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I am always excited to experiment with a dish that I’ve had before and recreate based on memory, taste, sight and smell. This dish is something I had once a year, always in Ramadan during my teen years. This desi inspired East African dish is called kuku paka. The spices in this dish are a recognition of the population of the Indian subcontinent who were born and raised in parts of East Africa learning Swahili or other dialects along with Punjabi or Urdu (like my father and his entire family). This has a coconut base but with spices like green chilis, onion, turmeric, and cumin. Some add tomatoes, potatoes or hard boiled egg. Variations are many. I was just happy that I was exposed to unique foods that I could one day make my own. I chose this as my “Ramadan traditions” collab recipe because we only had this during Ramadan from an aunt who was the last to emigrate from Nairobi to the US 🇺🇸 and finally able to give us a flavor of what their history was… literally.
Ingredients
- 1 lb chicken, cut into pieces
- 2 tablespoons, grated ginger (divided)
- 2 tablespoons, crushed garlic (divided)
- 1/4 cup vegetable or coconut oil
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon pepper
- 1 medium white onion
- 1-2 green green chili peppers, or spicy pepper to your liking (serrano)
- 1⁄2 -1 teaspoon turmeric, divided
- 2 teaspoon cumin, divided
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/4 cup crushed tomato
- 1 can coconut milk
- 2 tablespoon lime juice
- 4 hard-boiled and peeled eggs or grilled potatoes (optional)
- 1 curry leaf (optional)
- 1 teaspoon garam masala (optional)
- 1 tablespoons chopped cilantro
Steps
- Add the onion, chillies, and half of the following: ginger and garlic, turmeric, salt, pepper, into a blender and blend well. Use half of the blended mixture to coat and marinate chicken for 2 hours or overnight, and reserve the other half.
- When ready, grill your chicken, or roast in the oven at 375 for 40-45 minutes until charred coating, or use hot griddle indoors with some oil (until you get a grilled coating)
- To make curry, add 1/4 cup oil and the remaining half of the blended onion mixture, with the remaining half of the following: grated ginger and garlic, turmeric, salt, and pepper. Allow to cook on medium or medium low for 5-8 minutes to saute well, and omit any raw taste.
- Add crushed tomato (some use very little tomato so it depends on your interest), add sugar to cut the acidity of the tomatoes, and cook on medium or medium low for 4 minutes
- Add can of coconut milk and cook with sauce for 4-5 minutes until nicely thickened and reduced slightly
- Add grilled chicken to the curry and 1 tspn of lime juice and allow to cook for 20-30 minutes until chicken is tender and sauce is further reduced
- At this time, you can add the following optional add-ins: grilled potatoes or hard-boiled egg, curry leaf, and/or 1 tspn of garam masala (depending on how desi influenced you want this dish).
- Taste for salt and spice level, squeeze remaining lime, and garnish with cilantro and a pinch of garam masala
