Another Crockpot Cooking Adventure (or: The Mangling of a Recipe)

My fiance makes an Indian dish called Apricot Chicken. This is The Most Amazing Food you would ever hope to put in your mouth. Really. The first dinner he ever cooked for me was Apricot Chicken, and the scent, the lovely aroma, of this dish clung to my coat for days after. I would bury my nose in my coat and inhale deeply long after I'd left his place. (Rumors of me chewing on or licking my coat will never be verified.)

It's a fairly involved recipe to make, so I have never made it. I had some chicken in the refrig that I wanted to cook, so decided to see whether I can get anywhere close to Apricot Chicken with a crockpot.

His recipe called for four red chili peppers. I don't have any handy, so I'm used crushed red pepper from the spice rack. His recipe calls for 20 whole cloves, freshly ground. I used some ground cloves from the spice rack. His recipe calls for half a cinnamon stick, freshly ground. Okay, I do have a cinnamon grinder, so did grind some cinnamon, but I also used some ground cinnamon from the spice rack.

And so it went. I don't have fresh green cardemon pods, so used ground cardemon. I did grate some ginger, but also used some already ground from the spice rack. Cumin seeds? Ground cumin from the spice shelf. Malt vinegar? Hmmmm... don't have any, so I added a little balsamic vinegar. (Not the same thing at ALL, I know!!) Cook the onions (one yellow, not the Spanish onion the recipe calls for) ahead of time? I don't think so! I tossed the diced onion into the crockpot. Ditto the four cloves of garlic. Same with the chicken, which is supposed to be cut into pieces and browned before adding the spices, one cup of water and two tablespoons of tomato paste.

I just tossed everything into the pot, added a little salt and sugar, and put it on low to cook.

Oh, yeah.... I don't have any apricots, either! I will be running to the store shortly to get some, though, so will add those in a bit.

And I gotta say, this smells fabulous. I doubt it will taste just like the dish my fiance labors over, but if the aroma is any guide, this is going to be pretty doggone good! Will report later to say whether the taste is as good as the smell.

Before I even opened this post to read it, I said to myself, "I bet that's Athene." *grin*  ;-)  That does sound WONDERFUL, though!  Definitely let us know how it turned out, I'd be interested in trying to make that myself.  I'm always looking for things to do with chicken that aren't the "same old, same old."  :)

lol, justlaura!

This is an expensive recipe; I couldn't stand smelling it any longer (ooooooo, it smells sooooooo goooooooood!!!!!!!) and left the house. Well, I needed apricots anyway, but getting just those was too quick a trip. $72 in a clothing store* and $42 at the grocery store later, I'm home. :-/

Just put the dried apricots in the crockpot and am resisting the urge to jump in to bathe in the food. I will never make this again when I am going to be home to smell it cooking!!!!! It's driving me crazy!!!

Years ago, I needed a quick and easy dish and my manager at the time told me of one that I've used many times in the past; it's also an Apricot Chicken recipe, but super easy. Mix sour cream, a packet of dry onion soup mix, a jar of apricot preserves, and a little oil (just to improve the consistency), and pour that over chicken in a pan and bake. I've not made it in a long time and haven't run an analysis on it; I'd bet it'd be high in sodium and sugar, and depending on the sour cream and how much oil one used, could be high in fat, too, but it's pretty tasty and certainly easy.

Nothing at all like the Apricot Chicken I've got cooking now, though, the smell of which is killing me.... sooooo goooooooood!!!!!

My fiance makes an Indian rice dish to go with the Apricot Chicken. That's some work, too, so I'm not doing that. (Man, am I glad I'm marrying him! He is the messiest cook I know, but cleaning up after him is totally totally worth the taste of what he makes!) I will have rice, though. In my foray to the store, I got brown kalijira rice ("tiny aromatic brown rice imported from Bengal" according to the package) and will try that tonight with the chicken.




*Two pairs of pants, two sweaters, four pairs of socks; pants and sweaters, 60% off, and a smaller size, too, yee-haw!

I am drooling here, are we going to get your recipe?  This hungry drooler would like to know.

Your version would be very much appreciated Athena.

Pretty please.

amethystwalker, it's pretty much posted above. I was on the phone with my fiance while he told me what goes into the recipe. I wasn't writing anything down, but rather, just grabbing the spices (or what I was going to use as substitutes) and putting them on the counter. I didn't measure anything except the water and, very very roughly, the tomato paste.

What he told me on the phone:

One Spanish onion
Two-three garlic cloves (or maybe that was 3-4)
Four red chili peppers
20 whole cloves
Half a stick of cinnamon
Whole ginger (half an inch? I don't remember!)
Three (?) green cardamon pods
Cumin seeds
Malt vinegar
Two tablespoons of tomato paste
One cup of water
12-15 dried apricots (halves, I'm sure this is), but he uses 20, so that's what I used
Salt
Sugar

He uses a coffee grinder that he reserves just for Indian cooking, so all the spices are freshly ground when he makes this dish. I substituted like crazy! I used crushed red peppers (cayenne pepper would be a better substitute, and did grind some cinnamon and grate some ginger, but also used already-ground-purchased-in-a-jar stuff, not only for some of the cinnamon and ginger, but for all of the cardamon, cumin, and cloves. I didn't measure anything, and in fact, went to dump more cardamon into the water, forgot there was no shaker top on the bottle, and put in WAY more than I intended. (So I tried to get some out...)

I put the diced onion and crushed garlic in the crockpot, added all the spices and tomato paste into the water, mixed it all up, put the chicken (boneless breast meat, perhaps just over a pound, not cut up or anything) on top of the onions and garlic, splashed in some balsamic vinegar (I don't have malt vinegar) and then poured in the water with spices and tomato paste. I then added a little salt (maybe a third of a teaspoon or perhaps less -- I'm not much of a salt fan) and some sugar (maybe a tablespoon), just sprinkling the salt and sugar over everything in the crockpot, and put the crockpot on low. It was about noon when I got all this together.

After a few hours, I went to the store to buy apricots and put in about 20 dried halves when I got home from the store. Ideally, they should go in at the beginning of cooking, and maybe even be cut in half, but I didn't do that.

I will ask my fiance for the exact recipe and post it. I will say I was not shy with the spices. The cumin and cardamon are very fragrant and account for a lot of the scent, but not all of it.

I have the rice cooking now. I've tried little bites of the dish, and cannot WAIT to eat it with the rice! Oh, I should go make a veggie, too.... will be back after dinner!

I'm stuffed! This was goooood! Not as good as when he makes it, but WAY easier, and I think it'd be even better if I used the actual ingredients that the recipe calls for. :-)

Using the crockpot for ease of making this is certainly an acceptable method when one (me) doesn't want to go to the trouble of making it the real way. A little less pepper, a little more water next time.

Thanks you very much, will be buying ingredients this week and making it.