Crockpot Coconut Chicken Curry

This is one of my daughter’s favorite meals!  It’s super easy and full of flavor.  I got this from the Pioneer Woman.

Ingredients

• 1 kilogram Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast, Cut Into Large Cubes
• 1 whole Onion, Peeled And Halved
• 2 cloves Garlic, Peeled
• 1 whole Small Red or Green Bell Pepper, Seeded And Quartered
• 1 can (156ml Can) Tomato Paste
• 1 can (about 400ml Can) Coconut Milk
• 1-½ teaspoon Salt
• 1 Tablespoon Curry Powder
• 1 Tablespoon Garam Masala (Indian Spice Mix)
• 2 whole Dry Red Chili Peppers (optional For Extra Heat))
• 2 Tablespoons Water
• 1-½ Tablespoon Cornstarch
• 1 bunch Coriander (optional, For Decoration)
• Vegetables, such as cubed potatoes, green beans, carrots

Preparation Instructions

1. Place chicken cubes  and vegetables inside the slow cooker.

2. Place therest of the ingredients (except chili peppers, cornstarch, water and coriander) in a food processor bowl and process together until the mix is smooth(ish). Pour sauce mix on top of the chicken, mix well, add hot peppers if using any, then close the lid. Cook on low for 6 hours.

3. An hour before serving, mix together water and cornstarch until the cornstarch is completely disolved. Add to the chicken curry and mix well. Place the lid back on for the rest of the cooking time.

4. Serve on top of steaming white rice, something wonderfully aromatic like jasmine or basmati rice. Decorate with lots of chopped coriander.

Chicken Braid

Our family doesn’t like sandwiches much, mostly because I don’t think any of us really like “cold” lunches.  All of these years living overseas has made us prefer cooked meals all the time.  So, when I saw this idea last week I thought it would work well for us.  Everyone loved it.  It also made good leftovers because I good just wrap up slices and then reheat them in the microwave.

First, I had to figure out what kind of bread to use.  I did an internet search and saw that there were quite a few options.  It looks like this originally developed using refrigerated crescent roll tubes, which I can’t get.  So I decided to use a recipe I have for bread machine crescent rolls.

IMPORTANT NOTE:  Instead of following the full directions below, I just made the dough in the bread machine, then rolled it into a rectangle.  Then using a pizza cutter I cut strips down the two long sides (kind of like a fringe), leaving a good section in the middle to put the chicken mixture.  It was a little awkward the first time; I’m sure it will look better next time!

3/4 cup plus 2 Tbs warm milk
1/4 cup warm water
1 egg
6 Tbs butter, softened, DIVIDED
3 cups flour
2 Tbs sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp yeast

put ingredients (use 4 Tbs of the butter) in bread machine in order listed. Use the dough cycle. When cycle is done, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll into a 12 inch cirle, brush with remaining 2 Tbs butter, and cut into 12 wedges. Roll up wedges from the wide end to the point and place pointed side down 2 inches apart on greased baking sheets. Cover and let rise for 20 minutes. Bake at 375 for 17-20 minutes.

Then, I made the chicken mixture.

2 cups of diced cooked chicken

some sauteed chopped onions and sweet red peppers

some chopped steamed broccoli

about one cup of shredded gouda cheese

about a fourth cup of mayo, just to get everything to kind of hold together.

Put the chicken mixture in a strip down the center of the dough rectangle.  I think you can pile it pretty high, though I had leftover filling (which later I used to make a quesadilla).  Wrap the strips of dough cut on each side of the rectangle up over the filling, twisting a little to make it look a little prettier.  By doing this I had a little dough at the end that was kind of leftover, so I actually cut that off and used it to patch up the beginning end of the braid.

Then I baked it at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes, until it was nicely browned.

Italian Chicken Chowder

One of my favorite blogs for finding recipes that I can easily use here is http://www.market2meal.com/. Here’s what we are having for dinner tonight! I added some diced carrots and onion, as well as some leftover stir-fried green beans. My son doesn’t like zucchini so I wanted to add in some other veggies for him!

1/2 cup Italian dressing (see recipe here: https://recipesfromscratch.wordpress.com/2011/11/01/homemade-italian-dressing/)
1 lb chicken, chopped into cubes
2 cans stewed tomatoes, undrained (or chop 4-6 small fresh tomatoes–about 3 cups worth)
2 cups chicken broth
2 medium zucchinis, quartered and chopped
1 cup elbow macaroni, uncooked (any small pasta will work fine)
2 tsp dried basil
salt and pepper, to taste
minced garlic (opt)
shredded mozzarella cheese

Place chicken in a large pot with Italian dressing. I would recommend letting it sit while you chop the rest of your veggies. I also add a couple cloves of garlic and cover the chicken with salt and pepper. This isn’t in the recipe, but adds some needed flavor! Saute chicken in the dressing. Add all other ingredients to the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, partially cover and cook about 8-10 minutes or until pasta is done. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with shredded cheese on top and garlic bread is a great side!

Notes: If you are using fresh tomatoes, they will cook down nicely to make a good amount of broth, but you may want to add a little chicken stock if you want it soupier since you aren’t getting juice from canned tomatoes. I have never made this with canned tomatoes. Also, I would recommend peeling your tomatoes–they will cook down nicer and not leave lots of little peel pieces in the soup. Soak for about 10 minutes in hot water before peeling to make it easier to get off.