from reluctant eaters? Just blitz onion, carrot and celery in a food processor then add. Replace the fresh garlic with garlic powder or garlic granules. Make your own changes but please do include the tomatoes, chicken and the brown sugar ( or molasses)

It works well cooked in an electric frypan, as it was when dear friend Jane made it earlier this year. I promptly asked her for the recipe. I use my Dutch Oven on the cooktop. You could throw it all into a slow cooker and let it simmer away. Marjie - your "broil the chicken pieces in an oven dish then remove, start the rest on the stove top in the same oven dish then add the chicken back and finish it all by baking in the oven" method would work really well here. For others this "Marjie Method" is a really good way to cook chicken for a crowd and you still only have the one pan to clean.

Serve with rice and a nice green vegetable. I like to use fresh green beans. Oh, and this Chicken and Tomato Casserole freezes really well.

Happy cooking and eating everyone!

N.B. For those in Australia please be aware that your standard tablespoon measurement is bigger than everyone else's. This recipe uses the NZ and rest of the world standard metric tablespoon that is equal to 3 teaspoons (i.e 15mls) while your own tablespoon is equal to 4 teaspoons (20mls) - just one of your wee quirks I guess!