Every country has a dish that belongs to Tuesday. In Denmark, it's kylling i karry. Not something you plan around or save for guests. Something you make because it's dark outside and everyone's hungry and you already know exactly how it goes.

The sauce is pale yellow, gentle, and creamy. It tastes of butter, onion, apple, and curry powder: the mild Danish kind that carries warmth but no heat. The chicken simmers in it until tender, and the whole thing goes on a plate of white rice with sliced banana and a spoonful of mango chutney on the side. Those condiments are not decoration. They're the counterpoints that make the dish complete, the sweetness of the banana against the savory sauce, the tang of the chutney cutting through the cream. Leave them out and you're eating a different dinner entirely.

Two things to pay attention to. First, toast the curry powder in the butter before you add the flour. Raw curry powder tastes dusty and flat. Thirty seconds of heat in hot butter and it opens up, turns fragrant, fills the kitchen with something warm and golden. You'll smell the change. Second, let the onions go properly soft before anything else happens. They're the foundation of this sauce. Rush them and everything that follows tastes thin. Give them time and they dissolve, leaving only sweetness behind. You'll know when it's right.