Country Captain Chicken

Country captain — chicken braised in a curried tomato sauce with onion, green pepper, and currants, served over rice — is one of the most unusual dishes in the Southern canon: a curry-influenced braise that arrived in the port cities of Savannah and Charleston through the colonial spice trade. The "country captain" was reportedly a British sea captain who brought the curry spice mixture from India to the American Southeast in the 18th or 19th century. The dish was served to FDR at the Little White House in Warm Springs, Georgia, and General George Patton reportedly declared it his favourite meal. It survives in Savannah and Columbus, Georgia, and nowhere else with any consistency — a culinary fossil of the spice trade routes that once connected the Southern ports to India.

Chicken pieces (bone-in, skin-on) browned, then braised in a sauce of diced tomato, onion, green pepper, garlic, curry powder, thyme, and a generous handful of dried currants (or raisins). The sauce should be moderately thick, mildly curried (not aggressively spicy — this is a Southern adaptation, not an Indian curry), and the currants should provide pops of sweetness throughout. Served over steamed white rice with toasted almonds scattered on top.

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