Quick Curry Chicken for people who don't like Curry

Everyone's palette is different.  Some people think that a filet mignon smothered in sauteed mushrooms is a godsend.  Others think an anchovy pizza is manna from Heaven  Some people love Indian food, some people don't.  The combinations of the Asian spices with the occasional heat is one of my favorite things.  I could eat Indian or Thai food every day.  But the taste can be very foreign, scary or intimidating.  Some people are downright scared to try it.

And when you're trying to convince someone to try, and possibly like, a new style of food, the last thing you want is a bad experience.  I took a few of my Seattle coworkers to the wonderful world of Indian food.  Everything tasted great, but the problem was the heat sensitivity of that day's cook.  I think he could have eaten a habenero pepper raw because the curry he served could have stripped paint off a ship's hull.  Needless to say, the coworkers decided that Indian was not for them and I didn't have any willing lunch partners for a while.

So now I use this recipe to introduce people to curry.  It's a little tamer than most, but it still has a large amount of flavor.  The only heat comes from the curry spice and the creaminess can make any level of natural heat tamer.  And it has enough liquid leftover that when you pour it over rice, it will soak into the grains... yum...  Now if you want to heat this up a bit, you can do it a couple different ways.  Basic red pepper flakes added with the other spices will add just heat.  If you want a better taste, add either sambal oolek or srirachi.  Sambal oolek is the chunkier crushed pepper paste that come in the clear containers with the green twist-on lids in the asian section of your grocery store. It's a combination of peppers, garlic, ginger, lime, and a little lemongrass.  I prefer this option myself.  Srirachi is that tall squeezable bottle of asian red hot sauce.  The most popular brand has a rooster on the front. It's mostly pureed peppers, garlic, and vinegar and I'll occasionally drizzle this over Teriyaki Chicken (recipe coming soon).  One other note, you really want to use a high quality chicken broth for the base.  I have used generic before and the flavor just flattens out.

If you're serving rice with this, get the rice to a boil and then start the Curry.  The 20 minutes it'll take the rice to cook will be just long enough to prepare the curry.  And everything cooks in one pan, so there's not many dishes to do.

Creamy Curry Chicken

Serves 4

14 oz chicken broth

8 ounces whipping cream

6 ounces plain greek style yogurt

2 1/2 tablespoons curry powder

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon tumeric

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups julienned carrots

1/2 onion, sliced into moon shapes
Any other veggie you would like, like red or green peppers, asparagus, small bits of potatoes, etc.

1 1/2 lbs chicken breasts, chopped into bite-sized chunks
Red pepper flakes, srirachi or sambal oolek to taste (if you want some heat)

In a large saute pan, combine the chicken broth, whipping cream, yogurt and spices and cook over medium high heat until almost boiling.  Add the sliced carrots, onions, and any other hearty veggies you want and cook for 6-7 minutes, allowing it to get to a light boil.  Add the chicken and any tender vegetables you want and cook for another 6-7 minutes.  Remove from heat and serve over rice.

What I like best is the smell left in the kitchen when everything is done.  That sweet spicy aroma will linger for a couple hours.  And when you're done, hopefully you have a few more converts to Indian food.