Chicken and carrot curry

‍The science of eating well: exotic, healthy, quick and delicious recipes.

I love curries—from anywhere. Curries are flexible, they can be a great way to use leftovers, to experiment with spices, or to just experiment. You can make them with fish, with almost any meat, with tofu, jackfruit, or they can be simply vegetarian.

They can be made with healthy ingredients; they can be low in calories—and they can be quick to prepare.

Take today’s dish for example. I had some carrots which needed to be eaten before they went off. Carrots are great raw when fresh and can be kept for a few weeks in the fridge if you’re going to cook them. I like to chew on fresh carrots and Alicia doesn’t. In fact, to be honest, she’s not a carrot fan. Except in hotpots, casseroles or curries, where they’re tolerated.

Carrots originally came from Afghanistan over a thousand years ago. The ones you buy in shops are usually orange, but they can come in a multitude of colors—the original ones were purple. The orange ones were first gown somewhere in Central Europe sometime around 1600—I have seen a number of estimates of time and place. Anyway, the New World gave Europe the potato at about the same time Europe gave them the carrot. Fair exchange.

And they’re packed full of nutritional goodies. Nutritionists say that a half-cup can give you about:

• 73% of your daily requirement of vitamin A
• 9% of your daily vitamin K
• 8% of your daily potassium and fiber
• 5% of your daily vitamin C
• 2% of your daily calcium and iron

Plus, they’re loaded with antioxidants.

I also had some chicken which had to be cooked and a left-over cup of light coconut milk. I did have a goodly selection of spices. So, I put together this dish. Alicia loved it—carrots and all. I have subsequently made it with tofu and that works great, too.

One of the key benefits is that it’s a great dinner party dish and it stores well for a week or so, so don’t throw away any leftovers.

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‍Ingredients

• 4 chicken breasts (about 1 kilo or 2 lbs) cubed  
• 2 tblsp olive oil (three if you’re cooking the chicken in 2 batches)
• 6 or more carrots chopped
• 1 tblsp minced garlic
• 2 (or more) large tomatoes chopped
• ½ cup non-fat yoghurt (optional)
• 1 tblsp curry paste (I used my own Thai version which I will supply the recipe for at a later date, but a low salt/sugar store-bought one will do)
• ½ cup light coconut milk (¼ cup if you’re using yoghurt) When you reheat the dish and a lot of the liquid has gone—it’s delicious—add more coconut milk.
• Curry powder (see below)

Curry powder ingredients

Store-bought curry powder can be somewhat iffy in terms of taste. Better to make your own as making a curry powder is simple—just mix the following:

• 1 tsp cumin
• ½ tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp coriander
• ½ tsp cayenne pepper (or more if you want a hotter curry—but don’t overdo it)
• 1 tsp dijon mustard (optional but really nice)

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‍Directions:

1. Cook carrots in boiling water for about 10 mins. Set aside.
2. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium high heat and add the garlic and the curry paste. Mix well.
3. Cook chicken in two batches (depending on the size of your skillet) for 10 minutes.
4. Combine the chicken and the curry powder and cook for a further 30 seconds, stirring.
5. Add carrots yoghurt and coconut milk
6. Bring the mixture to a boil, lower the heat and simmer 5 minutes

Serve with any nutritious long grain rice (black, basmati, brown basmati or wild rice) and vegetables of your choice.

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‍Serves: 7

‍Energy: 880 kJs (220 calories)