Surinamese Herbed Chicken

This recipe I adapted from Kayotic Kitchen, an absolutely beautiful food blog by a woman based in the Netherlands.

What, I asked myself, is Surinamese cooking? Kay from Kayotic Kitchen just LOVES food from this country, but I know little about the place or its history. Sounds Asian, right? Wrong! Suriname is located in South America, on the northern border of Brazil, and it was once a Dutch colony. Hence the connection to the Netherlands. This recipe does have a very Asian feel to it, despite its South American origins, (umm, Galangal doesn't get much more Asian to me). This is because of the many immigrants from South Asia, ala
Indonesia, to the country, of course!

Kay's original recipe calls for Laos (galangal powder), Walnut oil, garlic oil (never did find this exact thing, so I'm using garlic infused olive oil), and Chervil (nope, can't find that either). For the Galangal, I purchased from Importfoods.com. The Walnut oil I purchased at my local Kroger, actually! As for the Chervil... This is a fresh herb, a form of Parsley, beloved of the French, spread around Europe by the Romans. I boldly substituted a bit of mint in its place, but just a few leaves. Alternatively, you could use cilantro. I won't, because I hate the stuff.

Kay pounded her chicken flat. Because I'm lazy with a full time job, I simply bought mine already thinly cut. Once you've created the spice mix, rub it into the chicken breasts and let them sit, ensuring that the spices stick.

I didn't have any 'garlic oil' that Kay called for, and I failed to find any. I believe its an Asian ingredient, but Owensboro's brand new little Asian grocery store didn't have any. (No, there really is an Asian grocer in Owensboro. For real real! Miracles do exist.) So, I went to TJ Maxx and found this. Thought I'd give it shot. Stuff smells amazing when opened, and the chicken came out tasting great. Works for me!


Place the oil in the pan and heat it to medium high. When the oil starts to shimmer, add the chicken.

Cook the chicken for about two minutes, then dump the onion and red pepper right on top and around the edges. The chicken will need about 5 minutes each side - once you've hit that mark on the first side, flip it. Stir the vegetables occasionally to prevent burning, although YOU WANT DARK BROWNING OF THE ONIONS AND PEPPERS. This stuff that gets stuck to the bottom of the pan is an important part of your sauce.

Once the chicken is thoroughly cooked, add the water, herbs, sugar, bouillon and lime juice. I actually added more sugar than the original recipe called for, because I'm an American and we like things sweet. (Don't deny it, Americans!) Ditto for the lime juice, the original recipe called for only 1 TBS, and I added about 2.

Let the sauce simmer for few minutes, scraping some of the stuff off the bottom, creating a very unique and scruptumpulicious sauce. John loved it! Put this one in the 'make again and again' pile.