Capsicum Chicken

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Recipe
Step-by-Step with Photos and Historical Commentary

Capsicum is what British/Australian/Canadian (etc) authors call what we Americans call "Bell Peppers". It is a variety of capsicum anuum, the same species that produces Anaheim peppers, Ancho chilies, and Jalapeño peppers (and their cooked and dried counterpart, chipotle). This recipe purports to be Indian food, and contains many elements of that style, but also includes the New World influences of the peppers and tomatoes.

First, the recipe:

CAPSICUM CHICKEN, serves 4 (care of Epicurious)

3 large onions, sliced
4 tbsp. sesame or sunflower oil
3 small fresh green chilies, slit and seeded
1 tsp curry or to taste (or 4 curry leaves, if you can find them)
1/2 tsp. turmeric
2 large tomatoes, peeled and chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed in garlic press
1 1/2-inch piece of ginger, grated, or juice of the piece crushed in a garlic press
A pinch of cayenne or chili powder
4 chicken pieces (I prefer boned and skinless, but whatever works for you)
2 large red bell peppers, seeded, and diced
2 tsp. tamarind paste diluted in 1/2 cup water
1-2 tsps. sugar (optional)
Directions:
Fry the onions in the oil till soft. Add the green chilies and curry leaves (if you have them) and fry, until the onions are golden. Now stir in the turmeric, curry powder (if curry leaves not used) garlic, ginger and cayenne, and simmer 10 minutes. Add the chicken pieces and the bell peppers and pour the diluted tamarind. Add enough water just to cover, season with a little salt, and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the chicken is done.

Step-by-Step with Photos and Historical Commentary

First, you'll want to put the oil in a deep pan and turn on the heat. As it heats, slice the onions. When they're cut, put them in the oil and let them cook (stirring occasionally to prevent burning) until they're soft and mildly translucent (the opacity depends on the thickness). While they're cooking, cut the green chilies in half and remove the seeds and ribs (almost all of the "heat" of the chili is contained in the seeds and the rib. You might want to rinse the chilies and your knife in between doing this and slicing them). Slice them neatly, and when the onions are nicely soft, put them in the pan. It should look something like this:



Onions are the basis for a lot of Indian cuisine; they are estimated to have been cultivated since about 3000 BCE by the Egyptians. The peppers, on the other hand, reflect a global influence, as this variety is a New World food.

Cook this mixture until the onion is nicely golden. When it's ready, add the spices (I didn't have any tamarind the first time I made it and it was still excellent) and the tomato and let it simmer for a few minutes to nicely meld the flavor. When you're satisfied, add in the tomato. (See also: How To: Peel a Tomato)

It should look something like this:



While the Tamarind tree is not technically native to India (it comes originally from Africa) it has been cultivated there for so long that it is frequently referred to as being indigenous. The plant was well known to the Greeks and the Egyptians by the 4th century BCE, and has a long and noble history of being used in a variety of cuisines.

It took me a while to find some; bear in mind that while Tamarind is used more often in Indian and Southeast Asian cuisine, it is also used in Latin American recipes, and may be found in that section of the supermarket or at a latino grocery.

To prepare the paste, add it into 1/2 cup lukewarm water and as it hydrates, mix it thoroughly into a (more or less) smooth goo.

Let it simmer for a little while as you slice the bell peppers. When you're finished, mix them in and add the (whole) chicken breasts. Add enough water to barely cover the entire thing and let it simmer for about 30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked.

Mid-simmer:



As it finishes, taste it; you might want to add a little sugar to offset the tamarind.

When it's all done, plate the chicken, top it with some of the veggies, and eat. I'd recommend serving it with/on a bed of rice or with plenty of naan (recipe to come).

This post took a while to create (I had to flesh out a lot of the technique entries first) so it's a little light on history, for which I apologize. I'm working up to an entire post about curry and maybe some little spotlights on the other spices used in the recipe.

How to: Slice and Dice Onion

This is the first of several posts on specific techniques you will encounter while cooking.

For the time being, there are no photos, because I did not think to take some when I did this for the Capsicum Chicken.

PREPARATION

1) Cut off both ends of the onion to remove the stem and root connections.

2) Set the onion on end on one of the flats you just cut, then cut it in half. It is much easier to peel it when it's been cut.

3) Peel off the skin and the outer layer; discard them.

Now here's where the techniques diverge slightly.

TO SLICE THE ONION:

1) Put the onion down on the big side you just cut.

2) Make very thin slices, working horizontally across the long edge you made.

3) Break apart the nested layers. Ta da! Perfect slices.

TO DICE THE ONION:

1) Put the onion on the side you just cut

2) Cut the onion almost to the edge vertically, as if you were cutting a cake into layers.

3) Turn it upwards so that the cuts you just made are horizontal and on top. Cut again almost to the edge cross to the former cuts.

4) Set the onion on its large face and cut as if slicing. The pieces should form neat little near-cubes.

How To: Peel a Tomato

When you first think about it, peeling a tomato seems peculiarly impossible. Then come the questions: why would you peel a tomato, anyway? What remains after you do it? First, the technique, then some answers.

Peeling a tomato is not nearly as difficult as it sounds if you use this little trick. It is possible to do it using only a very sharp knife, but this way is much easier:

1) Put the tomato in a pot of boiling water for 5-15 seconds. Don't do it too much longer, as the longer it boils, the less flavorful it gets.

When you take it out and let it cool, it should be dead simple to peel off the skin.

Now, back to your questions:

Why would you peel a tomato?

The skin and seeds of a tomato contain most of the bitterness. Further, when you peel the tomato, you remove a lot of its structural integrity, allowing it to easily liquefy.

What remains after you peel it?

Basically a rough, squishy version of the tomato, not entirely dissimilar to the inside of a pear.

So there you have it, a little trick that you can use whenever a recipe calls for a peeled tomato that makes the process significantly easier.