Poulet au coco

Ingredients

The chicken

• 1.5 kgchicken
• jointed, on the bone
• thighs and drumsticks
• skin on or off
• 1 teaspoonsalt
• half a teaspoon black pepper
• juice of half a lime

The base

• 3 tablespoonsoil
• or coconut oil
• 2large onions, finely chopped
• 6 clovesgarlic, crushed
• a thumb of ginger, grated
• 2 teaspoonsground turmeric
• 1 teaspoonground cumin
• 1 teaspoonground coriander
• half a teaspoon ground cinnamon
• or 1 small stick
• 4cardamom pods, bruised
• optional
• 2tomatoes, chopped
• optional
• 1or 2 green chillies, slit

The coconut

• 400 mlthin coconut milk
• 200 mlthick coconut milk
• for the finish
• or 1 tin coconut milk, separated

To finish

• salt, to taste
• juice of half a lime
• a handful of coriander leaf
• or parsley

To serve

• rice
• or coconut rice
• cassava or breadfruit
• a chilli sauce
• lime wedges

Directions

1. Use thighs and drumsticks on the bone. Skin does not crisp in a wet sauce. Use a separate board and wash everything after. Rub it with salt, pepper and lime juice. Let it sit twenty minutes. Do not leave chicken in lime juice for hours. Heat the oil in a heavy pot. Brown the chicken in batches. Do not crowd the pot.
2. Brown it properly in two batches. Some versions do not brown the chicken at all. Set it aside with its juices. Add the onions to the pot. Cook them for about twelve minutes. They should soften completely.
3. Add the turmeric, cumin and coriander. Add the cinnamon and cardamom. Fry them for a minute in the oil. That minute is genuinely worth it. Keep the heat moderate. Add a splash of water if it threatens to catch. Use enough of it. Some versions include tomato and some do not.
4. Return the chicken and its juices. Add the thin coconut milk. Add the slit green chillies. Bring it to a bare simmer. Never let it boil hard. Keep it at a bare simmer throughout.
5. Cover it and simmer for about thirty minutes. The chicken should be tender and cooked through. Pierce the thickest part near the bone. The juices should run clear. Add it in the last five minutes.
6. Simmer it very gently. Thick coconut cream splits most readily. Spoon the cream off the top. Use the thin liquid first and the cream at the end. The sauce should coat the chicken.
7. Reduce it uncovered if it is loose. Reduce it before the thick cream goes in. Season with salt and taste it. Add lime juice at the end. Scatter chopped coriander or parsley over. Add a chilli sauce at the table for those who want it. Serve it with rice. It keeps three days refrigerated.

Technique

• Never let coconut milk boil hard. It splits into grainy oil and will not come back — keep it at a bare simmer throughout.
• Add the thick coconut cream only in the last five minutes, and reduce the sauce before that rather than after. Cream splits most readily, and long cooking ruins its texture.
• Do not shake the tin. Spoon the thick cream off the top and use the thin liquid beneath, which gives you both stages from one tin.
• Use two teaspoons of turmeric and buy it fresh. It is what makes this dish golden, and ground turmeric fades within months into something dusty that gives a dull colour. It also stains hands, boards and cloth for days.
• Keep the heat moderate when the spices go in. Turmeric burns and turns bitter quickly — a splash of water saves it.
• Cook the onions soft without browning them much. This is a pale golden dish and dark onions muddy the colour.
• Use thighs and drumsticks on the bone. Bones flavour the sauce and bone-in meat stays moist; breast dries out and goes stringy.
• Do not wash raw chicken. Washing splashes campylobacter around the kitchen and removes nothing from the meat.
• Twenty minutes with lime is plenty before cooking. Longer and the acid firms and whitens the surface of the chicken.
• The lime at the end is necessary rather than optional. A coconut sauce sits heavy without acid to lift it.
• Browning the chicken first gives more depth; poaching it straight in the sauce gives a paler, gentler dish. Both are done.
• This is mild and aromatic rather than hot. Slit chillies release fragrance without much burn, and a chilli sauce at the table lets people choose.

Substitutions

• Water replaces the thin coconut milk, with the thick cream still added at the end.
• Fish or prawns replace chicken, needing only a few minutes of cooking.
• Tomato can be added for more body and acidity, or left out for a paler purer sauce.
• Coconut oil replaces vegetable oil and suits the dish.
• Cardamom and cinnamon are optional; turmeric is not.
• Rice, cassava, breadfruit or green banana all serve as the starch.

Variations

• Mchuzi wa pweza on the Tanzanian coast uses the same coconut base with octopus.
• Poulet au coco is made across the French-speaking Indian Ocean and West Africa with local variations.
• Langouste à la vanille is the Comorian lobster dish using local vanilla.
• Pilaou, the spiced rice, is the other great Comorian dish.
• Mataba, cassava leaves pounded with coconut, is eaten alongside.
• A version with more chilli is made for those who want it hot.

Frequently asked questions

What is Poulet au coco?

Poulet au coco is a main from Comoros: chicken simmered in coconut milk and turmeric.

How long does Poulet au coco take to make?

Poulet au coco takes 25 minutes of preparation and 50 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 6. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Poulet au coco?

Yes, within limits. Water replaces the thin coconut milk, with the thick cream still added at the end. Fish or prawns replace chicken, needing only a few minutes of cooking. Tomato can be added for more body and acidity, or left out for a paler purer sauce. Coconut oil replaces vegetable oil and suits the dish. Cardamom and cinnamon are optional; turmeric is not. Rice, cassava, breadfruit or green banana all serve as the starch.

What is the most important thing to get right in Poulet au coco?

Use thighs and drumsticks on the bone. Skin does not crisp in a wet sauce. Use a separate board and wash everything after. Rub it with salt, pepper and lime juice. Let it sit twenty minutes. Do not leave chicken in lime juice for hours. Heat the oil in a heavy pot. Brown the chicken in batches. Do not crowd the pot.