Background: Monday night, I made stewed chicken and dumplings. Pretty basic - thickened stock seasoned with thyme and sage, meat of one chicken, some mixed veggies and steamed parsely dumplings. We all liked the dumplings, and ate all of them, but were pretty “meh” about the stew.
So now I have a load of chicken stew which no one wants to eat again. I was thinking about heating it up, cubing some potatoes and cooking then in the stew and then dumping a bunch of curry powder in it.
Would this work? Would curry paste be better? Some other seasoning? I can’t have two strike-outs in one week, people, it’ll ruin my reputation!
The basic seasonings for many curries would be cumin, coriander, fresh green chili and ginger. You could try heating up the ground spices and seasonings in a little oil and stirring it into the curry. Topping it with fresh cilantro, if you like it would also add to the authenticity. A bit of curry powder wouldn’t hurt, but the above seasonings would give it a more authentic taste.
cumin, coriander, turmeric, ginger, and cayenne pepper would be my choice. You could stir in a little yogurt too if you want. As cher suggests, you should cook the spices in a little oil before adding them. The spices might clash with the sage and thyme, though, but hey what the hell, it’ll be fun.
Agreed with the others - although I find that sage and thyme work wonderfully alongside coriander, at least where roast lamb is concerned. And a few chopped fresh chillis can never go amiss
Actually, Leaper, you’re right. I should have specified. Although the truth would be “anything that makes this dish of blah taste good!” But let me tell you what I made, based on what I had around the house, and you tell me what it was, because I have no idea!
I took grated fresh ginger, chopped red chilies. including the white stuff and the seeds (I think they were labelled “Fresnos” at Whole Foods) and chopped fresh cilantro. Sauteed those along with a whole bunch of cayenne pepper, cumin and turmeric in hot oil. Added the leftover stew, a little water and four peeled and chunked potatoes. Cooked the whole dang thing for about an hour over very low heat before adding a whole bunch of toasted unsweetened coconut and toasted cashews. Don’t ask. It sounded like a good idea at the time. Served it over Jasmine rice.
And it was fantastic! We all lurved it lots. It wasn’t very spicy, despite all the peppers, but it had great flavor.
But yeah. I have no idea what it was. Indian? Japanese? Thai? I think maybe Thai, given the coconut and cashews. Not really important, as long as it was yummy and not the same thing we had on Monday.
I’d actually suggest the meal duo for a week of quick cooking. I love remaking leftovers so they don’t seem so…left over.
The sage and thyme didn’t present much of an issue, but the salt of the chicken stock did, surprisingly enough. Took quite a bit of cayenne and cumin to eliminate the salty taste.
