Coconut Yellow Curry

I am embarking to find new things to cook.
I realize based on my last few savory recipes, I use a lot of garlic.
Not that garlic is bad, in fact it's very good for you, but it's nice to give yourself a break from garlic breath. But in the essence of food, you have to trade one pungent scent for another. In this case, we're replacing it with curry. Now many curry recipes use garlic in the paste, but in this case all the garlic scent/flavor is over powered but the curry.

Now curry is a blanket term that encompasses a blend of vegetables and meats marinated in a blend of spices native to the Middle East and Eastern Countries of Asia and India. Curries can also be found in Africa, the West Indies, and the Caribbean.

The base of most curries include any combination of the following spices: turmeric (yellow in color), coriander, cumin and red pepper (red in color). Some of the other ingredients give clues on where the recipe derived from. Lemongrass and kafir lime leaves are more Asian curries, while Indian curries have cloves, anise and nutmeg. I like to think of curry as a Silk Road dish, because anywhere the Silk Road went, curry evolved.

There are yellow curries, green curries, red curries, spicy curries, mild curries and sweet curries. There are curries made with lamb, curries made with beef or veal, curries made with chicken and fish, or even curries made strictly vegetarians. There are curries served with rice, curries served with noodles, curry served with bread and curried served over potatoes.

Now one of my coworkers is from Pakistan and his wife makes curry, over rice mostly, but everyday I sit across from him and breath in some of the most amazing scent I've every had the pleasure of...NOT tasting. He's given me many pointers, those that he can remember, about Pakistan and Indian curries, and I've tried a few, but none have come out well enough for me to share with you all. I'll think I'm going to make my own spice mix next time, roasting and grinding my spices myself instead of using the pre-made stuff. All in need is a coffee grinder.....

So I moved on to more Pacific Island/Caribbean curry. This one made with coconut milk. I guess this could be considered a "sweet" curry.

No I used a spice package out of the Asian Market that was labeled "Japanese Coconut Curry". Don't ask me what the brand was, I don't remember. The important thing was that you put the packet of spices in a pot with a can of coconut milk, add the meat and boil.
Here's what I did:

2 chicken breasts, cubed in 1 inch chunks (size enough for who you're feeding, for 2 people this makes enough for lunch and dinner)
1 package of Japanese coconut yellow curry (if you have a yellow curry spice mix that works too)
1 14oz can of coconut milk

I poured the coconut milk into my 4 quart crock pot. Dissolved the spice mix, which is like a paste, into the milk. Then added the chicken pieces. I put this on high heat while I went to an all day dance class. When I got him the chicken was cooked through and the curry smelt okay. If I were going to make it better I'd have added whole coriander seeds (about 1 teaspoon) to the milk while the chicken cooked. The seeds will still be whole when you're eating the curry, but soft and eatable.

Now, the most important part of this recipe. Let the meat cool, put it in the fridge, and forget about it for two days.

Yes! Leave it in the back of the fridge for two days, don't open it, don't taste it, nothing! I made a mistake and tried it as is....It tasted horrible. I couldn't even bring myself to eat the small portion I heated up the next day.

Two days later.....

Take out a large frying pan

2 tbsp olive oil
2 small-medium red skin potatoes
1 medium sized sweet potatoes
1 small onion, thick dice
2 hand fulls of green beans or snap peas, cleaned and trimmed
1 tomato, diced
1 inch piece of ginger, pealed and thinly sliced
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp Chinese 5 spice
1/2 tsp all spice
1/4 tsp ground red pepper
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 cup brown sugar
Salt

Heat the oil in the pan. Thinly slice all the potatoes and saute. Season with salt, coriander and curry. Saute the potatoes until color changes you don't want the potatoes mushy, but you want to cook the starch out of them. You can ad 1/2 cup of water to jump start the cooking process, just cook all the water out of the pan before moving on.

Add green beans, onion and ginger. Re-season with salt and add a little more color.

Add the chicken mixture, all milk sauce and all. The sauce should be pretty think and devoid of color. Don't worry, that is ALL about to change.

Once you've added the mix, add all the remaining spices. Leave out the brown sugar until you've cooked down the mix and the color has darkened. Let thicken, but don't fry the sauce. You want it to be creamy like Alfredo, not like wet barbecue. The longer you cook it the better the flavors will get, but if you start running out of sauce, add another small can of coconut milk.

Now from here you have choices, you can make rice, you can make noodles (not my personal choice) or you can serve it with bread to sop up the flavors. I didn't feel like making Nann, so I just used sliced of wheat bread out of the bead bag. It tasted heavenly!

Now you're probably asking "Foodie, why did I have to wait two days?"

Well the flavors in curry, any curry, taste better once they've sat for a few days. Its like when your mother make spaghetti or macaroni, chili or fried chicken and it tastes even better the next day, or cold. Curry is like that.

Happy Curry!