We’ve been doing a lot of Hello Fresh meals during quarantine, but they get a little samesies when you’re on a diet and only order the chicken/rice/vegetable options. This week, I saw a chicken curry video from a new-found favorite cook on Facebook, and decided to give it a try.
Nat’s What I Reckon’s Mild Chicken Curry Dish (warning, a lot of cussing in the video, but I think he’s hilarious, informative, and you’ll love him), on first attempt, was about a 4/5, and worth repeating, in my opinion.
I love Nat’s cooking videos because he’s self deprecating, he cusses a lot, and makes the recipes approachable for the average person with a lot of positivity. It took a bit of re-watching to write down my own version of the recipe, but that’s to be expected.
Ingredients
- Chicken breast or boneless thigh, ~ 5oz per person
- 1-2 Red bell pepper/capsicum (I recommend 1 large pepper for 2 people)
- 1 serrano pepper or green chile (not 100% sure what the Aussies’ version of a green chile is, but the video looked like a serrano pepper to me)
- 1 red onion
- 4-8 garlic cloves (depending on taste)
- Ginger root (1 thumb)
- ½ C thick cream (half/half works, coconut milk etc., whatever you like)
- Spices you’ll need:
- Cinnamon
- Turmeric
- Salt
- Garam masala
- Ground cardamom
- Chile powder
- Bay leaves
- 1C Stock of any kind you like
- 1 can crushed tomatoes (video has 2, but our Vons’ size for 1 can was about 2 of the video’s)
- 1C Basmati rice (any rice can do the trick, but the dish is meant for basmati)
- Cilantro/coriander
- (there’s more in the video re: a yogurt topping, but we didn’t do that this attempt)
Instructions
Part 1: Prep the Chicken
Add chicken to a small bowl (cut into bite sized chunks if not already)
Add 1/4 t cinnamon
Add 1t turmeric
Add 1t garam masala
Add Pinch of salt
mix with hands; set aside in bowl
The chicken smells amazing at this point, by the way.
Part 2: Prep the Veggies
Cut 1 red pepper/capsicum into quarter-sized chunks
Cut up 1 serrano pepper/green chile however you like
Dice 1/2 – 1 red onion, depending on how much you like onions
Chop, mince or grate garlic, however you like it; I like grating it because it seems more flavorful and you don’t get a full on bite of garlic by accident. I think I used 5 cloves of garlic this time around and it was fine (i.e. not overpowering).
Throw together in a bowl. I added the 1/4t cardamom here, but you can add it later when you fry the veggies.
Mince cilantro (I skipped the yogurt part of the recipe, so I just use this at end). Leave on chopping board until the end (or if you do the yogurt part).
Peel and then grate ginger into a separate bowl; I recommend a thumb of ginger, maybe a little more; leave until needed later on.
Part 3: Seal (Brown) the Chicken
Get a large wok or large frying pan and set heat to medium-high. Add vegetable oil (or whatever oil you like, although Nat recommends against olive oil). Add the chicken to the pan and brown it. For the larger chunks, to be safe, I let them sit a little longer to ensure they’d be fully cooked by the end of the simmering portion of the recipe.
Per Google, chicken is fully cooked and safe at 165F/75C degrees. At this stage, though, the chicken doesn’t need to be fully cooked, just browned all around; still, use your best judgment.
Once browned, take the chicken out of the pan and set aside until it’s needed again. SMELLS AMAZING.
Part 4: Fry the Veggies & Add Sauce
Add a bit more oil to the pan, and keep on medium-high. I ended up adding the spices to the veggies after chopping, but here’s what you do if you didn’t do that:
Add chopped veggies to the pan
Add 1/4 t cardamom
Fry vegetables until the onions are soft
Add ginger and mix around for 30 seconds or so
Add chicken
Add more garam masala (1t or however much you like)
Add 1/2 t chili powder
Add another large pinch of salt
Mix around a bit and let cook for a minute or so
Add 1 can crushed tomatoes (this will make the sauce thin and taste more tomato-y at first, so feel free to use only as much as you think you need) — I say 1 can because while the video had 2, they were much smaller than the cans available at my store.
Add 1c stock of whatever you like, I use chicken stock
Add 3 bay leaves
Turn heat to low, cover with a lid, and let simmer
Part 5: Make the Rice
Because I wanted the chicken mixture to have a longer time to simmer, I waited to make the rice until after all of the above was done.
Make basmati rice – In my attempt, I added 1C uncooked rice (using a normal baking measuring cup, 1.5C water, and a large pinch of salt to a pot, then set the temperature on High.
Bring to boil and then put a lid on the pot and set to low/simmer for 18 min. Don’t open the lid to look, as you’ll let out the steam and it’ll take a while to build up if it’s not ready. Take off heat and let stand another 10 min without lifting the lid. (Usually, if doing a 1/2C uncooked rice, I would simmer for 15 in and let stand for 5 min or so off the heat.)
The rice, described above, turned out perfect. Like Nat says, though, if you’re not sure if it’s done, taste it. If it’s crunchy or too liquid-y, Google how to fix whatever problems you’ve encountered. Rice can often be saved. The video shows Nat rinsing off the rice before cooking, but I didn’t because I don’t have a sieve like he did, and it was fine. Up to you.
Part 6: Add Cream to Chicken Mixture
After you’ve set the rice to simmer, I’d suggest adding the 1/2c cream to your mixture. I used fat free half and half because it’s what was available.
I actually don’t have a lid for this pan, so I just used foil as a cover.
Let the mixture simmer until the rice is done with that extra 10 minutes or so of standing off the heat.
Part 7: Serve and Enjoy!
Robert’s your father’s brother, you’ve done it!
(I won’t lie, it took us a while to realize Nat was saying the equivalent of “Bob’s your uncle”)
Serve, add cilantro/coriander and enjoy!
For me, this dish had a lot of great head/top-level spices, but was missing the substantive curry taste. I might add curry powder and/or cumin next time, and less tomato sauce. I also ended up not needing that glass of milk, but I wanted to be prepared, just in case I over did it with the spices.
Also, I used 140z of chicken breasts, which was WAY too much for 2 people (I recommend 5oz per person). The meal I cooked was about 1313 calories, or about 657 calories per person, although I’m honestly not sure if I did the math right with the rice. It stated calories for 1 cup rice, but I based the calculation on 1 cup uncooked rice, which probably wasn’t right since rice increases in volume when cooked. Regardless, I didn’t end up serving all the rice because it was too much, and we have at least 1/2C or so of cooked rice in the fridge.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you get to try this out!
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