Sunday, June 14, 2009

Clay pot Sunday funday

During dinner last night, Jamie decided it was about time we started using the clay pot we have for more than just oven decor. I googled some clay pot curry recipes this morning and settled on Curry Chicken in Clay Pot. It seemed pretty easy and we already had most of the ingredients. Here's how our Sunday kitchen experiment went down...

After messing around with my blog (please note the fun 3 column layout that took me hours to get right), I opened up the recipe for tonight's dinner only to realize it called for chicken
thighs...which we didn't have. Oops. Oh well, chicken boob it is. Jamie acted as sous chef and we had everything prepped in about 5-10 minutes. Not bad!

Here's the chicken in the pan, browning before going into the clay pot:
You'll see my modifications to the original recipe below...I added lite coconut milk and instead of curry powder, I used curry paste since I had it on hand:
Just 20 minutes in the oven and dinner was ready:
I threw in a handful of spinach as soon as I opened the lid because I thought it could use a leafy green :)

Curry Chicken in Clay Pot
1 lb skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 tsp chopped fresh ginger
1 tbsp cornstarch
6 small new red potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch slices
1 small carrot, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch slices
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp minced garlic
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 1/2 tbsp penang curry paste
1/4 c lite coconut milk
1 medium tomato, cut into 1/2-inch wedges
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place a 2-quart clay pot or heavy casserole with a cover in the oven to heat.

In a bowl, combine the salt, pepper, ginger, and cornstarch. Toss the chicken with the cornstarch mixture and set aside.

Bring 3 cups water to a boil in a saucepan. Add the potatoes and carrot, cover, and cook 2 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Heat a nonstick skillet, add the vegetable oil and the chicken; stir and cook until lightly browned, about 1 minute. Add the garlic, onion, curry paste, and tomato and stir-fry 1 minute. Add coconut milk, potatoes, carrot, soy sauce, and sugar and continue to stir until well mixed. Turn off the heat and transfer the mixture to the preheated clay pot. Cover the clay pot and return to the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Serve hot.

Overall, I thought the dish was pretty good. I'd make it again, maybe with more tomato and maybe some fish sauce. I know, I know, I mention anchovies and fish sauce too much on this blog...but really, I think this could have used some fish sauce! Don't fret if you don't have a clay pot! I think this dish could be easily made on the stove in a regular pot.

I'm testing out a few new things on this blog, so bear with me this week! I'm trying to get things organized on here, but I'm kinda slow when it comes to anything technical. Gah. Let me know what you think (of the layout, the workouts, the recipe...anything!) :)

4 comments:

Mia {runs and rests} said...

You are doing so great with your blog and I'll definitely watch out for your planned changes/improvements. :D
I love curry! I know that the Japanese curry blocks I use are not that healthy but they are just so yummy. :P

Karena said...

Japanese curry is my fave! An old roommate got me hooked on the stuff! I *try* to make it a little healthier by using lean cuts of meat and throwing in as many veggies as I can think of. It makes an appearance in my kitchen maybe once or twice a year mostly b/c I'm lazy and also worried about the sodium content.

Jamie said...

you should probably devote an entire blog post to the various condiments that you like...and regularly add to food. there are way more than just fish sauce.

Karena said...

that's a good idea...i could go on and on about condiments.