Honey-Curry Chicken (Kosher)

This is a honey-baked chicken recipe that we make every year for our synagogue’s Passover seder. But we like it enough that I tend to make it all year round. I was whipping up a batch for Sunday dinner tomorrow, because my parents are coming over to visit, and I mentioned it on Twitter. One of my tweets asked for the recipe. So here it is.

I don’t know where this recipe came from originally, but if you search on Google, you will find numerous variations on the same theme. I’ll note my own variations below.

My own variation:

I usually cut the recipe in half, because that’s a lot of chicken. I use 1 to 1.5 lbs of chicken thighs (not breasts). I also use the following in the sauce (for 1-1.5 lbs of chicken):

1/3 cup margarine (I use Earth Balance brand)
1/2 cup honey
2 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
(only add salt to taste, if at all)
2 teaspoon curry (double what’s called for above)
1 teaspoon ground mustard seed (for an extra kick in the pants)

I make the sauce ahead of time, simmering the ingredients in a saucepan until the margarine is melted and the ingredients are combined. (Make sure it doesn’t boil!) Then I pour it over the chicken and either refrigerate until baking time, or bake immediately. This dish can also be baked ahead of time and reheated (if you want to eat it on the Sabbath and if your Sabbath tradition permits that).

I also do not baste the chicken while baking, because basting is bad. (It requires you to keep opening the oven and letting the heat out, and it does nothing for the taste or texture of the chicken.)

Other variations: Try boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Also, try adding a little cumin or cayenne pepper to the sauce (as in other recipes on the net).

For tomorrow, I plan to serve it with rice, vegetables, and an Israeli-style salad (chopped lettuce, diced tomatoes & cucumbers, &c). But it also works well with couscous. (And probably with lots of other side-dishes as well.)

My mouth is watering…

-TimK