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Le Poulet à la Crème de Vanille (Chicken with Vanilla Sauce)

xLe Poulet à la Crème de Vanille (Chicken with Vanilla Sauce) is a traditional Reunion recipe for a classic dish of chicken stewed in an onion, garlic and vanilla sauce flavoured with turmeric that's cooked dry and served with a vanilla flavoured rum and cream sauce. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Reunion version of: Chicken with Vanilla Sauce (Le Poulet à la Crème de Vanille).

prep time

20 minutes

cook time

55 minutes

Total Time:

75 minutes

Serves:

6

Rating: 4.5 star rating

Tags : Spice RecipesChicken RecipesFowl RecipesMilk RecipesReunion Recipes



Ingredients:

1 chicken (about 1.5kg) cut into small serving pieces
4 onions, very finely chopped
2 vanilla pods
6 garlic cloves
1 sprig of thyme, chopped
1/2 tsp grated fresh turmeric (or use dried)
salt and black pepper, to taste
oil, for frying

For the Vanilla Sauce:
2 vanilla pods
400ml cream
5 tbsp dark rum
salt and black pepper, to taste

Method:

For the chicken, add the garlic to a mortar, season with salt and freshly-ground black pepper and pound to a paste. Now halve the vanilla pods lengthways and scrape the seeds into the garlic paste (reserve the pods). Pound in to combine along with the thyme.

Add a little oil to a pan or wok and use to fry the chicken pieces until well browned. Add the onions and allow to cook gently for about 3 minutes before stirring-in the garlic and vanilla mix along with the turmeric. Increase the heat and fry briskly for 2 minutes then add 600ml water and the reserved vanilla pods. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook until almost all the liquid has evaporated and the chicken is tender (about 45 minutes).

About 20 minutes before the chicken is done halve the vanilla pods for the sauce and scrape out the seeds. Combine these with the cream and rum in a pan (add the pods as well). When the chicken is ready, arrange on a serving dish then season the sauce with salt and black pepper and drizzle over the chicken.

Serve with rice.