Bone-In Chicken Curry

1. Gather all the ingredients.

To Prepare the Ingredients

1. Prick skin of 4 bone-in skin-on chicken thighs with the tip of your knife (so the flavors will penetrate the skin). Cut off the excess fat with a pair of scissors (or knife).
2. Season the chicken with ½ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper on both sides.
3. Cut 2 onions into wedges. The wedge cut adds more texture; however, you can also thinly slice or dice.
4. Peel and cut 1 Yukon gold potato into 8 pieces.
5. Peel and cut 2 carrots into bite-size pieces. Here, I use the Japanese rangiri cutting technique. Set aside the vegetables on a tray or plate.

To Cook the Curry

1. In a large pot (I use a Dutch oven), heat 1 Tbsp neutral oil on medium-high heat. When it’s hot, sear the chicken on the skin side first. Do not crowd the pan to avoid steaming the chicken and cook in batches if necessary.
2. Flip the chicken and cook the other side for 2 minutes and then transfer to a plate until the rest is done.
3. Add the onion to the pot and coat with the oil using a wooden spoon/spatula. If there is not enough oil, add ½–1 Tbsp more oil.
4. Add the minced/crushed 3 cloves garlic and sauté, stirring occasionally, until the onions are tender. If the burnt spots on the bottom of the pot need some scraping, you can add sake here (instead of the next step) to loosen them up.
5. Add the chicken back into the pot and add ¼ cup sake.
6. Add 2 cups chicken stock/broth and ½ cup water, just enough to almost cover the chicken. If you use a larger pot, it may not cover, so please adjust the amount of stock/water. This is not a soupy curry, so we do not need much liquid.
7. Cover the lid and bring it to a simmer. When simmering, skim the scum and foam with a fine-mesh skimmer.
8. Cook covered on low heat for 45 minutes.
9. Add the carrots and potatoes and make sure they are submerged in the cooking liquid.
10. Cook covered until they are tender, about 15 minutes.
11. Turn off the heat and dissolve ½ package Japanese curry roux, one cube at a time in a ladleful of hot broth. When the first cube is dissolved, release it to the broth and mix gently without breaking the tender vegetables. Repeat the process until you finish dissolving all the roux.
12. Add 1 Tbsp mirin and 1 Tbsp soy sauce. Mix all together and check the taste. You can add water to loosen the curry if it's too thick. I added 2 Tbsp water here. If your pot does not have a tight-fitting lid, your cooking liquid might have evaporated more than mine. Then add more water, if necessary. You can control the consistency of the curry here. This Bone-in Chicken Curry should have a thicker sauce than my other regular curry, but please adjust the consistency to your liking.
13. Add ¼ cup green peas and cook for another minute. Serve the curry with steamed rice.

To Store

1. You can keep the leftovers in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or in the freezer for a month. Remove the potatoes as they change texture once frozen. Defrost the frozen curry in the refrigerator for 24 hours before you want to reheat it.

To Reheat

1. Leftover curry sauce will thicken into a paste as it cools, so it tends to burn while reheating. To avoid this, stir ½ cup (120 ml) water or more into the leftover sauce to loosen. Then, gently reheat it on low heat. If the sauce seems thin, continue heating with the lid off to reduce the sauce.