Jamaican Curry Chicken Recipe

I’ve been craving for Jamaican curry chicken for a while now.  Between work, classes, and tending to my one year old, it’s been pretty tough to squeeze in time for some down home cookin’.  I’ve gotten my 20 minute meals down pat.  But there are times when I want some real Jamaican food.  Sometimes my mom would bring over some of her tasty creations.  But this time I wanted to go back to the old me for a sec.  If you didn’t know before, then you know now that I can throw down in the kitchen.

It’s funny how my mom used to have my sis and I in the kitchen cleaning and seasoning chicken.  Most times I was on onion peeling duty, aka the dirty work.  My eyes would burn so bad that I’d sometimes lose vision.  I can look back now and appreciate what my mom taught me.

She always said to us, “unu fi no ho fi cook a min yawd!”
Translation,”we should know how to cook and take care of the home .”

I plan on passing on the same teachings to my baby girl.  It’s important for her to know how to fend for herself.  But most importantly, it’s important for her to know her culture.

It’ll be a long while before she can put pot to fire.  So I’ll have to be the one to do the heavy lifting for now.  I taught my hubby how to make rice and chicken.  He chips in from time to time.  Maybe this will be his next lesson.  Who knows?

Anyway, I may not have a lot of time on my hands to really get down and dirty.  But this week, I’ve had a little extra to play with.  Now I want share my Mummy’s Curry Chicken with you.  FYI, I usually don’t measure.  Mummy always would say to use my judgement, if I ever asked “how much?”  So, here’s a guide for ya.  Feel free to add more or less seasonings to please your taste buds.  Hopefully my fancy pics will also help to guide you along.

Ingredients
1 Chicken
1 medium potato cut in small pieces
1 carrot chopped (optional)
1 lemon
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons of Jamaican curry powder
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped scallion
3 cloves of garlic (or a couple tablespoons garlic powder)
Seasoning salt (add according to your taste buds)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
If you like spicy, throw in a scotch bonnet pepper for an extra kick.  If you have little ones or if your sensitive to a lot of spice, you may want to omit it from the recipe.

A few sprigs of thyme
A little ginger
1 tablespoon oil (I like using olive oil)

Prep time usually takes about an hour.  You’ll need a large bowl for seasoning, very sharp knife, a cutting board, and a dutch pot for cooking and foil.

1. Thoroughly wash chicken with salt and lemon

2.  Clean, rinse, dry, and cut chicken into small pieces

3.  Place chicken pieces in bowl.  Combine 5 tablespoons curry power, onion, scallion, garlic cloves, few sprinkles of seasoning salt, black pepper, thyme, ginger.  If you love spice add the scotch bonnet pepper.  Oh and shhhhh!!! add a few squirts of ketchup (not normally added, but it’s Mummy’s secret ingredient).  It gives a nice flavor, texture, and color.

4.  Place everything in a bowl, cover, and marinade.  For best results leave in the refrigerator overnight.

5.  When ready to cook, add oil and 1 teaspoon on curry powder in a pot.  Bring to a boil, and add curry chicken mix.  Cover with foil.  Be sure to turn the heat down low.

6.  Turn chicken over occasionally throughout the cooking process.  It should take about an hour and a half to two hours to cook.  Serves 8-10.