Coconut Chicken Curry with Mango

Coconut Chicken Curry with
Vegetables & Fresh Mango as a Garnish, Over Rice
My Own Recipe

I've eaten or prepared chicken curry dishes 100's of times in my life, but tonight is the first I've fixed this particular recipe. I wanted a curry recipe with potatoes & I'm aware some people may find that odd but you'll find many Asian curry recipes with potatoes and you won't believe how good it is. I looked at 6-8 different Chinese Chicken Curry recipes with potatoes, (including YouTube) and took ingredients from each one. It was the best Chicken Curry I've ever tasted or made and believe me, I've had just about every kind of chicken curry out there, including the recipe I have here on my blog that my mom learned to fix when we lived in the Philippines (1956-1959). This curry recipe is my all time favorite now and I doubt I'll ever make it any other way from now on. It's that good! This is a hearty meal and is good enough for guests. They will be impressed.

Mary Jane's Coconut Curry Chicken

Serves 5-6 People - depending on the portion Sizes (see notes below to double the sauce)

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts (about 3 cups) sliced thin, against the grain (2" pieces)

1 Tb baking soda for tenderizing 

*Note - see below to tenderize chicken. This step is not essential, but believe me it only takes about 1 minute more to do this and it makes a huge difference. You won't believe how tender the chicken will be!

1-2 tbs avocado oil, coconut oil or any other oil 

1-2 cups white potatoes, peeled & cubed

½-¾ cups carrots, chopped

1-1½ cups onions, sliced

1 can water chestnuts, sliced

1½ tbs yellow curry powder

1½ cups chicken broth

½-¾ cup fresh green peas (or frozen)

2/3 cup fresh or frozen green beans, cut in 1½" pieces (you can substitute fresh pea pods)

½ sweet red bell pepper OR green bell pepper, sliced or cut in 1" cubes

1 tsp soy sauce, tamarni or coconut aminos - (GF)

1-2 tsps white sugar

½ tsp garlic powder

¼ tsp powdered ginger

1 -13.5 oz can coconut milk (full fat-not lite)

White pepper powder 

1 tb cornstarch + 1½ -2 tbs cold water mixed together for thickening at the end

Garnish for Top

Chopped green onions

Fresh mango, cut into small cubes 

*Note - you can put the mango on top or even mix it in with the other ingredients, right before serving, as I've seen in restaurants. Do not cook it.

*Cooked rice - my favorite is basmati (I put this on to cook first)

*To Tenderize the Chicken*

After slicing the chicken into thin pieces, place it in a bowl & add 1 Tb baking soda or cornstarch. Mix til coated. If you have some Chinese Shooshing wine, add about a tsp & mix it in. If you don't have it don't worry, it probably won't make any difference. Let this set for at least 15 mins while you cut up the vegetables. After that, rinse the chicken 2-3 times to remove the baking soda. If it's not rinsed you'll taste the baking soda!

Curry Chicken made with Coconut Milk and Mango as a Garnish

Heat oil on med hi in large frying pan or wok. Add rinsed chicken & saute till ½ done. Remove from pan & set aside. Add cubed potatoes & carrots to wok & saute while frying for 5 mins; add more oil if needed. Do not remove potatoes or carrots from pan. (We're just partially cooking them bc they will continue to cook with rest of ingredients). Add  onions, water chestnuts & curry powder; fry for 2-3 mins. Add chicken broth, ginger, garlic powder, soy sauce & sugar. Add fresh peas & green beans (if using) Put chicken back into pan. Heat for a few minutes. Turn heat down and add coconut milk; heat til chicken is done. Add red bell pepper & salt to taste. Add white pepper if you like a little heat. 

To thicken sauce, add the cornstarch slurry (1Tb cornstarch+1½Tb cold water mixed) & stir sauce til slightly thickened. Taste the sauce to see if you need to add more spices to your taste.

*Note* Some people might want to add the mango mixed into the dish, because I've had it that way in restaurants.

Serve over rice. You can add mango, green onions to top. Even peanuts or cashews would be good with this. I love it! 

*Note* If your family likes a lot of sauce, you can make more by doubling the following to the pan.

Double these amounts as you add the ingredients for the sauce: curry, chicken broth, soy sauce, white sugar, garlic powder, ginger, coconut milk. At the end of cooking, to thicken sauce, double the cornstarch slurry and add to the pan.

Coconut Curry Thai Chicken or Shrimp Soup

 

My Version of Thai Coconut Curry Soup 

I made this Thai Coconut Curry Soup with Shrimp and Chicken for my daughter, Jamie and her family. My sister, DonnaGay, ate it too, when she was visiting me. Everyone loved it! I love it too!

I just can't get enough of this delicious soup! Before I made it the first time I looked at many recipes on Pinterest and on YouTube and took the ingredients I thought I would like best. I've made it probably 8 times now and tweaked it til it was just right! I go by my taste but you may want to use less or more of some ingredients. 

My recipe makes about 6-8 servings, depending on whether this is a main dish or a small bowl before a meal. Cooking rice and putting 3-4 tablespoons in each bowl before the soup, will make this go further. (I love it with rice!)

 Note: I know shiitake mushrooms are expensive & if you cannot find them you can use any other kind of mushroom, but I LOVE the taste of shiitake mushrooms. You could even buy then dried at an Asian grocery store. 

INGREDIENTS 

1 Tablespoon oil (more if needed). I use avocado or olive oil.

1 Tablespoon fresh ginger, grated (could use ginger in the tube or ginger powder)

1 Tablespoon lemongrass in the tube (produce section)

1 Tablespoon yellow curry powder and

1 Tablespoon red curry paste

3½ cups chicken broth (I use powdered mixed with water)

3  Tablespoons fish sauce

1 Tablespoon brown sugar

½ lb fresh Shiitake mushrooms, sliced

2 cans (13.5 oz each) Coconut milk (not lite!)

1 lb shrimp, cleaned (make sure you clean off the shells and devain them before putting in the soup OR buy them frozen already cleaned

OR  

1 lb boneless chicken, cut into ½" squares Note: sometimes I use both chicken AND shrimp!

¼ teaspoon garlic powder (or to taste)

2 tablespoons lime juice (fresh or in the bottle)

OPTIONAL: ½-¾ cup Red bell pepper, sliced into ¾" slivers

Salt to taste

Green onions, chopped as a garnish for each bowl

OPTIONAL: have white pepper available for anyone who likes a little heat, to sprinkle on their soup

OPTIONAL: cooked rice to put in the bottom of each bowl, before putting the soup in the bowl. My favorite rice is Basmati!

DIRECTIONS

Heat coconut oil in large pot on low heat. Add 1 Tb lemongrass, 1 Tb grated ginger, 1 Tb red curry paste and 1 Tb yellow curry powder to oil. Do not let it burn. Add a little more oil if needed.

Add chicken broth, fish sauce and brown sugar. Bring to a simmer and heat to dissolve sugar for about 5 minutes.

Add mushrooms and heat (simmer) for 5-10 minutes or till mushrooms are soft.

Add coconut milk and heat

Now add the shrimp or chicken. If chicken is raw, simmer till it's done (maybe 5 minutes or longer). Then add the shrimp if raw. It takes much less time to cook (maybe 3 minutes)

Ad red bell pepper about 5 minutes before soup is done. You don't want it to get too soft.

Add salt to taste

Add garlic powder to taste

Add 2 Tb lime juice

Taste everything to see if you need to add more of any seasonings (lemongrass, curry powder, ginger, fish sauce, garlic powder, salt or lime juice). 

Put a little cooked rice in bowl before adding soup. Then add chopped green onions to top. Or another idea is to add oriental noodles to the soup. (I use GF rice or shiitake noodles)

I hope you like this!

Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps - Thai Style

Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps, shown without the flour tortilla

Easy Gluten Free Meal!
If you've never had the priveledge of munching on this delicious light meal, you're in for a treat. It's a healthy wrap, which is great for lunch, snack or an evening meal. Your kids will love it, because what kid doesn't like peanut butter? You'll find other chicken wraps without it, but Thai style wraps almost always have peanut butter as a main ingredient in the sauce.  This particular recipe can be used with a flour tortilla, or wrapped in Boston lettuce (also known as Bibb lettuce). I like to put the lettuce inside the flour tortilla. In my case, I use gluten free tortillas,  since I am wheat intolerant. Many grocery stores carry the GF version, but I find mine at Aldi, displayed with their other GF products. See my new favorite wraps below-Egglife.

I double this recipe when I make it because we like to have some left over for the next day or two. If you plan to have any leftovers, it would be a good idea to keep the sauce separate from the chicken/cole slaw mixture. Then you can just heat up the sauce. We eat the chicken mixture cold with warm sauce, but you can heat up the chicken If you want. It's just that since its mixed with the cole slaw mix, that may not be good warmed. I hope you enjoy this! It 's one of my favorite meals!

These are my new favorite gluten free, grain free tortillas/wraps

Gluten Free Wraps I buy at Aldi grocery store



Gluten Free Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps

INGREDIENTS

Chicken Filling
3-4 cups cooked chicken tenderloins, chopped in small pieces
1 can sliced water chestnuts, chopped
1½ cups cole slaw mix with carrots
3 - 4 green onions, sliced
4 Tbs chopped peanuts
1 head Boston or Bibb lettuce
Flour tortillas 

Other optional ingredients: (I've seen in restaurants)
cellophane Chinese rice noodles, fresh edamame peas, shiitake mushrooms, sliced red pepper, slivered almonds, sesame seeds, cucumber, cilantro, alfalfa or bean sprouts, fresh chopped snow peas, chopped bamboo shoots

Sauce Ingredients
4 Tbs "Toasted" sesame oil 
1-2 Tbs lite GF soy sauce or Coconut Aminos
4-5 Tbs peanut butter, creamy or crunchy
4 Tbs lime juice

Note: I made this again tonight and didn't realize I was out of lime juice, so I decided to use some rice vinegar and lemon juice instead. The sauce turned out great with this substitute. Nobody even missed the lime juice.
4 Tbs light brown sugar
2 tsp garlic, chopped or minced
1-2 dashes ceyenne red pepper

Note: Tonight I used 1 tsp Chili Garlic Sauce instead and it was great. Just use to taste.

Cook chicken for 15 minutes and set aside to cool. In large bowl, mix together chopped chicken, cole slaw mix, peanuts, water chestnuts and green onions. Taste and see if you need to add any more of the sauce ingredients. I just go by taste anyway.  Tonight I made it again and had to add more brown sugar because I used too much coconut Aminos & it was too salty. In a separate bowl, mix sauce ingredients with wisk. Place sauce in microwave for 2 minutes to warm it.

To Assemble
Layer ingredients on a plate in this order:
Tortilla (warmed in microwave for 15 seconds)
Lettuce
Chicken Mixture
Sauce
Roll up and serve

Indian Peanut Chicken over Rice

Indian Peanut Chicken Curry

This dish reminds me of Chicken Korma, an Indian dish, and  Butter Chicken, also an Indian dish. It's a lot like a Thai dish too (because of the PB and coconut milk)

Indian Peanut Chicken over Rice – Mary Jane’s recipe

This will take about 1½ hours to make, which includes cutting up the chicken. I like making this, not only because it's delicious, but also because you make it in one big pot! (Not including the rice - that is separate). Indian bread (called naan) goes great with this. You can buy it ready made at the grocery store or try to make it yourself.

Serves 8 people

Ingredients

• 1 Tb peanut oil or other oil
• 1 cup chopped onion (about 1 medium)
• 2-3 cloves minced garlic
• 2 1/2 lbs boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 3/4 cup chunky peanut butter
• 3-5 tsps yellow curry powder (or to your taste). I like a lot.
• 1 tsp salt (add more later if needed)
• ½ -1 tsp crushed red pepper 
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
• 1 (14-ounce) can chicken broth
• 1 can coconut milk (not lite)
• 4 – 5 tsps brown sugar (or to taste)
• ½ cup Half & Half or plain Greek Yogurt (could use more than ½ cup – I didn’t measure)
• ½ cup (or more) golden raisins
• Optional - Small amounts (1 - 2 dashes each). If you don't have these spices, it's ok because most of these are already in yellow curry powder. Just go by your taste if you think you need more spice. coriander, turmeric, ground cayenne pepper,  cinnamon, & cardamom.
• 8 cups hot cooked white Basmati rice
• Chopped peanuts (or cashews) for garnish. I add this to this dish at the end and stir but put more on top after its on my plate.

Optional : 3 – 6 chopped fresh plum tomatoes 

Indian Peanut Chicken
Curry over Rice

Preparation

Chop chicken and set aside. Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and garlic to pan; cook 2 minutes till tender, stirring frequently. Add chopped chicken; cook 4 minutes or til chicken is done, stirring frequently. Don't cook too long because the chicken will be too tough. If its not all the way done, that's ok because it continues to cook. Stir in peanut butter and next 9 ingredients (through half & half); bring to a boil. Reduce heat (so it won't curdle); add other spices (dashes) and golden raisins; stir and simmer 15 minutes til heated and slightly thickened, stirring occasionally. If you are adding fresh tomatoes add them before you simmer for 15 minutes. Serve chicken mixture over rice; top each serving with chopped peanuts or cashews and more raisins if desired. 

I didn't find a recipe I wanted to make so I came up with this and we all loved it. Reminds me of Chicken Korma. You could substitute cashews for the peanuts to be more like Chicken Korma if you like.