MEAT • PREP: 15 minutes• COOKING TIME: 20 minutes•  SERVES: 8

This chicken dish/stew/curry/mixture/thing was inspired by a meal at my friend Ariella’s house a few years ago. She hosted us for a meal in her beautiful sukkah, and promptly began pulling out unbelievable amounts of incredible food, and we ate until we couldn’t move.

Having known Ariella, and her Persian family, for most of my life, I need to tell you a few things:  1. Ariella should have this blog, not me, because her cooking is NOT NORMAL.  2. As soon as I run out of recipes, I will be forcing Ariella to come up with more for said blog. 3. I would understand if you would like to accuse my lily-white self of cultural appropriation for even attempting to cook something steeped in the Sephardic tradition of the Middle East… so I apologize in advance if I have not done it justice.

In other news, many of you (ahemm. You know who you are) know that I have begun some exercises in Pesach cooking.. I figured that I should put some kosher for Passover recipes on the blog over the next couple of weeks, to help with the ‘what should I cook? Everything has flour in it!’ problem that crops up this time of year, every year.  Some of my attempts have been, shall we say, less than edible. Some have been great. Will work on them some more so that I can get them out to you soon.

Let me know what you think!

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 tbsp. olive oil
• 2 lbs. (approx. 8) boneless chicken thighs, cleaned well and cut into 1” pieces
• 20 oz. mushrooms (two boxes), any type, cleaned and sliced thin
• 2 medium or one large Spanish onion, cut in ½ inch dice
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 ½ tsp. ground cumin
• 1 ½ tsp. turmeric powder
• ¾ tsp. ground black pepper
• ½ tsp. ground coriander
• 1 ¼ tsp. salt, plus additional to taste
• 3 tbsp. fresh cilantro, cleaned and chopped

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat large (12”+) skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat
2. Add the onions and garlic. Sauté for 7-9 minutes until translucent and beginning to brown slightly
3. Add the mushrooms, sauté until they release their juices (approximately 3-4 minutes)
4. Add chicken, cumin, turmeric, black pepper, coriander, and salt.
5. Cook, stirring constantly until chicken is done in the center (approximately 8-10 minutes)
6. Remove from heat, add fresh cilantro, and stir

NOTES:

• This dish is wonderful over rice, and is a complete dinner with a side of hummus and hot pita bread
• I frequently serve this for Friday night dinner – add ½- ¾ c. water to the pan and cover tightly if reheating in the oven.
• Freezes well