When the sea captains returned to Charleston, South Carolina from their journeys, they often had brought back with them stores of the bright hot spices from the Orient. "Try some of these on our fried chicken," they say off-handedly to their wives, who would pass them on to their cooks, and here is one of the results of that marvelous mix of cultures:
JJ's Chicken Country Captain
1 bunch parsley, chopped
3 green peppers, chopped
2 large onions, chopped
Cooking oil
1 12-1/2 oz. can tomatoes
1 teaspoon mace
2 teaspoons curry powder
salt and pepper to taste
any other spices you want to try
1 or 2 cloves of garlic
2 fryers, cut in pieces
paprika and flour
1/2 box currants (essential to the magic)
1/2 pound blanched almonds ( I omit these)
Fry parsley, green peppers and onions in cooking oil slowly for 15 minutes. Put this mixture in a roaster or deep casserole and add tomatoes, spices, salt, pepper and paprika. Simmer 15 minutes, then add garlic.
Meanwhile be doing the tedious but holy work of dredging chicken in a mixture of flour, salt, pepper, and paprika. Fry until brown, turning as needed, adding oil, etc. When you remove the browned pieces from your frying pans, put them instantly into the warm sauce in the roaster--one of the secrets of this dish is not letting the chicken cool off between stages. So put your chicken in the sauce and simmer at 275° in a covered roaster or casserole for 1-1/2 to 2 hours. Add currants 1/2 hour before serving--best served with rice, by the way. Serves 8, but can be upped to serve much larger groups by doubling ingredients. The more chicken, the more time put in dredging (do you use a brown paper bag?) and browning though.
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