Monday, January 9, 2006

Pantry Challenge- Red Curry Paste




So I've had a jar of Patek's mild curry paste lurking in my fridge for a long time. I bought it several months ago to make a coconut and shrimp soup. The soup was good, needed some tweaking, but the paste has sat ever since. The good thing is that curry paste lasts a REALLY long time. But I felt a hankering to use it, as I do enjoy the stuff. So today I headed to the store and picked up some plain old boneless, skinless chicken breasts. The last time I combined the curry paste with chicken, I simply sauteed it and added some tomato sauce. Good, but not what I wanted. After looking through a couple of recipes, and nothing struck me, I saw a mention of yogurt.

So I took a few spoonfuls of yogurt, added the curry paste and other magic ingredients and marinated my chicken breasts. After their bath, the breasts met their fate underneath the broiler. And Mmm was it good. The yogurt sauce kind of baked on, and the result was a perfectly done chicken breast. Andy declared it an instant hit, although he did help me dissect it and plan for the next appearance. It will need to marinate longer, and I need to conquer my fear of chutney, as that would be the perfect finish to the dish. Tonight I served the chicken with roasted vegetables, and the kids had macaroni and cheese. Here is the finished recipe.

Easy Yogurt Spiced Chicken

3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup plain yogurt
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 1/2 TBS mild red curry paste
pinch of salt
black pepper to taste
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Combine everything except the chicken in a large bowl. Toss the chicken with the sauce and marinate in the fridge for at least 2 hours (8 at the most), turning chicken from time to time.

Cover a broiler pan with foil. Heat the broiler to high. Place the chicken under the broiler, and cook for 5-7 minutes, turning as the chicken starts to brown. Cook for another 5-7 minutes, or until the juices run clear. Serve immediately.

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