When I first heard of the dish “Country Captian” it was described to me as a chicken in a spicy tomato sauce served over low country rice. Sounded boring, so I mostly put it out of my mind except for the funny name.
Then a few months ago I saw Kevin Gillespie, who used the dish as the inspiration for a restaurant on Top Chef, cooking wild game as part of the Meat Eater crew which renewed my interest in the dish. So, I decided to take a look at the recipe. What I found was that calling it a “spicy tomato sauce” was actually a very cool global fusion take on a chicken curry. Global in that it has spices from Asia, almonds which are native to the middle-east, currants from Europe, tomatoes from the new world, and of course that “low country rice” is inexorably linked with the African slave trade.
As to the question of what is a Country Captian. There seem to be many possible correct answers to that. Some claim that the term refers to a captain of troops, or perhaps sea captains involved in trade with the country (of India) and perhaps specifically captains sailing for a particular company called “Country Trade.”
Regardless of the origin, the result is tasty and relatively easy. One of the keys to making this dish really pop is a good curry powder, we like this one. Today’s recipe comes from the NY Times cooking section with only minor modifications
Ingredients
3 pounds (about 8) chicken thighs
¼ cup flour
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 tablespoons butter
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 medium bell pepper, seeded and diced
2 ribs celery, diced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons curry powder
3 tablespoons currants
1 28-ounce can of chopped tomatoes and their juices
3 tablespoons slivered almonds, toasted
Cooked white rice or cauliflower rice
Preparation
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Preheat the oven to 325
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Prepare a dredge with salt (to taste, pepper, and dried thyme)
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Heat butter until it is foaming. Pan fry chicken until it is well browned on all sides, about 8-10 minutes.
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Add onion, celery, pepper, curry powder, and 1 tbsp currants. Saute until fragrant, 5-10 minutes.
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Add tomatoes and their juices and cook until it starts to become saucy and the flavors start to mingle, about 10 minutes more.
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Cover the bottom of a baking dish with 1 cup of tomato sauce then place chicken in a single layer over the sauce. Cover chicken with remaining sauce.
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Cover your baking dish with aluminum foil, and cook for 35 minutes. Then remove the foil and cook for an additional 15.
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Spread remaining currents and almonds over the chicken.
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Serve with rice, or cauliflower rice for a lower-carb alternative.
WFD tonight is leftover Chicken Steam Roast which is awesome, despite its terrible name.