Thai Chicken Red Curry

This recipe is the courtesy of Achyuthanand. He makes this dish so good that I had to take the recipe from him. And after a lot of bugging I got the recipe and tried it. This time I decide to take pictures and blog it.

Ingredients:

Onion -1/2 [cut into thin strips]
Carrots -1 [cut into thin strips]
Tomatoes -2 small
Green pepper -1/2 (I added yellow and red too since I love veggies) [cut into strips]
Basil
Cilantro (garnish, I did not have any this day so skipped it)



Skinless boneless Chicken breast -2(If you are a vegetarian you can skip or add tofu)


Thai Chilli Garlic paste - depending on how spicy you want
Rice Vinegar - 2 tbsp (Actual recipe calls for Cooking Wine but I used this)
Soy Sauce - 2tbsp
Oil - 2 tbsp
crushed red pepper
Pepper, salt
Ginger-garlic paste, chilli powder (my additions to the recipe)



Red Thai Curry paste ( I used almost half of the can you see in the picture)
Bamboo shoots (My husband hates this so I just put half the can)
Baby corn ( I love them so put in the enitre can cut them into half)
Coconut milk -1 canSugar - 1-2 tbsp
Fish sauce - 2 tbsp ( I skipped this)

• Cut Chicken into small strips
• Add 2 tbsp of Rice vinegar, oil, pepper, salt and marinate it for 15 min. I added a little ginger-garlic paste and a little chilli powder but the actual recipe did not call for these.




• Fry the chicken in a wok with little oil



• Add Thai Curry paste to the chicken



• Add soy sauce
• Add Thai garlic paste



• Let cook for about 10-15 min. so all the flavors blend into the chicken
• Wash the bamboo shoots,baby corn and cut them into half if they are too long like mine are


• Add Bamboo shoots, Baby Corn, Onion, Carrot Strips, Tomatoes



• Add Coconut milk and bring to boil (approx. 10 min)



• Add Green pepper, Basil, Cilantro, fish sauce, sugar.



• Be careful not to overcook the green pepper. You want it to still be crunchy. Taste one and when you feel its cooked but cruchy turn it off
• Garnish with Basil, red pepper flakes if you want it to be spicy

• The ingredients made a huge dish so if you are trying it out the first time, cut everything into half.
• Serve with rice and enjoy
  
  
  Note: If you want to make Green Curry just shop for green curry paste and follow the recipe
  

UPDATE: The curry turned out really spicy. You might want to watch how much Thai Chilli garlic paste you add. I think I added a lot.

My Favorite Pasta

I hated pasta with marinara sauce... so I created my own version (the dry version) here is how it goes... The measurements are approximations.

Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast - 2 pieces ( I use a mallet to flatten them and if needed cut them into half)
Penne Pasta (I like this but I guess you can use linguine or any kind)
Olive oil
Onions -1 cut longwise
Red and Yellow Peppers - half of each
Parsley - finely chopped
Garlic - 2 cloves finely chopped
Rosemary (I used dry one out of the spice rack)
Salt, Pepper
Sun dried Tomatoes (I love these and would use in any dish if I could) cut into small pieces
Artichoke hearts (from a can) chopped up
Onions 1/2 finely diced

• Boil pasta according to the packaging instructions. I add salt and a little olive oil to it. Drain and keep aside
• In a pan heat some olive oil and saute onions, garlic, peppers
• Once they are cooked add in parsley , rosemary, sundried tomatoes and artichoke
• Either you can use the same pan or in another one add olive oil and add the chicken and cook it thouroughly. Add salt and pepper.
• Once the chicken is cooked cut into long pieces
• Add them to the onions, parsley etc. in the pan
• Add the cooked pasta
• Stir so that everything is combined. Add Salt, pepper according to your taste

Butter Chicken

I did not think butter chicken was so easy to make until my cousin (Thulasi) made it and served. Me as usual could not help but take the recipe and try it out. Its really really easy and tastes so good.

Here is the recipe:
3 pounds boneless chicken pieces
Oil (for frying)
1-2 tbsp of ginger-garlic paste
1 1/2 cups finely chopped onion
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons minced ginger
1 teaspoon chilly powder
2 tablespoon Tandoori Chicken Masala (Yes its not butter chicken masala but tandoori chicken masala)
2 cups half-and-half or whipping cream
2 cups canned tomato sauce
4 to 6 tablespoons melted butter ( I skipped this ingredient )
Chopped coriander (for garnish)

Marinate the pieces with salt, Tandoori chicken masala, chilly powder, ginger-garlic paste and set aside for 15 min.



Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large saute pan and brown chicken pieces. Remove and set aside. Add more oil to pan. Fry onions, garlic and ginger until transparent.



Add chili powder and tandoori chicken masala, cook about 2 minutes. Add tomato sauce, cook about 4 minutes.


Add cream, return chicken pieces to pan. Bring to a boil, then turn heat to low and simmer uncovered for 30 to 40 minutes.


Remove from heat and pour melted butter over it ( I skipped this part) . Cover and let stand for 5 to 10 minutes.

Your butter chicken is ready!!!!!



Tips:

Do this dish a day before you want to serve. For some reason the curry tastes much better that way since the gravy seems to seep into the chicken making it more flavorful but again having it the same day also is great

Chilli Chicken

I've been cooking this dish for a long time now. I've varied it so many times. I initially made the dry chilli chicken and tried to make the wet one by using website recipes but every time I make them there is something wrong I do which I still dont know. Finally one day I was watching Food Network where there were making some other recipe and they made a little gravy and I used there technique which I will describe below to make the wet one. Again this is my approximation with the measurements

Ingredients
Skinless boneless chicken cut into small pieces -- I used a small tray of chicken
Ginger cut into small pieces - aprrox. 2 inches long ginger
Garlic cut into small pieces -- around 3-4 cloves
Coriander leaves -- 4-5 stems
Onions diced -- 1 big
All purpose flour - 4 tbsp
Egg - 1
Green pepper - 1 cut into small pieces
chilli powder, salt, balck pepper to taste
Vinegar - 5 tablespoons
Soya Sauce -2 tbsp.
Green chillies - 10 cut into small pieces
Food color - red

Preparation:
- Mix the all purpose flour, beaten egg, ginger garlic paste, salt, chilli powder to make a paste.
- Add the chicken to the paste and let it for 45 minutes
- Deep fry the chicken pieces.
- In another pan heat a little oil in a pan and fry the onions, bell pepper, ginger and garlic pieces and the green chillies.
- Add the vinegar, soya sauce
- Mix the food color
- Add the fried chicken pieces to the mixture.

Now this is your dry chilli chicken and you can garnish with corriander. But if you want the wet one. Take chicken stock and add to the mixture before adding the chicken pieces. Allow the stock to boil. In a seperate bowl mix around 1 tbsp of corn starch with water and add it to the boiling mixture. I would add little by little to attain the consistency. And then add the chicken pieces. Wait for 3-5 min and turn off the heat. Garnish with corriander.

Lessons learned:

• Do not add too much corn starch. It will turn out sticky
• Adding Chicken stock works way much better than adding water as most of the recipes suggest.
  

Easy Breezy Grilled Chicken

Alright grilling might be the easiest thing in the world or could be the other way round. But I've never done it so I wasnt sure how it was....I'd never owned a grill too. Anyways, I wanted to eat grilled chicken so called my sis and asked her how to start out. She said mix this mix that and put it in the oven. I was like is that all. She said yes well here you go with the recipe. I used approximation in the quanity.

Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast -- 2
Tandoori Chicken Masala -- 4 Tbsp.
Ginger & Garlic Paste -- 1 Tbsp
Oil -- 2 Tbsp
Salt -- as needed
Chilli powder -- 1 tbsp.

Mix the Chicken and everything else in a bowl and marinate for half hour. Take a baking dish spray some cooking spray and place the chicken in it. Place it in a pre-heated oven (350F) and turn the chicken to other side after 5- 10 min. Let cook for another 5 min. I would suggest you look at the chicken to see if it is cooked. I did not note the time, probably next time I will and update.