Coconut Milk Braised Chicken Food

COCONUT MILK-BRAISED CHICKEN

Steps:

• Place a rack in top third of oven; preheat to 400°F. Stir coconut milk and curry paste in a 3-qt. baking dish to combine (or, use a medium skillet if that's what you've got). Add lemongrass, ginger, and garlic.
• Season chicken with salt (hold back a bit since curry pastes often have a lot of salt). Place in baking dish and spoon some liquid over. Bake, occasionally spooning liquid over, until chicken is browned, tender, and cooked throughout (the joint should be reasonably easy to flex), 60-75 minutes.
• Transfer chicken and sauce to a platter. Top with coconut flakes and cilantro. Serve with rice and lime wedges alongside.

BRAISED CHICKEN WITH COCONUT MILK AND CURRY

Steps:

• Pat the chicken pieces dry and season generously with salt and pepper. Pour enough oil into a large dutch oven to cover the bottom. Heat over medium high and lay as many pieces of chicken in the pan that will fit without crowding. Cook, turning as necessary, until browned on all sides. Adjust the heat to keep the the oil sizzling but not too hot. Remove chicken from the pot and repeat with the remaining pieces.
• Pour off all but 1/4 c of the fat from the pot. Add the sofrito, curry powder, and cloves and cook until the liquid has evaporated and the sofrito is sizzling. Lower the heat and whisk in the flour, then continue whisking until the flour absorbs all of the oil. Slowly pour in the chicken broth and coconut milk while continuing to whisk. Season lightly with salt and pepper and bring the sauce to a simmer over medium heat.
• Return the chicken to the pot, and cook until the chicken is very tender, about 25 minutes. Check the chicken a few times as it cooks to make sure the sauce is staying at a gentle simmer. Turn the chicken pieces over and move them around a bit too in order to make sure everything cooks evenly.
• Serve chicken and sauce over rice.

ONE-POT BRAISED CHICKEN WITH COCONUT MILK, TOMATO AND GINGER

Steps:

• Pat chicken thighs dry and season with salt and pepper. In a deep 12-inch skillet, heat the oil over medium-high. When the oil shimmers, add the chicken thighs, skin-side down, and cook, undisturbed, until nicely browned, 5 to 6 minutes. Flip and brown the other side, 4 to 5 minutes more. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
• Turn heat to medium-low, add the onion and cook until softened, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the garlic, ginger, cumin, cinnamon and red-pepper flakes, and cook until the garlic and the spices are fragrant, about 1 minute. Season with salt.
• Add the tomatoes with their juices and the coconut milk, and stir until combined, scraping up any brown bits that have formed at the bottom of the pan. Nestle the chicken back into the skillet along with any juices that have accumulated. Simmer, uncovered, until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has thickened slightly, 15 to 20 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Divide the rice, if using, among bowls and plate the chicken on top, spooning additional sauce over it. Scatter with cilantro and a squeeze of lime, if you like.

COCONUT-BRAISED CHICKEN THIGHS WITH TURMERIC AND PEPPERS

Steps:

• In a large, deep skillet, heat the oil over medium. In a small bowl, combine the coriander with 2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon pepper. Pat the chicken dry using paper towels, then rub the seasoning all over the chicken. Add the chicken to the skillet, skin-side down, and cook until starting to heat through on one side, 10 minutes. Raise the heat to medium-high and continue to cook, without flipping, until skin is well browned, 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate, browned-side up.
• Reduce the heat to medium-low, add the scallions, lemongrass, ginger, garlic, turmeric and lime leaves, if using, and cook, stirring frequently, until tender, 6 to 8 minutes.
• Stir in the stock and coconut milk and bring to a boil over high. Add the chicken, browned-side up, and cook over medium-low until cooked through, 20 to 25 minutes for thighs or 30 to 35 minutes for legs. (Chicken is cooked through when a thermometer inserted into the thickest part registers 165 degrees, or the juices run clear without a trace of pink when chicken is pierced with a knife.)
• Transfer the chicken to a plate, browned-side up. Whisk the sauce in the skillet to emulsify, season to taste with salt and pepper, then add the sliced peppers and cook over medium just until slightly softened, 2 to 3 minutes. Return the chicken to the skillet, browned-side up, and add a few small sprigs cilantro on top of the sauce, for garnish.
• Serve with rice or noodles, and pass bowls of cilantro at the table, for seasoning to taste.