Slow Cooking It Thai Style

Since getting my slow cooker, I've wanted to try a curry in it.  I knew I wanted something vaguely Thai in a chicken masaman sort of way, but otherwise I winged it. I hope you enjoy as much as we did!

What You'll Need

Supplies

Slow cooker                                                          Large cast iron skillet

Cutting board                                                        Small mixing bowl

Knife for chopping                                                Measuring cup

Measuring spoons                                                 Fork

Ingredients

2 small onions                                                        1/2 tsp ginger

2 potatoes                                                               1 tsp minced garlic

1 can coconut milk                                                 salt and pepper to taste

1 cup chicken broth                                                3-4 chicken breasts

1 1/2 Tbsp curry powder                                        Olive oil

2 Tbsp peanut butter                                              Green onions

Now Let's Make Thai Chicken Masaman

Start by prepping your vegetables. Cut the tips off your onions on one side and remove the peel. Slice the other end off. Slice the onion in half, and slice each half into thirds, keeping the pieces together. Turn the onion and slice across your previous cuts to finish chopping your onion, which should be fairly coarsely cut.

 These are onions...

Next, scrub your potatoes to remove any dirt (you can also peel them, if you'd prefer). Slice each potato in half lengthwise. Then, slice the potato into quarters, again lengthwise, keeping the slices together. Turn the potato and slice along your previous cuts to coarsely chop the potato.  

 Sorry for the blur; it's hard to photograph and chop at the same time. Ponder that.

Place both the onions and the potatoes in the bottom of the slow cooker.

Pour some olive oil in your cast iron skillet and heat to medium.  While your skillet heats, trim any excess fat from your chicken breasts.  Quickly brown the chicken in the pan on all sides. 

Place the breasts over the top of the potatoes and onions. I like to nestle them in the veggies a little rather than setting them on top as this allows them to steep in a bit more moisture while cooking.

Oddly, I find partially cooked chicken less than appetizing

Open your can of coconut milk and pour it into the small mixing bowl. Measure out 1 cup chicken broth and pour in with the coconut milk. Add 1 1/2 Tbsp curry powder, 2 Tbsp peanut butter, 1/2 tsp ginger, and 1 tsp minced garlic to the bowl. Liberally dash with black pepper and add salt (I used a little less than 1 tsp). Using your fork, whisk the ingredients together until liquid is smooth. 

 Avoid a real whisk unless you want to gum it up with peanut butter...

Pour the coconut milk mixture evenly over the top of the chicken breasts.  Cover and set slow cooker to low for 5 hours.

Serve with jasmine rice (I like to toss my rice with some golden raisins), and garnish with green onions.  Enjoy!

Mmmmmmm...

 

Green Foods Need Love, Too

So, it's Earth Day.  In celebration, I thought I'd do a recipe that I've been talking about for a while but haven't gotten around to yet: Mint Chutney also known as Green Chutney.  This is a popular condiment in Indian cooking, and I, personally, could eat it on just about everything. It's especially good with Naan and a nice curry.  Don't let its green and runny appearance fool you (apparently some people find that off-putting), this little sauce is delicious, subtle, and can pack a sneaky punch.  I make no pretensions to authenticity. This recipe is the result of my experiments with a very basic recipe, tweaking until I got the flavors where I wanted them.

What You'll Need

Supplies

Cutting board                                                     Food processor or blender

Knife for chopping                                             Spoon

Measuring spoons                                              Small serving bowl

Ingredients

3 small green chilies                                          1 bunch cilantro

1 tomato                                                             1 bunch mint

3 Tbsp water                                                     1 7oz package grated sweetened coconut

3 Tbsp lemon juice                                             3 spoonfuls plain yogurt

3/4 tsp salt

Now Let's Make Mint Chutney!

Before we get started, let's have a few words (okay more than a few) about ingredients. For the chilies, I like to use the small green ones that you can find in bags at a good Asian grocer (these are about a finger length). If you can't find those, go with serrano peppers (pictured, since I couldn't find the others this go round). For the tomato, try to get a juicy variety; one of the big round ones should do.  

Take your three chilies, and begin chopping them. Slit the chili length wise, starting just shy of the top (stem side) and going all the way through the tip. Turn the chili to the unsliced side and repeat.  Essentially you've quartered your pepper, but left the quarters attached to the pepper by not cutting through the top.  Now, starting at the tip and moving toward the top, begin chopping your pepper. Repeat for the other two peppers. Set to the side, and coarsely chop your tomato. Add the peppers, tomato, 3 Tbsp water, 3 Tbsp lemon juice and 3/4 tsp salt to the blender or food processor (I got a food processor for my b'day, y'all and it's heaven). Blend until nice and liquidy.

Take your bunch of cilantro and rinse it really good (as I've said before, cilantro from the grocery is filthy). Gather the leaves in as tight a bunch as possible and chop the cilantro beginning at the leafy end and moving toward the end that's all stems.  Don't worry about any of the stem getting in the mix during the process; it's all the same flavor and you won't notice once liquified. Discard the stemmy chunk you're left with. Add the chopped cilantro to the blender. 

Now, for your bunch of mint (also rinsed) you can either use two containers of mint found with the other refrigerated herbs (usually near the salads), or you can take it fresh from the garden. Either way, you want enough leaves (leaves only here! Mint stems are woody) to fill your two hands cupped together. Pluck the leaves from the main stem and, when you're sure you have enough, add them to the blender.

Next, take your bag of sweetened coconut, and add about half the bag to the blender. I know sweetened coconut sounds weird and most recipes call for plain, but I find that the sugar is necessary to the overall flavor of the chutney. It adds a balance to things that wouldn't be there otherwise.  Anyway, by now you should have cilantro, mint, and coconut in your food processor waiting to go. Blend! If you're using a blender (as I sadly was still), you may have to stop occasionally and use your spoon to press things down a bit. Blend until liquidy. 

She forgot to take a photo
Content yourselves with me,
hoomans

Add about three big spoons of plain yogurt (I was using a tablespoon; you know the bigger one that's great for soups and cereals) to the blender and blend.  Once the yogurt is throughly mixed in, its time for a taste test.  Take a taste and wait a few seconds for the spicy to catch up to you. Too powerful? Add a big pinch of coconut (that's a pinch using all your fingers, by the way) and a smaller spoon of yogurt. Blend. Repeat until level of spiciness and flavor suits your taste.

Serve in a small serving bowl. Provide everyone with smaller condiment bowls so that they can dish themselves their own private stash of mint chutney.  This chutney can accompany just about any Indian dish you decide to make. Happy Earth Day and remember green food needs love, too, so enjoy!

I'm so much tastier than I look.

   

Currying Flavor

I swear I could eat Indian food every meal.  This particular curry began its life as a recipe for Chicken in Cashew Nut Sauce in Best Ever Indian Cookbook. Naturally, I'm unable to leave well-enough alone and tweaked (okay, okay substantially altered) the recipe until it became the curry that I wanted.  The result is a spicy, tomatoey chicken curry that pairs really well with homemade naan and mint chutney (someday I'll have a garden filled with herbs and mint leaves just so I can make this more). Unfortunately, because this is my own creation, the spices in the dish are added by a whole lot of instinct, but I'll do my best to condense them into tangible measurements. So, without further ado (well, maybe a little...), I give you my recipe for Curry Chicken with Almond Sauce.

What You'll Need

Supplies

Measuring spoons                                                    Blender or Food Processor

Small bowl                                                               1 seriously large, deep skillet with lid

Cutting board                                                           Measuring cups

Knife for chopping

Ingredients

1 Tbsp cinnamon                                                     2 sweet yellow onions

2 tsp cardamom                                                       1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

1 tsp ground coriander                                             5 chicken breasts

1 tsp cumin                                                               3/4 cup slivered almonds

1 tsp salt                                                                   2 tsp minced garlic

1/2 tsp curry powder                                               1 Tbsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes                                         2 Tbsp fat-free plain yogurt

1/2 tsp turmeric                                                       1 6 oz can tomato paste

1/4 tsp chili powder                                                 1 15 oz can tomato sauce

Dash black pepper                                                   1 15 oz can diced tomatoes, drained

Dash cloves                                                              1 cup golden raisins, packed

Now Let's Make Curry Chicken with Almond Sauce!

Yes, I forgot to take a different pic.

Whew. Deep breath.  Soooo... I hope you have a well-stocked spice cabinet (heh heh). First things first, let's do a little prep work.  Aren't you excited? (No?) See all those spices listed above on the left. Yeah those; measure them out into your small bowl. Don't be too careful about it; this is more kitchen witchery than chemistry, and a heaping spoon every now and again never hurt anyone.  For the cloves, I do about two shakes through the perforated lid. You don't want too much; keep in mind that cloves are a natural numbing agent. Using a measuring spoon, mix all the spices together in the bowl, then set them aside.

Sniff, snivel, sniff

Using your cutting board and knife, peel and dice the yellow onions.  Go ahead and scrape them into your blender or food processor when you're done.  If you're working with a food processor (you lucky thing) you can simply quarter the onions before putting them in. However, since a blender is more of a pain in the rear, dice the onions finely (guess which one I get to work with *twitch, twitch*).  When you're done with the onions, begin chopping the cilantro leaves until you've got about 1/4 cup.  Avoid the stems as much as possible. It should go without saying, but wash the cilantro first (my latest grocery store bunch was filthy!). Set the cilantro aside, and begin trimming any fat off the 5 chicken breasts.  Cut the chicken into 1 inch pieces. Set aside.

Don't forget the lid!

Okay, so that was a whole lot of prep work.  Cover your blender and blend the onions until they are very small and there's a lot of juice. You don't want to liquify them, but you want them fairly mushy. Turn off the blender once your onions are done. Add your spice mix, 3/4 cup slivered almonds, 2 tsp minced garlic, 1 Tbsp lemon juice, 2 Tbsp fat-free yogurt, and 6 oz tomato paste to the blender.  Blend well until you have a very thick liquid/paste with few discernible parts.  Make especially sure that all the almonds are well blended; you don't want any chunks (nothing says tasty quite like chunks. Say it with me... chunks).

Mmmm... you saucy thing, you

Pour your spicy sauce into your large pan.  Saute over medium heat (just above your stove's middle setting) for about 2 minutes.  By cooking the spices before you add anything else, you better release their flavors.  You don't need to stir it constantly, but make sure to do so regularly or the sauce will scorch (and burnt is not a flavor we're going for).

After two minutes, add the chicken and cilantro and saute along with the spices until the chicken has cooked on the outside.  You'll know it's time to move on when all the chicken has turned white and no pink is showing on the outsides.  Now open the cans of tomato sauce and diced tomatoes.  Drain the diced tomatoes over the sink (don't drain the tomato sauce, as that is self-defeating).  Add both cans to the curry and mix everything together well. Saute for a little longer at medium heat until the chicken is cooked through.

Measure out 1 heaping cup of golden raisins, packing them into the measuring cup by squishing them into the cup before adding more. The original recipe only called for 1 Tbsp of raisins, but they really make the dish (and, I clearly like raisins). Make sure to use golden raisins or sultanas, because regular raisins just aren't the same. (Please note that raisins cause kidney failure in pets!) Mix the raisins in well.  Cover the curry and reduce heat to low.

How does one say Voila! in Hindi?

Allow the curry to simmer while you finish the rest of the meal. Serve with fresh made naan, rice, and your choice of sides. Pictured here, you see mint chutney, aloo with cauliflower and mushrooms, ad brown rice. Now, try not to stuff yourself to bursting (it's only a thin mint).

    Pin It