Curry & Rice

Ingredients: 2 tbsp olive oil 1 1/2 cup of chicken – cut in cubes (raw or pre-boiled) (optional) 1 cup mushrooms (fresh, frozen or canned) (optional) 1 cup vegetables – suited for curry (carrots, zucchini) (optional) 1 cup pre-boiled chickpeas/lentil (optional) 1 cups canned diced tomatoes (undrained) 1 cup canned coconut milk Seasoning: 1/4 tsp salt 1/2 tsp ground mustard seeds 1/4 tsp cayenne – or to taste (optional, though higly recommended) 1/4 tsp ground cumin 1/4 tsp ground turmenic 1/4 tsp curry powder 1/8 tsp ground cloves (optional) Can be served with a side of plain rice

Quick Guide: Keep in mind this is a versatile dish and you can play around with the optional ingredients at will. Heat the pan with the olive oil then sear the meat in the pan until slighlty browned Add in uncooked vegetables and sear those as well for 1-2 min together. Add in seasoning and mix well for 30 sec Add in the liquids (tomatoes, coconut milk) and coocked beans (lentil/chickpeas). Meat can be skipped if replaced by more vegetables and cooked beans. The lentil and chickpeas can also be skipped when using meat.

Detailed Guide
1.  Prepare the meat
So..you noticed that I mentioned meat should be cut in cubes, and that you can add either raw (and if possible very tender) meat or pre-boiled. If you want to cut your cooking time on a long run, I do recommend that when you get more chicken to pre-boil and then freeze it in portion sizes. This will make a lot of recipes much faster.

2.  Brown the meat
Heat a pan with the 2 tbsp of olive oil and then sear the meat in the pan, until lighlty browned. Again, if the meat was pre-boiled this step will take just a couple of minutes.
3. Add the vegetables
After meat is done, add in the vegetables: carrots, onion, zucchini, mushrooms. As you can see in the ingredients list, the mushrooms can be fresh, frozen or canned. Same can be applied for carrots. If mushrooms are fresh, it is recommended to “cook” them for 1 min in the microwave or in a separate pan with 1-2 tbsp of water. This will cause the mushrooms to close of and not absorb too much oil.

After vegetables are seared (a couple of min), add in the spices and mix well.

4. Add liquids and let simmer
Now all it remains is to add in the cooked beans (lentil or chickpeas), and the liquids – canned tomatoes and coconut milk – and mix well. Bring the pot to a simmer, cover and let all cook for another 10 minutes or until chicken is completely cooked through and the juices are reduced slightly.

5. Serving
Since this is a saucy meal, I usually serve it with plain rice. It’s delicious. Please serve warm.

Versions
Since this is a very versatile dish, the one bellow is with only meat and no added vegetables or beans.

This is the chicken and veggies option