I had a chicken recipe picked out to make tonight, and then this Golden Chicken appeared in one of my food site mailing lists. I read through it and I knew I had to make it tonight! We love fusion recipes, and this one is a triple-header of three of our favorite cuisines: Middle Eastern, Indian, and Creole. Can you even imagine that? Well, you don't have to, you can make it!
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I Had to Make Some Adjustments
I had almost all the ingredients to make this recipe, but we were out of onions and we didn't have the ½ cup diced jalapeño pepper called for in the original recipe. What do you do when you're missing some ingredients? You adapt!
The recipe did say that green pepper could be substituted for the jalapeno, but I didn't have a green pepper either! Fortunately, we had just done our early spring cleaning in the freezer, and I found some packs of frozen chopped green peppers and frozen pearl onions at the bottom. Perfect!
Frozen vegetables are never going to be as crisp or taste the quite the same as fresh, but I've found that they're a pretty darned good substitute in soups and stews. That's why I generally keep some in the freezer for emergencies. (That doesn't work so well when you let them get buried at the bottom, so it's a good idea to turn your freezer upside down and shake everything out of it a couple of times a year!)
I didn't want to lose the heat from the jalapeño, so I put in ¼ teaspoon of jalapeño powder. We keep a variety of pepper powders in the pantry, including jalapeño, habanero, and even heat bombs like ghost pepper and Carolina reaper!
I made a couple of other substitutions to fit our tastes. The original recipe called for chicken leg quarters and currants. I don't like drumsticks so I used all thighs. And Debbie doesn't like currants so I used golden raisins, as suggested by one of the comments on the original recipe. They were perfect!
This is how recipes evolve. You find a recipe that's close to your taste, and you tweak it to make it better for you. You pass it on to your children or friends, and they make their own changes. As this continues, your favorite Indian "Chicken on Rice" might be your great-grandchild's "Mexican Shrimp Casserole"!
Ingredients You'll Need
This is a long ingredient list, but almost half of them are spices! Prep work is just chopping the onion, celery, and jalapeño or green pepper.
- chicken thighs
- kosher salt
- olive oil
- onion
- green pepper
- celery
- cumin
- paprika
- black pepper
- ground coriander
- ground turmeric
- jalapeno powder (optional)
- cayenne pepper
- cinnamon
- garlic
- tomato paste
- apple cider vinegar
- chicken stock
- saffron
- golden raisins
I Made Golden Chicken, and You Can Too!
Here are the ingredients. Onion, celery (with the leaves!), green pepper, spices, garlic, salt, raisins, tomato paste, and apple cider vinegar. There's also chicken stock, but it didn't fit in the picture.
And the chicken, of course. I only had five thighs. I would have used six if I had enough!
Make two cuts, about 1 inch apart, in the center of the skin side of each thigh. Season both sides with kosher salt.
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. Put the chicken in the pan, skin side down. Sear until it's browned, about 5 minutes.
Turn the chicken over and sear for about 2 minutes. Remove the chicken to a plate.
Reduce the heat to medium. Add the onion, green pepper, and celery to the skillet. Toss in a pinch of salt to help bring out the flavor! Sauté until the onions are translucent, 5 to 7 minutes.
Add the cumin, paprika, coriander, turmeric, black pepper, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, and garlic. Stir for about 2 minutes to toast the spices.
Stir in the tomato paste and vinegar. Increase the heat to high and stir in the raisins and chicken stock.
Bring the liquid to a simmer and reduce the heat to low. Return the chicken to the skillet, skin-side up. Baste the chicken with the liquid. Cover the skillet and simmer over medium-low heat for 1 hour.
Turn the chicken over and baste it again. Simmer, covered, for about 30 minutes until the meat is fork-tender.
Turn the chicken over again. The chicken is getting dizzy by now, and doesn't know which end is up!
Increase heat to medium and cook, uncovered, for 20 to 30 minutes, until the liquid has reduced by about half.
Look at that color! Can you see why it's called Golden Chicken? Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning.
Serve over pasta, polenta or grits, or mashed potatoes. I used mashed potatoes.
The meat should fall right off the bone!
Scoop up some meat and potatoes and prepare to be amazed at the layers of flavor!
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📖 Recipe Card
Golden Chicken
Ingredients
- 6 chicken thighs bone-in, skin-on
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup onion diced
- 1 cup green pepper diced
- ½ cup celery diced
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon ground coriander
- ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon jalapeño powder optional
- ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3 cloves garlic crushed
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 ½ cups chicken stock
- 1 teaspoon saffron threads crushed
- ¼ cup golden raisins chopped
Instructions
- Make two cuts, about 1 inch apart, in the center of the skin side of each thigh. Season both sides with kosher salt.6 chicken thighs, 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. Put the chicken in the pan, skin side down. Sear until it's browned, about 5 minutes.
- Turn the chicken over and sear for about 2 minutes. Remove the chicken to a plate.
- Reduce the head to medium. Add the onion, green pepper, celery to the skillet. Toss in a pinch of salt to help bring out the flavor! Sauté until the onions are translucent, 5 to 7 minutes.1 cup onion, 1 cup green pepper, ½ cup celery
- Add the cumin, paprika, coriander, turmeric, black pepper, jalapeno powder (if using), cayenne pepper, cinnamon, and garlic. Stir for about 2 minutes to toast the spices.2 teaspoons ground cumin, 1 teaspoon smoked paprika, ¼ teaspoon ground coriander, ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric, ¼ teaspoon jalapeño powder, ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper, ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon, 3 cloves garlic
- Stir in the tomato paste, vinegar, stock, and saffron. Increase the heat to high and stir in the raisins and chicken stock.1 tablespoon tomato paste, 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, 2 ½ cups chicken stock, 1 teaspoon saffron threads, ¼ cup golden raisins
- Bring the liquid to a simmer and reduce the heat to low. Return the chicken to the skillet, skin-side up. Baste the chicken with the liquid. Cover the skillet and simmer over medium-low heat for 1 hour.
- Turn the chicken over and baste it again. Simmer, covered, for about 30 minutes until the meat is fork-tender.
- Turn the chicken over again. Increase heat to medium and cook, uncovered, for 20 to 30 minutes, until the braising liquid has reduced by about half.
- Taste the braising liquid and adjust seasoning if needed before serving.
- Serve over pasta (couscous would be perfect!), polenta or grits, or mashed potatoes.
Nutrition Estimate
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