Not Your Typical Chicken Curry

I credit this recipe as the beginning of my real passion for cooking. Once apon a time ago, I was receiving junk emails probably from online shopping or signing up for trip giveaways... anyway... this ArcaMax Recipes from Zola guy sent me a chicken curry recipe. Reading it, I became intrigued because it used onions, bell pepper and sweet potatoes - oh my! So I tried it and it was absolutely amazing. I don't really eat Indian food... tried curry other places, just not a fan, but this one was a winner. So turn that nose back down and give it a try, I think you will be pleasantly surprised. Coming from the girl who wouldn't eat sweet potatoes until she was a sophomore in college because "they just don't look very good".... this is really good.

Grocery List:

2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 pack of chicken breast tenders
Kikkoman Teriyaki Baste and Glaze (just something I like to do...)
2 large sweet potatoes
1 large sweet onion (love sweet vidalia onion!)
1 red bell pepper
2 tablespoons of curry powder (or to taste)
Cayenne pepper is optional, to taste
1 teaspoon of salt
1 14 oz can of unsweetened lite coconut milk

This is Mr. Max's favorite so I made it tonight as good sustenance for his big test tomorrow. Because of this recipe, I decided I needed(wanted) a wok - which a large skillet works out just fine, however, my Maw-Maw gave me a wok for Christmas. So that leads into me telling you - go get a wok, you will enjoy it.

First, take your chicken tenders and cut them into smaller 1 inch chunks. I use chicken tenders because they've already taken some of the chopping work out for me. After chopping I douse the chicken in the Kikkoman's teriyaki glaze and set aside in a bowl.


a little iPhone pic of all my ingredients

Next boil your sweet potatoes in a large pot until softened. While potatoes are boiling, chop your red bell pepper and your onion (only using about 1/2 of the onion).


a little blurry but you can see the amount used

Heat your large frying pan (or wok) with the olive oil. Add the chicken and cook on medium high to brown the edges of the chicken. Don't cook it through at this point - this should take 5-7 minutes.


chicken browning in the wok

Take the chicken out and set it in a clean bowl. Once the sweet potato is cooked, drain and let cool. You will need to skin the potatoes and then chop them into 1 inch squares. Combine the onion, bell pepper and sweet potato into the wok/skillet and let cook until slightly browned on edges.


I have more delicate looking hands than that... Mr. Max was involved with the chopping in this one - very strategic chopping form!


Browning the onion, bell pepper and sweet potato

Return the chicken to the pan and add the curry powder with salt (adding cayenne at this point is optional depending on your spice-o-meter taste buds). Cook one minute to get the curry powder fragrant and sticking to the meat and veggies. The original recipe calls for all of the coconut milk but I find that it is too much, so I start with 1/2 of the can, the most I've used successfully is 3/4 of the can. I recommend you go with 1/2 and add as needed. Stir in the coconut milk and bring to a boil. Simmer until your chicken has no pink in the middle.


After adding the curry powder, salt and cayenne


After adding the 1/2 - 3/4 can of lite coconut milk

I use an Uncle Ben's whole grain brown rice as a base - heat in the microwave bag for 90 seconds and done. Lay the bed of rice and top with your chicken curry and you have a delicious meal, rich with flavor. I know the golden rule is white wine for fish and chicken, red wine for pork and beef, but with the spices of this meal, I highly recommend a spicy Malbec or Tempranillo wine to really compliment this dish. I paired this with a Spanish Tempranillo, label RingMaster.


The finished product with delicious Tempranillo wine

The calorie count for this meal.... only 370!