This was a dish my Mom was known for and it was the one dish that was requested the most by friends and family when they would come over. I thought it was an original dish or handed down through the family, which it might have, but apparently it’s a rather common dish in the South coming from British Captains who had spent time in India.
This isn’t the type of Indian food you’ll find today it was an Americanized [re: white bread] version of Indian food cooked as a stew. My Mom always served it with little bowls of coconut, almond, raisins and chopped green onion that you could sprinkle on to your taste, but just went for the chicken and rice. That was enough for me as a kid.
My Mom always liked to spice this dish up a lot and I think she usually added the 2-3 teaspoons of curry using tablespoons. It’s a very tasty dish and something that while it has lots of ingredients isn’t really that hard to prepare.
Country Captain Chicken
1 fryer chicken cut up
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup butter
1 medium onion chopped
1 small green pepper chopped
1 clove garlic crushed
2 to 3 teaspoons curry powder
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1 can (16 oz) stewed tomatoes
1/4 cup currants or raisins
Hot cooked rice
Toasted blanched almonds
Chutney
Sprinkle chicken on both sides with salt and pepper. Melt butter in skillet- brown chicken on both sides. Remove chicken and add onion, green pepper, garlic, curry powder, thyme. Cook until onion is tender. Add tomatoes, currants and chicken. Cook covered until chicken is tender.
Serve over rice with almonds and chutney
Makes 4 servings