Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Chicken thighs baked in coconut milk

So! Made dinner tonight. First time in a while I made something I'm excited about. So here it goes:
2 chicken thighs, bone in, skin on (these were huge, enough for two people roughly)
1-2 tsp curry powder
1/2-1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp or so cayenne
1/2 tsp mild paprika
salt & pepper to taste
1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
1/2 onion, slivered
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 ancho chile, diced
1/2 a huge red pepper, diced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 1/3 cup or so coconut milk, divided

1. Preheat oven to 375F. In a smallish baking pan of some sort, combine spices, salt & pepper. Add chicken, and rub spices all over.
2. In a small skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion & red pepper. Cook a few minutes. Add ginger, garlic and ancho. Heat another minute or two. Add about half the coconut milk. Heat another few minutes. Pour over chicken. Stir with a fork in the corners, to combine the sauce with some of the spices.
3. Toss in the oven for an hour or so, until it tests done.
4. Remove the chicken from the pan to rest. Try your damnedest to remove the fat from the remaining liquid without staining anything yellow (turmeric, you're amazing). Put in a small saucepan. Whisk in the remaining coconut milk and reduce by about a third. Mixture should thicken somewhat. Whisk a lot. Pour over chicken and serve.

I made this with sesame asparagus and spaghetti squash, but next time, I'll probably amp up the spicy and serve with basmati rice.