Recipe: Joy of Feeding Judges Pick Top Tyee Recipe

A few weeks ago we ran a contest where we asked people to tell us about their favourite comfort foods -- either from their childhood, a current family classic, or both -- in exchange for being entered to win one of three pairs of tickets to Joy of Feeding, a fabulous day of food and fun this Sunday, June 30 at UBC Farm (benefitting their sustainability programs.)

Hundreds of you chimed in with a very diverse selection of comfort foods that made us hungry, and that charmed us with great back stories. We received many submissions for various curries, congees, and hearty health-giving soup recipes, mac & cheese stories galore, multiple perogy entries, and much much more. You name it, we got it. You can read all the submissions here.

The grand prize was reserved for one lucky winner who went a step further and submitted an actual recipe: a group of four tickets to Joy of Feeding, acknowledgement at the event, and their recipe published on The Tyee. A few dozen of you went all the way. Thanks!

Judges Meeru Dhalwala of Vij's, Mary Mackay of Terra Breads, and Julian Bond of the Pacific Institute for the Culinary Arts loved all the comfort food stories and had a hard time choosing just one recipe. We've highlighted a few you can read at the end of this piece.

The criteria for a recipe winner?

Simple: best blend of "interesting" and "practical" for regular home cooking.

Drum roll please... the Winner is Harish Vasudevan and his Chettinad Pepper Chicken Curry.

Here's Harish's submission about his cherished comfort foods, from both his upbringing, and his current tastes:

"My comfort food as a kid used to be rice and ice cold yogurt/buttermilk. It changed to Indian street food like potato fritters and bread (vada-pav). Right now it would be a toss between dosa with chicken curry, and sushi."

We'd like to share a table with Harish. When you read the commentary that goes along with his recipe, you'll understand why. There's clearly joy in this man's approach to cooking and feeding!

Chettinad Pepper Chicken Curry

Note: It is mostly dry (thick sauce)

You need the following: Serves 2-3 people

300-400 gm boneless and skinless chicken thighs or breasts

1. 1-2 bay leaves
2. 1.5 tsp fennel seeds
3. 1-2 star anise
4. 1-2 black cardamom
5. 1 small stick cinnamon
6. 1-2 cloves
7. 7-8 cloves garlic
8. 20-30 gm (1 small piece) ginger peeled
9. 1 big or 2 small red onions finely chopped
10. 2 fresh and medium tomatoes finely chopped
11. 3-4 tbsp oil for cooking-do not use olive oil.
12. salt to taste
13. red chili (pepper powder) to taste
14. 2 tsp coriander powder (cilantro seed powder)
15. 1/2 tsp turmeric powder (curcuma)
16. 1 sprig Curry leaves
17. Freshly ground black pepper (do not use pepper mill)

Most items would be available in any Indian (east!) grocery store or Superstore. If not give me a shout and I can help in return for a beer! (kidding)

Procedure:

1. Peel ginger and garlic-grind to a fine paste in a food processor.

2. Heat oil. Add the whole spices (items 1-6) until you get the aroma. Do not burn.

3. Add the chopped onions. A minute later add salt. This gets the juices out of the onions, which adds flavor to your sauce.

3. Add the ginger-garlic paste and curry leaves (16) once the onions start to turn golden. Cook to make your sauce base.

4. Add the spice powders (items 13-15) taking care not to burn them. Stir well until you see the oil oozing out. By this time you should be drooling over the food and smelling curry in your clothes!

5. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook till the tomato softens up and forms your sauce.

6. Clean the chicken and chop into small cubes. Add the meat to the sauce and stir till the chicken turns white.

7. Add sufficient water (200-250 ml) to cover the chicken. Remember the chicken will also release its juices while cooking.

8. Cover with a lid and cook on slow-medium heat until the chicken is cooked and the sauce thickens (your call).

9. Once thick and smelling good, add the ground pepper and cook for 2-3 minutes. Turn off the heat.

10. Serve with basmati rice (soaked for 40 minutes) and cooked with a 2:3 ratio rice:water or hot naan/rotis.

Goes best with a cold beer!!

Bon appetito!!

Honourable mentions:

The three following submissions were also highlighted by the judges. Find all of our wonderful readers' submissions here.

Peter Chabanowich: "As a child, one of my mother's classics stands out as pure comfort, the Linus blanket of the gastronomique: her exquisite potato pancakes. They were simple, eschewing onions and other additions. These delectable morsels were served Friday evenings, as they were sploshed with garlic butter (the butter was home-made, and the garlic was home-grown, as were the potatoes), and Saturdays were mornings spent doing farm clean-up chores so the garlic would not threaten socializing. I would eat until it was impossible to eat more."

Shirene Salamatian: "My favourite comfort food is my grandma's 'ginger and chicken.' It's a simple stew of browned onions and chicken, water, soy sauce, lots of fresh grated ginger, pineapple, mushrooms and sometimes water chestnuts - all without measurement. I think she created it from her years growing up in Maui and the pineapple and the Chinese influence made the stew feel exotic. It was an inexpensive meal that could be put together quickly and served over rice could feed many. It comforted me as a child and still now, as an adult, during difficult times, I ask my mom to make it."

Patricia Maher: "Pan-fried cod tongues. In Newfoundland, cod was God. Especially on Fridays. Catholics didn't eat meat on Fridays when I was a kid growing up in St. John's. And we were a Catholic family. All 12 of us. We always ate cod in one form or another every Friday. Delicious, fresh-out-of the water North Atlantic cod. Now that was a scoff! But my all time, couldn't get enough, 'Please, sir, may I have some more?' part of the cod was the delicately flavoured cod tongue. Dredged in flour, fried in vegetable oil on the stove top. Crispy outside, tender inside, served with a mountain of buttery mashed potatoes. And nothing else. A comfort food from the past that unfortunately has no future..."