Curry That Won't Kill You

  Normally I read Bianca's blog post the night she post but last night I fell asleep before she made her post so I checked it out while at work today. If you haven't checked it out please do, bless her little vegan heart when I read it instead of posting a comment I had to send her a text. Read about here curry adventure here. Reading her about her curry adventures inspired me to whip up a serving of curry for dinner tonight.

  I can cook a lot of dishes but Indian food is the one  I can not quite get figure out. I can follow a recipe to the letter but there is always something missing so I just slap some soy sauce on it and call it a day. Soy sauce makes everything better in my world. There is one Indian dish I make but it took me years to master. I make it when I am too cheap to go to and get real Indian. There are a million versions of curry but this is the one that works for me. My old recipe called for fish sauce but of course that is a vegan no no. Lucky for me the Viet Hoa has a vegan fish sauce that I can sub out.

Now I love spicy foods, the spicier the better but I don't like it to the point where I can't taste the food. That much spice is pointless to me. So what I learned about curry is to constantly taste it while it is cooking because the heat of curry seems to build the longer it cooks. The other trick I have learned about curry is that if you miss the level of spice you want the way to bring it down and balance it back out is sugar. It knocks a bit of the heat out with out killing the other flavors. 

Chicken Curry 

    1 tbsp curry powder
    1 tbsp flour
    1 tbsp vegan butter
    1 can coconut milk
    1 tbsp vegan fish sauce
    1 tbsp fresh or dried basil
    1/2 teaspoon cumin
    1 tbsp cilantro
    2 hand fulls fresh green beans
    2 cups mock chicken (cut into chunks)
    pinch of sugar 

 Cook mock chicken according to the package and set aside
In a deep skillet combine flour and butter until melted on low heat.
Stir in curry powder and cumin until combined
Slowly pour in coconut milk and stir using a fork to break up any clumps. 
While the sauce is simmer add in fish sauce, basil and cilantro. 
 After about 5 minutes start tasting the sauce. If its too spicy add just a pinch of sugar stir wait about 2 minutes then taste. If not spicy enough add a bit more curry or crushed red pepper. Let simmer about 5 more minutes and taste again. Adjust to what makes you happy. 
Finally add in fresh green beans and chicken.
Let simmer for about 5 more minutes and serve over your favorite rice.

 Normally I would serve curry over Jasmine Rice but I didn't have any so I opted for brown rice. I am slowly changing over from white to brown because brown is so much better for you. I just hate that it takes forever to cook. 

Curry is a tricky beast but if you have nothing to lose go for it and remember if all else fails add soy sauce. Its like glitter of the food world. It fixes everything.