Cooking with Curry

Curry Chicken

from Missy Tippens

The Belle, here. And today I'm sharing my first attempt at making curry from scratch (instead of using a packaged spice mix).

I recently began using e-Meals, a service that gives you a weekly menu, recipes and shopping lists. What's really nice about the site is that you can choose a particular grocery store, and they'll plan your menu around what's on sale that week! However, my grocery isn't one listed, so instead, I just chose one of the plans that can use any store. I chose the Clean Living plan. Here's the description:

Get everything you need, with nothing you don’t. Just natural ingredients and simple, tasty recipes for your healthy lifestyle. The only things added or processed are convenience and efficiency.

So far, even the kids have liked what I've cooked! And that's saying a lot since my son is pretty picky.

The recipe I'm sharing today for Curry Chicken is my take on the recipe using the ingredients I had on hand.


2 T vegetable oil
1 T curry powder
1 T garam marsala (see my note below on this item)
1 ts crushed red pepper flakes
4 T water, divided
4 carrots, peeled and cubed
1 red onion, peeled and quartered
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and quartered
6 oz can tomato paste
14 oz can coconut milk
1 t salt
4 thin cut boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed (or tofu for our vegetarians)
1 T cornstarch

Heat oil in heavy skillet. In small bowl, mix together the spices and 2 T water into a paste. I didn't have garam marsala and couldn't find it at my grocery. So I looked it up. Wikipedia said is typically has these ingredients:

• black & white peppercorns
• cloves
• cinnamon
• black & white cumin seeds
• black, brown & green cardamom pods

So I mixed up 1 Tablespoon of the ones I had: ground pepper, ground cloves, cinnamon and ground cumin (didn't have cardamom). I went easy on the cloves and cinnamon (they're very strong!). I used mostly cumin.

So back to the recipe... Mix your spices into a paste with the 2 T water. Add in the skillet with the heated oil and cook until fragrant. Be careful you don't burn it. Mine started to stick a little so I had to add more oil and turn down the temp.

Add carrots, onion, garlic and red pepper and cook about 10 minutes. The onion sections will begin to separate and red pepper will soften.

Stir in tomato paste (this takes a little work since it's so thick). Add coconut milk, salt and chicken. Simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes. Stir the cornstarch and 2 T water together in a small bowl. Then add to the skillet and stir until thickened.

Serve over rice. It was very flavorful! I actually left out the red pepper flakes, and the dish probably needed it. It could have used a little more spice.

Enjoy!