Wednesday, February 9, 2011

February 9: Mostly Green Curry Chicken over Coconut Jasmine Rice

1 1/2 cups chicken stock or broth
1 13 1/2 ounce can coconut milk
1 cup jasmine rice
3 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
4 6- to 8-ounce boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into bite-size pieces
   Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 green bell pepper, cored, seeded, and thinly sliced
1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
3 large garlic cloves, chopped
1 small jalapeno pepper, cut in half and seeded
1 3-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
2 cups broccoli florets
   Zest and juice of 1 lime
1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
3 scallions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped
1 cup frozen peas
   Hot sauce, such as Tabasco, to taste (optional)

In a sauce pot, combine 1 cup of the chicken stock, 4 ounces of the coconut milk, and the jasmine rice. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook for 15 to 18 minutes. Turn the heat off and keep the rice covered until ready to serve.


While the coconut jasmine rice is cooking, preheat a large nonstick skillet over high heat with about 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil. Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper. Add the chicken pieces, spreading them evenly across the pan, and brown the chicken on all sides about 3 to 4 minutes.


Remove the browned chicken to a plate and reserve. Add the last tablespoon of vegetable oil to the pan. Add the green bell peppers, onions, garlic, jalapenos, ginger, and broccoli florets. Cook, stirring frequently, for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the veggies start to wilt. To the skillet add the remaining coconut milk and 1/2 cup chicken stock.

Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 4 to 5 minutes. Add the chicken back to the skillet, and return it to a simmer for about 2 more minutes. Add the lime juice, lime zest, cilantro, scallions, parsley, and frozen peas. Stir to thoroughly combine. Simmer a minute more to heat the peas, taste, and adjust the seasoning. Add more salt or some hot sauce, if you like heat. Serve over the coconut jasmine rice.

4 SERVINGS



This is one of Rachael Ray's MYOTO meals. That stands for Make Your Own Take-Out. I'm not sure why it's called curry, because it doesn't have any curry in it. But it is exotic and really good. I like the flavors of the coconut and lime together. I just kept getting more and more until the rice was all gone. I couldn't stop eating it. It's called mostly green because of the green bell pepper, jalapeno, broccoli, cilantro, scallions, parsley, and peas. I guess it's not all green because of the onions and chicken. If it was all green, the only thing we could do is go through its pockets and look for loose change. Never mind.

My husband is funny. He only likes about half of these vegetables, so when I dish it up for him, I have to make sure to pick out all the bell peppers and onions. I also left out the herbs from the pan, and just sprinkled them on my plate. I think they add a lot, but he can't stand them.

1 comment:

  1. This is a Thai style curry, so the spices are a bit different than a typical Indian curry (which never use what North Americans call curry powder anyway). Curry really just means that it's veg or meat or both cooked in a (usually) spiced (but not necessarily spicy) sauce.

    Your grocery stores sound a bit like mine for not stocking things that RR uses, but if there is an Asian section in your store, you might find jars of Thai Green Curry paste (or red), which have amazing flavour and are much easier to use even than this recipe - usually you stir 1/2-1 tbsp into a can of coconut milk and then add 1/2-1 tbsp fish sauce, though I use soy sauce instead and then poach the chicken/cook the veg in it. It's really great with chicken, bamboo shoots, snow peas, and sliced water chestnuts, and then topped with crushed pistachios and slivers of mango. (Some brands pre-make the sauce, so you don't need to buy coconut milk separately. Then you'd just use the whole jar, but it's harder to control the spice level that way. With the paste, you can start with a little at a time and add more if you think you want more heat.)

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