"The Global Gourmet" by Concordia (College) Language Villages - Pakistani Curried Chicken

Date I made this recipe: January 15, 2012 (2012 Golden Globe Awards night)

The Global Gourmet by Concordia Language Villages
Published by: Concordia Language Villages
© 1992
Recipe: Pakistani Curried Chicken – p. 131

Never mind that baseball season is over, today was a double-header: Green Bay Packers v. NY Giants game followed by the Golden Globe Awards.

Yes, well, of the first item (the game) we shall not speak except to say that the Packers were obviously overtaken by aliens. In fact, I thought that filming wrapped on Men in Black III, but apparently nobody on the Packer’s staff got the memo. (From: Hollywood, To: Packers, RE: filming – Men in Black III will be filming extra scenes at Lambeau Field on Sunday, January 15, at 3:30 p.m. Please inform your players and staff….)

So let’s turn out attention then, to something that was a little more uplifting – the 2012 Golden Globe awards ceremony.

In years past, I used to be able to keep up with all the nominated movies, miniseries and TV shows but alas, not anymore. Since I abhor going to movie theaters, I hadn’t seen a single film (although my god, I certainly saw more than my share of the same preview clips, over and over and over again). And since I don’t have HBO or Showtime, I was also unfamiliar with most of the nominated TV shows as well.

Anyway, with a lack of football recipes to make, I turned my attention to the group behind the Golden Globe Awards, the Hollywood Foreign Press, and decided to find an internationally-oriented cookbook to celebrate their event.

And so turning my eyes upward to my bookshelves, I found what I thought would be “just the thing” – The Global Gourmet – written and published by Concordia Language Villages. (Concordia Language Villages is a (foreign) language immersion (summer) camp for those wishing to learn a language or bone up on their language skills. The Villages is sponsored by Concordia College, a well-known college located in Moorhead, Minnesota (near Fargo, ND)).

Now I don’t know about you, but I’m not really seeing “foreign” in a recipe for “Spinach Salad with Chutney Dressing” or “Pomegranate and Escarole Salad.” So I flipped and flopped my way through this book until I found three recipes, two from India and this one from Pakistan and decided on the recipe from Pakistan. (Of course, even these three recipes were submitted by American cooks who got the recipe from the Indian and Pakistani women who created them.) (And for extra points and the win, please explain to me what a recipe for "Arkansas Chicken and Rice" is doing in a cookbook called The Global Gourmet.)

I liked this dish although now that I’ve made it, I’m thinking I should have substituted yogurt for the sour cream called for in this recipe. It’s not that I don’t love sour cream, but it really masked the spices and that is not a good thing. (And thank goodness I used only one cup of the recommended two or I never would have tasted anything else.) That being said, my house smelled like a spice cabinet for about two days.

The other thing I liked about this dish was that it called for very little chopping and far more measuring (of the spices) and this was a good thing seeing how I was trying to watch the football game (why, I do not know) and cook at the same time. Chopping involves knives and given how the game went down, those quickly became dangerous weapons. But a measuring spoon? Not so much.

Pakistani Curried Chicken – serves 6
¼ to ½ cup shortening or vegetable oil
1 ½ medium onions, sliced
3 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon tumeric
1 teaspoon cayenne
1 ½ teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons ginger
1 ½ teaspoons garlic powder
1 (3-inch) cinnamon stick
1 (2 ½ to 3-pound) chicken, cut up (Note: the author says you can substitute chicken pieces (thighs, breast, legs) for 1 cut-up chicken)
4 to 5 cups water
1 ½ to 2 tomatoes, thinly sliced
Salt to taste
1 to 2 cups dairy sour cream (Ann’s note: try yogurt instead)
Cooked fluffy white rice, if desired

In large stove-top casserole or Dutch oven, heat shortening until very hot; brown onions, about 15 minutes. (Ann’s Note: Whoa! I almost had burnt onions on my hands. I suggest you turn the heat down.) Stir in the seasonings.

Brown chicken pieces in spice mixture. Add water, cover and cook about 45 minutes or until chicken is done. (And again—I’m not sure whether the chicken was intended to be boiled or not so you might want to turn down the heat just a little.) Remove chicken and set aside.

Add tomatoes and cook until sauce-like, about 30 minutes. (And for the third time, check your heat! I turned my burner down to medium for this step.)

Add the chicken and heat through. (Because I bought ridiculously large chicken breasts, I shredded the chicken meat before adding it to the sauce.) Stir in salt and sour cream. Serve with rice; add whole what pocket bread, chutney and a yogurt drink if desired.