Cold weather, a long, rainy weekend. Raincoat has become a fashion „must have” this summer, you are reading the third detective story by Mroz and it’s still raining outside. You are drinking mulled beer in turns with lemon tea and it’s still raining. You cover your summer pedicure with warm socks, you hide your hands in your jumper and… it hasn’t stopped raining outside. You step out on the terrace of a wooden cottage by the lake and you think whether you confused the months. Summer 2017 is not as it’s supposed to be, is it?
And then, suddenly, you receive a bowl of a warm, aromatic curry. You hold the bowl through the sleeves of your jumper in order not to scald your hands. You sit on wooden stairs and put the meal on your lap. The rain doesn’t bother you anymore.
Such comfort food has something in it that totally changes your perception of given circumstances. A situation that seemed to be so-so a moment ago, becomes more than alright when juxtaposed with warm meal and aromatic seasoning. Here comes our curry. Brought in a jar, prepared only to make you feel cosy and at home, perfect when summer reminds us of early autumn.
Ingredients(for 4 people)
– 700g boned chicken thighs / 400g deboned chicken thighs
– 2 glasses of good quality rice
– 2 cans of good quality coconut milk
– 3 flat spoons of curry powder ( we used Hot Madras powder from RAJAH)
– 1 onion
– 2-3 garlic cloves
– thumb-sized piece of ginger
– coconut oil
– a pinch of dried chilly to improve flavour
– 1/2 red pepper
– 1/2 yellow pepper
– 1/2 medium courgette
– one big handful of runner beans
– 1 big sweet potato
– 3 big potatoes
– 5 dried shiitake mushrooms (soaked)
– chives, coriander, and lime to add flavour and decorate the meal
– sesame seeds to decorate
– salt or soy sauce to add flavour /optional
– fish sauce/ optional
- In a big pot, fry chopped onion and garlic in coconut oil.
- Add curry powder and fry it for about one minute.
- Pour coconut milk into the pot and simmer it under the cover.
- Debone chicken thighs, cut them into medium sized pieces and add them to the pot. Add fish sauce (one spoon) and mushrooms cut into strips.
- Peel the potatoes, cut them into cubes and add them to the pot- boil it together for 20 minutes. If the sauce is too thick, add some water.
- Peel the sweet potato, cut it into the cubes and grill it on a grill pan without any fat until it gets soft.
- Boil the rice according to the recipe on the package. Blanch the runner beans.
- Cut the rest of the vegetables into thin strips and chop the chives.
- he sauce should be ready by now. Heat a wok, add strips of vegetables and runner beans to the hot oil. Add a little soy sauce or salt to flavour. Fry the vegetables as long as you like – if you like them fried more – do it longer.
- Put rice into the bowl/plate, add curry sauce, cubes of sweet potato and fried vegetables. Decorate it with chives, sesame, coriander and a piece of lime.