Coconut Chicken Curry

I don't know if I've talked about Bangladesh much on here but curry makes me think of it. That's possibly why I've avoided making curry before. 

I lived in Chittagong, Bangladesh for 8 weeks and learned about a very different part of the world.  It's bursting with people and traffic. The city was so busy and crazy which caused some culture shock for this Iowan. The people are beautiful and wear colorful clothes. They love to spend time together and stay up late. 

I grew a lot during that trip but didn't grow to love the food. Probably because it was hot out and we were eating hot food with our hand. 

Yes, just one hand. The right; don't use the left. You don't want to know why. 

They make food similar to what you would picture as Indian food. During our St. Paul/Minneapolis trip, I was happy to try curry and biryani again and enjoyed it! 

Tonya asked if I could make coconut chicken curry like we had at a Himalayan place. I did a pretty nice job if I do say so myself. Trust me, I don't post things that I don't like and I do make some of those meals once in a while...

I've been reading through the Go Eat PopCorn books lately and, oh wait. You don't know what those books are? They're in your Bible I promise. They're not about popcorn but if they were, I'd read them. These are some of Paul's writings. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians. See it now? That's how I was taught to keep them in order. 

Anyway, I was noticing some overlap in the wording and ideas of a few verses and wanted to share them with you. They are from all the above mentioned books except Galatians. 

Eph. 1:17-19 (highlights) "I pray that...the glorious Father would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him...that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so you may know what is the hope of His calling...and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power to us who believe..."

Phil. 1:9-11 (overlapping highlights) "I pray this: that your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment so you can determine what really matters and can be pure and blameless in the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness..to the glory and praise of God."

Colo. 1:9-11 (overlapping highlights) "...we haven't stopped praying for you...that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power according to His glorious might..."

The last ones have been my favorite verses for several years now because they summarize God's will for us. To grow in the knowledge of Him. He wants us to seek wisdom and spiritual understanding, to determine what really matters and bear fruit for His glory. He gives us the strength to do these things, which gives us hope and motivation to seek them out. I encourage you to read these in full for yourself and really study them. They give me great focus and encouragement. 

I've become pretty stellar at using chopsticks, just saying.

I absolutely love quinoa cooked in coconut milk. I'd eat it as is if I didn't have other plans for it this time. It's creamy and healthy and sweet. You'll enjoy it! unless of course you don't like coconut... It also balances out the spice of the red curry paste. I don't have you adding too much here. If you want more spice, just add more and maybe throw in some red pepper flakes. Eat up!

Coconut Chicken Curry

-serves 2-

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast

1/2 cup uncooked, rinsed quinoa

1/4 cup water

1 14oz can of coconut milk (regular or lite)

2 long carrot sticks

2 Tbs coconut oil

1 Tbs red curry paste

2 Tbs curry powder

1 tsp turmeric 

2 garlic cloves

1. Pour 3/4 of the can of coconut milk and 1/4 cup water into a saucepan and set over medium heat.

2. Add 1/2 cup of quinoa to the saucepan and cover. Check the quinoa periodically. As it begins to boil, reduce heat and simmer until tender.

3. Peel and cut carrots into 1/2'' pieces. 

4. Cut chicken into 1'' pieces and coat with curry powder.

5. In a medium skillet, place the coconut oil, garlic cloves and chicken. Saute until cooked through.

6. Remove chicken from skillet and set aside. Add carrots to skillet with red curry paste and more oil if needed. Cook until carrots are slightly tender.

7. Add the remaining coconut milk from the can and turmeric powder. (you can add the turmeric powder at about any point, this is just when I added it)

8. Put the chicken back in the skillet and stir everything together.

9. The quinoa should be done, it takes about 20 minutes or less. 

10. Serve the curry mix over the coconut quinoa and enjoy!