Chicken Country Captain
This exotically spiced curry of chicken, tomatoes, peppers, dried fruit, and nuts is proof of Southern food’s cosmopolitan roots. Served with steamed rice, slivered almonds, and fresh parsley, it is wonderfully bone-warming and fragrant.
Recipe information
Yield
serves 4 to 6
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Step 2
Rinse the chicken, pat dry, and remove any excess fat. Place the flour in a small, shallow bowl or large plastic bag, season with 1 teaspoon of the salt and 1/4 teaspoon of the black pepper, and stir or shake to mix. Heat the olive oil in a large ovenproof skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat until sizzling hot (see Know-how, page 100).
Step 3
Dredge or shake the chicken in the seasoned flour one piece at a time, shaking off any excess. Place in the hot skillet, and cook for about 8 minutes per side, turning frequently for even browning, until brown on all sides. Remove from the skillet and set aside.
Step 4
Put the onion, bell pepper, and celery in the same skillet and cook over medium heat, stirring, for about 5 minutes, until the vegetables are soft. Add the garlic, curry, ginger, thyme, and red pepper flakes; cook and stir for 1 minute more.
Step 5
Add the balsamic vinegar and stir, scraping up all the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the broth, tomatoes, apricots, orange zest and juice, chutney, the remaining 1 teaspoon salt, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon black pepper and stir to combine.
Step 6
Return the chicken to the skillet, skin side up, and place in the oven to bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and the juices run clear when the thickest part of the thigh is pierced with the tip of a small knife.
Step 7
Remove from the oven and let rest, loosely covered, for about 10 minutes. Serve warm, sprinkled with almonds and parsley, if desired. Serve additional chutney on the side.
Chew on this: Chicken Country Captain
Step 8
At first glance, Country Captain might not strike you as very Southern. In fact, I’d never heard of it until we moved to North Carolina to open Foster’s. It was a specialty of one of our chefs, and I still remember the first time I tried it, with its unusual flavors and sweet perfume—I was so intrigued and taken by it that it became an immediate favorite.
Step 9
Like the chutney that is usually served with it, Country Captain flies in the face of most people’s expectations about Southern food. And yet, although the origins of Country Captain are much debated both within and outside the South, Southerners have been laying claim to this spice-infused dish since the eighteenth century. According to lore, the recipe came straight from Bengal to the southern spice-trading ports by way of a British sea captain who had been stationed there—and the rest, as they say, is history.
Step 10
The flavors aren’t like those in most other Southern dishes, but Country Captain has nonetheless found a lasting place at the Southern table. One reason, I think, is that it is so similar in spirit to the many other Southern one-pot dishes and stews, from jambalaya to Brunswick stew. The spices may have been new, but in other ways it would have been immediately familiar to the Southerners who adopted it and made it their own. That interplay among different cultures is what Southern cooking is all about, and it’s what I’m reminded of every time I make Country Captain.
