Incredible shrinking curry

• 1T oil
• 1t turmeric
• 1t curry powder
• 1t mustard seeds
• 1/2 onion, chopped finely
• 1 tomato, chopped finely
• 1/2 can coconut milk (about 1 cup)
• 1t chicken bouillon
• 1 cup water
• 1 chicken breast, sliced thinly

Heat the oil in a wok or deep pan over medium heat and add the three spices.  Fry for 1 minute and then add the onion.  Fry another 5 minutes until onion starts to soften.  Add tomato and cook until tomato is soft.  Add coconut milk, bouillon and water and simmer for 5 minutes until smooth and creamy.  Add the chicken and stir until just cooked.  This makes enough for 1 or 2 depending on your appetite.

This recipe is super flexible.  There are a ton of vegetables that could go into this.  It could easily be made all vegetarian or vegan as well by omitting the chicken and bouillon and substituting tofu, tempeh or seitan.  Great vegetable additions would be peas, carrots, potatoes and cauliflower.  A quick and easy thing would be to use frozen or canned vegetables.  If you’re not watching carbs, serve this with basmati rice to stretch it out further.

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I called this a “ragout” because I used thyme, which I typically think of as a French spice.  You can just call it a stew if you like.  I love the way the beans thicken the sauce up without having to add any additional starch.  The final texture of the sauce is much finer and silkier than most stews.

Chicken and white bean ragout (stew)

• 3 chicken thighs
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 stalks of celery, chopped
• 2 cups mushrooms, sliced
• 1 can of pinto beans, drained
• 1/2t dried thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 1T kitchen bouquet
• 2 cups chicken stock
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1T olive oil

Fry the chicken thighs in a stainless pan over medium heat with the olive oil.  It’s important to get the chicken well browned with the bits stuck in the pan getting well browned as well.  Watch the heat so that the bits in the pan don’t burn.  You only need to get a nice brown color right now.  The chicken will cook fully with the other ingredients later.

Remove the chicken and add the carrots, celery and onions and cook about 5-10 min until they start to soften.  Add the mushrooms and cook another 5 min.  Add the beans, thyme, kitchen bouquet and chicken stock.   Turn the pan down to low.  Add the chicken thighs back to the pan, cover and simmer about 15 min.

Remove the lid and check the consistency.  It should be thick like a stew.  If it’s too dry, add some water.  If it’s too saucy, turn up the heat and cook with the lid off until it thickens up.  Spoon some sauce into a shallow bowl and top with a chicken thigh.

Here are some minor variations that I think would be nice.

• Use fresh thyme and/or rosemary
• Mix in some fresh chopped parsley just before serving
• Use chicken breasts but fry them fully and add at the end
• Use great northern beans instead of pinto

Here are some more major renovations!

• Substitute bell pepper for the carrots to give it a Cajun spin.  Leave out the mushrooms and add hot sauce and/or cayenne to complete the theme.  Heck, swap alligator tail for the chicken!
• Swap chickpeas for the beans and change the spices to cinnamon, allspice, ginger and cumin.  Add chopped apricots and/or preserved lemons.  Serve with a couscous pilaf.

Remember that any ingredient in any recipe can potentially be substituted or omitted.  Use your creativity!  If you make this or any variation, post a comment to let me know.  I’d love to hear how you made this recipe your own!

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Rule #1: Don’t trust any recipe that tells you how long to cook something!  There are very few things you can cook for a fixed time that come out perfectly, except maybe boiled eggs.

There are two main types of meat: the kind you just barely cook and the kind you cook to death.  Steaks and more tender cuts of meat should be cooked until just barely done.  “Barely done” depends on the type of meat and your personal preference.  Here are my guidelines:

• Beef roasts and steaks – Rare to medium
• Pork roasts and chops – Medium
• Chicken and Turkey- Medium well
• Fish – Medium
• Shellfish – Medium to medium well

The only way to figure out when meat is done is to either check the internal temperature with a quick-read thermometer or poke it.  I opt to use the poke method (since my mom stole my thermometer).  It’s hard to describe when something is done based on a poke- and by poke I mean, literally, using your finger to poke the meat.  Experience will tell you how done “feels”.  In general, rare meat feels pretty soft and spongy.  Medium feels firmer but still soft.  As meat gets near well done it firms up until it doesn’t give at all.  What you’re usually looking for is a place where the meat starts firming up but before it gets as firm as it’s going to get.  Poke everything you cook and you’ll get the hang of gauging doneness by poke.  For example, I cook chicken until it’s not quite as firm as it’s going to get.  I know this from experience.

Tough cuts of meat, like pork shoulder and beef chuck need to be cooked for a long time until they are tender.  These cuts can be timed because the cooking time is so long.  They go long past the “well done” phase to where the connective tissue start breaking down.  This is key to these fatty but flavorful cuts.  For these, you need to test them with a fork, hence the phrase, “stick a fork in it, it’s DONE!.  Stick a fork in the meat and twist.  The meat should give easily.  If the whole piece rotates, put it back in the pot and keep going.  Most of these cuts take 2-4 hours to get tender.

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