Chicken Curry
Curry is comfort food in my opinion. A good curry is what I want when I’m sick,
when there is a blizzard going on, when I’ve had a bad day. I like my curry full of
vegetables, with a good kick of spice and lots of curry broth to be soaked up with
fluffy jasmine rice.
The nice thing about curries is that once you have the basic recipe you can sub in
whatever you prefer or what you have in your fridge. My preference is green beans,
red peppers and thinly sliced carrots, which is reminiscent of the pangang curry, my
favorite neighborhood thai restaurant made before they retired to Florida.
What makes this recipe unique is the use of a dried lime instead of kefir lime leaves.
I was introduced to these dried limes through a Blue Apron recipe a couple of years
ago. The dried lime literally infuses the curry as it soaks in the broth. You can find
these limes at your local Thai or Indian grocery store or on Amazon. In my area
these are easier to find then the Kefir lime leaves that you frequently see in curry
recipes.
A note about ingredients: Do not use lite coconut milk in this recipe. You will really
notice the loss of the fat in the creamy curry broth. Also, its worth it to use authentic
curry paste from your local ethnic grocery store. The Thai Kitchen brand curry paste
that you find in most chain groceries does not stand up to the authentic stuff. Below
is a photo of the curry paste that was recommended to me at our local Indian
grocery store.
1 16oz can full fat Coconut Milk
2 tablespoons Curry Paste
1/2 cup Chicken Stock
1 lb Chicken Breasts, cut into bite sized chunks
1 dried Lime
3 thin slices of Fresh Ginger
½ medium Onion, cut into half moon slices
½ lb Green Beans, chopped into 1 inch pieces
1 Red Pepper, cut into thin strips
1 large Carrot, cut thinly on the bias
1 tablespoon Brown Sugar
1 tablespoon Fish Sauce
1 tablespoon Lime Juice
Set the Instant Pot to sauté and dump in the coconut milk and curry paste. Whisk the
coconut milk and curry paste together until its smooth. Simmer until the sauce
comes to boil. Let it boil for 2-3 minutes until it thickens a bit. Turn off the Instant
Pot.
Add in the chicken, dried lime and chicken stock. Set the Instant Pot on manual
pressure on high for 10 minutes. Once the cook time is over do a 10-minute natural
pressure release.
Set the Instant Pot back to sauté. Add in the vegetables, brown sugar, fish sauce and
lime. Cook until the vegetables begin to soften the onion becomes translucent. This
will take 10 – 15 minutes.
At this time taste the curry and adjust the curry to your liking. If it’s too spicy for
you, you can add more coconut milk. If it needs more acid, add more lime juice, more
sweetness, add brown sugar and more saltiness, the fish sauce. Adjust little by little
until it’s your perfect curry.