Chicken Drumsticks in Curry Sauce with Leeks and Wine

Name: Chicken Drumsticks in Curry Leek Sauce with White Wine
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 1 h
Cuisine: European
Ingredients: Chicken drumsticks 4; Leek 1; Green peas 100 g; Olive oil 50 ml; Dry white wine 100 ml; Flour for coating; Salt, black pepper, curry powder to taste; White bread for serving

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60 mins

I have traveled a lot, and I have always been amazed at how varied the ways of cooking are, and how inventive cooks can be at times. It would seem that cooking a piece of meat or some vegetables is as simple as it gets. Once I was surprised at how delicious ordinary chicken drumsticks in sauce can be.

Often an ordinary piece of meat or a kilo of zucchini becomes a masterpiece that has absorbed not so much local culinary tradition as the cook’s boundless imagination. And it is quite rare to find that home cooking takes a lot of time. Usually it is either a “quick” dish that takes up to an hour, or a complex dish that cooks for a very long time but needs minimal involvement from the cook.

In the Balkans, and in the south and east of Europe, thick dishes made like Eastern “fried soups” are very popular. The collective name for such dishes is yahnia. The essence of yahnia is stewed vegetables and meat. Most often all the ingredients are chopped, put into a cauldron or clay pot, and stewed for a very long time. Over the lowest heat, they literally simmer away. This way of cooking will hardly ever give you exactly the same dish twice.

Still, a yahnia-style dish can also be made quite quickly. With a minimum of ingredients: meat, fish or chicken, seasonal vegetables, spices, and water or wine. And a little time, just enough for the meat to cook. In the Balkans yahnia is very often made with or without meat, but there is always plenty of onion in it. The onion is stewed for a long time and turns into a sauce. Fried chicken drumsticks in grape sauce are made on the same principle.

By and large, you don’t need to stick closely to recipes. A dish like this, or similar, can be made much more simply and, importantly, quickly.

For example, an amazing dish: chicken drumsticks in a leek sauce, with green peas and white wine.

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Ingredients

2 servings

Chicken drumsticks 4
Leek 1
Green peas 100 g
Olive oil 50 ml
Dry white wine 100 ml
Flour for coating
Salt, black pepper, curry powder to taste
White bread for serving

Step-by-step recipe

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Preparation

Why chicken drumsticks in sauce? First, they have enough meat to fill you up. Second, as an acquaintance of mine says, they are convenient to hold in your hand. And, I’ll add, they are always available in the shops.
Prepare 4 chicken drumsticks, two per serving. Remove any remaining feathers and “yellow” skin, and wash them. Pierce each one through with a sharp knife at the thickest part.
Marinate the chicken: put the meat in a bowl, salt it and sprinkle with curry powder. The amount of curry is up to you. I’ll only say that chicken with curry is always very tasty.
Let the meat rest for 10 minutes.
While the chicken rests, cut the leek: wash it and cut across the stalk into very thin rings, as thin as a matchstick. You can use not only the white part of the stalk but also the greener part.

Frying and stewing

Fry the drumsticks until crusty: coat them in flour and put them in a lidded frying pan with hot olive oil.
Fry over medium heat, turning, for about 8-10 minutes, until a nice crust forms on all sides. There is no need to cook the meat all the way through.
Add the green peas. Fresh or frozen, it doesn’t matter. Let the peas fry for 2-3 minutes.
Add the cut leek to the chicken and fry for a few minutes until it softens. Add pepper and salt to taste.
Stew the chicken in wine: add 100 ml (half a cup) of dry white wine and bring to a boil. Cover the pan with a lid and reduce the heat so the chicken simmers gently.
Stew for 20 minutes. During that time the chicken cooks perfectly and the leek becomes very soft, almost turning into a sauce. The chicken is done when clear juice runs out after piercing the thickest part. The dish should not look like soup: if there is too much liquid, just take off the lid and let the liquid evaporate.