Food and Film: Lion

I've been thinking a lot about what "home" is. Is it where you live? The place your friends or family reside? A specific geographic location? The place of your birth? I've struggled to feel like any one place is home to me. I've lived in four cities, two countries and 15 different apartments/homes in 26 years - each place shaping me in a different way.

Lion is a film about a man trying to find home and figure out who he is. I don't know what it's like to not know where you've come from, but I do know what it's like to be unsure of where you belong, and so this story really struck a chord. 

In this movie, based on the life of Saroo Brierly, we get to journey with the protagonist from the place of his birth in India where he is first separated from his family, to Australia where he is welcomed into the home of his adoptive parents, to his painstaking search (courtesy of Google Earth) to find his hometown. The 25 year journey is haunting and this movie is executed with such an empathetic element that we feel like we are with Saroo every step of the way, longing for his return home as much as he is.

In many ways Saroo's journey is a quest for identity. His obsessive search forces him to question who he really is and grapple with the fact that people around him of Indian descent carry a piece of their cultural identity that he only has small inklings of. 

It's apparent throughout the whole film that he is struggling to know if he has lost a part of himself by not knowing where he has come from. With excellent performances from young newcomer, Sunny Pawar, Dev Patel, and Nicole Kidman, this is an inspiring true story that will likely make you laugh, cry, and feel everything in between.

Director Garth Davis and screenwriter Luke Davies do an excellent job showcasing the beautiful characteristics of the Indian culture, including the food. I can't pretend to make Indian food that resembles anything traditional (which is a shame because I love the real stuff!), but I do have a great curry recipe that was a great fit for our date night in when my husband and I sat down to watch this movie. Here's the recipe:

Slow Cooker Chicken Curry

- 1 shallot, diced fine
- 3 cloves of garlic, diced fine
- 2 tablespoons fresh ginger, grated
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons curry
- 4, 10 oz bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons minute tapioca
- 1/3 cup greek yogurt
- 2 tablespoons honey
- lemon juice from 1/2 lemon
- salt and pepper to taste
- sliced almonds


In case you aren't sure what a shallot is, it's basically a smaller, sweeter onion. It looks like this:

After dicing up all your veggies, combine the first 5 ingredients in a bowl, stir and microwave for 2 minutes to soften.

Combine the chicken broth and tapioca in the slow cooker and mix together. Once you microwave your veggies, add that to the slow cooker as well. Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper, nestle in the slow cooker and turn it on low for 4-6 hours. It should look something like this when it's done:

Remove your chicken from the slow cooker and set it aside. To make the sauce, combine the greek yogurt, lemon juice and honey and mix until combined. It will be a light color. Mix it into the slow cooker with the juices.

To serve, top your chicken with the sauce and some sliced almonds. Serve with cous cous or rice and a veggie on the side.