Digaag Qumbe (Yogurt Coconut Chicken)

Let the sauce cook down, uncovered, if it seems too liquidy for your taste. The recipe actually calls for serving with rice but I’m not a big rice lady, and I feel like I always cook it badly, so I served mine with quinoa cooked in lightly flavored chicken broth.

When I started this project, to try a recipe every week, I was honestly slightly apprehensive about the prospect of holding myself accountable for trying a recipe even during busy weeks or lean money weeks, or weeks when I had a case of sinusitis or even the grumpies. I have to say it has actually added structure to my life when it otherwise did not have a rhythm and even when I felt slightly overbooked, I found taking the time to cook something seemed like an act of sound self care in a life which was urging me to me to be busy but not necessarily mindful. Somebody I love actually encouraged me to start this blog years ago to document my “Recipe of the Week” journey and while I have not been as religious about posting my recipes in recent months, I am trying to get back into the habit of adding things soon after I cook them. I have always loved cooking for others but it has sometimes been a struggle treat myself with the same loving kindness and get excited about cooking for myself when turkey bacon and brussels sprouts seemed like the dinner I actually was interested in eating. Through this routine of cooking something every week outside my regular repertoire I have found comfort I was at least learning a recipe even if I was not where I felt like I should be in so many parts of my life and I have cooked through loneliness, anger, grief, pain, love and confusion. Thanks to his suggestion, I have now a real catalogue of recipes I enjoy and can share and reminders of what I have accomplished when it seemed like I was accomplishing nothing much at all.

Before the tectonic shift in my life 9 years ago I loved trying foods I hadn’t and eating in restaurants which served dishes I might not otherwise bravely try at home but which might both stretch and satisfy my palate. While I am sure my budget will expand soon, this practice of trying recipes has allowed me a little taste of this old practice because I have tried foods from corners of the globe I have not been or which contain ingredients which were not as familiar as the garlic and potatoes of my childhood. This recipe was something of a departure for me but I was rewarded because it is delicious! BONUS POINTS - it still has garlic and potatoes, but used in a way which opens my culinary eyes while soothing my soul. Digaag Qumbe is, according to Bon Appetit, a traditional Somali stew and I highly recommend it. I love recipes which require effort because I feel like I am loving on a myself a little by making something which people obviously would only put the effort in to make for people they love.

The skinny

In making this recipe I realized my vegetable loving heart would crave more carrots and a little sweetness, so I doubled the carrots and added chopped par boiled sweet potato. Despite my reduced circumstances I have managed to retain a little of my sauciness so I felt a kinship with this recipe when after a bunch of time cooking and two potatoes (sweet and not), it was still saucy. The pureed vegetables, coconut milk and yogurt give this sauce a velvety texture which harmoniously coats the chicken and tastes well, expensive. If the chicken is the guest of honor, then the spice harmony in the sauce is his very fancy cufflinks. Other people had commented they wished they par boiled the potato before adding so I par boiled both the potato and the sweet potato after cutting them into slightly smaller than bite sized pieces with considerable success. Cooking the dish together for 20 plus minutes brings a cohesiveness which is hard to find in other dishes without hours on the stove and this was done in under an hour!

Ingredients

3 medium tomatoes (5 Roma tomatoes)

red bell pepper, cored and seeds removed

2 jalapenos

0.5 cup of olive oi

medium onion

2-3 garlic cloves

sm -medium piece of ginger, peeled and diced

tbsp of curry powder

tbsp of ground cumin

tbsp of tumeric

Kosher salt

cup of plain yogurt ( I used plain greek)

tbsp of tomato paste

medium potato

medium sweet potato

2 medium carrots, peeled and coined

lb of boneless and skinless chicken breasts (the recipe call for boneless skinless thighs but I had breasts so I sued what I had on hand)

14 oz can of coconut milk (mine was 13.6, but it worked well)

Cup of cilantro, diced

Steamed rice (I used quinoa instead but traditionally it would be served with rice)

banana (for the culinary brave)

Plan of Attack

Add the potatoes, jalapeño, and pepper to your food processor or blender and pulverize until almost a paste

Add the oil to your big skillet, and then add the onions, cooking them until aromatic. After they are aromatic on medium low heat cook the diced garlic and ginger, adding the spice mixture after the garlic has been in the pan for about a minute.

Add the tomato mixture and cook for 9-11 minutes. While the tomatoes are cooking par boil the potatoes and then add the coined carrots and potatoes into the mixture.

When the carrots and potatoes have cooked for 5-6 minutes add the yogurt and coconut milk. This recipe called for a tsp of Tumeric but I actually added a tbsp and you can see this from the beautiful mustard color of the dish.

Add the chicken, cut into bite sized pieces into your pan as well as the cilantro. Cover and cook fro 22-25 minutes.

TV and tumeric!!! Yum!