Trinidad curry chicken with potatoes
60 min · 45 g protein · 608 cals / serving
Trini curry chicken the way it is cooked at home: chicken marinated in fresh green seasoning, then cooked in curry powder and roasted cumin that is fried in hot oil until dark and fragrant, simmered with potatoes into a thick, golden gravy with a kick of scotch bonnet. Finish with culantro and eat it with rice or roti.
Ingredients
Green seasoning
- 4 green onions, roughly chopped
- 1 small bunch fresh cilantro, or culantro (shado beni), plus more to finish
- 6 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves picked
- 5 cloves garlic
- 1/4 green bell pepper bell pepper, or 4 pimento peppers
- 1 tbsp lime juice
Curry
- 1 3/4 lb chicken thigh, boneless, skinless thighs, in 4 cm (1 1/2-inch) pieces
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp canola oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1/2 scotch bonnet red chili pepper, seeded and sliced, or to taste
- 2 tbsp curry powder, a Trinidad or Jamaican blend
- 1 tsp ground cumin, roasted geera if you have it
- 3 medium gold potatoes, peeled, in 3 cm (1-inch) chunks
- 2 cups water
To serve
- 1 cup jasmine rice, steamed
Steps
- Blend the green onion, cilantro, thyme, garlic, bell pepper and lime juice with a splash of water into a coarse green paste. Toss the chicken with the salt and 3 tbsp of the paste and marinate at least 30 minutes, or overnight in the fridge. Keep the rest of the paste for the pot.
- Heat the oil in a heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion, scotch bonnet and the remaining green seasoning and cook 2–3 minutes, until the onion is soft.
- Mix the curry powder and cumin with 4 tbsp of water to a paste, add it to the pot and fry, stirring, 2–3 minutes, until it darkens, turns grainy and the oil starts to separate. This is the 'burning' of the curry that gives Trini curry its depth; keep stirring so it does not scorch.
- Add the chicken and stir well to coat, then cook on high 5 minutes. Add the potatoes and water, bring to a boil, cover and simmer 20 minutes. Uncover and simmer 5–10 minutes more, until the potatoes are tender, a few have broken down to thicken the gravy, and the chicken reaches 165°F. Cook the rice meanwhile.
- Taste for salt, scatter with more chopped culantro or cilantro and serve with the rice.
Good to know
Which curry powder?
A Caribbean blend such as a Trinidad or Jamaican curry powder, which is heavy on turmeric and toasted cumin and coriander. An Indian madras powder works but tastes different.
Can I use bone-in chicken?
Yes, it is common: cut a whole chicken or leg quarters into small pieces, remove most of the skin and simmer 15 minutes longer. Boneless breast is leaner, at about 64 instead of 57.
How hot is it?
Half a scotch bonnet makes it warm; a whole one with its seeds makes it properly hot. Add the pepper whole and fish it out before serving for flavour without much heat.
Alternative
Per
- Calories
- 106
- Protein
- (30%)
- 8 g
- Fat
- (27%)
- 3 g
- Carbohydrates
- (43%)
- 11 g
- of which sugar
- 1 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 176 mg
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How
As written, 2430 kcal goes into the pot and 2188 g of ingredients comes out as about 2300 g of food: 106 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.