I have been meaning to make this chicken recipe for a long long time; about 23 years now! I finally got around to doing it. It is such a wonderful dish and brings back good memories of my first couple of months in the United States. This recipe was served to my husband and I by my wonderful sister-in-law when I first visited her home. The recipe is called “Indian Chicken” and is from the More With Less cookbook. Even though this is called Indian chicken, this doesn’t taste like most Indian dishes, because it has soy sauce and honey. I remembered, however, that it was very tasty!

The More with Less cookbook was created by Mennonites and has great suggestions for how to eat better and consume less of the world’s resources. The book is filled with recipes from around the globe that have been tested by home cooks all over North America.

As I do with any recipe, I make the original version and then tweak it to my liking. In this case I added fresh ginger, garlic, and jalapeno to the dish to make it a bit more interesting. Dry ginger is OK but I like fresh ginger much more in this recipe. Depending on what type of curry powder you use, the flavor of the whole dish can vary a bit. Look for one that has turmeric, coriander, cumin, fenugreek, fennel, nutmeg, cardamom, and cloves. I like to buy Penzeys Curry (online or from their neighborhood stores) or Malaysian Curry Powder (from any Asian grocery store). Malaysian curry powder is not that expensive and I keep it on hand for other recipes.

The pictures may not do it justice, but this is really delicious — even for people who don’t normally like curry! The combination of curry flavor, honey, and soy sauce makes this dish a bit sweet and spicy. It’s very addictive; I couldn’t stop eating the sauce with rice!

Ingredients

• 3 lbs. whole chicken, cut up or 6 pieces of chicken thigh, excess skin around the pieces trimmed
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp. butter
• 2 tbsp. canola oil
• 2 cups yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 1 1/2 tsp. each minced ginger and garlic
• 1 tsp. minced jalapeno or serrano pepper
• 2 tbsp. curry powder
• 3 tbsp. flour

Sauce

• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 tbsp. chicken base
• 3 cups water

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Transfer the chicken pieces to a large baking dish, then add salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly and set aside.

Whisk honey, soy sauce, chicken base, and water in a large measuring jug/bowl and set aside.

In a separate shallow baking dish mix flour, salt, and pepper. Taking one piece of chicken at a time, flour the chicken on both sides, making sure to shake of the excess flour, and set aside. Save 3 tbsp. of flour and discard rest.

Heat oil and butter in a large, heavy-bottom saucepan that can be put in the oven, over medium-high heat. Add chicken pieces to the oil, skin side down, and fry until both side of the chicken are golden brown. Remove chicken pieces from the pan to a plate and set aside.

Turn the heat down to medium. Add onions to the remaining fat and sauté until light brown. Add ginger, garlic, and jalapeno to the onion mixture. Cook this until onions are golden brown. Add curry powder to the pan and fry for about 30 seconds.

Add remaining 3 tbsp. flour to the onions and stir well.

Add the sauce to the onion mixture. Give it a good stir. Cook until sauce thickens, stirring often. Add the chicken pieces back to the pan in a single layer. Turn the heat off.

Cover and transfer the pot to the middle rack of your preheated oven. Bake for an hour.

Serve over rice or mashed potatoes with side of steamed veggies!

Serves 6

Did you make this dish? I’d love to know how it turns out! Feel free to like this post and comment or use the hashtag #globaldinein on Instagram