Chicken Country Captain

Chicken Country Captain is a traditional American (USA) recipe for a classic one pot fried dish of chicken and rice in a curried mixed vegetable base served garnished with almonds and parsley. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic American version of: Chicken Country Captain.

prep time

20 minutes

cook time

50 minutes

Total Time:

70 minutes

Serves:

4–6

Rating:

Tags : Curry Chicken Recipes Vegetable Recipes USA Recipes

This is an Anglo-Indian dish that I had never heard of before... However, made with curry powder it has become a feature of American southern cookery.

According to the (possibly apocryphal) origin story it was brought to Charleston by a British merchant captain during the 1700s, the dish itself being an introduction from the Bay of Bengal. Over the years it has entered Southern cooking where the dish has become a thing of its own.

Here is a classic Southern rendition of the dish. However, I recently came across a book of British Indian cookery from the 1860s, The Indian Cookery Book main page where the original Anglo-Indian versions of the dish are presented.

Note that the term 'captain' in the dish has nothing to do with the sea captain and the dish was known as 'country captain' before it came to America. In fact, the 'captain' is in most likelihood a mis-rendering of 'country capon' ie 'country chicken'.

Ingredients:

3 tbsps vegetable oil
4 bone-in skin-on chicken thighs, trimmed
4 chicken drumsticks
2 tsp sea salt, divided
1 tsp ground black pepper, divided
150g (1 cup) onion, chopped
175g (½ cup) green bell pepper, chopped
225g (½ cup) celery, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
260g (1¼ cups) long-grain rice
2 tbsp light brown sugar
1½ tsp curry powder (I normally use Madras)
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp smoked paprika
⅛ tsp crushed chilli flakes
750ml (3 cups) chicken stock
80g (½ cup) sultanas (golden raisins)
400g (14 oz) tin of diced tomatoes, drained
2 tsp distilled white vinegar
3 tbsp toasted almonds, chopped (to garnish)
2 tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Method:

Pre-heat your oven to 175°C (155°C fan/350°F/gas mark 4)

Place a large wok, deep non-stick pan or cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Once hot add the oil and reduce the heat to medium.

In the meantime, place the chicken in a bowl, sprinkle with 1 1/2 tsp of the salt and 1/2 tsp of the black pepper. Rub these into the chicken then add to the hot oil in your pan. Cook, turning occasionally, until the chicken pieces are nicely browned all over (about 8 minutes). Remove from the pan with tongs and set aside.

Add in the onion, bell pepper, and celery and cook, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Now add the garlic and cook for 1 minute before stirring in the rice, brown sugar, curry powder, ginger, paprika and chilli flakes. Stir to combine then pour in the stock before adding the sultanas, remaining 1/2 tsp salt and remaining 1/2 tsp black pepper. Stir to combine then return the chicken to the pan, nestling ito the vegetable mixture.

Bring to a booil over high heat then reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for about 40 minutes, until the chicken pieces are tender and cooked through.

Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside to keep warm. Add the tomatoes and vinegar to the liquid remaining in the pan and gently fluff the rice with a fork. Arrange the chicken back over the rice mixture, cover with a lid then turn off the heat and allow to stand for 10 minutes.

Turn into a warmed serving dish, garnish with the almonds and parsley then bring to the table.