Curry in a Hurry

Here is an easy recipe for Chicken Curry from the July 2006 issue of Real Simple magazine, which was under the heading of “Five Easy Dinners”.  It was definitely easy and pretty good. This is a good basic recipe which you can tweak to your tastes and what you have on hand, ingredient-wise.  If I make it again I’ll have to spice it up since it was a bit mild for our taste.

Chicken Curry

Serves 4

Hands-On Time: 15m

Total Time: 30m

1 cup white rice (I made jasmine rice)

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 tablespoons curry powder

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced

2 medium zucchini, thinly sliced

1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, torn

1/4 cup (1 ounce) almonds, roughly chopped

1.Cook the rice according to the package directions.

2.Rinse the chicken and pat dry with paper towels. Cut it into 1-inch pieces and place in a bowl. Sprinkle with the curry and cinnamon, toss, and set aside.

3.Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and zucchini and cook until softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate.

4.Heat remaining oil in the skillet. Add the chicken and cook until browned on all sides, about 5 minutes.

5.Add the broth, cream, salt, and pepper. Bring to a simmer. Return vegetables to the skillet and heat until the chicken is cooked through, 5 to 7 minutes.

6.Divide the rice among bowls. Top with the chicken curry and sprinkle with the basil and almonds.

Tip: You can vary the ingredients depending on what you have on hand. Consider substituting coconut milk for the cream, eggplant for the zucchini, cilantro for the basil, or cashews for the almonds.

Since I had them on hand, I used cilantro & cashews to top off the dish. I also used 1 cup of cream and 2 cups of chicken broth. If I make this again, I’ll use less liquid, probably reducing it to 2 cups instead of 3.