Dominican Sweet and Fire Chicken Curry

Of course, being my first time making a Dominican curry, I got my trusty ol' dad to help me with this one. So essentially it's his recipe. But on my blog... so it evens itself out.

This curry is spicy but not unbearable. Sweet but not face-scrunching sweet. It's got soft textures, crunchy textures and it's just got a really rich flavour.

Of course, I added extra spice to the finished dish. Okay, okay it's Jamaican but it's close enough. And the curry scotch bonnet sauce just made this dish.

But don't worry, the curry is still amazing without it.

Dominican Sweet and Fire Chicken Curry

Serves: 2

Ingredients

• 2 small chicken breasts, cut into small chunks

• 250g sweet potato, chopped into chunks

• half red onion, finely diced

• 1 small pepper, sliced

• 220g fresh tomatoes ( or 200g tinned chopped tomatoes )

• 1/2 scotch bonnet chilli

• 1 green jalepeno chilli

• 3 cloves garlic

• 4tsp chipotle paste ( don't skim the teaspoons! )

• 1 heaped tbsp dark brown sugar

• 1tbsp cumin seeds

• 1 chicken stock cube

• juice from half a lime

• leaves from one handful of thyme ( about 20 sprigs )

• 200g pineapple, cut into small chunks

• 375ml sweet white dessert wine

• coriander and hot sauce, optional, to serve

Method

- Preheat a fan oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

- Cover the bottom of a casserole dish in a light coating of ground nut oil. Heat it to a high heat.

- Once the oil is hot add the chicken, stir briefly then cover the dish with a lid. Brown the chicken on all sides, for about 4 minutes.

- Add the sweet potato and cook for a further 5 minutes, with the lid on. Stir every 2 minutes

- Then add the onions and peppers and stir everything together, adding more oil if needed. Season.

- Reduce the heat to medium-high and plop the tomatoes in. Squeeze in the lime juice then just add the lime skin into the casserole dish.

- Pour in about 1/2 cup water and 200ml of the wine as well as the thyme and garlic. Finally pour in the juice from the pineapple ( but not the pineapple! ), the stock, sugar and chipotle paste.

- Combine everything together then cover with the lid. Pop it into the oven for 1 1/2 - 2 hours.

- After 1 hour of cooking, remove the lid and let it reduce until the sauce has thickened.

- 10 minutes before serving, add in the pineapple.

- Serve with a garnish of coriander and enjoy this fiery warming meal!