Japanese-Style Chicken Curry

Curries are a delicious and flavorful food to try!  Curry from different countries taste completely different due to the types of spices used to create them.  My favorite type of curry is the Japanese-style since I was never great at eating spicy food and their mild curry is truly very mild.

My favorite curry restaurant from NYC is GO!GO!Curry!  They are so authentic to their Japanese origins and they have a great brand.  If you dine in at one of their small tables, you can watch their original Japanese restaurant's staff and mascot doing their antics back in Japan on TV.  I watched one episode where they packed maybe a hundred curry bento boxes for this children's baseball team's lunch.  It was sweet and I stared at the boxes piled high with envy.  I also watched people attempting the curry challenges to eat a monster-sized portion of katsu curry within 30 minutes to get it for free.  GO!GO!Curry! has such a fun brand with lots of deals, and they host annual curry-eating competitions.  Check them out if you're ever in NYC (or in Japan)!

I've always bought a box of Japanese Golden Curry Sauce to dissolve in water and make at home.  Here's how I make my version! :)

Japanese-Style Chicken Curry

Ingredients:

• 1 box of Golden Curry Sauce Mix 8.4oz (mild or whatever you can handle in spiciness)
• 1.5-2 pounds of raw chicken (thighs, tenders, or breasts--I prefer tenders or thighs)
• 3-4 medium-sized yellow (Spanish) onions
• 4 medium-large russet potatoes (Eastern potatoes work as well)
• 3-4 carrots (I'm a picky eater so I don't include carrots in my curry)
• Salt and pepper

Ingredients-wise, you're essentially preparing a big pot of stew.  You can pick and choose how much of each ingredient you'd like to have, but it's best to have an even amount of each item.  When you chop it all up, you'll see how everything stacks up.  Most curries include meat, potatoes, onions, and sometimes, carrots.  I usually only use chicken, potato, and onion in mine.  Japanese restaurants will often serve fried pork (katsu) or chicken cutlets over the rice covered with curry sauce.

The box of curry sauce claims to be enough for 12 servings.  The sauce comes in condensed cubes that you can then add into the water and dissolve.  To prepare the full box, 8.5oz, you'll want to use a stockpot to get the most out of it.  There are directions on the box stating how much water to use.  Remember, you're going to be adding in a lot of ingredients, so the pot should not be completely full when you first boil it!  Also, depending on how thick you want your sauce to be, adding too much water will only water down your sauce.

1. Fill your stockpot with water.  The more water you use, the more watery and less flavorful your sauce will turn out.  Start with the directed amount of water and set it to boil on medium-high heat.  While your water is heating up, prepare the ingredients.  I like to start with the chicken.
   
2. Trim and discard the fat on your chicken before cutting it up into bite-sized pieces (about an inch or less in width).  You'll want to maintain a square/cube shape.  Season with salt and pepper and set aside.
   
3. Wash your hands (and board, if you're using the same one), then prepare the onions.  Cut off the ends and peel the outer layers off.  Chop into squares or slice into strips--I prefer squares.
   
4. Next, peel your potatoes and cube them.  Remember, you're looking for a consistent size/shape so that everything mixes well.  At this point, your water may be boiling.  You can throw the potatoes into the pot to boil.
   
5. Prepare a frying pan for the chicken.  Add a little vegetable oil with the heat on medium.  When the oil is hot, add the chicken to the pan.  When it is partially cooked, add in the onions to cook as well.  You can turn off the stove when the chicken is fully cooked or no longer pink.
   
6. When the potatoes are softened, you'll want to start mixing in the sauce cubes.  I use chopsticks to hold onto a small cube and gently stir it in the water.  It dissolves quite quickly into the hot water.  You don't have to do it like I do, but I suggest adding one cube at a time until it is mostly dissolved before adding in the next one.  You'll see as you add in the sauce cubes, the sauce will thicken up quite nicely.
   
7. After you have added and dissolved all of the sauce cubes, you're ready to add in the chicken and onions. You'll want to stir every 10-15 minutes to keep things from sticking to the bottom of the pot.  You can turn down the heat to medium-low and let it simmer.
   
8. Now, the secret ingredient!  Mix your curry with LOVE!  The best part about curry is that it tastes great for days after you first make it.  This is because the longer you let it simmer, the more flavorful the meat and veggies get.  They really soak up the curry flavor and become so delicious.  If you're looking to serve your curry on the day of, you might want to let it simmer for an hour or so before serving.  It is great over some fresh white rice, but you can also try curry with noodles!

Thanksgiving Recipes

November was a busy month for me since I was participating in NaNoWriMo to write a novel in 30 days.  However, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year, so I still made the effort to make a delicious Thanksgiving dinner!  Last year, I went to Virginia to visit my boyfriend's best friend's family.  Typically, I would travel back to NJ for Thanksgiving, but seeing as my family is quite dispersed now, I decided to stay put this year.  I spent Thanksgiving at home in Albany with my boyfriend and our dog and cat.  We had a wonderfully lazy holiday together and it was time well spent.

The Menu

Garlic Herb-Roasted Chicken with Potato, Onions, and Shallots
Monkey Bread
Mashed Potatoes with Gravy
New England Clam Chowder
Steamed Broccoli
Pasta
Chicken Pot Pie

Served with: Scagliola Primo Bacio, Moscato d'Asti 2011 (a white sparkling wine, my favorite!)


I shopped at both Shoprite and Trader Joe's for my ingredients.  In determining that it was only going to be the two of us, I decided to forgo a turkey in favor of a smaller bird, the chicken.  The one I picked up was around 3.8 lbs which made the total baking time 112 minutes.  The menu above is pretty much the order that that I prepped and cooked things with the chicken taking the longest and the pasta and pot pie last.



Garlic Herb-Roasted Chicken with Potato, Onions, and Shallots

I am a picky eater so no carrots or other root veggies in this one.  I also did not get any additional ingredients so I went with whatever was available in my kitchen.

Ingredients:

• Whole roasting chicken (with gizzards removed)
• 20 cloves of garlic
• 2 medium onions
• Several red bliss potatoes
• 1 large shallot
• Herbs - salt, pepper, thyme, rosemary
• Butter (softened)

Simple Salad with Chicken and Bowties

I'm not a fan of salad.  For one, I love eating warm, home made meals instead.  Cold food just isn't as appetizing to me (unless it's snacks or pizza).

Because of my participation in my local CSA program, I've gotten more lettuce than I could have ever wanted!  Now, what else do you really make with lettuce but salad?  The only thing I like about salad is that you can add whatever you want to it.  It's so easy to make a salad more appealing to yourself.  (Hey, pile on the bacon bits, right?)


Simple Salad with Chicken and Bowties

Ingredients:

• Lettuce (chopped, I used two different types for some variety)
• Red onion (chopped)
• Pasta of your choice (I had bowties on hand and they look great in salads)
• Dressing of your choice (I used my simple olive oil dressing)
• 1-2 strips of raw or cooked chicken tenders (cut into 1/4" - 1/2" pieces)
• Parmesan cheese

I was making another chicken dish the night before so I saved some pieces and marinated it in soy sauce and minced garlic overnight.  Come morning, I simply sautéed them in a skillet and then set it aside.  Same goes for pasta.  If you have any leftover, plain pasta, you can easily add it to your salad.  If you're cooking it fresh, follow the directions on the box and rinse it with cold water after it's done cooking.  Then set it aside.

Prep your onion.  I used probably less than 1/4 of a red onion and chopped it into small pieces.  If you haven't washed your lettuce yet, do it several times to be sure that all the dirt is gone.  Then chop it up into your desired size.  Then, assemble your salad.

First, get a container that you want to use.  I used a typical, plastic takeout box.  I picked some of the nicer pieces of lettuce and added it in.  Then, I threw on the onions.  Next, add however much pasta you want.  I only used a spoonful of pasta (maybe 10 pieces).  Add in your chicken and top it off with some parmesan cheese.  The last part, add your dressing!  You can add it right before you eat or add it now and bring your salad with you for lunch.  Since my olive oil dressing is very light and doesn't solidify in the fridge, I just poured it on and then brought my salad to work.

Simple and easy!

Stir-Fried Chicken Udon

I am a huge fan of Japanese food.  One of my favorites is stir-fried udon.  Typically, udon noodles are used in a noodle soup, but I love having it stir-fried.  You can buy packaged udon from your local Asian supermarket.  I typically buy a five-pack pre-cooked which comes with the soup base individually packaged as well.  This makes prep so fast when you want something to eat.

Ingredients:
- 2-3 packs of udon (I use 3 for two people since we eat lot!)
- 1 chicken thigh (slice the meat off the bone into small cubes)
- 1/2 an onion (chopped)
- Taiwanese bok choy (chopped)
- scallions (chopped)
- salt & pepper
- soy sauce

First, stir fry the chicken over medium heat with some vegetable oil.  I wait until most of the pink is gone before adding in the salt, pepper, and a dash of soy sauce.  Then I stir until all of it is evenly coated and the chicken takes on a nice brown from the soy sauce.  Put this aside in a bowl now.

Next, cook the veggies.  I did the onions first since they take a little longer to soften and then added in the bok choy.  Add a little bit of water and cover to let it simmer.  In about 5 minutes, it should be done.  Now, add some salt to taste.

Add in the udon.  I just rip open the package and plop it right into the pan.  If you still have some water left in the pan, great, if not, add a little in.  I like to stick my chopsticks in to break apart the noodles.  Then cover it and let the udon noodles soften.

After the noodles have softened, add the chicken back in.  Then add the soup base packet in.  Since I used 3 packs of noodles, I only used 2 packs of the soup base.  That way, it's not overly salty since it's meant for use as the soup.  Now, you just stir fry the noodles until it is well mixed.  Add scallions on top and give it a good mix before plating.

FRESH MEAT

Yum!  So, in my area, there's a place called The Meat House.  Typically, I get my meats from the grocery (Shoprite or the Chinese market), but I was craving some good quality bacon so off to The Meat House!

They have an assortment of fresh and marinated meats.  They mostly specialize in beef, but I am more of a pork and chicken person, so I ended up getting some beautiful slab bacon, two kinds of sausage, and some garlic pepper marinated chicken breast.

I tried out the chicken breast last night and oohhh, it was so tender and scrumptious!  I had cubed it up to have with white rice and then sliced small strips to have with pasta.

The two sausages were a cheese one and a spicy one.  I cooked them in the pan and then sliced them up to have with penne pasta.

The bacon was saved for slices at breakfast or little bits to add to pasta.  I also added some bacon bits to my fried rice and oh, it is so delicious!  Love bacon.

Chicken Pasta Salad

So, despite my intention for using the other fresh veggies from my CSA share, I was unable to use them soon enough!  Fresh veggies from the farm are definitely different from supermarket veggies.  A lot of the items I had wilted or dried up sooner than I anticipated.  I am also at fault for putting off using them though.

I made a poor choice in choose to have a pasta salad for lunch today when it's so much cooler out and the a/c is still blasting in the office. (Brr!) This would've been awesome for a hot, hot day.

Nonetheless, it is still delicious.

Chicken Pasta Salad

Ingredients:

• Can of chicken in water (mine was Kirkland/Costco brand)
• Pasta (I chose penne rigate)
• Onion
• Scallions
• Mayo
• Salt & pepper
• Garlic powder

Prepping is quite simple.  Set the water to boil the pasta. And chop up the onions to a smaller size and chop your scallions.  Mine were already cut up previously.  I am so glad I chopped up the scallions when I got them fresh from the farm.  So crisp and delicious!  I only used about half of a stalk of scallion for this dish, mostly just to garnish.

After your pasta is cooked, set it aside.  I love to precook a half box of pasta and save extra to speed up cooking for other things.

For the chicken, open up the can and drain most of the water out of it.  I only reserved a few spoonfuls of it to flavor the dressing.  Use a spoon or fork to chop up the chunks and get it looser/stringy.  This is usually the texture I like for plain chicken salad too.  Then I put the chicken with the little bit of water in a container, added a little more than the same amount of pasta.  So my chicken to pasta ratio is probably around 4:6.  Then I threw in the chopped onion and scallions and sprinkled salt and pepper.  Threw in two spoonfuls of mayo, some garlic powder and mixed it all up.

Set in the fridge and voila.  A great premade lunch for the next day.  Mm!

Scallion Stuffed Chicken Thighs

I bought boneless, skinless chicken thighs and I didn't know what to do with them. I wanted to stuff them but didn't really know what to do. I didn't want cheese or something like real stuffing. So as I was chopping scallions to freeze for my ramen, I thought--DUH.

I cut some of the whiter parts into two inch long cuts and used some of the greener ends too. I wasn't really aiming for flavor, just having something inside the chicken. I first sprinkled a generous amount of garlic powder on the inside, and then added some handfuls of parsley flakes. Then, I wrapped the scallion in with about two or three cuts of it in each thigh. Coated the glass dish with olive oil. Added my typical mix of oregano, parsley, and salt and pepper on top. Set the oven to 350 and popped it in.

I didn't keep track of how long I kept it in the oven. I kept a timer and checked back on it regularly at 20 minute intervals. After the second check, there was already a great smell and lovely juices oozing out. I threw in chopped onions all around and continued baking it. Checked it once with a toothpick before slicing into the fattest piece to check if it was done. And when they were the done, it looked great. Not to mention, the onions had soaked up the juice and tasted wonderful. The flavor of the chicken itself wasn't heavy but at least it was juicy.

If only my camera had better settings for lighting. Or maybe my kitchen needs better lighting. I hope you can see the juiciness of these tender thighs.