Burmese Chicken Curry

Today I thought I’d share one of my favorite recipes.  I got this recipe from a lady I used to work for who has turned into a good friend.  She wasn’t sure where exactly she got it from – but it was well loved in her kitchen as well.   When I started on my real food journey, and especially when I started reading Eat Fat Lose Fat , I was excited because I already had a well-loved recipe that I could eat!  To top it off, it’s very versatile – I never make it the same way twice!

BURMESE CHICKEN CURRY

2-3 lbs chicken, cubed

1 large onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

¼ C vegetable coconut oil

2T soy sauce

2t chili powder (sometimes I just use a few red pepper flakes to spice things up)

1t turmeric

2t coriander

1t ginger

½ t cardamom

1 can coconut milk

hot pepper, to taste

Sauté chicken in coconut oil.  Add onion and garlic when chicken is just about cooked through.  Add spices and coconut milk to the chicken when the onions are soft.  Cover and simmer for 40 minutes. {I don’t think it needs a full 40 minutes!}

this is before the coconut milk & spices

Now, here is the great thing about this recipe: you can replace all or part of the chicken with vegetables!  I usually cook about one pound of chicken up and then add in veggies to make a full pot.  I use all kinds of vegetables in this.  My favorites are eggplant, carrots, celery, green beans, and kale.  Not necessarily all in one dish.  I use either fresh, frozen or even leftover from another night (sometimes all in one pot!).  It’s very versatile.  I just put the veggies in according to cooking time.  Most of the vegetables I put in just before I add the spices.   When I do kale, I put it in about 10 minutes before it’s done simmering.   The recipe I have also says to try garbanzo beans.  I haven’t yet, but I bet using beans in place of chicken along with veggies would make a very yummy meatless meal!

Enjoy! And please leave a comment if you have some other veggies you like to add (or think would be good to try)!

This post linked to:

Tuesday Twister

Pennywise Thursday

Thursday Cooking Club ~ Tomato, Avocado and Chevre Toast

My friend Lisa has started a Thursday Cooking Club on her Facebook page.  It's an ingenious idea.  Post one recipe a week for everyone to try and then discuss what we changed it and what we thought.

The first week's recipe was Heirloom Tomato Sandwich with Herbs and Creamy Tofu Spread from Whole Living. The original recipe sounded pretty good, but I never rarely stick with a recipe as its written.  When Lisa posted the recipe, she commented that she was going to use goat cheese in place of the tofu.  That immediately clicked with me as I love chevre. The soft, tangyness sounded perfect with tomatoes and herbs.

I didn't plan well this week, so I didn't have the fresh basil on hand.  What I did have, was Fine Herb Chevre from Trader Joe's.  This chevre has enough flavor that I didn't need to add any additional herbs.  I also wasn't satisfied with just tomato.  I had an avocado in my fridge that needed to be used, so I figured, "Why Not?".  I just used boring old toast, because someone ate the last slice of the yummy seed bread I was going to use.

But with all the throw-together-ness of this, it turned out really yummy.

My Recipe (not that you need one for this):

1 Slice of Toast (I just used TJ's Organic Oats & Honey ~ would have tasted much better with an artisan bread.)
Herbed Chevre (You can easily add your own herbs into a plain chevre) 
Tomato (fresh from the garden, if you have it, mine wasn't!)
Avocado

Spread desired amount of chevre onto the warm toast (get a tad bit of melting going on), layer on thinly sliced tomato and avocado.  Top with a basil leaf, if you have it. *I did not add any additional oils to the chevre, as I felt it was unnecessary.  I think the reason it was added to the tofu (in the original recipe) was to give it the right consistency.  Chevre is already spreadable.

Estimated WW Points: 4 Pts
Toast - 1 pt (It's easy to find 1 pt bread that is organic/all natural.)
Chevre - 1 pt (Chevre is 2 pts per oz, I used about 1/2 oz for one slice of toast.)
Tomato - 0 pts
Avocado - 2 pts (I used 1/4 of an avocado.)

Verdict:  This was very yummy.  Although simple, it is not something I would have thought to do.  I will be trying this again, for sure!  And for only 4 points, you can add a side of fruit and have a satisfying lunch.