Narmish Apricot Chicken

A young man named Dudon who was born in a small village near Kentorapo had always dreamed big.  His father, who owned the farm Dudon grew up on, would find him either looking off into space or trying to do something that was not the chore he had been told to do.  When Dudon turned sixteen his father, who had decided that enough was enough, sent him into the city with forty gold coins and told him not to comeback until he had stopped dreaming. 

Dudon took the orders to heart and as he walked the miles between his small town and Kentorapo he mulled over what he had to do to make his father proud.  Dudon reasoned this way, if I go out and do the things in my dreams I wont have to dream about them and then I can return home and make my father proud.  His most often repeated dream was to become as rich as a king, but he had no idea how to achieve that, so he settled on fulfilling his dreams of exploring places no one he knew had ever been to.  He headed down to the docks with this goal in mind and signed on to the next ship that was sailing.  He sailed on that ship for two years learned many things and saw many sights, but all of them were well-established trade routes.  Despite his promotion to second mate the captain would not sail waters he didn’t know.  So he left that crew and spent a year trying to find a captain willing to sail off the charts.

Dudon could find only one captain, Tockins captain of the Sea Dryad, who would even consider sailing somewhere that had not been charted but he demanded some kind of heading to go on.  It was near the end of the rainy seasons when the migratory birds flew back to where ever they came from that Dudon notice some flocks flying away to the North-East.  Dudon then went to Captain Tockins telling him that no one had charted the seas to the North East and birds must land somewhere.  It took three months for the Sea Dryad to make land fall on the coast of Narm near sunset.  That night the lights from the city state of Narm Seketai where spotted and the next day they sailed into harbor.  It took many weeks to find someone to translate between the ship crew and the locals but they found a person who had traveled far and wide despite his apparent age.

New deck hands were hired to supplement the crew, and they sailed back the ship bursting at the seams with silks and spices not seen before in Bansopa.  When they got back Dudon opened a restaurant with his share of the profits of the spices and charts they had made.  One of the deck hands hired in Narm, that had no desire to go home at that point, became his chef.  They served traditional Narmish cooking, but their most popular dish was by no means traditional it merely used some Narmish ingredients.  Dudon made sure to buy as many ingredients from his father as he could and indeed made his father proud.

1 Cup dice dried apricots
1 Cup dry sherry
3 Tablespoons sugar
2 ½ cups water
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
1 Lime
2-3 pounds of chicken (anything except whole)
2 Teaspoons sage
1 Teaspoon paprika
1 to 2 Teaspoons black pepper

- Mix black pepper, sage and paprika
- Rub spice mix into chicken then place in baking dish
- Then squeeze the juice from ½ of the lime onto the chicken
- Bake chicken at 325 until done (165 F. internal temp)
- While the chicken is baking combine the apricots, sherry, sugar, 2 cups of water and the juice from the other ½ lime in a saucepan (2qt)
- Mix the cornstarch with remaining ½ cup water then add to saucepan
- Bring mixture in saucepan to a boil then reduce heat and let simmer for ten to fifteen minutes, make sure you stir often to prevent burning.
- When chicken is done place on plate and spoon sauce over it. (boneless skinless breast work well)

From the diary of Tran Goldenleafe

Visit the home of Talona The Red http://www.freepiratesforhire.com

January 5, 2012: The Epub version of my book is now onsale, also in celebration discounted the price of the paperback for a limited time.

December 8, 2011: My first novel is available for sale on Lulu, also uploaded the 3 recipe stories I edited.

October 3, 2011: Due to the impending publication of my first novel, I will be taking some time off from book 2 to edit all of the stories on here. No dates will be changed unless a significant rewrite occurs and then it will be marked: new date (old date).