Yellow Chicken Curry ... with a Ton of Other Stuff

In my experience, a stir fry has been a staple in the student kitchen. It is an easy and quick way to get a whole meal that taste great. But there are only so many stir frys you can handle in a week. So, I turned my attention to curry! Same concept, cooking up a bunch of veggies, tossing it with a sauce and serving on rice. But since I was completely new to the world of curry, I often stuck to the jarred sauces (such as this one which is quite delicious in my opinion). 

Then one day, my foodie friend and I decided ... this jar stuff (although incredibly amazing tasting)... was a bit to easy. Lets challenge ourselves and try making it from scratch! Well..maybe not completely from scratch ... but most definitely not from a jar! We found Steve's Yellow Chicken Curry to be the most appealing to our skill level and what we had on hand - so we started there and adapted as we went.

In the end, we were quite satisfied and proud of ourselves. And although we will both still buy the jarred curry sauce for quick deliciousness, it was actually a lot easier than we thought! 

There was definitely some back patting and high five-ing going on. 

Yellow Chicken Curry

Time: 45 min                              CPS: $3.10                           L of D: Graduate

- 1-2 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast

- 2 Servings of your choice of Rice (I most definitely use Brown Minute Rice)

- Handful of Cashews

- Olive Oil

The "Other" Stuff - feel free to use whatever combination of veggies that you like!

- 1 large Sweet Potato

- 1 Can of Chickpeas

- 2 Cups of Spinach

- 1/2 Onion (I used red onion just because I had it)

- 2 cups of Mushrooms (quartered)

- 1 Red Pepper

Curry Sauce

- 3 Cloves of Garlic (minced)

- 2 Tbsp of Ginger (grated)

- 1 can of Low Fat Coconut Milk

- 3 Tbsp of Curry Powder

- 2 Tsp of Salt

- Red Pepper Flakes (optional - I am a wimp so I skipped this)

As with stir fry, I like to chop all my vegetables up ahead of time for efficient cooking ;). Everything(including chicken) should be cut into approximately bite size pieces. Garlic and ginger chopped finely. 

Since I used Minute Rice and it only took.. well a few minutes to make, I just made it after I made the curry. But if you are making a better more delicious rice, start it now. 

Peel sweet potatoes and cut them into bite size chunks. Place them in boiling water for approximately 5 minutes or until the just start to become soft. We are not cooking them all the way, just giving them a head start. 

In a small bowl, create your curry paste by mixing the curry powder, garlic, ginger and salt together. Set aside. 

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, throw in onions, mushrooms and peppers just until they begin to soften, approximately 5-6 minutes. Add chicken chunks and toss until they are no longer pink (we are not cooking the chicken all the way through now because it will continue to cook throughout the process), about another 3-5 minutes. 

Push all ingredients in the skillet to one side. Add curry paste to the empty side and stir around for about a minute or so. Add the coconut milk to the curry paste. Stir rapidly until mixture is somewhat combined. Mix with everything else in skillet. 

Add sweet potatoes, chickpeas and spinach. Allow everything to hang out together in the pan. Let everyone get to know each other and absorb some of the flavour, I would say at least 10 minutes. This is one of those dishes that the longer it sits the better it gets (a.k.a leftovers are AMAZING). 

Serve over rice and top with cashews!