Curry in a Hurry #FoodieExtravaganza

Foodie Extravaganza is where we celebrate obscure food holidays or cook and bake together with the same ingredient or theme each month.

Posting day for #FoodieExtravaganza is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you! If you're a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board!

This month Sneha of Sneha's Recipe invited the Foodie Extravaganza bloggers to share their favorite chicken curry recipes. She writes, "January 12 is National Curried Chicken Day. Let's post our favorite curried chicken recipe." Here's the #FoodieExtravaganza line-up...

Chicken Curry with Cashews by Karen's Kitchen Stories

Chicken Curry in Frithad Masala by Sneha's Recipe

Chinese Chicken Curry by A Day in the Life on the Farm

Curry in a Hurry Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Special Chicken Tikka Masala by Palatable Pastime

Curry in a Hurry

After living with lots of different Indians - and I am not being un-politically correct here, I do mean Indians, as in from India - and having lots of Indian friends in college, I learned a couple of things...

Number one: Curry powder is not a specific spice, it's actually a blend of spices. Every time one of my roommates visited her parents, she'd come back with a spice kit. A sensual feast for the eyes - carmine paprika, golden turmeric, sandy ginger - and an assault on the nose - pungent coriander, piquant cardamom, aromatic cinnamon - oh how I coveted that hammered stainless steel tin full of ground spices!

Number two: Every Indian cook has his or her personal blend of those spices. And curries also vary by geography. For example curries in Kerala, one of the most southern Indian states, include tamarind while Bengali curries utilize mustard seed and mustard oil.

Number three: Curries can be red, yellow, or green. I still don't have a definitive answer about what makes a curry red while another is yellow. But I suspect, based on curry-fact number two, that the human element makes the difference. If someone uses more turmeric in the curry spice mix, it will be more yellow, more paprika means more red. Sounds plausible, doesn't it?

Number four: There are also wet curries and dry curries. This simply has to do with how much liquid is used to begin and how long the dish is cooked.

I now have one of those hammered spice tins of my own and I enjoy playing with different combinations of flavors. But for a mid-week dinner, sometimes I cheat and use a pre-blended curry powder. No need to measure tiny amounts of ground coriander, cumin, turmeric, ginger, mustar, black pepper, cinnamon, and cardamon. This is curry in a hurry.

Ingredients

• 2 lbs organic chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized cubes
• freshly ground salt
• freshly ground pepper
• 2 T curry powder, divided
• 6 T unsalted butter, cut into 2 T chunks
• 1 large onion, peeled and diced (approximately 1-1/2 C)
• 1 T grated ginger (you can omit, if you don't have any, but we love the fresh ginger in this)
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 3” stick cinnamon
• 1 C tomato sauce
• 1 C chicken stock
• 1 C organic coconut milk
• cooked rice for serving

Procedure

In a large mixing bowl, massage the salt, pepper, and 1 T curry powder into the chicken. Let stand for 15 minutes.

In a large, flat-bottom pan, cook the onions, ginger, and garlic in 3 T butter until softened and the onions begin to turn translucent. Add in the remaining butter and melt. Stir in the remaining curry powder and add cinnamon stick. Cook until fragrant.

Add the chicken to the spiced paste and brown until cooked through, approximately 10 to 12 minutes. Pour in the tomato sauce and chicken stock. Whisk to combine. Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes - until the sauce is beginning to thicken. Pour in the coconut milk, whisk to combine, and simmer until that it thickened to your liking.

Serve garnished with cooked rice. Enjoy!