Curry Chicken Salad

I have a favorite coffee shop. They have really good coffee. And muffins. And many many other things. One of their specialties is Curry Chicken Salad. Oooooh, it's good! So one day, I got a hankering to have some. Only problem was, I was at home, and really didn't feel like going out. No problem, I'd make my own! I quickly searched all my favorite recipe sites for a good recipe. Many of the recipes called for mango chutney. Well I certainly didn't have any of that, so I kept looking. After wading through many many different recipes, I found a decent looking one of www.cooks.com.

2-3 boneless chicken breasts, skin removed
2 stalks celery, strings removed
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 cup real mayonnaise (not salad dressing)
1/2 medium onion, finely minced
1 teaspoon curry powder
2 cloves garlic, minced
paprika (optional)

Now, before you get all excited and take this recipe and go make it, let me warn you. I did not follow it. Recipes are more like guidelines, anyway! :D
It started with the chicken. I didn't have any chicken breasts, so once again I resorted to a 12.5 ounce can of canned chicken. I'm sure it would have been better with real chicken, but I worked with what I had on hand.
Next, I began in on the other ingredients.

I got the celery and began to remove the strings. Now, I have never done this before. I wasn't even sure how. I had to go online to figure it out. Once I figured it out, I started in on peeling my celery. Who knew celery even needed to be peeled? :P
I wasn't halfway through the first stalk when I called it quits. I decided I rather like the celery strings.
The next thing I changed was the cilantro. I didn't have any. Once again turning to the world wide web, I discovered parsley to be an acceptable substitute. I was fully intending to throw in some dried parsley, but must admit I completely forgot. So much for that.
Then I attacked the onions. What did they ever do to me, you may ask? Well, I happen to not be a big fan of raw onions. Raw scallions, however are a different matter. We have wild scallions in the yard, and I've been known to walk around chewing on them during the Summer. Oh so good. So I added the word 'green' to the recipe and chopped up the scallions.

But I wasn't done there, oh no. More things in this recipe needed changing! First came the garlic. No garlic cloves on hand made me turn to my trusty jar of minced garlic in the fridge. As with the chicken, real garlic cloves would no doubt have been better, but this was wasn't bad.
So pretty much the only thing I kept according to the recipe was the mayonnaise. Even the curry got changed, but I'll get to that in a minute.
So I took all these ingredients and piled them into my bowl.

After mixing them up, I tasted it. Hmmm.... not enough curry. I added more, and then some more. All in all, I estimate I put in just over a Tablespoon, instead of the called for Teaspoon.
The only thing I regret is that I had no red grapes. I really think they would  have made this recipe perfect. I can't complain, though. It was delicious! I put it in the fridge for a while and served it that evening for dinner along with some homemade bread.

It was definitely a success. Have to say it's one of my favorite recipes so far. :D

Crock Pot: Chicken Curry

Once more I turned on my wonderful crockpot to make a meal. I happen to love cooking with chicken, (since it's a whole lot cheaper then beef or pork!) and I also had a good looking recipe.
I got from a friend a little booklet full of crockpot recipes. It was meant to be one of those one-a-day calendar type things, but it was for 2010, so I figured I'd just use the pages as recipe cards if I liked the recipe. This particular one was from April.

I started out with sweet potatoes and onions. I chopped up just over half of a large onion and about four medium sized potatoes.


















Then I put them on top of my chicken. I had previously put several frozen chicken breasts into the crockpot. Frozen because, as I stated in a previous post, it tends to make the chicken more tender.


















The next step was to mix a cup and a third of orange juice with eight teaspoons of curry powder, two minced clove of garlic, and two teaspoons of granulated chicken bouillon.


















I whisked it all together and poured it on top of the chicken mixture.


















I cooked it for about 7 hours on low. The recipe said 4-5 hours, but I find that if I start it in the morning and then turn it down to low somewhere around early afternoon, it cooks nicely. That evening, I pulled the meat and veggies out of the crockpot. Then I dissolved four Tablespoons of cornstarch in the same amount of cold water and mixed it into the sauce. I cooked it another 15 minutes and it thickened up nicely. Then I made rice. I usually prefer rice to noodles.

















I poured the gravy over the chicken, veggies and rice.
Plate full of goodness. :)


















I think next time I will not use sweet potatoes. Firstly because several members of my family don't care for them, and secondly because, even though I usually like sweet potatoes, I don't consider them to be their best when made with curry. Perhaps I'll use regular potatoes next time... or even other veggies.