The first step was to brown a couple pounds of chicken--TJOC recommends thighs or breasts. I just bought a whole chicken and broke it apart myself (wwaaayyy cheaper that way--whole chickens only cost about four dollars). I browned the chicken and removed it from the pan--TJOC recipes are known for making plenty of dishes. They love to have you add things to pots and then remove them, some times four or five times.
I mixed onions, carrots, peas, scallions, a jalapeno, ginger, and garlic and cooked it until the veggies were soft. I then added coconut milk, (homemade) curry powder, raisins, and salt.
The recipe says to add the chicken back in and simmer for about 25 minutes. At a half-hour, the chicken was nowhere near cooked. Honestly, it took about an hour for the chicken to cook. And the sauce really never thickened, even though TJOC insisted it would.
It was really good! Not overwhelmingly coconut-y (and by that, I mean it didn't taste like sunscreen), which was nice. If I made this again, I would double the curry and not add the raisins--I like raisins but not in savory foods.
Many of you know of my struggles with rice. For some reason, I just can't get rice to cook. I decided to use the Baked white rice (p. 354) recipe and hope it would turn out, solving my rice woes once and for all.
The recipe was easy. I melted a tablespoon of butter in my casserole dish:
And then added the rice and stirred it until it was well-coated. I then added two cups of chicken broth and a little salt and brought it to a boil on the stove top and then baked it in the oven for about 25 minutes. What came out:
Perfect rice! The rice was cooked and beautiful but making it in the oven really was a pain, especially in the summer. My friends keep telling me to buy a rice cooker (right, Erin?) and I'm about ready to give in, even though I don't really have the counter space.
Ok, one, I love your blog! I found it while searching for a Joy recipe, and have been following it ever since. I really can't say enough just how much I love this blog. Wanted to share that with you since this is the first time I've commented! But the real reason I'm writing is to recommend that you try the Joy's coconut rice. It is so easy and so simple and so delicious, and practically fool-proof. Good luck, and keep up the good work! Blogging, and cooking =)
ReplyDeleteYou should invest in a rice maker. It's a the best thing. It makes prefect rice each time. Also, I highly recommend using Jasime rice. It's soooo delicious.
ReplyDeleteIt will cool off soon enough & then your baked rice will not be such a pain- I say wait 'til a)after the wedding and b)through another cold weather season and maybe even c)'til you move again!
ReplyDeleteOh, I am not a "raisins in stuff" person; try substituting dried apricots- still fruity and sweet but somehow not as "oh God, I just bit into something wrotten, like maybe an insect carcass!"
I find my curries don't usually thicken until I've cooled them, but I love to soak up all the curry goodness with rice, so it is win/win anyway!
My bf bought the Joy of Cooking book for us about 1 mo ago, which has dramatically changed our cooking style. Coconut chicken curry is one of my fav Thai dishes & I was excited to know that I could attempt to duplicate the same great flavor at hm. I used chicken thighs (removed fat & sliced into cubes), olive oil instead of veg. oil, dark raisens instead of golden (too expensive) and b/c of preference, I added diced potatoes. The lst time I made it, it was not enough sauce so I stretched it the 2nd time around w/ more water...it came out much better and to my satisfaction. I agree w/ Lara, you should buy a rice cooker. I have a small, cheap one and the rice comes out perfect each time. I love your blog.
ReplyDeleteYou are right about the rice cooker! Mine has a little thing that goes in so I can steam veggies too, it's easy; anything to make me eat my veggies!
ReplyDeleteP.S. I made cupcakes with the blender you sent me, they were delish :-)