I've been craving curry for the past couple days haha so I decided to go out and pick up a couple supplies to satisfy my craving =D. I already had a bag of Russet Potatoes from Sam's Club so I just picked up a couple more things from the market:
- Celery - half a heart? diced
- Carrots - about a lb diced
- Japanese Sweet Potato - just one =)
- Onion - only one here too
- Chicken Breast - About 1~1.5 lbs
- Japanese Curry Sauce Blocks - 1 Packet
- Red Apple - Ichi
Curry's actually a pretty easy dish to make. You've just gotta cube everything, from the meat down to the veggies.
I remembered this one YouTube clip that talked about peeling potatoes super quick with just boiling water and an ice water bath. So I decided to try it out. Basically you cut a line around the entire potato and then put it in boiling water. Since I don't understand Japanese I have NO CLUE how long they say to leave it in there. Someone says 10-15 seconds, but from my experience it doesn't do the trick.. it'd work that quickly with tomatoes though. I think i left them in there for around 10 minutes or so then dropped them in my ice water.
The Japanese Sweet Potato worked better than all the regular potatoes due to its thicker skin, but hey, it was still pretty easy to use my hands and peel the Russets too. I think it works because the potato expands in the hot water, then quickly shrinks in cold water. If I had to guess, the colder the water the better it'd work. But look how nicely it came out!!
I had to work quickly because the oil in the pot was getting pretty hot. No dutch oven available to use, so I just worked with a big pot. Added some olive oil to the bottom and let it get nice and toasty. I just quickly cubed the Chicken Breast and tossed it in first to brown. After moving it around a bit and letting it brown on all sides I tossed in the diced Potatoes, Carrots, Celery, and Onion. I also grated in some pepper and sea salt for flavor.
The next step is the easiest!!! Just add some water. You want to let the food all cook together a bit and let it steam up. While this is happening all the flavors will meld together and smell GREAT. I let it boil together for about 20 minutes or so, you can pretty much follow the directions on whatever curry packet you picked up. The mix of carrot, onion, and celery is known as a Mirepoix so it adds that aromatic scent and taste. Reminds me of some nice hearty chicken soup at this point.
What's curry without... CURRY???? I used this one because I liked the fact that it has some apple and honey flavors in it, but any House or S&B or whatever your favorite brand of curry is will do fine. I got the idea to use an Apple because this curry has it =P and the idea of adding in the Japanese Sweet Potato is from an anime I saw.
This step is simple! Break the curry packets and put it into the soup. Slowly mix and incorporate it all together and turn down the heat to a simmer. I just let this all mix together and get thick for around 20 minutes or so while checking on it and mixing it up every couple of minutes.
About 20 minutes later... voila! Mmm...
I made some fried rice the other day maybe another post so I just ate the two together. I added some toasted sesame seeds and chili oil on top cuz I'm a spicy type of guy =P But you can add or customize it to whatever you like. Don't like celery? leave it out. Cooking is more about being creative and just having fun. Add a twist and make it a signature dish. Normally you don't see sweet potatoes in curry, but it adds a nice starchy slightly sweet texture that the potatoes don't have. It's a pleasant surprise when you bite into one. Finished this off with some Green Milk Tea I made earlier. Green tea + evaporated milk + non fat milk = yum. HK style milk teas seem to use evaporated milk more, and Taiwanese style milk teas usually use condensed milk. I added some sugar and honey to taste. Enjoy!
