Easy Chicken Curry with Vegetables

Life has been a little crazy here the past few weeks.

I'm used to being busy. But now I'm uber busy. Amazingly, we've been eating better than usual because I've had to shop and plan ahead. If I didn't do this we'd probably be eating cereal for dinner. Not really, I'm not a huge cereal fan. We'd probably be eating cheese and crackers. That's more my style.

I haven't quite figured out timing yet. We seem to be eating dinner at 8pm every night, which is a little late for poor little Elli. But I'll get that figured out. No one is complaining. Yet.

Trader Joe's has been my savior. They have amazing pre-made sauces which can be added to meat and vegetables for a tasty dinner. We like making it with chicken. But I'm sure it would taste good with other proteins.

I'm stocking the pantry with all their sauces so I can quickly pull together a meal. When I say quickly I mean get it on the table in under an hour. I have no idea how Rachel Ray does those 30 minute meals. I have yet to get one of those meals prepped, cooked and on the table in 30 minutes.

I don't really have a recipe for you. I'll just tell you what I do. You can adjust it to your liking. Oh, one more thing. The sauce is a tad spicy, and so is the Bangkok Blend.

Chicken Curry with Vegetables
Serves four  

What you'll need:
1. Thai Curry Red Sauce @ Trader Joe's
2. Bangkok Blend spice and/or Curry
3. Four Chicken Breasts cut up into bite sized chunks, season with Bangkok spice
4. 1/2 Bag of Shredded Carrots
5. 1/2 Bag of Fresh Green Beans, cut into one inch bites
6. 2 Shallots diced
7. Olive oil
8. 1 1/2 cups uncooked Rice - white or brown

Cut the chicken breasts into bite sized chunks season with Bangkok blend spice and set aside. Don't make the chunks too small. Start the rice.

Lightly oil a large saute pan. You'll need this to stir fry the veggies, saute the chicken and simmer the sauce in.

Stir fry the veggies in a little EVOO until just al dente. Remove veggies and set aside on a plate. Add a little more EVOO to the pan and saute chicken until browned on all sides. Don't worry if it's not cooked through, it will simmer with the veggies and sauce.

Add veggies and sauce to the pan and simmer covered for about 10 minutes until chicken is cooked through. It's okay to add a little water to the sauce so it doesn't reduce too much. And that's it!

Serve over rice.

Want to know what to pair with your curry dish? How about Champagne? Read this!

Okay, it's not really that practical for a Tuesday night. So I recommend a Zinfandel, Merlot, Viognier, Rose or Sparkling Shiraz as suggested by Kimberley with the Sydney Morning Herald.

Kimberley's picks:

Viognier: Low in acidity. Has the body to stand up to strong flavours but works better with a mildly-spiced curry, like a korma.

Zinfandel: Juicy and packed with fruit, with a little bit of spice of its own. A powerful wine is particularly useful with a vinegary curry, such as a vindaloo.

Merlot: They're soft and fruity without too many tannins which would interfere with the chillies and spices in an Indian meal.

A rosé would also be a hit for the same reasons - the tannins are light enough but they give a fruity mouthful with low acidity.

Her ultimate curry wine is a sparkling Shiraz - it has the sweetness to stand up to the spices and virtually no acids. The sparkle cuts through richer curry sauces; it almost 'resets' the palate between mouthfuls.

Full article here.

What do you think? Are you ready to make some chicken curry?