EASY, FILLING CHICKEN CURRY
July 23, 2015
This recipe is a great middle ground between fancy and frugal. It has a flavorful base of meat and spices, but is turned into a great batch cook with cheap, filling ingredients like onion, rice and frozen peas.
This dish is also great if you enjoy having everyone who walks into your house go "It smells like an Indian restaurant in here!" for the next two months.
Makes 8 - 10 servings.
Ingredients
3 pounds of boneless chicken thighs
1/2 cup of cooking oil
1 large onion
4 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons of fresh ginger root
28 ounces of canned crushed tomatoes
18 ounces of plain Greek yogurt
2 cups frozen peas
4 cups white or basmati rice
1 lemon
2 1/2 tablespoons curry powder
1/2 cup of water
Salt and pepper to taste
2 teaspoons ground cumin (optional)
2 teaspoons turmeric (optional)
3 teaspoons ground coriander (optional)
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper (optional)
2 teaspoons garam masala (optional)
Directions
Start your rice cooking in a pot or rice cooker. Follow the directions on the bag or box to cook to the right texture.
Chop up the chicken thighs into bite sized pieces. I actually like to do this with a good pair of kitchen scissors. Sprinkle the chicken pieces with salt. Heat the cooking oil in a large pot on high heat and use it to cook the chicken in batches until slightly browned. As each batch is cooked, set them aside in a bowl lined with paper towels to drain.
While the chicken cooks, roughly chop the onion and garlic, and peel and finely chop the fresh ginger. (I used to be intimidated by ginger root but it's actually super easy to work with.)
Once all of the chicken is cooked and set aside, cook the onion, garlic and ginger in the oil. Let them cook for 3 - 5 minutes, until the onion is soft and slightly transparent. Now add your spice(s).
If you're willing to invest in some good spices, I highly recommend that you make the full spice mix for this recipe. Spices are expensive up front but almost always a good investment. But if you're working on a tight budget, it's fine just to use curry.
Once the aromatics are heated through, add the can of crushed tomatoes, the yogurt, the frozen peas (no need to thaw) and the half cup of water. Mix the chicken back into the pot.
Bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat and let simmer for a few minutes. Once the meal is heated through, it's ready to serve on top of the rice. Squeeze a slice of lemon over each bowl right before you serve. It lightens up the flavor in a really great way.
Enjoy! I highly encourage you to bring this as your work lunch, and just wait for someone to smell it, stand up and say, "Did you go out for Indian food?" You get to say, "Nope! I made it myself!"