My Attempt at Making Curry Chicken

I'm a terrible cook.  I take that back. I am a very inexperienced cook.  However, it's been a goal of mine to learn some simple recipes.  And since I love curry, I decided that it would be one of my first missions.

Look how excited I am about handling chicken.  Doesn't this meat have more risks from undercooking?  Salmonella and all?  Perhaps I should have started with beef.

Right after this photo, I was revved up to go. Then I realized that I didn't have a peeler for the potatoes...or curry powder.  So back to the grocery store for me.  *insert sad trumpet noise here

When I finally had all of my ingredients, it was time for the prep work.  I wanted to make it a more veggie heavy curry for my husband.  Unlike his Del Taco-obsessed wife, he likes to maintain a healthy diet.

Just the beginning: Ain't that beautiful?

The Process

Ta-Dahhhh!
I never found the potato skinner, and my husband likes skins....so there you have it.
I poured the sauce on it later.  The naked look was purely for pretty presentational purposes. (Check out THAT alliteration!)

Anyway, my husband and I enjoyed the dish a lot!  We had seconds.  I don't think it tasted as sweet as the curry I'm used to eating in restaurants, but I actually liked that it was more spicy and less sweet.

Hey Ma, look what I can do!
It got hot in the kitchen so I stripped down to my yoga wear. Yes, I had on work out clothes under my "civilian" clothes. It was from a Chill Yoga class earlier in the day. No sweat. It's like 1st grade nap time. Check it out.  My boobs look weird.

If you are interested, here is the recipe for my beginner chicken curry.  I basically followed the one here and added some of my own changes - some not on purpose.

Ingredients

1 lb of chicken breast cut into small chunks

1 Russet potato chopped into chunks

1-2 medium tomatoes (You got it - also chopped up)

3 Tbsp. of curry powder

2 bay leaves

1 cinnamon stick

1 Tbsp. chili flakes

4-5 cloves of garlic, minced

1 thumb-size ginger, grated

1/2 cup of chicken broth or stock

3 Tbsp. of sweet tomato paste

1 can coconut milk

3 Tbsp. of fish sauce

2 Tbsp. of coconut oil

1 bag of Trader Joe's Vegetable medley

1/2 bag of Trader Joe's baby spinach

Ground cinnamon, add to taste

Instructions

1. In a large sauce pan (I used a large shallow pot- is that a sauce pan??), add the curry powder, 1 bay leaf, cinnamon stick, and chili.  "Dry fry" these spices for 2-3 minutes or until smoke starts coming up from the pot (Hey! I like visual cues.)

2.  Add 2 Tbsp. of coconut oil with the garlic and ginger. Add just enough of the chicken broth to get the ingredients frying for 2 minutes.  Or read the instructions poorly like me and just pour in all of the chicken broth.  It still worked.  Whatever.  

3. Add the chicken and potatoes.  Move the shit around a lot.  I started drinking wine right about here.

4.  Stir in tomato puree, coconut milk, fish sauce, and the second bay leaf. It's a party!

5.  Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce to a simmer.

6.  I don't know how long you cook it for, but when the chicken looked edible, I checked on the potatoes.  When the potatoes started softening up, I added the vegetable medley.  When the vegetables started softening up, I added the tomatoes.  When the tomatoes softened up, I added the spinach.  I'm sorry I can't give a specific schedule.  

7. Taste-test the curry.  The ingredients I kept adding were the fish sauce, chili flakes, and ground cinnamon. 

8.  Serve!  I made brown basmati rice (from Trader Joe's) before cooking the curry.  I poured the curry on top of a lovely bed of rice.

Some of the ingredients

I love Trader Joe's.

I put my ingredients in bowls after I chop them up.  I thought it was what fancy TV chefs did, but then I realized it just makes sense.

My curry was ready for its close-up.



Do you have any good curry recipes?  Thai, Indian, Japanese....I'll take them all!