Zesty Cook » curry

One Pot Peach Curry Chicken and Mo

zesty — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 13:00:09 +0000

Hey! Happy Friday. Crazy day here today so I will not take too long. However, I do have a lot to tell you. First of all, it is a Friday, the last Friday of Movember. So if you have not done so already, which I pretty much no you didn’t you should sponsor me for growing this crazy cat on my lip to raise money for prostate cancer.

In addition to that, I am preparing for a party for little Zesty tomorrow. Ella turns 4 on Tuesday and we are having a family party tomorrow at noon. Menu is set and I will provide a full update and recap on Monday. For the most part, all new recipes for me so it could be a huge flop. If so, we have the cake to fall back on as it is store bought.

Thirdly, I have to talk to you about this one pot chicken dish that Zesty junior and I put together on Tuesday. Took all of 6 minutes to prepare and a couple of hours in the oven. I used a store bought peach chutney and a store bought curry paste…. Too easy. Results were very good. Somethings in life are simple – yet we always try to make them seem more complex.

Ingredients

4 large Chicken Breasts, bone-in
1 Tbsp. Curry paste
2 Tbsp. Peach chutney
1 Tbsp. Mustard
1 Tbsp. Coriander
3/4 Cup water
1 Large Cabbage, sliced
1 Cup cranberries
2 Handfuls Cherry tomatoes
Salt and pepper

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large roasting pan, line the bottom with the cabbage and season with salt and pepper
Place chicken on top; add cranberries and tomatoes.
In a bowl, combine remaining ingredients and mix together.
Pour over chicken, cover with lid and roast for about 90-120 minutes.
Enjoy!

Zesty Tip: Make sure you place the cabbage on the bottom of the pan as you want it to cook in the liquids as opposed to getting crispy on top. Feel free to add any other root vegetable to the dish for additional flavor.

As the November Friday tradition, here is a shot of the stash with 5 days to go.

I hope you have a great weekend. Come back on Monday for a full birthday party update.

Take care

zesty

Chicken Curry w/ Spinach Lemon Cous Cous

zesty — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 12:58:33 +0000

Happy Friday to you! I have about 8 minutes to complete this post and than head to the office so bear with me for the quick and simple low down on how to make tender chicken legs with little to no effort. Slow roasting food, all be it takes some patience, but it is definitely one of my favorite things to do. Now don’t get me wrong, I am a fan of the bbq, the broiler and of course pan searing – but there is something about the slow roasting technique that really gets me cranked up.

The smell fills the room, people around you get happy and the reward at the end of the wait is well…. worth it! Last Sunday I had some chicken legs thawing on the counter without a whole lot of ideas bouncing thru my head as to how I was going to prepare them. A coated potato chip crust, went thru my head and left. A simple dry roast with some herbs came and left and then I realized that I had some curry paste left in the fridge.

Curry and mustard with some dried oregano and lemon zest was screaming my name. I ran to the fridge – well probably just walked quickly and gathered my lemon, the curry paste and mustard. Quickly turned the corner and grabbed the oregano and I was set. Ripped down a roasting pan, grabbed a bowl and open the chicken legs like someone with a fluffy tail was chasing me.

I had this concoction ready to go before I even preheated the oven. Oh so easy… Oh so good. As it was just finishing up, I tossed in some cous cous and threw in a little chopped spinach and lemon to compliment the chicken and let it cook. Remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes. Toss it with a fork and garnish with some green onion.

I will be honest here, as I pretty much always am…. I don’t like cous cous but Mrs. Zesty loved it. Needless to say she had the left overs.

Ingredients

8-10 Chicken drumsticks
2 Tbsp. Curry paste
1 Tbsp. Mustard
Splash of soy sauce
1 Tsp. Dried oregano
1/4 Cup water
zest of a lemon
juice of a lemon
Cracked black pepper
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 Onion, peeled and chopped

Method

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
Assemble chicken in roasting pan, add carrots and onions
In a bowl mix together remaining ingredients and toss over chicken and vegetables
Cook uncovered for about 90 minutes, allowing the sauce to thicken and the chicken to caramelize.
Remove from heat and serve with your favorite side dish.

ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: If you find the sauce too thick just add a little water before tossing it in with the chicken. You want the sauce to pour easily. Be sure to baste the chicken during cooking maybe 2-3 times.

Alright, so last day of work before a holiday weekend and lots to get finished up. I hope you have a great day and you know what next week means. Turkey ideas and leftovers for all…. and maybe a recap of the infamous turkey day at the zesty in-laws. Talk on Monday!

Take care

zesty

NYC Recap and Curry Fig Shrimp

zesty — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 13:19:58 +0000

Well Well Well…. Did you think I got lost in New York? Not really the case, but we did get stranded on Sunday as the flight was cancelled due to weather conditions in the JFK area. On top of all that, we had to check a bag because we shopped too much and in that bag I had placed my power cord for the laptop… ooops and the laptop died. That is the sob story as to why no post on Monday.

Too make up for the missed day I thought I would do a recap of NYC in pictures and share with you a shrimp recipe that I whipped up last night that made my heart sing. Oh so good and oh so easy to prepare.

NYC Recap

Things We Did

STOMP
The Lion King
Mets Game
Hop N Go Tour – Central Park, downtown loop, world trade centre
Shopped at Century 21 – mind boggling
Hit up Macy’s for 3 Hours
Hung out at Times Square
Ate at the Shake Shack!!
Became Subway gurus

Times Square in the Night

The Food Emporium

A Cool Curved Building... can't remember the name

Trump Towers

Some greenery

Radio City Music Hall

New York Mets Stadium

Good Ol'e Lulu

New York Public Library

YUM... Chipotle

Atop the double Decker bus I spotted this on the lamp post.... Classic

Ever Have this Popcorn?

Times Square

Times Square Street Sign

Empire State Building

Eataly.... so good

Zest in Central Park ...relaxing

Curry Fig Shrimp

Ingredients

16 Large Shrimp
2 Figs , chopped
Lemon zest
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. Maple Syrup
1 Tbsp. Curry Paste
1/4 Cup water
2 Cups spinach
1 Cup of Basmati rice
Salt and Pepper
1 Tbsp. Olive oil

Method

Preheat a sauce pan over high heat and add olive oil.
Season the shrimp with salt and pepper and quickly sear the shrimp, 30 seconds per side. Pull them out of the pan and place on a plate while you make the sauce.
Add garlic, lemon zest, maple syrup, figs and curry paste. Stir quickly and lower the heat to medium. Add water and let reduce for 2 minutes.
Toss shrimp back in the sauce and coat evenly for 1 minute.
Remove shrimp leaving liquid in the pan to saute the spinach. Cook the spinach until wilted about 1-2 minutes.
Serve over rice
ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: Don’t over cook the shrimp! It is very easy to do, just ensure as soon as they become translucent, you remove them from the heat.

OK, I better get my butt to the office and start the work day. I hope you enjoyed the recap and again sorry for the lack of posting on Monday. I will talk to you all on Friday.

Take care

zesty

Beautiful Butter Chicken

zesty — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 13:00:54 +0000

Oh I made a yummy last night! Not a lot of time on my hands after work and before soccer but I had just enough time to make a nice butter chicken curry dish with a little help from a jar. I had picked up a bottle of Patak butter chicken sauce a couple of weeks ago and never got around to making it. SO as the fridge was dwindling down, I saw it poking out from the back. It was an easy decision to make it happen.

Of course I did go all traditional, because when do I really do that. I added a whole package of mini portabellas, chicken, carrots, tomatoes and at the very end…. 3 cups of spinach. YUM. The results were very good. The sauce was nice with just a hint of heat and it felt like I didn’t have Basmati rice in forever…. so I was excited.

Ingredients

1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Cups mushrooms, chopped
1 Cup carrot, chopped
1 Tbsp. garlic, minced
1 Cup grape tomatoes
3 Cups baby spinach
2 Cups cooked chicken
1 Jar Patak Butter Chicken Sauce
Black Pepper
Basmati Rice

Method

Preheat a large pan over medium heat, add olive oil.
Add chopped mushrooms and begin to cook and sweat down for 3 minutes. After the mushrooms begin to shrink and release liquid, add the carrots and saute.
Throw in the garlic and chicken and continue to let cook down. After 4 minutes add in the tomatoes.
Add the Patal jar of butter chicken sauce and cover; let simmer for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook the rice according to directions and have ready for completion.
Removing the cover add the spinach and stir into the dish and let it cook down for 2 minutes.

Spoon sauce over basmati rice.

ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: The longer you can let this simmer the better. The minimum is 15 minutes for the sauce but if you have longer you will not be disappointed.

Alright, so the middle of the week is here and the weekend is upon us. I cannot believe it is the middle of June. Can you?

Before I leave you for the day I have a funny that I heard at the soccer field last night. There is a little girl on Carter’s team who went up to her Dad and said, “Dad why are all the kids fighting over one ball, when there is a whole bag of them behind the net”. I thought that was so funny and had a great chuckle.

Have a great hump day and I will touch base with you on Friday.

Take care

zesty

Curried Pumpkin and Apple Soup

zesty — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 08:00:58 +0000

Hi Zesty Readers, I am Mellissa from A Fit and Spicy Life and am very excited to be doing a guest post while Zesty is out of town. I thought I would share one of my fall favorites made with ingredients that are in season now and spices that really complement those flavors! Since this soup has a lot of chopping I use a Chopper or Food Processor to get the onions and apples the same size, to save time and to stop a few tears.

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne
Pinch red pepper flakes
3 apples, cored and chopped
15-oz can pumpkin puree
2 2/3 cups low-sodium chicken broth (veggie broth can be substituted)
2/3 cup water
1 tsp cane sugar

Directions

Pour oil into large saucepan and place over medium heat.
Add onion, garlic, curry, cumin and cayenne.
Saute, stirring often until onion is soft.

Stir in apples, pumpkin, broth, water and sugar.

Bring to boil, cover and reduce heat to low.
Simmer for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Puree soup in a food processor or with a hand blender, to achieve desired consistency.
Just before serving, return to pot on low heat.
ENJOY!!

Thanks so much Melissa (fit and spicy life) for a great recipe. This is definitely the time of year for curry and pumpkin. I love the combination of flavors and will be trying this for sure. I hope you have a great Thursday and talk soon.

Take care

zesty

Curried Red Lentil Soup with Chickpeas and Quinoa

zesty — Wed, 06 May 2009 08:00:05 +0000

I am excited to present you a new blogger to Zestycook. Kevin from Closetcooking was very accepting when I asked him to do a guest post on zesty. I have been reading Kevin’s blog for a while now and mostly drooling over stunning photography and loving his recipes. I gave Kevin full reign over what to post and as you can see below – it looks like he came up with another winner.

Recently I have been enjoying exploring lentils though up until now I have only been using the green du puy lentils. There are many different types of lentils and I wanted to branch out and try a new one. When I was out shopping the bright red lentils caught my attention and I picked some of them up.

Despite the fact that we have had a few warm days the weather has gotten cooler again and I was in the mood for a soup. While searching for recipes I came across a few for curried red lentil and chickpea soups that sounded good. Using those two main ingredients as the base for my soup I proceeded to add my favorite soup vegetables; onions, carrots and celery. Next I added some diced tomatoes to add more body and red to the soup. I thought that I was pretty much done but then as I was pulling out the lentils I noticed the quinoa in my cupboard and I recalled that it had worked well in several soups that I had made before and I decided to throw some in as well. I had ended up with a recipe for a nice and healthy sounding soup that also promised to taste great.

Red lentils cook pretty quickly and I only needed to simmer them in the soup for as long as I would have simmered the soup to allow for enough time for the flavours to mingle anyways. The curried red lentil soup with chickpeas and quinoa was nice and easy to make and it did not take long. This soup could easily be made on a week night. I really enjoyed the combination of the red lentils, chickpeas and quinoa and the textures that they added to the soup. The soup was nice and thick and hearty and yet somehow light at the same time. With the curry powder in it the soup was nice and aromatic and it tasted great. I wanted a bit more heat in the soup so I added some chili sauce though you could easily omit it or reduce it or even increase it depending on your tastes. I garnish the soup with some fresh chopped cilantro and a dollop of thick and creamy strained (or Greek style) yogurt.

Curried Red Lentil Soup with Chickpeas and Quinoa

(makes 4-6 servings)
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1 tablespoon oil
1/2 cup onion (chopped)
1/2 cup carrot (chopped)
1/2 cup celery (chopped)
1 tablespoon garlic (chopped)
1 tablespoon ginger (chopped)
1 tablespoon curry powder (or 1 tablespoon garam masala + 1 teaspoon turmeric)
1 cup red lentils
3 cups chicken stock (or vegetable broth)
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon chili sauce (such as sambal oelek, or to taste)
1 (19 ounce) can chickpeas (rinsed and drained)
1 cup quinoa (cooked)
salt and pepper to taste
* cilantro (chopped)
* Greek style yogurt (or strained yogurt or sour cream)

Method

Heat the oil in a pan.
Add the onions, carrots and celery and saute until tender, about 10-15 minutes.
Add the garlic, ginger and curry powder and saute until fragrant, about a minute.
Add the lentils, stock, tomatoes and chili sauce.
Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the lentils are tender, about 10-15 minutes.
Add the chickpeas and quinoa and warm them up.
Season with salt and pepper and serve with a garnish of cilantro and a dollop of Greek style yogurt.
ENJOY!

Editors Note:

I hope you enjoyed this post! The soup looks excellent and I am very thankful that Closetcooking took the time to guest post on zesty. If you are one of Kevin’s regular readers drop a comment below and let him know what you think of the recipe. If you are a regular zesty reader, I definitely appreciate your support and love reading your comments. As you read this, I wonder if I am on the beach in Jamaica? I hope you have a great Wednesday.

Take care

zesty

Toasted Curry Chicken Bites

zesty — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 12:00:20 +0000

Happy Wednesday! As we continue with the catering dishes today I bring you a little taste of India with a crunch.

These toasted curry chicken bites were the star of the show. Even though they are a little time consuming in the preparation phase, they are well worth the effort. The real effort is in the creation of the sandwich. The filling, on the other hand, is quite simple to whip together as long as you can keep your fork out of it.

These combination of flavors and textures just makes me smile. So without further a do, lets get on to what you will need to create these toasted curry chicken bites.

Ingredients

1 Cup Cooked chicken (chopped)
3/4 Cup Mayonnaise
3/4 Cup Shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
3/4 Cup Chopped Almonds
2 Tsp. Curry Powder
2 Tsp. Lemon Juice
1/2 Tsp. Black Pepper
1/4 Cup Melted Butter
18 Slices Whole Wheat Bread (crust removed)

Method

Preheat Oven to 375°.
Mix thoroughly all ingredients except melted butter into a bowl.
Roll out slices of bread with a rolling pin until very flat.
Add ~ 1 tbsp. of mixture to the bread.
Roll bread like a Jelly Roll.
Cut in two, pierce with toothpick to hold it together and brush with melted butter.
Complete remainder of sandwiches.
Bake for 15 Minutes at 375°.
ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: For these little bites, I made them the evening before and cooked them until crispy. At the night of the party, I just put them in a 400° oven to warm them through and achieve the crunch again.

Question of the day: What is your favorite Indian dish (if you like Indian cuisine)? I hope you have a great day and I look forward to your feedback.

Take care

zesty

Lettuce Wrap Anyone?

zesty — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 10:00:25 +0000

For the most part I have always tried to watch my carb intake after 5:00 pm. Now I am not always behaving as you may have noticed last week when I hit up my favorite take out spot for a double cheeseburger.

I have been getting alot of great snack and healthy meal ideas especially since reading some of my favorite blogs out there like Katheats and Michelle at Taste As You Go as well as Megan’s Munchies and Krista’s Kravings not too mention Peanut Butter Boy , Skinny Chef and The Hungry Mouse.

So with that all being said I tried to be a little creative with dinner since it was around 8:00pm by the time we sat down after the kiddies went to bed. I was craving chicken curry in some form so I decided to whip it into a little salad and sit it on some romaine lettuce and wrap it up and call it a meal.

Ingredients

Boneless Skinless Chicken (2 Cups)
2 Large Romaine Lettuce Leaf
1 Tbsp Curry Powder
2 Tbsp Light Mayonaisse
1/2 Cup Chopped Pecans
1/2 Cup Diced Apple
Cracked Black Pepper

Method

Add the first three ingredients together in a bowl and gently mix together.
Once the curry and mayonaisse are mixed well add pecans and apple and mix again.
Top with a generous amount of fresh cracked pepper
Wash Lettuce leaf and ensure it is dry
Spoon chicken mixture on top of lettuce – wrap – and enjoy!

The wrap had a great flavor and texture with the crunch of the apples and the pecans as well as the freshness of the lettuce. Next time I may add some cheese for another layer of both flavor and texture.

In additon to the wrap we had a little treat of Doritos ( Blue Cheese and Hot Wings ) – yeah i know two distinct flavors all in one bag. Pretty crazy but I loved them. So much for this post going all healthy. Well that’s all for now… but not without a question to all of you… what are your favorite kind of chips?