Curry Chicken Rice

“What’s for dinner?” Did even reading that line make your toes curl? It’s the lament of parents the world over. The late afternoon question that rings through homes around the globe. The question that evokes an audible eye roll from every household’s cook. Logically the more years we cook for our families the more our repertoire grows and indeed the greater the library of skill and recipes we theoretically should be carrying around and able to call on. BUT that’s simply not how it works is it? I mean I clearly love cooking and love creative cooking but even I am frequently stumped literally having no idea what to whip up. The trouble when you love food and cooking is the many questions that rattle around in your head. What do I feel like eating/cooking? I can’t actually be bothered after a busy day…in the kitchen…queue that headache inducing eye roll. And literal cook’s block, like a writer’s block only hunger inducing and frustrating and narrated by a chorus of voices demanding an answer to the age-old late afternoon question that is the language of hungry tummies.

It can be easy to call on the plain wholesome Aussie old school favourite of meat and three veg but that can be boring, and frankly require as much work as many more elaborate offerings. With the current crazy prices of vegies in Australia, hello $10 lettuce, and you over there…$12 strawberry punnet…sit down we’re not indulging in you this week, those veg next to the piece of protein frankly feels almost indulgent. If you’ve hung out here for a while you’ll know I like a one pot wonder, a fast take on a more laborious favourite like this one and the family love rice, it’s cheap, filling and results in leftovers for lunches the next day. We also love a curry and the use of the, albeit, not traditional but delicious none the less, Indian style curry powder makes it super simple.

My curry chicken and rice is a one pot dish, that simple to prepare and needs only 25 minutes cooking time on the stove. It’s calls on the techniques of both risotto and pilaf methods combining to make what is reminiscent of the two combined into one. It’s a gentle curry for younger diners and can be dialled up or down according to the palettes of your family but also marries nicely with spicy condiments if there’s varying needs at your table.

Ingredients:

2 Tb Olive oil or ghee

500 gm chicken thigh cut into chunksm roughly 6 pieces per thigh

1 brown onion sliced

1 tb grated fresh ginger

1 large or 2 small garlic cloves crushed

3 tsp curry powder

½ tsp garam masala

4 cardamon pods bruised

1 cinnamon stick

¼ tsp ground ginger

4 curry leaves

1 cup rice, I use doongara

1 cup coconut milk

2 cups chicken stock

2 hand fulls baby spinach leaves

Extra curry leaves to serve

Method:

Heat 1 tb of the oil or ghee in a pan over med to high heat, brown chicken pieces until starting to brown on the edges, five minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and keep warm.

Add second tb of oil to pan and reduce heat to med-low. Cook onions gently until translucent, 5 minutes. Add garlic and ginger and and cook til fragrant but not browning. Add spices and cook until fragrant 1 minute. Add rice and stir until coated in the spice and onion mixture. Return chicken to pan and increase heat to med-high. Pour in coconut mil and allow to boil for 1-2 minutes. Add stock and curry leaves. Bring to boil and immediately reduce het to low and cook covered 10 minutes. Remove lid stir well ensuring it’s not sticking to the bottom and cover again and cook an additional 10 minutes. You’ll need to keep an eye on it at this stage to prevent it catching on the bottom. Just give it a quick stir if it does. Taste rice to be sure it’s nearly cooked, if so add spinach fold through and replace lid cooking for a final 3 minutes, again with lid on. Remove lid, stir while continuing to cook for a few more minutes to reduce any remaining moisture. Turn off and leave it to sit with lid on for five minutes until serving.

***Notes:

Let’s be honest sometimes you either don’t have all the spices or are in a hurry and can’t be bothered. When this strikes just bump up the curry powder with a third teaspoon. It’s pretty forgiving and will still be delicious.

If spinach will leave you stretching a friendship with kids, you might like to try substituting this with frozen peas or sliced green beans.

We like to add additional spice at the table with various condiments such as, chilli jam, dried chili flakes or even chilli oil.

For those more sensitive palettes you might like to add a bowl of yoghurt to the table, but this is a very mild dish.