Some of you asked, after the Guam article, for recipes. Here is one of my favorites, Kadon Pika. In the past I made this similar dish a few times, but under my known name „Curcuma-Chilli Chicken“. Curcuma is also named turmeric. This, Luigi, is what you had in your mind, right ? Above the skillet full of curcuma-chilli chicken with cracked baby potatoes and cilantro.  I found the old recipe and pics we used at the time.

  Curcuma or tumeric, root and powder.

There are a thousand different ways to cook it. My favorite, which is popular around south east Asia contents coconut milk. Sauce stays thin and meat stays moist and juicy. You can try it with coconut cream and it will become thicker, like a curry.

  Main ingredients for our curcuma chicken.

Ingredients.

1 whole chicken
1/2 cup dark soy sauce (Kikkoman)
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 medium yellow onion, diced
6  large cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon curcuma (tumeric) powder
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1 1/2 cans coconut milk (about 600ml)
10 plus fresh hot chilli’s, or as many as you can handle

   Cayenne chilli, fruit and powder.

How to do.

Cut up whole chicken into bite-sized pieces.
Rinse and drain chicken.

Dice onions and mince garlic and saute in the olive oil.

Add chicken and cook until well browned.
Add the rest of the ingredients, except the coconut milk, and cook.

Stir occasionally until chicken is cooked well – but still firm. Do not overcook the chicken. In this recipe you don’t want the chicken falling off the bone. Original behavior is to nibble and suck the meat off the chicken bones.

Once everything is in the pot, except the coconut milk, it should look like this. Turn the heat down to low and cook for about 20 to 30 min. This should be just enough to cook everything just right, keeping the chicken firm and not falling off the bone.

  Should look like this.

As cooked to the right consistency, add the coconut milk and cook for 2 more minutes.
Serve over freshly cooked hot Jasmine Rice.

     Chilli’s are just for decoration, better use coriander. Remember Luigi, in Panama we used Patacones aside.

Tips.

If you are in Uruguay and use local chickens (elephant size), which are much heavier then in the north, make sure to add at least 50% to all other ingredients.

  Coconut milk, (400ml) from the Phillipines, we buy in Uruguay.

Make sure you smash up the chilli’s before adding them into the pot. If you use chilli powder instead, it must be added before cooking. And – my dear friends in Uruguay – this recipe does not content any OREGANO, especially not dry leaves sprinkled as decoration!

    If you like some color decoration on the dish, please don’t use „dry oregano“, use FRESH chopped spring onion, cilantro or parsley instead.

This is a „thick sauce“ variation. Made with lots of onions, coconut cream, double cream, curcuma, chilli and just chicken thighs. I made this for my 70th birthday. Some of you might remember. Served over rice and with a strong German beer.

This is a lovely „thin sauce“ variation. Chicken meat off the bone and served as a soup with baguette and a lovely dry white wine.

The curcuma plant (called curcuma aromatica, see head picture) grows a few different variations. One will have different colors of roots and powder. I hope you find the time to cook this dish for yourself – its just great !