Credit is Due

What you are looking at here is Chicken Curry with Fruit. Since I credited Sam with his marvelous lasagne I felt that equal time was owed to Chris who made this lovely dish for dinner tonight.

The clay baker belonged to his great grandmother Helen, my mother's mother. I have the original cookbook with her notes, but made up this recipe to suit the season. This morning while I was on a break at work I sent Chris the basics on using a clay baker and suggested ingredients for him. He called me a little later for some clarification and then got busy.

Chris soaked the baker for 20 minutes and preheated the oven to 325. Then he gathered chicken thighs, 6 cloves garlic, 10 sliced dried apricots, and dried curry powder. He decided to forego the diced onion because he couldn't find any. When the baker was ready he arranged the chicken on the bottom then layered the rest of the ingredients. He put in a cup or so of homemade chicken stock and orange juice to cover. Then he lifted everything slightly so that the liguid would seep under the chicken preventing sticking. He covered the baker and put it in the oven. After a couple of hours he added a handful each of golden and regular raisins and a cup of jasmine rice. He put it back into the oven for another half an hour.

The apricots and raisins were plumped with orange juice and broth; the rice absorbed the excess liguid. Actually quite a simpe dish and it makes the kitchen smell really good.

Just a note, he could have put in coconut milk instead of the broth. I didn't suggest that to him because I like to use coconut milk for my vegetarian curries and I think that the minerals in the broth are good for the family.