Bombay Chile And Cilantro Chicken is a flavorful, healthy meal to try when you’re looking to mix things up for your dinner routine.
Bombay Chile and Cilantro Chicken
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I make a lot of chicken during the week for my kids at dinnertime. It’s easy, inexpensive and can often be prepared ahead of time. Lately, I’ve been craving the warm spices of Indian food, and so this week, my kids were treated to a new chicken dish – Bombay Chile and Cilantro Chicken, marinated with lots of warm spices, including coriander, black pepper, cumin, and cayenne. I chose this recipe from over 1,400 recipes in The Essential New York Times Cookbook by Amanda Hesser.
This is definitely a dish that can be started early in the day or the night before, then thrown on the grill or broiled just before dinnertime. I marinated the chicken in the morning, cooked everything before I headed out the door to pick my son up from school, and just reheated it as soon as we walked in the door an hour later. Served with a bright Cilantro Sauce, this is a unique, flavorful chicken dish that I will be making again. To go with this spicy chicken dish, I made some Indian Lemon Rice using brown rice, and Spinach Thoran (I had picked up some leafy green vegetables from the local Indian supermarket that were labeled “phoi leaves”, that looked like New Zealand Spinach).
This week, a group of bloggers is celebrating Amanda Hesser, one of the 50 Women Game Changers in Food. Amanda Hesser is a New York Times food writer, and co-founder (with Merrill Staub) of the food community Food 52, full of recipes, photos, and contests for foodies. In addition to writing over 750 stories for the New York Times, Amanda has written the award-winning books Cooking for Mr. Latte and The Cook and the Gardener. Her latest book is The Essential New York Times Cookbook, a New York Time bestseller and the winner of a James Beard award in 2011.
It took five years of work before The Essential New York Times Cookbook was published. It’s no wonder…Amanda took on this project right after she gave birth to twins, and cooked her way through 1,400 some odd recipes, along with her partner in crime, Merrill Stubbs and others. They spent hundreds of weekends and evenings testing recipes, “eating triumphant and failed dinners, and doing dishes late into the night.” According to Amanda, her twins, Walker and Addie, were raised on the recipes in this cookbook, first as purees, later as solids. Wouldn’t I have loved to be one of her kids!
The last New York Times Cookbook was written by Craig Claiborne and originally published in 1961, covering a decade of recipes. This new New York Times Cookbook by Amanda Hesser includes the most noteworthy recipes all the way from the 1850’s!
Bombay Chile And Cilantro Chicken
Adapted from The Essential New York Times Cookbook. This recipe was originally printed in 1998: "Food: Pit Stops," by Molly O'Neill, based on a recipe adapted from The Barbecue Bible, by Steven Raichlen. I used a lot less cayenne pepper than the tablespoon called for in the original recipe. I left the skin on during the marinating/cooking process to keep the chicken moist, but removed it before serving. This was delicious served with Indian Lemon Rice and Spinach Thoran.
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 pounds chicken on the bone
Chicken Marinade
- 1 1/2 tablespoon coriander seeds
- 2 teaspoons black peppercorns
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 6 cloves garlic roughly chopped
- 1 2-inch piece garlic peeled, thinly sliced
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/4 cup water or as needed
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper or more for extra spicy
- 2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup cilantro leaves and roots chopped
Cilantro Sauce
- 1 cup cilantro chopped
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 jalapeno pepper halved, seeded
- 1/2 cup walnuts
- 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup water
For Serving
- sliced red onion
- thinly sliced lemons and limes
- cilantro leaves
- Cilantro Sauce
Instructions
Chicken Marinade
-
Toast the coriander seeds, peppercorns, and cumin seeds in a small skillet over medium heat until fragrant, 1-2 minutes. Transfer to a coffee grinder or mortar and pestle and grind to a fine powder.
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Combine the ground spices, garlic, ginger, oil, water, cayenne, lemon juice and salt in a blender and puree. Transfer to a large bowl and toss in the chicken and cilantro. Mix well, making sure all chicken pieces are covered with the marinade.
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Marinade for at least 4 hours (the longer the better).
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Grill chicken or broil until done.
Cilantro Sauce
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Combine cilantro, garlic, hot pepper, walnuts, lemon juice, cumin, salt, pepper and water in a blender; puree until smooth.
To Serve
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Scatter onions, lemons, limes and cilantro leaves on top of chicken.
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Serve with Cilantro Sauce.
Save me a seat, I’ll be right over! Everything about this looks so good. Even the cilantro sauce is special, Thanks, I’m bookmarking this now.
Wish you could come by to taste this – you’re absolutely right, the cilantro sauce makes this dish special!
What a great looking plate of chicken! I’m drawn to the warm Indian spices at this time of year, too. Indian cooking used to intimidate me, because I didn’t know much about it and every recipe seemed to have such a long list of spices. But once you have your pantry stocked, the cooking becomes much easier.
I agree Lydia, with the weather getting cooler, I’ve been craving warm spices and soups. I too was intimidated by Indian cooking a few years back, but once I accumulated some of the common Indian spices, it did make cooking Indian food so much easier.
so pretty and a great looking recipe!
As I am munching on cold pizza for breakfast, although I do like cold pizza for breakfast, I am craving something more like this. What a perfect choice to highlight Amanda!
Ha ha Bellini – I have to agree, I would definitely choose this chicken over cold pizza for breakfast.
I absolutely love this book, and the recipe looks great!
This new cookbook is a treasure full of recipes – I think it would take me more than five years just to try a quarter of these recipes.
Wow, this sounds like it is absolutely packed with fabulous flavor…and I love the sound of the cilantro sauce, as well. I think I could probably cook through that book for years and still find something new to all the time…it’s such a tome! Beautiful photos, too 😀
This chicken does have lots of flavor and spice, and the cilantro sauce is definitely worth making. There are so many recipes in this cookbook, it took me a long time to decide which recipe to highlight.
This sounds absolutely delicious Jeanette!! Plus, I’m totally won over by anything topped with cilantro, red onion, and limes 😀
I agree Jessica, all the extras make this dish even better.
The chicken looks wonderful. I printed out the recipe. I may omit the hot peppers. I cant hang like I used to. Thanks for sharing.
This is definitely spicy – I cut back the cayenne and it was still pretty spicy!
I love Indian flavors, but unfortunately, my husband doesn’t. He is away for work this month, so I’m thinking I may have to make some of this up for myself while he is away!!
Perfect chance to enjoy some Indian on your own!
What a gorgeous recipe. I would absolutely love this for dinner tonight. Your family is most fortunate. That sauce is other-worldly good. This was a perfect choice for this weeks tribute to the fabulous fifty. Have a great weekend.Blessings…Mary
Thanks Mary – my kids really did enjoy this, and the sauce is a must to fully enjoy this dish.
That looks amazing, Jeanette. Those flavors! I don’t make a lot of Indian food, but this one is very doable.
Indian food really isn’t that hard to make once you stock up on a few of the spices. I used to be intimidated by all the different spices, but after making a bunch of Indian recipes, I feel much more comfortable making Indian food. My kids love it too, so I’m glad I learned how to make a few dishes, including this dish.
Your chicken looks warming and delicious Jeanette but it’s the cilantro sauce that’s got me all aflutter! 🙂 Light but full of flavour, it is the perfect accompaniment to this satisfying meal.
I’m so glad you posted this recipe. I had somthing similar in a restaurant and I loved the sauce. Now I can make it at home.
Yum Jeanette!! Looks fantastic!!!
I’m craving 4 tripe cheese chicken pasta