Brazilian Chicken Curry

You've probably been hearing on the news that Florida is experiencing yet another cold winter. Now this is cold by our standards, not by the standards of those who live where the snow is falling and icicles are forming on your chinny chin chin. If I wanted a Snowy White Christmas, I would move up North. I want a White Sandy Christmas, meaning, I'm not ready to pack away my short and tank tops. The photo on your right was me in December 2008…yep, Santa hat, Santa stockings and SHORTS. and it was in the dead of night. That's what I'm talking about!

And then some of you will remember last December when Stella was visiting me all the way from England from The Cross-Stitch House. Well, it was in the 80s while Stella was here, I know, I blogged about the great weather we were having. So, not only is it cold AGAIN, it's cold EARLIER!

What does this mean? Well, for starters when I went grocery shopping last weekend I bought all the fixins to make my Mango Chicken Chili, a 15-Bean Soup Cajun Style and Brazilian Chicken Curry. Yep, good old warm-my-bones, comfort food!

Oh, did that Brazilian Curry capture your attention? Well, it did mine. I LOVE Curry! A couple of weeks ago I picked up the recipe at my local Publix grocery store and before I left the house I meant to take it with me. Needless to say, I didn't. I quickly headed over to see if the recipe was still there. Yep, it was and not only that, they were cooking that very dish! Does your store do that? I'm not talking about those little makeshift stands that hand out food samples from various vendors. Publix has a little area set up where you can pick up recipes and several times a day they cook one of their recipes and hand out samples of the prepared dish. Cool, huh? AND, if you love it and just have to have it, they have all the ingredients in a special display so you can just pick it right up, right then.

This was perfect timing on my part don't you think? Not only did I get my needed ingredients fast, I also got to taste the recipe before I made it. I like this, because there's usually something I want to change, are you that way? I loved the dish, but knew right then that I wanted mine a lot more saucy.

Here's the recipe as Publix had it, with my changes in red.

Brazilian Chicken Curry

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups yellow onion, coarsely chopped
• 1 1/2 cups red bell pepper, coarsely chopped (I used a combo of red, yellow and green)
• 1 cup baking potato, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 2 teaspoons fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated 
• 3 tablespoons fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped
• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1 lb) cut into bite-size peices
• Cooking spray
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 2 teaspoons curry powder
• 1 (10-oz) bag frozen pre-cooked brown rice (I used Uncle Ben's Long Grain White Rice)
• 1/2 cup light coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic 

I like my curry saucy, so I tripled the last three ingredients for the sauce, which meant I also needed to triple the curry powder and the ginger so their flavor wouldn't get lost in the additional sauce. I then seasoned to taste with the salt and pepper when the curry was ready.

1. Preheat large nonstick sauté pan on medium-high 2–3 minutes. Coat vegetables with cooking spray, place peppers, onions, and potatoes in pan; cook 3–4 minutes or until browned.
2. Coat chicken with cooking spray, then season with salt, pepper, and curry powder. (Rub it in real good.)
3. Add chicken to vegetables; cook and stir 3–4 minutes or until chicken has browned on all sides.
4. Prepare rice following package instructions.
5. Whisk coconut milk, tomato paste, ginger, and garlic until smooth. Reduce heat to low, add sauce to chicken, and cover; simmer and stir 3–4 minutes or until potatoes are tender and chicken is 165°F. Stir in cilantro. (It took longer than the time they suggested for my potatoes to get fork tender. It was closer to ten minutes. Do a taste test on your potatoes to be sure they are to your liking, but watch them carefully, you don't want them to fall apart.)
6. Serve over the brown rice. (Or in my case, white rice.)

Here's what it looked like while I was sautéing…

And here's the finished dish…Yummy!!!!

It's been a long time since I linked up with Michael at Designs By Gollum for Foodie Friday, I haven't been doing anything special when it comes to cooking, but this recipe was quick, easy and delicious! It is definitely going into my family cookbook recipe binder.

Speaking of which, I want to thank all of you who purchased one or more my customizable Family Recipe Binders this year and especially those who bought them on Black Friday! They were my biggest seller for the holidays! Cool! Guess what? I purchased three myself — for my kids and my granddaughter. They came last week and I love them! The printing was perfect and the size is nice and roomy for lots of my recipes and for future generations.

One the back cover, I decreased the size of the quote and added a graphic I created of my family tree last year for framing. I thought it was the perfect touch for a Family Heirloom Cookbook. Shhh…don't show this to my kids, it's a surprise!

That's it for now, be sure to stop by Foodie Friday to find more fabulous recipes. 

Wherever you are, whatever you're doing — Enjoy every minute!