8 March, 2018
Red Curry Chicken Stew
This is a great slow cooker recipe that the Parson’s Wife and I really like. The original was from a diet cookbook. We’ve played with it, rearranging the proportions of some ingredients, adding ingredients, changing cooking times, and otherwise monkeying with it until we got it like we wanted.
Here’s what you’ll need for a batch that will serve six people (about 1-1/2 cups per serving):
1.5 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts (about two large breasts cut in half)
7 tsp Thai red curry paste
1 13.5 oz can Badia brand unsweetened coconut milk
1 tsp Kosher salt
1⁄2 head cauliflower, cut into florets
1 lb potatoes, 1″ dice
1 red bell pepper, 1/2″ dice
3 medium carrots, 1/2″ slices
1 8-oz can sliced water chestnuts, drained and rinsed
2 Tbsp smooth fat peanut butter
1⁄2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
3 medium green onions, sliced
1 fresh lime, cut into wedges
Rub 2 teaspoons curry paste into the chicken. I like to do this by putting the chicken pieces into a 1-gallon Ziploc freezer bag together with the curry paste then massaging the bag until the paste is equally distributed over the meat. Once done, put this in the refrigerator until needed.
In a 1 or 2 quart bowl whisk together the coconut milk, 3 teaspoons of the curry past and the 1 teaspoon of Kosher salt. (You can use table salt. If you do, reduce the amount to 3/4 teaspoon.) Cover and set aside until needed.
A word about coconut milk: the original recipe from which I adapted this called for “light” coconut milk (it was a calorie-conscious recipe). However, I have found I prefer the extra richness one can get from coconut cream. So . . . I tried all the varieties and brands of light coconut milk, regular coconut milk, or coconut cream (all unsweetened, of course) that I found in the oriental foods shelves of our local supermarket. Then I turned around and found two more brands on the Mexican food side of the same aisle. Of them all, Badia turned out to work best in this recipe. It isn’t as high in fat and calories as the Thai coconut creams, but has more richness than other coconut milks. It’s a very good compromise.
Now, clean and chop all the vegetables (that doesn’t include the cilantro or the scallions). Add the cauliflower, potatoes, pepper, carrots, and water chestnuts to a 4-6 quart slow cooker. Pour the coconut milk mixture over them and stir to evenly coat.
A word about potatoes: the original recipe called for russets, peeled, and diced into 1″ pieces. It’s fine that way, but the Parson’s Wife and I did some experimenting. We like potato skins, so we tried it just washing the russets well rather than peeling them. To be honest, that wasn’t so good; russet skins have a distinctive flavor that doesn’t work in this recipe. Then we tried “new potatoes,” the little red ones with their skins; they weren’t too bad. Then we found that our supermarket has 1-1/2 pound bags of baby Yukon gold potatoes; a pound of these, washed and sliced in half works beautifully in this dish.
Retrieve the chicken from the refrigerator and nestle the pieces into the top of vegetable mixture. Cover the slow cooker and set on LOW for 4.5 to 5 hours.
After 5 or so hours, remove the chicken to a cutting board; at the same time, take about a cup of the cooking broth from the slow cooker and put it in a small mixing bowl. Cut the chicken into bite-size pieces and return to the slow cooker.
Add 2 tablespoons of peanut butter and 2 teaspoons of curry paste to the bowl of broth and add this into slow cooker. Stir well to evenly distribute. Cook for another hour or so, then add the chopped cilantro and sliced green onions.
After 10-15 minutes, serve. Spoon onto plates of rice or (our preference) into bowls as a soup and serve with lime wedges. A sprinkle on each serving of 1 teaspoon of chopped peanuts is an optional and welcome garnish (we don’t keep peanuts in our kitchen and it’s almost impossible to find the small single-serving snack packs of peanuts in our area, so we often forgo this).
Here’s the recipe without the pictures and the chit-chat.
Red Curry Chicken Stew
1.5 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts (about two large breasts cut in half)
7 tsp Thai red curry paste
1 13.5 oz can Badia brand unsweetened coconut milk
1 tsp Kosher salt
1⁄2 head cauliflower, cut into florets
1 lb potatoes, 1″ dice
1 red bell pepper, 1/2″ dice
3 medium carrots, 1/2″ slices
1 8-oz can sliced water chestnuts, drained and rinsed
2 Tbsp smooth fat peanut butter
1⁄2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
3 medium green onions, sliced
1 fresh lime, cut into wedges
Rub 2 teaspoons curry paste into the chicken. Set aside.
Whisk together the coconut milk, 3 teaspoons of the curry past and the 1 teaspoon of Kosher salt.
Put cauliflower, potatoes, pepper, carrots, and water chestnuts into a 4-6 quart slow cooker; add coconut milk mixture and stir to evenly coat.
Nestle chicken pieces into the top of vegetable mixture; cover and cook on low for 4.5 to 5 hours.
After 5 or so hours, remove chicken, cut into bite-size pieces, and return to the slow cooker. At same time, remove a cup of the cooking broth from slow cooker, mix with 2 tablespoons of peanut butter and 2 teaspoons of curry paste; stir into slow cooker.
Cook for another hour or so, then add the chopped cilantro and sliced green onions. After 10-15 minutes, serve with lime wedges; sprinkle each serving with 1 teaspoon of chopped peanuts, if desired.
Serves 6/