Recipe Wensday - Coconut Curry

We had lunch at Big Bowl on Sunday and ever since then I have been craving more Chicken Curry. I am one of the worlds pickiest eaters. I believe my current ranking is some where around 12th pickiest eater. So it surprises a lot of people, including me, that I like Indian and Thai food. It's a habit I picked up living in England and one I have had to curb this year as I've been losing weight. I used to hit the local Indian buffet for lunch about once a week. Man do I miss Naan Bread!

That's why I was so excited to find this really easy recipe for Coconut Chicken Curry. While not exactly a low cal recipe, it is low carb... until you add the rice. To make it a little healthier you could serve it over whole grain noodles instead.

My lovely wife has started planing out our meals for the week. We haven't been planing our meals very well so hopefully this will help with the last minute dinner scramble. I will ask her to put this recipe on the calender for some time next week.

Coconut Chicken Curry
INGREDIENTS:
1-lb skinless chicken breasts or thighs, cut in bite-sized pieces
1/2 medium onion (optional, but I like it), chopped
1 medium red Bell pepper, chopped
12 oz fresh or frozen green beans
1 can coconut milk (can use light or regular)
Thai spices as described above to taste (depends on heat)
Salt or seasoning salt to taste

DIRECTIONS:
1. Heat some oil (I included 1 T in the nutritional info below) in the pan - olive, coconut, peanut, or high-oleic safflower oil all work well. Amount depends upon size of pan - you want a thin coating on the bottom.
2. Chop onion, and add.
3. Chop pepper and add.
4.While that is cooking, chop the chicken.
5. Add the spices (including the salt). The amount will depend upon the spice. For example, with Penzey's Sate' Seasoning, I use about 4 t, but for a hot paste, more like 2 t. It just depends upon how spicy the blend is and how spicy you like your food. Stir until the you start to smell the spices.
6. Add the chicken. Stir until almost cooked through.
7. Add the coconut milk. (Note: this makes a fairly soupy curry. If you want it thicker, just add maybe 2/3 of the can.) Bring it to a boil, and simmer for 3-5 minutes.

Makes 4 servings

Nutritional Information per serving (with onion and regular coconut milk): 404 calories, 30 gm protein, 12 gm carbohydrate, 4 gm fiber, 8 gm ECC , 27 gm fat.

Recipe courtesy of Laura Dolson at About.com.

Tony
9/12: 236.4 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
16.4 lbs. to go