Thai Coconut Chicken Curry #Recipe @PegCochran

This recipe came from the Primally Inspired Blog.  It was delicious!  If you like these flavors, you'll love this--and it's super easy.

The recipe suggests certain vegetables and certain amounts, but I put in what I wanted and what I had--I'm not going to put 1/4 of a zucchini or carrot back in the fridge because the recipe only called for 1/2 cup! The great part about recipes like this is you can leave out what you don't like or can't find.  Our store did not have any easily identifiable "red chili peppers" so I left them out. Don't want to accidentally include a chili with a Scoville heat rating of 100,000! I subbed a squirt of sriracha for some heat instead and added it to the coconut milk/chili paste mixture.

I served it over rice but that's not necessary.

1 pound chicken breasts (boneless, skinless) cut into 2-inch cubes
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup onion, diced
½ cup sliced white mushrooms
½ cup carrots, sliced into coins
1 cup zucchini, sliced into half-moon shapes
1 can coconut milk 
3 tsp green curry paste
salt to taste
1 tbsp red chili pepper slices
1 tbsp oil—coconut, olive or vegetable

Combine the canned coconut milk with the green curry paste. Set aside.

Preheat a skillet with a lid, to medium-high and heat the oil.  When the oil is hot, drop the cubed chicken into the pan. Let the chicken sear, undisturbed, for about 5 minutes before flipping or turning the cubes to a second side to sear for about 3 minutes.

Reduce the heat to medium, add the carrots, onion and garlic. Cook and stir for about 4 minutes.

Add the zucchini, mushrooms, chili pepper slices if using and salt to taste. Cook, stirring for another 5 minutes. If necessary, add ¼ cup water to pan to deglaze.

When the zucchini and mushrooms are golden brown, pour in the coconut milk mixture. Simmer for 8 to 10 minutes to reduce the coconut milk slightly and concentrate flavors.

 

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Thai Yellow Curry Coconut Soup #Recipe @Peg Cochran

This is supposed to be yellow curry soup from a site called Two Sleeves only I couldn't find yellow curry paste in my grocery store BUT I already had green curry paste.  So technically you would have to call this Thai Green Curry Coconut Soup.  It was delicious!  If you like coconut, you'll love this.  I made it in my Instant Pot but the recipe included directions for making it in your slow cooker as well.  It's a sort of "dump and go" type of recipe, which is perfect for busy cooks who want something easy but delicious.

      

Thai Yellow Curry Coconut Soup

4 chicken thighs skinless boneless (I used bone in, took the skin off and shredded the chicken when the soup was done.
14.5 oz unsweetened full fat coconut milk   
2 teaspoons Thai yellow or green curry paste   
3 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons fish sauce
1 teaspoon honey or agave
2 green onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced 
2 inch piece of ginger, chopped (I used the stuff in the jar)
1 can straw mushrooms
1/2 cup grape tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
3 green onions chopped
1 lime, juiced

For the Instant Pot 

Place the soup ingredients (chicken through ginger) into an Instant Pot and seal. 

Using the SOUP button, cook under pressure for 12 minutes.  Quick release the pressure and remove and shred chicken. Put chicken back in pot.

Add the straw mushrooms, cilantro, green onions and tomatoes to heat in the hot broth briefly.

Aren't they cute? They look just like little...umbrellas

Add lime juice and serve.

For the Slow Cooker

Place main soup ingredients (chicken through ginger) into a slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours. 

Add straw mushrooms, cilantro, tomatoes and green onions for the last half hour. Remove and shred chicken. Put back into the soup.

Add lime juice and serve.

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One-Pot Chickpea Coconut Curry

by Leslie Budewitz

Vegan, Thai, and yummy!

One-pot meals are super on weeknights. This one takes less than half an hour from chopping to eating, with enough time while the pot is simmering to saute some vegetables, grill some naan, and start on a glass of a nice white wine—any Chardonnay would be good with this dish, especially an unoaked or lightly oaked variety, or a fruity Pinot Grigio.

We love the Southeast Asian spices, and this recipe blends them beautifully. There are times when frozen vegetables are useful, and this is one of them. Curries vary a great deal in flavor and heat; adjust the amount based on your curry and your taste.

(Adapted from a recipe in Costco magazine)

One-Pot Chickpea Coconut Curry

1-15 ounce can coconut milk
3 cans of water (just fill that coconut can 3 times; the water will rinse out any cream stuck in the can)
2 cups basmati rice, uncooked
3-4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 cup carrots, diced (about 2 medium carrots)
1 3-4 ounce potato, cubed (a Yukon Gold is lovely)
1-15 ounce can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup frozen peas
1-3 tablespoons curry blend

1 tablespoon soy sauce
juice of 1 lime (3 tablespoons)
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, finely chopped

In a 6-8 quart stockpot, combine the coconut milk, water, rice, garlic, carrots, and potato. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook, loosely covered, stirring occasionally, 15-20 minutes, until the rice is tender and the sauce is quite thick.

Add the frozen corn and peas and stir until cooked and fully combined. Depending on the thickness, you may want to add up to ½ a can of water.

Just before serving, add the curry, soy sauce, lime juice, and cilantro. Stir to combine, then serve in pasta bowls.

Serves 8-10. Reheats nicely; spritz with water before reheating to plump the rice.

Good accompaniments: Steamed broccoli and cauliflower and grilled naan.

ASSAULT AND PEPPER, first in the Seattle Spice Shop Mysteries (March 2015, Berkley Prime Crime)

Leslie Budewitz is the only author to win Agatha Awards for both fiction and nonfiction—the 2013 Agatha Award for Best First Novel, for Death al Dente (Berkley Prime Crime), and the 2011 Agatha Award for Best Nonfiction, for Books, Crooks & Counselors: How to Write Accurately About Criminal Law & Courtroom Procedure (Quill Driver Books).

Connect with her on her website, on Facebook, or on Twitter.

Thai Black Bean Salad

by Sheila Connolly

I am a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, thanks to a dozen or so ancestors who I can prove fought in the Revolutionary War. Since Razing the Dead (the Museum Mystery coming out in FOUR DAYS!) revolves around a Pennsylvania battle from that war, it seems logical to seek inspiration from a cookbook issued by the Massachusetts Daughters a few years ago—one to which I contributed a clutch of my own recipes. While almost all of my 18^th-century ancestors came from (and stayed in) Massachusetts, I can point to one who spent that infamous winter at Valley Forge, so I’ll claim a small connection to Pennsylvania.

The recipes in this volume are surprisingly diverse. I have to point out one submitted by a member of my chapter, who also put together the cookbook, from inspiration to proofreading. Her first recipe includes: 1-1/2 gallons red wine, 1 quart gin, 1/2 pint Benedictine, 1/2 gallon Jamaican dark rum, 1 quart brandy, 1-1/2 quarts whiskey, the juice of 18 lemons and the same quantity of limes, and 2-1/2 pounds brown sugar. Oh, and throw in a case of champagne at the end. She says it serves “75 for 2 hours.” Wonder if they’re still standing by the end of two hours? (I have known this woman for a decade, and she is no inebriate, but rather, a sober and responsible person!).

Anyway, even though the temperature in Massachusetts is still dipping into the 40s this week and my heat is still on, I’m thinking summer and barbecues and happy thoughts, so I decided to try this recipe, which is easy to make ahead, colorful, and would go well with anything cooked on the grill.

Thai Black Bean Salad

2 cups corn kernels (fresh or frozen)

1 can (16 oz.) black beans, rinsed

1 small onion, diced

½ cup diced red pepper (I used the little ones just because they’re cute)

1 jalapeno, stemmed, seeded and minced (fresh or canned)

2 cloves garlic, minced or crushed

1 Tblsp grated fresh ginger

2 Tblsp sesame oil

2 Tblsp rice vinegar

Juice of one lime

Coarse salt

In a large bowl, combine the corn, beans, onion, red pepper, jalapeno, garlic and ginger.

In a small bowl, whisk the sesame oil, vinegar and lime juice.

Pour the dressing over the vegetable mixture and toss to combine. Season to taste with salt.

Chill until ready to serve (it’s best if it’s made early in the day or even the day before, so the flavors can blend).

Serves 4--generously. (The recipe can easily be multiplied to serve more.) And no, I didn’t stand shivering over the grill outside (it was 45 degrees!), but grilled on the stove. Summer is coming soon, right?

Oh, yes--there's this new book out next week. You can enjoy Nell Pratt and a big-city, hot-shot developer tramping around an old dairy farm in bucolic Chester County, PA--and tripping over a body. 

Julia Spencer-Fleming's Spicy Thai Butternut Squash Soup

We are delighted to welcome guest Julia Spencer-Fleming to Mystery Lovers' Kitchen today!

I was thrilled to be invited to Mystery Lover's Kitchen, because it gives me a chance to talk about one of my favorite things: food! People don't associate my Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne series with cooking, probably because I don't include recipes and my heroine is an Episcopal priest, not a food-related professional. However, as an ex-Army pilot, Clare's pick-up-and-move-in-a-minute hobby was cooking, and the series includes many scenes with Clare in the kitchen, usually teasing out some clues with Police Chief Russ Van Alstyne while whipping up something on her old stove.

Today I'm making one of my old standbys, Spicy Thai Butternut Squash soup. It's my own recreation of a dish I had once in a restaurant, so I make no claims as to it being authentically Thai. It's great for guests as it's easy, delicious and can be vegetarian (using vegetable stock for chicken) or vegan, if you substitute oil for butter. It makes an appearance in To Darkness and to Death when Russ arrives unexpectedly in the late afternoon to find Clare in her bathrobe.

“What kind of soup?” he asked. She could hear it in his voice, too, a deliberate attempt to be casual, as of the two of them hanging out in her house while she was practically undressed was a normal thing.

“Butternut Squash. I made it yesterday, It has squash, onions, chicken broth, peanut butter.” She pulled the Tupperware bowl from the bottom shelf and placed it on the counter.

“Uh...” he looked dubious. “I'll pass.”

Foolish Russ. Later on in the scene, he takes a taste and changes his mind. Here's what you'll need:

2 small or one large butternut squash, cubed

1 onion, diced

1 to 2 tsp ginger, to taste

2 tbs Butter or oil for sauteeing

4 cups chicken or vegetable stock

2/3 cup coconut milk or cream of coconut (the first makes it strictly savory, the second a blend of sweet and hot)

3 heaping tbs natural peanut butter (never the processed kind!)

1 tsp cumin or to taste

several dashes hot pepper sauce or ground habenero pepper

In a large pan, heat the butter or oil.

Add onions, let saute for a minute

Add cubed butternut squash, saute for a minute or two

Add ginger.

Add vegetable stock to cover (this is usually the whole 4 cups for the amount I make.)

Boil until the squash is soft and easily pierced with a fork.

Remove from heat, shift the squash from the pot to a food processor. If you don't have one of these useful devices, you can also gently mash the squash for a chunkier soup.

Puree, then return to the pot.

Mix in the coconut milk or cream of coconut.

Stir in the peanut butter.

Add cumin and hot sauce/pepper. Adjust to taste – I often wind up adding a little more ginger here.

It's always nice to let it simmer a while, but this soup is good served straight away as well. Enjoy!

Julia Spencer-Fleming's New York Times bestselling books have won multiple awards, including the Anthony and Agatha, and have been Edgar and RT Reader's Choice nominees.  The next Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne novel, Through the Evil Days, comes out on November 5^th. You can find Julia at her website, her readerSpace, on Facebook and on Twitter as @jspencerfleming. She also blogs with the Jungle Red Writers.