We all have heard stories of cravings and have had many ourselves! They range from rainy day cravings to a bad hair day cravings, from lazing -on-the- couch -mesmerized -by- the -snowfall -outside cravings to just-like-that cravings, from pregnancy related cravings to you-are-far-away-from-your-mother’s- kitchen-but-you-want-something-that-reminds-you-of -her- cooking craving…cravings have reigned supreme in all of our lives at some point in time! And we have done our best to satisfy or ignore that depending on a hundred variables at play at that particular moment:)

   Living in New Jersey we see a lot of rain, sometimes more than we can take and that along with grumpiness also gives rise to these cravings more often than I would ideally like! And given the fact that we are expecting a baby in less than two months now, I find myself craving for very specific food that surprises even me at times:) When I was pregnant with our son, I never had ‘pregnancy cravings’ and this time around too I was doing fine till about a month back! And then it hit me one day and has been making surprise visits often. As someone trying to tackle gestational diabetes, let me tell you it is not a whole lot of fun when you cannot indulge in those cravings that somehow take total over the mind, heart and tummy for a few unsettling hours:( Anyways, I have found my tummy rumbling for some spicy chicken of late and after some reasonable exploration of the recipes online, I stumbled upon this really lip smacking recipe from fifteenspatulas.com (Crispy Spice Rubbed Chicken Thighs) that totally hit the sweet spot and I went to bed with a satisfied tummy. So if you craving some spicy (and it is SPICY) chicken that does not take up a lot of your busy night, go ahead and give this a try and keep a glass of cold lemonade handy, just in case 😉

I am posting the original recipe below with my minor additions and alterations (according to my taste) in red. You can try both and I hope you like them!

Ingredients

• 2 or 3 lb package skin-on bone-in chicken thighs (about 5 pieces) (I did not have this so I used skinless and boneless)
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground chipotle pepper
• 2 tsp yellow curry powder
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp garlic powder (I used freshly grated garlic…it is one of my favorite marinade ingredients)
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves (I did not use this)
• 1/4 tsp ground cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1.5 tsp sea salt (I used regular salt)
•  olive oil

In addition to the above ingredients, I added these extra ones too:

• 1 tsp of chipotle mustard
• 1/2 tsp lemon pepper powder
• 1 1/2 tsp of Mayonnaise (I generally add this when baking chicken taking a friend’s suggestion..it keeps the chicken very moist)

Direction

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Stir to combine the ginger, chipotle pepper, curry powder, paprika, garlic powder, coriander, cardamom, cloves, cayenne, cumin, and salt.
3. Trim the excess fat from the chicken thighs (any part that overhangs the main piece). Rub the chicken thighs all over with the spice rub.
4. Heat an ovenproof skillet over medium heat and add enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan (about 2 tbsp). Cook the chicken thighs skin side down (in a single layer) for 10 minutes, until the skin gets crispy (and if the skin isn’t golden brown and crispy after 10 minutes, cook it for a few minutes longer). Flip the chicken and cook for another 5 minutes, then transfer the skillet to the oven to cook for additional 10-15 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and has reached an internal temperature of 180 degrees F. Serve and enjoy!

The way I did it since it was boneless and skinless

I preheated the oven to 350 degrees F and lined a baking sheet with parchment paper. And then arranged the chicken pieces and put them into the oven for about 20 minutes and voila!! it was done:) I hope you enjoy this as much as we did!

Thank you fifteenspatulas.com!