London Tides: The Recipes

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Even if a book isn’t thematically-related to food, I love to cook, so all my characters end up making delectable dishes over the course of a story. Today, I’m going to share two of my personal recipes. The first  is the chicken curry that Grace makes Asha and Ian. This is based on an Indian butter chicken recipe that I’ve tweaked so many times, it barely resembles the original; it’s now closer to a standard curry or masala than butter chicken.

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Indian Chicken Coconut Curry

This curry can be made mild or spicy, according to the taste of your family or guests. The kind of curry powder you use will largely influence how strong tasting it is: ones from the regular spice section tend to be milder, while an imported curry powder from the international aisle will have a bit more of a kick.
Cuisine Indian
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 1 large yellow onion, roughly chopped
  • 2 pounds chicken thighs, cubed
  • 1 small can tomato paste
  • 1 15-oz can coconut milk, full fat
  • 1 tablespoon curry powder
  • 2 teaspoons tandoori masala (see recipe link below)
  • 1 teaspoon garam masala (I prefer Frontier brand)
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional, dependent on heat level of curry powder)
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Instructions

  • Heat oil and butter in a large skillet or medium Dutch oven, preferably enameled cast-iron. Saute onions until they begin to become translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken pieces and saute until golden brown.
  • Meanwhile, blend spices, tomato paste, and coconut milk in a food processor. Add to the chicken in the pan and turn down the heat to low. Simmer for 45 minutes, partially covered, until the chicken is tender and cooked through and the sauce has reduced slightly.
  • Serve over cooked basmati rice or cauliflower rice.

Notes

For an excellent homemade tandoori masala, try this blog post. I usually omit the fenugreek leaves but it turns out just as well.
 

 

The second recipe is Filipino adobo, a recipe that doesn’t appear in the story, but most definitely would have become part of Grace’s repertoire when she spent time in Manila. Every Filipino lola has their special version of the Philippines’ national dish, so I’d like to believe this would have been the one shared with Grace.

 

 

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Filipino Chicken Adobo (Adobong Manok)

Being married to a Filipino, learning to cook the national dish of the Philippines was pretty much a given. It took experimenting with several different versions to find one that was similar to my husband's mom's recipe, and now this is in regular rotation at our house.
Cuisine Filipino
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 whole chicken, cut into pieces, skin-on
  • 1/4 cup palm vinegar (Datu Puti or Marca Pina brand)
  • 2 tablespoons garlic, crushed
  • 1 bay leaf, crushed
  • 3 tablespoons Filipino soy sauce (Datu Puti or Silver Swan brand)
  • 1/2-1 teaspoon whole peppercorns

Instructions

  • Heat oil in a large skillet. Fry chicken pieces until golden brown on all sides. Drain any excess oil from pan.
  • Add vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, bay leaf, salt, and pepper to the pan. Bring to a boil, then simmer, covered, up to one hour, until chicken is cooked through and fall-off-the-bone tender.
  • Serve over cooked jasmine rice. Serve with fresh tomatoes and atsarra, if desired.

Notes

Atsarra is a papaya relish often served alongside Filipino dishes. It is available jarred from Asian stores. Tropics is the most easily-sourced brand.

 

I hope you enjoy these recipes. If you make any of them, be sure to come back and let me know what you thought!



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Comments

One Comment • Comments Feed

  1. Reply

    Heidi says:

    I really enjoyed London Tides and look forward to trying these recipes!

    On August 1, 2019 at 10:59 pm

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