Sylhet Red Chicken Curry (sous vide and grill)

[Syzygies]

Sylhet Red Chicken Curry, adapted from 50 Great Curries of India by Camellia Panjabi. A technique example, combining sous vide and grilling for a dish traditionally cooked stove top. Fry a chopped onion in a few TB peanut oil. Add 4 tsp assorted chile powder, e.g. Chipotle, Cayenne, Pasilla, Paprika to taste. (With a world of chiles available, don't be slavishly authentic, use what's on hand.) Adding bits of water as you go, add 1/2 tsp ground turmeric, 1 TB ground coriander, then 1/2 tsp garam masala. Finally, blend a head of peeled garlic, a similar piece of trimmed ginger, and 1 tsp cumin seeds, together with enough garden tomato for the blender to work. Pour and cook into curry paste. Seal four chicken legs into two vacuum bags, together with the divided sauce. For a chamber vacuum sealer, one wants to cool the sauce first. For a FoodSaver or similar machine, it helps to seal with the bag hanging vertically, so any liquid has to climb through the microchannels. In other words, hang the bag off the edge of the countertop. Cook sous vide at 147 F for two hours. One can pull this off without any specialized gear. First, one wants bags that are food safe at higher temperatures, such as SousVide Supreme Set of 20 One Quart Vacuum Seal Bags SousVide Supreme Zip Pouches/Bags - quart size The latter can be evacuated using the water bath itself to push the air out, without a vacuum sealer. Second, one can steady a large pot of water at any temperature one likes, adjusting the flame and watching for a dip when the bags are added. Finally, scrape off the sauce and grill the legs, serving with the sauce over rice. The legs are cooked through, with no "boiled rope" overcooking effect, typical of stews, so grill just till the surface is as desired. The soft texture could be disconcerting, delicious as it is, so make sure the surface sees some abuse for contrast. Just as people got used to the taste of tin in canned tomatoes, and the market rejected packaging improvements, people expect "boiled rope" here. Less damage to the protein tastes better, but one wants to avoid the impression of serving a poached egg. I used Thomas Keller's Under Pressure: Cooking Sous Vide for ideas, but it describes a very different style of cooking, three star French rather than peasant Indian. There is a sous vide book aimed specifically at barbecue, but I haven't seen it. I met Thomas Keller yesterday, helping a friend build a shed on the French Laundry grounds. Seeing the place and two brief conversations put all his books in perspective for me. He is very naturally focused on execution, precision, and detail, and I appreciate that his books chronicle exactly what he does. I can do the dumbing down for myself, to use these ideas in practice.

[Paswesley]

Re: Sylhet Red Chicken Curry (sous vide and grill)

This looks spicy delicious! How many Scoville units?

[Syzygies]

Re: Sylhet Red Chicken Curry (sous vide and grill)

That's why I mixed down the chiles, to a more flavorful blend rather than straight Indian chile. Still spicy but manageable, and the red ointment effect rings true from my trip to India.

Nice thing about sous vide, one doesn't need stock to make up for evaporation. Instead, the meat throws some liquid into the bag, which ends up part of the sauce.

[Loquitur]

Re: Sylhet Red Chicken Curry (sous vide and grill)

Be still my beating heart!!! Syz - that looks fantastic and I know my husband, who likes to sweat when he's eating Indian of Thai food, would love it. I just might have to get one of those Sous Vide Supreme Demi machines. To give me an idea of its capacity, how many of those chicken legs could you sous vide at a time?

Susan

[mguerra]

Re: Sylhet Red Chicken Curry (sous vide and grill)

A friend of mine has a Primo, and he has just got interested in sous vide. I will forward some of your posts about this, Syz, he will appreciate it.

[Syzygies]

Re: Sylhet Red Chicken Curry (sous vide and grill)

To give me an idea of its capacity' date=' how many of those chicken legs could you sous vide at a time[/quote']

With a rack to hold the bags apart, and perhaps the larger Sous Vide Supreme, a dozen or more would be easy. Or get the Poly Science Sous Vide Professional (which I will be getting) and attach it to any polycarbonate Cambro, like they do in restaurants. Your kitchen will start to resemble a sci fi set, and any reasonable capacity will be within reach.

The killer app is skirt steak at 140 F, then grilled on the Kamado. Anything else is just showing off that you haven't forgotten how to cook.