Japanese chicken and potato curry

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

Today is the third anniversary of a talk I gave to several hundred lawyers in Tokyo. It was my first trip to Japan.

I confess I don’t remember much of the talk, as during this trip I suffered an attack of ocular migraine. At the time I was prone to episodes of it. They are somewhat unpleasant, since they can mimic strokes and a number of other serious problems.

One of the targets of this particular attack was my short-term memory. It made me forget words, and what on earth I was going to say next. I got through the talk somehow, and amazingly it was successful and led to many others. When I look at the video of the occasion now, I can see my rather pained expression as I tried vainly to remember words I use every day. After the talk Alicia and I spent a week holidaying in the south of the country, which was great and migraine-free.

Alicia spent a good deal of her youth in Japan and speaks a bit of Japanese—which was useful when we went to out of the way restaurants. I confess that prior to that short stay, my knowledge of Japanese cuisine was limited to teriyaki chicken and sushi/sashimi.

Well, this week I decided it was time to change that, so I rambled through recipes I collected to find one that I could alter somewhat to fit in with current nutritional science findings. I landed on a formula for chicken and potato curry. I told Alicia that Japanese curry was on the menu. She was horrified—the calories!

However, with a bit of substitution here and there I’ve come up with a great tasting dish coming in at only 1097 kJ (274 cals)—well within my self-imposed limit for TR recipes of 350 calories.

Tofu (firm or very firm) can be substituted for the chicken, and it works just fine.

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Ingredients

• 500 gms (1 lb) skinless chicken breast cubed  
• 2 tablespoons olive oil (I’m getting tired of saying that this is the best and healthiest option, but it is)
• 2 large onions sliced
• 1 tblsp minced garlic
• 2 tblsps flour (preferably not cornflour). Wholemeal flour – or whole wheat depending on your country, it’s the same stuff—is the best nutritional option
• 2 tablespoon mild curry powder
• 2 cups low-salt chicken stock (or chicken-style vegetable stock)
• 1 tblesp raw honey (high-quality raw honey is best)
• 2 tblsps low-salt soy sauce
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 2 medium or large carrots sliced
• 2 large potatoes cubed. Never peel potatoes if you can avoid it—the skin has a lot of nutritional value.

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‍Directions:

1. Heat oil in a medium saucepan, start by browning the chicken on both sides. Remove from the pan and set aside.
2. In the same pan add the onion and garlic and cook until softened—about 2 or 3 minutes.
3. Add the flour, curry powder and garam masala. Mix well. Gradually stir in stock.
4. Add the honey and soy sauce, mix well.
5. Add the chicken, carrots, and potatoes.
6. Bring to the boil, turn down the heat and simmer for 25 minutes or so—until sauce thickens and the carrots are soft.

Now is decision time: do you want to serve it with rice? And if so which rice? Alicia opined that since the recipe has potato and carrots in it already, rice is superfluous. I counter that rice is traditional. We both win. I make some rice, she ignores it. I used Basmati rice the first time we had the dish and black rice the second. The Basmati was the better option. In truth, any rice would work.

‍Serves: 6

‍Energy: 1097 kJs (274 calories) per muffin