Scary way to make Delicious Chicken Curry - Guyanese Style!

~  Menu  ~

2 Bloody Caesars

Chicken & Potato Curry with all accoutrements

Amstel Light

Coffee

Today, as is a sort of tradition on Tortola, we (me and me mates) went to the Tamarind Club for brunch. 

This, for me, is a little … um … sad or poignant or irritating or perhaps pleasing, I don’t know!  

Three times, under three different owners, I have been the Tamarind Club chef and now it makes me both proud and cross to see my old dishes still on the menu after my 3 years absence.  Sometimes they are as I intended and sometimes, sadly (to me), different so to save myself emotional turmoil and because it is always excellent I usually have Karen’s wonderful curry. 

Karen is from Guyana and makes her curry in a particular and, to me, very scary way.  She heats the pan till appallingly, frighteningly hot so that I always imagined it would crack when she added liquid, but she doesn’t and it doesn’t.  She adds no liquid whatsoever to the curry yet it is pretty juicy.  This is because, as she says, the chicken “springs water” due to the high heat.  

This is her recipe in her words – you’ll have to fill in the details yourself – I am writing about it more for the interesting method than the specifics!

Karen's Exceptional Curry

Have ready …

1)   A bowl of chopped up onions, celery and peppers,

2)   Diced carrots and potatoes in water,

3)   Madras curry powder and a little jerk seasoning mixed together to a paste with a little water.

4)   Boneless, skinless and “prepped” chicken thighs. 

~   Heat .25 cup oil to very hot.

~   Add curry paste and cook out.

~   Add chicken and stir to coat, add onion mix and stir in.

~   Take the potatoes and carrots out of the water and stir them in. 

~   Cover and do over low heat till the chicken "springs water".

~   Turn up the heat and cook to tender. 

~   If too runny (!) mash in a few of the potatoes.

Jerk seasoning is, as I am sure you know, a Jamaican yummy and spicy speciality used to seriously season up meats and fish.  You can buy an excellent product in most supermarkets, Dunn’s River is a good make as is Grace if you can find it.  It is something I keep in my store cupboard.

Bloody Caesar

You've probably heard of this too. It is a horrid sounding wonderful tasting cocktail made of Clamato (tomato and clam juice) Vodka and various spicy flavourings.  Like an up market Bloody Mary. See here for the Classic Bloody Caesar recipe.

Um ...

They have a good ruse at the bar, a delicious spiced rum concoction which is clearly displayed in a pretty bottled labelled “Um” and if, when asked what you’d like to drink, you say “um” you get a free glass of that.   I was tempted to play innocent and say “um” but thought they’d recognise me! 

I didn't take a picture of my lunch but here are some of the Tamarind Club taken when I worked there.

P.S. From the future - some of my dishes are, even now, in 2017, still on the menu.  I must have been brilliant!!!