Coconut Chicken Curry & Chana Chaat with Aloo

Hello Bitches. It's Ashika.

I usually try to cook on the weekends for my family. The menu for this Sunday was, Slow Cooker Coconut Chicken Curry, Chana Chaat with aloo (that's garbanzo beans with potato) and sauteed bok choy.

Since the coconut curry takes the longest to cook I started working on it around noon. The actual prep takes no time at all which is why I LOVE this recipe. I have to mention that I found this recipe (http://tastykitchen.com/blog/2011/03/slow-cooker-coconut-chicken-curry/) about 6 months ago and instantly fell in love. I've made it so much that I've got it memorized (I omit the green bell pepper from the original recipe).

4-5 chicken breasts (depends on if you get hormone or non-hormone), thawed and cut into cubes. Don't made them too small. About an inch big is good.

1 whole onion cut in half

4-5 garlic cloves minced. This might be too much for some. If that's the issue, our relationship might not work out.

You know you are Indian if you have a bag of frozen chilies in your freezer. 

2 red chilies. Again this might be too much for some people. See the above statement.

1 can plain tomato paste  (the little can)

1 can coconut milk. I have used the light coconut milk and it's just as good.

1.5 tsp salt

1 TBSP garam masala. Please get your curry spices from a local Indian market. Not the grocery store. There's a huge difference in the flavor.

1 TBSP curry powder

Throw everything into a food processor and grind that shit until it's smooth. If you put the chicken in the processor then I want you to walk over to a mirror and stare at yourself for a really long time because you are stupid.

Next, you throw all that goodness into your slower cooker with the chicken. I set my slow cooker to 4 hours because I don't really think it needs to sit for 8 hours. Chicken doesn't take that long to cook. But if you want to cook your dish slower there's no harm in that. You can set it for 8 hours.

Check on it every hour. Give it a little stir. Smell it. Drool. Wait. Repeat. On the last hour of cooking I want you to take 1.5 TBSP of cornstarch and 2 TBSP of water and thicken your chicken up. You can make some rice to go with this. You can saute some bok choy or any other vegetables, or you can just eat it alone. It's so fucking good I have a small orgasm every time I eat it.

The finished Coconut Chicken Curry. Yum. 

I've been down for the count because I had knee surgery a couple of weeks ago. It's sucks ass but at least I can lower myself onto the toilet without the use of my hands. I'm still on the mend. I can't kneel or bend down very far. Yesterday after getting the coconut curry into the slow cooker I took the animal out to play some fetch. She eventually got tired and decided to lay down. You should have seen me in that field all alone. I stared at the ground and debated my fate, "If I sat down would I be able to get back up? No one here is here to help me. It would just be me struggling to stand on my own two feet again. I'm not that far from home, I could call someone. But no one is home right now. Hmm...fuck it."

I slowly lowered myself onto the ground. That part was easy. Luckily, I wore Aruna out enough that she stayed in one place. I was able to enjoy the sun and snap this lovely picture of her. I've been stuck in the house so much the last couple of weeks I've been losing my shit slowly, so this was nice.

It was time to get back home to finish cooking. Fuck. I flipped myself over, got stable on one leg and used the other to shoot myself up. You would think I was moving a 5,000 year old relic from the sounds that escaped my knees. Thank god there was no one around to see this sad sight.


Next on the menu was Chana Chaat with Aloo which is garbanzo beans with potato. My middle sister isn't eating meat so I had to make something she could enjoy as well. I've made this a couple times for her and she really likes it, even though she doesn't always say thank you. Mhmm.

This is also a very simple recipe

2 TBSP olive oil

one half onion diced

3-4 cloves of minced garlic

1-2 red chili sliced

2 cups water

1 can rinsed and drained garbanzo beans

2-4 peeled and quartered potatoes. The amount of potato depends on how big they are and how much you want in this dish.

4 TBSP Shan Chana Chaat seasoning. This is a pre-mixed seasoning packet that you can also find at your local Indian market. It contains paprika, salt, red chilies, coriander, green mango, ginger, cumin, cinnamon, fennel, black pepper, fenugreek seed, carom and bay leaf.

You want to start out by heating your oil on med-high heat then add your onion and garlic. Saute until the onions start to turn brown. Then add the rest of your ingredients. Cover and let simmer for 20 minutes. Periodically stir and check your potatoes to make sure they are cooked thoroughly.

This dish tends to be a little watery so if you want a thicker sauce you can add cornstarch like I did in the coconut curry dish.

About a month ago I started getting organic produced delivered to me on a weekly basis from Full Circle Farm (www.fullcircle.com). This is a local company based in Carnation, Washington. Every week I get a list of food that they are going to send to me from farms in Washington, Oregon, California and Mexico. Their boxes range between 1-2 person family, all the way up to a 4 person family. I am sharing a box with two co-workers so we are getting the 'Garden Box' which feeds 2-4 people. The cost is $34.95/week which comes out to about $12/person. So, it's not horrible for weekly organic produce.

I've never actually cooked bok choy before so of course I went to google to find a recipe. I wanted something simple with lots of flavor. I found this recipe, http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/robin-miller/stir-fried-bok-choy-with-ginger-and-garlic-recipe/index.html I love me some Food Network. Sometimes when I watch Rachel Ray I think to myself, "How is that bitch not fatter?". Also, y'all need to lay off Paula Dean. That woman gets to do what we all want to do. EAT STICKS OF BUTTER. Who cares if she got diabetes? She is living the fucking dream. I will kiss that woman's swollen feet when I meet her.

So, the bok choy. It was good. I followed the recipe per the website. The only thing I did different was use full power sodium soy sauce so I didn't add any salt to this dish, just black pepper.

That's it bitches. Dinner is served! Let me know how your dishes turned out, if you made any variations, if you love it or hate it. I would love to hear from you. You can even just leave a comment on the blog.

Thanks for reading, Ashika.