Food Cart Curry Chicken

I’ve never eaten food cart curry chicken off a food cart in New York City so I don’t know how “authentic” this is but it is delicious! This is from My Kitchen Year by Ruth Reichl, a memoir with recipes chronicling the time after the abrupt closure of Gourmet magazine. Now I want to try a few more variations!  I might add some garlic to the marinade next time because everything is better with garlic.

First you marinate bite-sized pieces of boneless skinless chicken thighs and sliced onions in a curry-based marinade. I marinated the chicken overnight but she says you can get away with 4 hours so you could get this started in the morning or at lunch.

Start your rice cooking and when it’s almost done, cook the marinated chicken and onions them in a hot skillet for about 5 minutes. That’s it! The pieces are small so they cook quickly.

Reichl says the “white sauce” is optional but I think it’s too good to skip. It’s pretty quick to whip up and makes a great salad dressing for a simple lettuce, tomato and onion salad.

Print Recipe

Food Cart Curry Chicken

After an overnight marinade, this dinner goes together fast. Serve with rice and a simple salad. 

Course: Main Course

Servings: 4

Ingredients

Chicken and Marinade

• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs
• 3 Tbsp olive oil plus more to cook the chicken
• 1 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp coriander seeds
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp curry powder
• 1/4 tsp oregano
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp salt
• black pepper

Yogurt Sauce

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup yogurt
• 1 Tbsp white vinegar
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• salt and pepper to taste

Salad

• iceberg lettuce
• mild onion, sliced
• tomatoes, chopped
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

• Cut the chicken into bite-sized chunks. Grind the marinade ingredients together in a spice/coffee grinder or a blender.  Put the chicken in a bag and pour in the marinade.  Seal the bag and then squish the chicken and marinade together so the chicken is well coated. Refrigerate overnight (or at least 4 hours). 
• If you're serving this with rice and salad, cook the rice and chop up lettuce, onions and tomatoes for a simple salad. 
• Mix up the yogurt and mayonnaise sauce. Use some to dress the salad and serve the rest to pass at the table.
• Take the chicken from the bag and sprinkle with a bit more salt and pepper. 
• Heat a large skillet with a few glugs of oil over medium-high heat. Cook the chicken until done, stirring often. This will take about 5 minutes.