Chicken Curry
Indian-style chicken curry that reheats well
Difficulty Level: easy
Ingredients
- 1-2 pieces of chicken breast (1 for 1-2 people, 2 for 2-4)
- 2 red peppers (orange or yellow is fine, if that’s what you prefer)
- 1 can diced tomato
- 1 onion
- 1-2 cloves of garlic
- 1/2 cup (1-2 servings) to 1 cup (2-4) of rice
- a few tablespoons of olive oil for frying
- optional ingredients:
- 1/2 cup of diced pineapple
- curry paste (can be found in the ethnic food isle of many super markets; most also have directions for how much you should add to a curry)
- Seasonings:
- curry powder
- cumin
- tumeric
- chili powder (optional; if you like your curry spicy)
- Optional garnish (goes well with very spicy curry):
- greek yogurt
- 1-2 tsp of fresh mint leaves, finely diced
Instructions
The first step is to cut up all your vegetables. This you will have to do on personal preference; I happen to like my vegetables diced into roughly 1/2 inch bits but you can cut them in up to 2 inch chunks if you prefer.
Slice the chicken into 1 inch cubes. If you want the chicken to be more flavorful, you can roll the chicken in a layer of curry powder.
Put a tablespoon or so of olive oil into a medium sized frying pan on low-medium heat. Add the diced garlic and onions, and let them cook until they are almost burned (adjust the heat as necessary, as all ovens are different). Feel free to add a bit of the seasonings you’ve chosen to use at this point.
Once the onions and garlic are ready, add the diced peppers and chicken, letting them fry for about 10 minutes. Make sure to stir every few minutes, and add more olive oil is necessary (the bottom of the pan should have a thin layer covering the whole thing).
When the chicken looks fully cooked (or at least very close) add the can of diced tomatoes (if you opted for pineapple and/or curry paste, now’s the time!). Give everything a good stir and bring to a low boil.
Now is the time to add your spices. I don’t have any specific measurements I use when I cook; I generally just spice to taste. In the case of curry, you shouldn’t be afraid of overspicing (just don’t dump half of the bottle in or anything extreme). You can probably safely get away with about a teaspoon of each spice.
At this point, if your frying pan has a lid cover it so you can start on the rice. If it does not, just make sure to keep an eye on the curry and add a bit of water if it looks like it’s getting dry. It should have the consistency between of a chunky pasta sauce and soup. Once the curry is at this point you can cook it as long as you want, just make sure you stir it occasionally so it doesn’t burn.
When it comes to rice, it all depends on the type you want to make. Instant rice is fine if you’re in a rush or on a budget. Most types of rice have instructions printed right on the bag. If you still need some rice help, here’s basically how you go about cooking it.
No matter what amount of rice you measure out, you should use twice that amount of water. For the purposes of this recipe, let’s say 1/2 cup dry rice.
Bring one cup of water to a boil in a saucepan with a little bit of salt and a pat of butter for extra flavor. Add the rice once the water has come to a boil, then lower the temperature until it simmers. Put a lid on the pan and let it simmer for roughly 15-20 minutes.
Once the rice is done, it’s all set to serve. If you’ve added a lot of curry paste or chili powder to get a very spicy curry, using a garnish of greek yogurt (either with or without the chopped mint) compliments the meal very well.
The best part about this recipe is that if you have extra curry, it’s very easy to reheat. If you want to add more to your leftovers, just follow the above instructions until you get the the point where you add the canned tomatoes and add the leftovers instead.
Alternatively, if you don’t want a tomato-based curry you can get a pre-made curry sauce instead (such as Tikka Masala) and substitute it for the canned tomatoes.
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