Rachael Ray Curry Chicken and Mushroom Stoup:

Aired February 17, 2010

INGREDIENTS

• 4 pieces boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 fresh bay leaf
• 3 onions, 1 quartered, 2 quartered and thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup EVOO Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 4 portabella mushrooms, gills scraped, halved then thinly sliced
• 2 carrots, peeled and sliced into 2-inch matchsticks
• 2 to 3 ribs celery, thinly sliced on an angle
• 1 2-inch piece ginger, peeled then grated or minced
• 3 to 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• Salt and pepper
• 3 tablespoons mild or medium curry powder
• 1 quart chicken stock
• 1 cup mango chutney
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 4 scallions, whites and greens thinly sliced
• 2 cups cooked white rice or 4 pieces naan bread, warmed

PREPARATION

Place chicken in small pan and add enough water to come to top of chicken without completely submerging it. Add bay leaf and quartered onion to the pan. Bring to a boil and simmer chicken 10-12 minutes, until cooked through. Shred chicken with 2 forks and reserve. Strain liquid and reserve 1 1/2 to 2 cups.

Place EVOO in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and brown 10-12 minutes. Add carrots, celery, sliced onion, ginger and garlic to mushrooms and cook 5 minutes more, to soften. Season with salt, pepper and curry powder. Add stock and reserved poaching liquid to pan. Add in reserved chicken and stir in the chutney. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.

Melt butter in the skillet you cooked chicken in. Whisk in flour and cook 1 minute. Whisk roux into soup pot, let simmer and thicken, 5 minutes.

Serve stoup topped with scallions with the cooked rice stirred into each portion or with naan for dipping alongside.

http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/recipe/14317_Curry_Chicken_and_Mushroom_Stoup/index.html

Red Lentil Curry: it's what's for dinner soon!

Red Curry Lentils

Author: Pinch of Yum

Prep time:  15 mins

Cook time:  30 mins

Total time:  45 mins

Serves: 6

 

Ingredients

• 1½ cups lentils, rinsed and picked over
• ½ large onion, diced
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons red curry paste
• ½ tablespoon garam masala
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• ½ teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon minced ginger
• a few good shakes of cayenne pepper
• 1 14 ounce can tomato puree
• ¼ cup coconut milk or cream
• cilantro for garnishing
• rice for serving

Instructions

1. Cook the lentils according to directions. Drain and set aside.
2. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Add the onion and saute for a few minutes until fragrant and golden. Add all the spices (curry paste, garam masala, curry powder, turmeric, cayenne, sugar, garlic, ginger) and stir fry for 1-2 minutes. Add the tomato sauce; stir and simmer until smooth.
3. Add the lentils and the cream. Stir to combine and simmer for another 15-20 minutes (the longer, the better)! Serve over rice and garnish with cilantro.

Notes

Even better the next day! For a vegan option, sub oil for butter.   

Watercress Beet Salad:

We made this salad for two of our recent family birthday parties.  It's so delicious!  I hate beets, however, so we put those on the side rather than in the recipe.  I guess I'm just a sucker for anything curry.  However, I do love that it has a base of watercress and not boring old lettuce like so many bland salads these days!

I've now made the recipe with both the red wine vinegar and the fresh lemon juice.  I think I much prefer the lemon juice. The red wine vinegar just left too much tartness and we even had to add a little powdered sugar to cut that down.  If you have no lemons (FRESH is important...no canned lemon juice), obviously use the red wine vinegar...just be prepared for more tartness!! :)

Watercress Beet Salad

Curry vinaigrette (for 16 people):

4 cloves garlic

2 tsp. salt

8 tsp. curry powder

2 tsp. fresh ginger, peeled and grated

10 T lemon juice or red-wine vinegar

1 ½ c. olive oil

Salad:  4 bunches beets, scallions, apples, chopped walnuts, 4 bags watercress, 2 cartons crumbled goat cheese

Beets:  Leave 1 inch stems on, rinse, rub with oil, roast in ¼” water at 400 degrees 25-40 min. or until tender when pierced with knife.  Cool, peel, slice, toss with vinaigrette.

Chicken Tikka Masala!

I adore Indian food, and so when my cousin Scott posted this video on FB the other day, I knew I had to make it.  It's a 3 minute video of Gordon Ramsey making chicken tikka masala.  I didn't have the garam masala on hand, so I ordered that from Amazon and then fudged a little bit...I didn't buy fresh coriander, I just used the ground stuff, and I used some curry powder instead of two fresh curry leaves.  It was pretty darn easy, and FAST!  I would say the sauce was done in 15 minutes, flat!  

Then I pan fried some chicken in salt, pepper, and some extra tumeric...and presto!  Dinner, served over rice.  Love it.