Peanut Chicken Curry

EASIER

GLUTEN-FREE

Makes 4 servings

You might not even know there’s peanut butter in this curry. It melts into the sauce, making it savory and salty with an unrivaled depth of flavor. Because there’s that secret weapon in the ingredients, you’ve given yourself plenty of time to build a much more flavorful homemade curry from an assortment of spices, a more aromatic mixture than the standard premade yellow curry.

2 tablespoons peanut oil

3 medium yellow onions, halved, each half cut into three wedges

2 teaspoons minced garlic

2½ teaspoons ground ginger

2 teaspoons ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Up to ¼ teaspoon cayenne

⅛ teaspoon ground cloves

1½ pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs

¼ cup dry vermouth, dry white wine, or water

¾ cup full-fat, low-fat, or fat-free plain Greek yogurt

¼ cup natural-style creamy peanut butter

¼ cup golden raisins

1. Warm a large Dutch oven over medium heat for a minute or so. Swirl in the oil, then add the onions. Cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned at the edges, about 3 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook for a few seconds.

2. Add the ginger, coriander, cinnamon, cayenne, and cloves. Stir well, cook a few more seconds, then add the chicken. Stir until it is coated thoroughly and evenly with the spices.

3. Pour in the vermouth and bring to a simmer, stirring all the while to scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the pot.

4. Stir in the yogurt, peanut butter, and raisins until the peanut butter dissolves. Bring to a low simmer, stirring quite often; then reduce the heat to very low, cover the pot, and cook at a very low bubble, stirring fairly often, until the meat is tender when pierced with a fork, 25 to 30 minutes.

5. Let rest, covered, off the heat for 5 minutes before serving.

Test Kitchen Notes

• It’s easier to first cut the onions into wedges, then peel off the dry, outer layer.

• In step 4, stir fairly frequently and keep the heat very low (only a few bubbles at a time) to prevent scorching. If you can’t get the heat low enough, use a heat diffuser or a “simmer mat” under the pot.

• There’s no salt in the recipe because peanut butter is salty. Pass more at the table if you’ve used salt-free peanut butter.

Voilà! You can cut down the cooking time for rice as a side dish by using a two-step process: Set a large pot over high heat for a couple of minutes, add at least 1 cup long-grain rice (white or brown) and stir a minute or two to toast the grains. Then add two times the amount of water as the rice (which will come to a boil very quickly), cover, reduce the heat a little, and cook at a good boil until tender, maybe 10 minutes for white rice, 25 for brown. Drain in a fine-mesh sieve set in the sink. The rice will be chewier, less fluffy, and actually a better companion to rich curries and stews.