Coconut Curry Chicken-Mr Buckaroonie

Coconut Curry Chicken

Folks, my wife Rosaline is a Torres Strait Islander. Torres Strait Islanders make up the Australian Indigenous population, along with Aboriginal people. The Torres Strait Islands are situated between the tip of Australia and Papua New Guinea. Over 200 beautiful islands are littered throughout the Coral Sea, and only a small amount of the islands are inhabited. Rosaline’s mother was born on the beautiful little island called Naghir; the English name is Mt Ernest. Ros has ancestors buried on the island, which is now uninhabited. A favourite dish from the Torres Strait Islands is Coconut Curry Chicken, which can be cooked at home or, better still, cooked out on the tracks and trails in a cast iron dutch oven on the open camp fire. Folks, give this a go - you’ll thank me for it! If you check my YouTube channel, you will see where I made it on the Ozpig and even got the coconut cream out of real coconuts, the way they do it in the Torres Strait.

Ingredients

• 3 lbs chicken thigh fillets cut into half inch cubes (use thigh not breast) • 6 chicken wings, cut in half • 2 chicken drumsticks can also be added if you want • 4 tablespoons of dry curry powder (we use Keens brand in Australia) • 3 large yellow onions, sliced • 1 large piece of fresh ginger, grated • 2 tablespoons of minced garlic (from a jar is fine) • 3 washed potatoes, diced into large cubes • 1 large sweet potato, diced into large cubes • 2 cans of coconut milk • 1 can of coconut cream • Chicken stock

Ros, myself and Rafa the dog standing on the very tip of Australia, one of the most iconic photos an overlander can take in Australia. It is a four-wheel drive mission to make it to the tip of Australia. You can see the first of the Torres Strait Islands in the background. 200 islands extend right up to just two miles from the coast of Papua New Guinea.

Cooking Method

Place your cast iron camp oven on some hot coals and bring to a nice hot temperature. Put in a good splash of oil and get it nice and hot.

Put in the sliced brown onions and keep stirring until they start to soften.

Put in the minced garlic and grated fresh ginger. Keep stirring. Don’t let it stick.

Then put in four heaping tablespoons

of curry powder. If you can get Keens brand in the USA, use that.

Keep mixing the curry powder throughout the onion, garlic and ginger.

Place in the diced chicken thigh filets, wings and drum sticks, if you use them. Keep stirring until all the chicken is coated with the curry powder and it starts to brown.

When the chicken looks like it has taken on all the flavor of the curry powder, add in a small amount of chicken stock so that it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the camp oven. Place lid on for a few minutes and have a few sips of your beer. Make sure your fire and coals are stoked - you don’t want to run out of heat during the cooking process.

Take the lid off and add a can of coconut milk and a can of coconut cream. Mix it all together and place the lid back on. Have another beer!!!!

Give the chicken a good stir. If the curry sauce looks too white, you can add a bit more curry powder to taste. If it looks like the curry flavor is too strong, you can add some more coconut milk or cream. Either is fine.

Make sure there is enough liquid for the chicken to simmer in.

Add the potato and sweet potato and mix in.

At this stage, you can lessen the heat. Put the camp oven on a bed of coals and put a shovel load on the lid.

Sit down around the fire, crack another cold beer and start thinking about how good it is going to taste.

Give it a stir every now and then. Make sure it is simmering away nicely.

At this stage, you crack another cold beer and ask the wife to cook a big pot of white rice!!!!! Lol

You can simmer this for anywhere from an hour to two hours, but keep stirring. You just simmer it - don’t have the heat too hot during this stage.

Serve up a big bowl of rice and then scoop on the Coconut Curry Chicken. A big chunk of Aussie Damper with butter goes well for mopping up that beautiful coconut curry sauce. A slice of lemon goes nicely with it also.

Sit down with another beer and enjoy with the family around the campfire. This makes a great winter camping food. It really warms you up. ENJOY!!!!!!

Mr. Buckaroonie

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