Curry In A Hurry!

Welcome to another episode of “Cooking Under Quarantine” — maybe we should rename this series to Cooking Under Semi-Quarantine as things slowly reopen? In this video, we’ll be making Thai chicken curry featuring delicious aromatic veggies, chicken and a coconut-curry base. Yum! Follow along with Chef Jon and let us know what else you’d like to cook!

Ingredients:

• Boneless chicken breast or thighs (Substitutes: tofu), 1-2 lb, cut into chunks
• Curry paste (green or red), 2-3 heaping tbsps
• Fish sauce, 1 tbsp
• Coconut milk, 1 can or 1.5 cups
• Scallions, 1 bunch
• Garlic, 2-3 tbsp or to taste
• Onions, 1-2 small onions or 1 large onion
• Carrots, 3-4 carrots
• Bell pepper, 2 bell peppers
• Potato, 2-3 potatoes
• Peanut oil (or vegetable or canola — something neutral)
• Thai chilies, Sambal Olek (chili paste) or other hot pepper (optional)
• Cilantro (optional)
• Rice (optional)

Directions:

1. Chop some potatoes into 1/2 inch pieces, toss with a little bit of oil, salt and pepper, and roast in the oven for 20-25 minutes on 450
2. While that’s going, cut your chicken into medium-sized chunks — you can also use already sliced chicken or chicken tenders, but I think it’s fun and rustic to DIY
3. In order to get a good sear on the chicken, you should heat your wok or sauté pan until it’s very hot, then throw the chicken in with a little bit of neutral-flavored oil like canola
4. While the chicken is browning, mince your garlic, scallions and chop your other veggies (onion, peppers, carrots
5. Once the chicken is cooked, but not cooked to death, take out and reserve for later,  and toss veggies into the hot wok starting with the garlic to perfume the pan
6. Once you’ve sweated the veggies, add the scallions and deglaze the pan with some fish sauce (or soy sauce)
7. Add a few heaping spoonfuls of curry paste and make sure that it gets evenly distributed so that it gets incorporated throughout the dish
8. After cooking the curry paste into the veggies for a few minutes, add your coconut milk and mix thoroughly, and this would also be the time to add some sambal olek chili paste or dried chilies if you like a spicy curry. Can skip this if you want.
9. Simmer for a few minutes, then add the chicken back into the pan along with the roasted potatoes which should be done at this point. This would also be a time to add other starchy ingredients you might be using: roasted squash, pumpkin, sweet potato, tofu, etc.
10. Simmer uncovered for about 10-15 min so that curry thickens up
11. Serve immediately over noodles or rice and garnish with cilantro and Thai chilies, or put it in the fridge and eat it the next day. So delicious as leftovers — Yum!

Enjoy and let me know how yours turned out!