Chicken and kea for tea
![Give me your food or the girl gets it](https://i0.wp.com/www.number8network.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Iris-and-Barry-300x199.jpg?resize=300%2C199)
Chicken simmered in coconut cream with coriander, a treat to make away from home.
There’s a keen-eyed kea outside the window. Its begging is professional, it scampers about on the balcony railing and cocks its head at me as I peel spuds and chop onion.
We are in a comfy little cabin in Arthur’s Pass and the first to greet us at the carpark was a coven of keas. The DoC man and signs everywhere warn against feeding the creatures, so I try to ignore the birds and concentrate on preparing dinner.
Cooking away from home is never easy, and it is even harder with a hungry avian audience. As I chop, a gentle rain – almost snow – begins to fall. Very soon Barry the kea is sodden, bedraggled and demanding to be let in to thaw out by the heater.
![Emotional blackmail, sadly, failing](https://i0.wp.com/www.number8network.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Damp-kea-232x300.jpg?resize=159%2C207)
It cannot be. The DoC man would be very cross indeed. I continue the preparations.
Over the years I’ve learned a lesson or two when it comes to cooking in a strange kitchen. What is boils down to is this – be prepared. Canny travellers take half the kitchen with them. Because it’s sad to discover your temporary kitchen is outfitted from the nearby $2 shop.
I travel with my own sharp knives, sometimes a frypan and often washing up liquid. And sadly, sometimes these are needed.
The other trick is to cook simple. The following recipe is so easy to make a kea could do it. Essentially, it’s a one-dish meal. It’s wonderfully warming, perfect for a chill night, and fills the room with the smell of garlic and spices frying together, mellowed out by coconut cream.
Served with a salad, it is perfection, and we ate while darkness fell over the snow-draped mountains. Which was a bonus, because we could no longer see the begging Barry.
Chicken with coriander
500g boned and skinned chicken breast
1 onion
4 -5 cloves garlic
1 – 2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp cumin
½ tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
Handful coriander, chopped
1 tin coconut milk
2 – 3 medium-sized new potatoes, cubed
Half a packet ribbon noodles
- Chop chicken into bite-sized pieces. Peel and chop onion and garlic.
- Heat half the oil in skillet and add the spices. Stir and reduce heat. Add the garlic and onion and brown quickly. Remove.
- Add some more oil and brown the chicken in small batches. Add the onions, coconut milk and coriander.
- Add the potato and cook gently for about 15 minutes, or until tender.
- Cook the noodles in salted water according to instructions, and mix in with the rest before serving.