Chicken colombo, chayote and vanilla puree, watermelon, coriander and green onions

Preparation time: 30 min

• Preparation

  Peel the carrots and potatoes and cut them in 5mm cubes.

  Finely slice the onions and green onions.  Juice the lime.

  Chop the garlic, pepper, parsley and thyme.

  Peel and cut the chayote.  Chop the seeds in the center (they are edible)

  Make matchsticks from the watermelon and pluck the leaves from the cilantro.

• Chicken colombo

  Ideally, marinade the chicken overnight.  If not possible, marinade for at least 2 hours.

  Marinade

  For the marinade, combine all the ingredients except for the seeds with the water.

  In a skillet, toast the seeds.  Remove them and add oil.  Sear the chicken in the skillet.  Once you reach a nice golden color, add the onions, garlic and other vegetables.

  Add the colombo and the toasted seeds, cover with water and add the thyme and the india wood.

  Once you reach a boil, cover, reduce heat and cook for 30 minutes on low heat.

  The vegetables should be tender and the sauce should have thickened.  If you need to, add colombo or corn starch to thicken the sauce.  (if adding corn starch, dilute it in water before adding)

• Chayotes

  Cook the chayotes in boiling water with a vanilla bean that you removed the seeds from.

  In a skillet, cook down the chayote seeds with butter.

  Once the chayotes are tender, strain and place them in a skillet with onion and garlic.  Once cooked, blend the mixture with the nutmeg as well as the vanilla seeds.

  Serve hot, with the chayote seeds as well.

• Plating

  Place a nice thick scoop of chayote purée on the bottom of the plate.  Place the chicken on top and drizzle generously with the sauce.  Garnish with the cilantro and watermelon.