Jamaican Curry Hen Recipe

Whereas curried goat is commonly the extra celebrated Jamaican dish, curried hen is an easier but equally scrumptious staple. Curries seem within the Jamaican food regimen courtesy of East Indian indentured laborers who had been introduced from India by the British to work on plantations after the top of slavery. Curried hen embodies the historical past of our island and the numerous settlers who made their method to our shores from international lands, all of whom contributed to the delicacies that we name Jamaican as we speak.

Curried hen makes a daily look on cookshop menus, the place it’s served with rice and peas or white rice and uncooked greens in a “field lunch.” Additionally it is served at dwelling for both lunch or dinner and may be paired with extra elaborate accompaniments like steamed jasmine rice, roti, fried plantain, and mango chutney. Curried hen would even be generally served at a household Sunday lunch or dinner, with typical Jamaican facet dishes like fried or roasted breadfruit, fried plantain, avocado, an enormous inexperienced salad, steamed callaloo, and sliced Scotch bonnet pepper. My sons and their mates particularly beloved curried hen once they had been rising up, so it was on the dinner menu each different week throughout their college years. My home was all the time full of a crew of rambunctious, hungry teenage boys, and this dish was a simple, nourishing, and satisfying meal for all.

A vital method in lots of Jamaican recipes, together with this one, is marination. We marinate most meat, poultry, and fish earlier than cooking, contributing to the constructing of taste within the dish. Right here, the hen is first rubbed throughout with the reduce facet of a lime or lemon. This can be a observe that’s commonplace right here in Jamaica, much less to scale back micro organism and extra to take away what’s perceived by Jamaicans because the “uncooked” taste of the hen—one of many culinary sins, together with underseasoning, that Jamaicans would blame on a mediocre cook dinner.

After this acid rubdown, the hen is seasoned with the curry powder, ginger, onion, garlic, thyme, Scotch bonnet pepper, and pimento (what we name allspice in Jamaica) and left to marinate for not less than an hour previous to cooking. (Previous-time Jamaican cooks will often season and marinate from the day earlier than cooking or, on the very least, a number of hours earlier than cooking). Jamaican curry powders are usually a premade mix of spices like cumin, coriander, fenugreek, allspice, mustard, anise, and turmeric, therefore the signature yellow coloration, which is sort of totally different from curry powders of different origins.

As soon as marinated, the hen is browned in a deep pot after which faraway from the oil, after which extra oil, curry powder, and seasonings are sautéed, including one other layer of depth and spice whereas growing these flavors and drawing them out into the oil. The hen is then returned to the pot with all of the seasonings, liquid is added, and the dish is left to simmer and scale back, total a reasonably easy course of.

Some cooks like so as to add carrots and potatoes, which this recipe presents as an choice and makes for a a lot heartier meal. The potatoes and carrots could be added when the curry powder and seasonings are sautéed, previous to the addition of the liquid.

One other non-traditional variation, which we personally love and name for on this recipe, is the addition of coconut milk. The coconut milk makes for a thick, creamy, barely candy, and wealthy gravy that coats the hen superbly, and is scrumptious on rice. Nonetheless you select to do it, this recipe will possible grow to be a staple in your roster of healthful and attractive however spectacular dinners for visitors and household alike.