My Grandmother’s Colonial Style Chicken Curry & Rice

This was a great favourite of mine, growing up as a little girl in Nigeria. It was a speciality of my Yorkshire granny. Served with an array of accompaniments (shredded coconut, peanuts, diced cucumbers and tomatoes, fried onions, raisins, dried shrimp and more), there was nothing I loved better than spinning the ‘Lazy Susan’ to select my favourite bits and bobs to add to the flour-thickened golden yellow sauce.

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My Grandmother's Colonial Style Chicken Curry & Rice

Serves: 6-8

Curry was introduced to Nigeria in the colonial times - apparently, the extravagant garnishing was a colonial practice brought in by local cooks who had noticed the English habit of putting lots of different things on the same plate.

Ingredients

2kg prepared chicken pieces, preferably thighs and drumsticks
2 onions, about 450g, peeled and quartered
2 fresh tomatoes, about 250g (plus the pulp from the tomatoes used in the garnish)
1 small piece of ginger (20g) or 1 teaspoon of ginger powder
2 bay leaves
4 tablespoons of curry powder
2 teaspoons of plain flour
1L water or chicken stock
600 - 800g boiled white rice (preferably basmati)

Instructions

Pre-heat the oven to 150°C (300°F, gas mark 2). Put the chicken in an oven-proof dish and pop into the oven for about 20 minutes to slowly release its oil. Turn up the heat to 200°C (400°F, Gas Mark 6) to brown the chicken.
Liquidise the onions, tomatoes and ginger to a fairly smooth texture.
Using 3 tablespoons of the chicken fat, fry the bay leaves and curry powder. Add the onion mixture and fry for 15 minutes.
Add the chicken pieces together with the water or stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked.
Mix the flour with a tiny bit of water to form a smooth paste and slowly add it to the curry, stirring all the time. Leave to simmer for another 10 -15 minutes and serve with the boiled rice and garnishes.

Notes

[
b]Garnishes[/b]
1 cucumber, about 200g, seeded and finely diced
3 tomatoes, about 400g, seeded and finely diced (reserve the seeds /pulp for use in the curry
1 boiled egg (unshelled per person)
2 spring onions, about 360g, topped, tailed and sliced thinly on the diagonal
2 ripe plantains, about 450g, peeled, diced and deep fried
20g grated fresh coconut (or reconstituted desiccated coconut. Grated roasted coconut may also be used)
50g sultanas (soak in warm water to plump them up)
2 tablespoons finely ground crayfish
3 Scotch Bonnet chillies, about 25g, finely chopped

Other ideas for garnishes include:
Diced pineapple
Ground ginger
Fried onions
Chopped tomato
Bananas sliced into rings (squirt some lemon or lime juice over them to prevent discolouration)