Doctor Domestic

Maybe this isn’t truly my 502nd chicken curry that I’ve made, but it kind of feels like it.  I tried to dream up a creative name for it, but really, its just a good old chicken curry!  This meal was my husband’s request.  Every weekend as I am writing the grocery list, I ask him what dinners he would like to have the coming week.  After giving his first two choices as grilled cheese and hot-dogs, I prompted him to select a more “grown-up” meal.  So he said, “some sort of Indian chicken dish with rice”.  Um, OK, will do.

This is not a quick meal, and like all Indian dishes, it has about 50 ingredients (well, not quite).  This is a dish to make maybe on the weekend or if you can come home right after work and start cooking, like I did today.  I normally prefer to come home, put my feet up and watch something brain-deadening on the TV, but not tonight.  Tonight was spent making curry.

I had a bit of a disaster in the beginning of the food prep tonight.  I heated the oil and dumped in my fragrant spices.  I decided to take the time while the spices were cooking to cut up the chicken.  Well, the chicken took a bit too long apparently, and I ended up burning the bejeezus out of the spices.  I didn’t even think of trying to salvage the mess.  You CAN’T save burned spices.  Just start over.  Clean the pan and start over.  So that’s what I did.  The rest of the prep went quite smoothly.

Pureeing the veggies, garlic and ginger together works well in this recipe.  It thickens the dish well and I just like the resulting texture.

I’m realizing that my food never looks very appealing mid-preparation.  Oh well, I promise it gets better!

I have a confession to make.  I STINK at making rice.  It always comes out gummy and bland.  Ugh.  We were even given a nice rice-cooker (an appliance I swore I would never own) as a house-warming present, and I still suck at making rice.  Despite the mediocre rice, dinner turned out quite well overall.

I personally think the slivered almonds are a must.  The rice is soft and the curry is rich and creamy…the almonds add a welcomed crunch, plus the flavor is wonderful.

Recipe after the jump.

Chicken Curry #502

2 Tbsp light cooking oil (canola)

1 ½ Tbsp Garam Masala spice blend

1 tsp sweet curry powder

¼ tsp cayenne pepper

½ tsp ground black pepper

1 onion, cut into large chunks

1 red bell pepper, cut into large chunks

1 inch peeled ginger, cut into thin slices across the grain

3 cloves garlic

2 tsp salt

1 ¼ lbs chicken thighs (or breasts) cut into bite sized pieces

1 cup chicken stock

6 med potatoes, peeled and diced into bite sized pieces

¾ cup raisins, plumped in warm water, then drained

½ cup light coconut milk

1 Tbsp corn starch

½ cup slivered almonds

Heat the oil in a large, heavy saucepan over medium heat. Once it is rippling, add the spices all at once and stir into the oil. Cook the spices for about 2 minutes over medium heat, carefully so as not to burn the spices. Meanwhile, combine the onion, red pepper, ginger slices and garlic cloves in a food processor. Process the mixture together until it is completely pureed. When the spices are cooked, add the pureed vegetables and stir well. Cook over medium heat for about 8 minutes until the vegetables take on a bit of color from the heat. Add the salt and cut up raw chicken and stir into the mixtures so the chicken is well coated. Continue to cook over medium heat for about 8 more minutes. Add the diced potatoes and raisins; stir to coat. Add the chicken stock, stir to combine, then cook (mostly covered) over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes, or until the potatoes are fork tender.

Combine the coconut milk (or evaporated milk may be substituted) and the cornstarch in a small mixing bowl. Whisk together until there are no lumps of corn starch. Once potatoes are done cooking, stir in the milk/corn starch slurry. Cook for about 5 more minutes until the mixtures has thickened sufficiently. Check for seasoning and add salt if necessary.

Toast the slivered almonds on a cookie sheet at 350F for a few minutes. Alternatively, they can be toasted in a dry skillet over medium heat. They are done when they are very slightly browned and fragrant. They burn quickly so watch them!

Serve the chicken curry over cooked long-grain rice and top with a generous sprinkling of the toasted almonds.