Chicken Curry and Rice

Yesterday my husband decided to cook again, and who am I to complain?  He even cleaned up afterwards too! I was a lucky girl last night.  He made chicken curry, which is a common well loved thing around here.  We love all kinds of curry around here--Japanese, Indian, Chinese, Thai....its all tasty.  This recipe is easy because the curry spices are already done for us--we use a pre-made curry paste called Golden Curry.  Usually it's the mild heat level because I freely admit I am a wuss when it comes to really spicy stuff.  I love the flavor of spices used in curry, I just can't take the heat.  So here we go--simple recipe, delicious results.

Chicken Curry and Rice

2 whole chicken breasts, preferably boneless skinless, cut into bite sized pieces
1 onion, sliced thin
3-4 carrots, sliced into coins about 1/4 inch thick
1 pkg Golden Curry paste/block, in the heat level you desire
1/2 pt heavy cream, optional
cooked white rice, for about 4 people.

In a wok or large skillet, cook chicken pieces til cooked through.  Add carrots and onions and cook til onions are tender. Stir constantly in this process--again, this is to keep things from burning because you will be using high heat for this part of the process.  Add your curry paste and the water the pkg calls for, reduce the heat to a simmer, and let all ingredients simmer until the sauce is thickened and the carrots are tender.  If you choose to add the cream, add that at the very end right before serving and just cook until its well combined and warmed.

Serve over rice.

Roast Chicken, Take Two

Okay, I know I posted roast chicken already, about 2 weeks ago, but I made it again tonight and it turned out much better this time.  So I am going to post the better recipe tonight.  I hope you don't mind the redundancy. the other recipe is good too, just this one was better.  And I found a better cooking method too.  So here we go...

Roast Chicken

1 whole chicken (not the little fryers, but the ones in the shrink wrap marked "young chicken")
1/4 c olive oil
1/4 c balsamic vinegar
3 or 4 sprigs of rosemary, leaves stripped from stems
1 tsp garlic powder
3 sprigs fresh thyme, stripped from stems
1 or 2 carrots cut into sticks
1 onion, sliced thin
celery stalks, cut into sticks

A day before you plan to roast the chicken, remove from shrink wrap, remove neck and gizzards, and place in a large gallon sized ziplock bag, and add oil, balsamic vinegar, rosemary, garlic powder and thyme.  Mash the bag together and get the mix to coat the whole chicken.  Place bag on a large plate into the fridge and marinate for 24 hours.  Flip bag over 12 hours into the marinade.

Be aware, this recipe takes about an hour and a half to complete cooking.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  When ready to roast, place veggies in the bottom of a 9x13 cake pan.  Drizzle with a bit of olive oil and some salt and pepper.  This will serve as your "roasting rack" and also helps you get good flavors for your drippings to turn into some tasty gravy.  Place the marinated chicken on top of veggies, and pour all of the marinade on top of the chicken.  Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes, and then drop the temperature to 350 degrees.  Continue to roast an additional hour, and then remove from the oven and let rest 10 minutes.  Carve  and serve.

Oven Fried Chicken

I forgot to take a picture of this one, so we will have to wait til the next time I decide to do this again to get the picture posted.  I made this to go with our collard greens tonight, and it was a hit.  Super easy to make, and tasty.  You should try it!

Oven Fried Chicken

3 whole boneless skinless chicken breasts, each cut in half, rinsed and patted dry
1/2 c all purpose flour
1/2 c cornmeal
1 tbsp cajun seasoning
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 c vegetable or canola oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In a 13x9 baking dish, pour your oil--you should have about 1/4 to a half inch in the bottom of the pan.  Heat for about 10 minutes.  Combine flour, cornmeal, and seasonings in a large ziplock bag (just add everything and then seal and shake the bag).  Add chicken and shake til all pieces are well coated.  Using tongs, place the chicken in the oil and bake for about 15 minutes.  Flip the chicken pieces over and bake again for another 15 minutes.  Check to make sure pieces are fully cooked all the way through, and serve hot with your favorite dipping sauce.