Tag: curry

Homemade Chicken Curry

On By Rob GIn Close to Home, RecipeLeave a comment

Yesterday, I managed to make good use of the leftover chicken from the Roast Chicken I had made on Sunday.

I made chicken curry. There were a couple of extra steps that I added, and I think that they worked for me. I didn’t do strict measurements for everything, so some of the measurements listed are going to be rough estimates.

INGREDIENTS, Part I (roast cashews):

1 cup raw unsalted cashews for roasting

INGREDIENTS, Part II (cashew curry paste):

1 cup raw unsalted cashews

1 piece of fresh ginger, roughly 2 inches long, roughly cut

1 piece of fresh turmeric, roughly 3 inches long, roughly cut

3 cloves of garlic, roughly cut

1/4 cup evaporated milk

1 teaspoon curry powder

INGREDIENTS, Part III (curry):

4 medium size carrots, cut into chunks

5 red potatoes, cut into small chunks

2 pieces of fresh turmeric, finely chopped

5 cloves of garlic, minced

2 pieces of fresh ginger, finely chopped

1 large onion, diced

1/2 stick of butter

2 Tablespoons olive oil

3 cups of chicken broth

12 ounce can of evaporated milk, minus 1/4 cup (for cashew curry paste)

3-4 cups of boiling water

1 Tablespoon plus one teaspoon curry powder

1 teaspoon ginger powder

1/2 roast chicken (cooked)

The first thing I did was roast the cashews. I preheated the oven to 350 degrees. I put one cup of cashews on a tray lined with aluminum foil and sprayed with cooking spray (I don’t think it really needs the cooking spray). Depending on your oven, this should take 10-15 minutes. Make sure to keep an eye on it, since you don’t want these to burn. Remove from the oven and set aside. Once these are cooled, place in a storage bag and run a rolling pin over them. This is what I used for a topping.

The next step was the paste. I put in the cashews, ginger, turmeric, garlic, curry powder, and evaporated milk into a blender and then blended until it got to a nice, thick consistency. If you want a spicier curry, feel free to add something that will give more heat to this mixture (more curry powder, more ginger powder, black pepper, cayenne pepper, hot sauce, etc.). Regarding the evaporated milk, I bought a 12 ounce can and used 1/4 cup in this mixture and saved the rest for later.

The next step is to prep the veggies. I cut the carrots, potatoes, ginger, turmeric and garlic and set aside in a bowl.

Start cooking the onions, butter and oil on medium-high heat.

Stir often. Once the onions are translucent, you are ready for the next step.

Add in the curry paste mixture and start stirring until it is all incorporated.

Add in the veggie mixture, 1 Tablespoon curry powder, ginger powder, and the broth. Continue to stir until it is well incorporated, and then add in the rest of the can of condensed milk.

Bring this to a slow boil and then add in the water. If you prefer a thicker sauce, you can start with 1-2 cups and keep adding later until the desired consistency. Bring this to a boil again and then let it boil for 30 minutes, stirring often.

Stir in one teaspoon of curry and then add the chicken. Bring the temperature down to medium heat and cook for another 30-60 minutes, until the curry is the desired consistency. I waited about 10 minutes after I added the chicken and then started cooking the rice.

Once the rice and the curry are ready, you can plate your food. I prefer my sauce to be a little thinner on the first day, since it tends to thicken with time. I also like to have my curry over my rice, but if you prefer them side by side, then do that. I topped it with the rough chopped roasted cashews. You can have peanuts, hard boiled eggs, bacon, chutney, pickled veggies, hot sauce, etc. Whatever makes it unique to your tastebuds, I say go for it. I really enjoyed making this and eating this yesterday, and looking forward to eating the leftovers. A very positive Monday for me!

If you’ve eaten or made curry before, what types of veggies have you put in there? What kinds of toppings have you added? I’d be happy to hear from you.

Cashew Curry Cookies

On By Rob GIn Close to Home, RecipeLeave a comment

I’ve made these cookies a couple of times. The batch I made yesterday included a lot more butter (1 stick more) than usual, but I think that it worked well and I wanted to share.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup powdered sugar

2 1/2 sticks (20 Tablespoons) softened butter

1 1/2 Tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups flour

1/4 cup corn starch

2 teaspoons curry powder

1 cup roughly chopped cashews (unsalted, raw is preferred)

Preheat the oven to 300. Mix the powdered sugar, butter, sugar and salt until the mixture is creamed and fluffy. Sift in the flour, corn starch and curry powder. Knead together in the bowl until a ball of dough forms. FYI, this is going to be a very sticky dough. If the dough is dry, add a couple of drops of water until all of the dry mixture is incorporated. Add in the chopped cashews and mix together (I put whole, raw, unsalted cashews in a lightly sealed bag and use a rolling pin to get it to be a rough chop). Place by spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet (I line mine with parchment paper).

When they are all on the cookie sheet, you can form them or make them into shapes if you would like. Bake for approximately 45-50 minutes, rotating once halfway through.

There should be a nice brown coating along the bottom edges of the cookies.

This cookie is very rich and flavorful. You have the rich buttery flavor, the subtle curry flavor, and the smooth flavor of the cashews, with a little bit of a crunch. The cookies will break apart easily, but they almost melt in your mouth. Even though this has 2 teaspoons of curry powder, it’s not an overbearing flavor. This is a sweet cookie with hints of savory. Since it breaks apart, the cashews help hold it together, and they also add a nice combination of flavor with the curry.

I’ve made the South American version of Alfajores before, and the corn starch and flour combination give those cookies their texture. That is the reason I wanted to have some corn starch in these cookies. If you would prefer to do without, just make sure to adjust the recipe and add an additional 1/4 cup flour instead of the corn starch.

I had two bonuses with this batch. The first was the parchment paper after the cookies were removed. There were little brown butter crumbs which had an extra layer of flavor. The other bonus was the aroma. I enjoy the smell of curry, and it was all over the house. And when you are getting ready to bite into these cookies, the slight smell of curry goes into the nose and invites an extra layer of sensory enjoyment. It’s easy to stay positive when eating these!