Bengal Chicken... Recipe
As in bengal tigers...rrrrroar! This recipe is a family favorite, one I discovered in a church cookbook from 1995 (I think, there isn't a date but I helped put the book together and that's when I remember doing it). It was submitted by my friend Joy Ball, and she calls this recipe Chicken Diable but every time I made this dish for the fam I would tell the girl and boy about how Joy was raised in India, and how she said she could hear the tigers growling at night...Bengal tigers...therefore, this dish became Bengal Chicken.
Joy's parents were missionaries and I think they ran an orphanage in India...they were originally from England. Joy told us about her childhood at a church function and I remember her saying there were open windows in the place where she slept - no glass, no door - and tigers could just walk in and grab children, eat them and then slink back into the night...it's possible she didn't say that last bit about the tigers, but that's now how the story goes...my kids believed me, their eyes bugged out in horror as they ate every piece of Bengal chicken...they might have been told that eating Bengal chicken would protect them from tigers... naturally they ate every drop. Before you go calling me Mommy Dearest, let me say that my kids were/are the pickiest eaters on the planet...if it weren't for chicken nuggets and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, they would have died from starvation...so I had to do whatever I could to get them to eat...plus they now have a healthy fear of Bengal Tigers!
Chicken cooked in a sauce that is slightly sweet, exotic and down-right delish...butter, honey and curry...a perfect trifecta that is sure to please, and it's an excellent tiger deterrent!
- Bengal Chicken - Adapted From *Joy Ball, Recipes From Home, Redmond 2nd Ward
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/4 cup prepared mustard
- 1 dozen drumsticks or thighs (I doubled the recipe as I was making dinner for a friend, I used 5 legs with thigh attached and 6 chicken breasts)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon curry powder (or more if you like)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In medium-size sauce pan over medium-high heat, melt butter; add honey, mustard, salt and curry powder. Mix together until combined, smooth and heated through. Remove from heat and dip each piece of chicken into mixture, then place in a 9x13-inch baking dish or a rimmed baking sheet. Pour remaining mixture over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes, or until chicken is done. (Joy recommends serving over rice, with sauce from the baking dish, which is how we normally eat this - it's dang good!)
*Joy - I'm so glad you weren't eaten by tigers! Thanks for this recipe, we LOVE it!