Finals are done. Thank goodness. I honestly don't know how I made it through this semester. I know that my grades are going to reflect how I was personally feeling over the past few months, but I've decided just to accept this. A person can't force themselves to feel better or to snap out of it. Nor can a person force their brain to learn/comprehend anything that it doesn't want to comprehend. I just hope that I don't get penalized too badly for my efforts this semester. I tried; I really did. Not only that, but I've realized that I struggle during the spring semester. I struggled last year, I struggled this year. Hopefully, I can adjust next year's spring term to be a bit more exciting so I don't feel like I am constantly trudging through mud piles.
Enough of that. Let's talk about this meal! Wow! It was amazing. I made this last week when Ron was in Seattle. It began as a simple rice meal. I initially began by mixing up the rice and eating it separately for lunch, then dinner, then lunch again. (The recipe said it yielded 2 servings, but I think they may have been referring to elephant servings.) Then I realized that I had leftover coconut milk to use, was sick of eating just rice, and I decided it might be worth it to add some type of protein with the rice. So, I looked on the Thai Kitchen website and found a recipe for some coconut chicken. I omitted the peppers from the original chicken recipe because there was so much in the rice.
This was delicious. It also tasted very ethnic so I felt like I was branching out from my comfortable zone. I'm starting to like the taste of thai food! I may have to start searching for a decent Thai restaurant in the Twin Cities to see how my cooking is living up to the hype. I definitely suggest checking this recipe out. It takes a bit to prepare and there might be more hands-on time than that involved with a quick week-day meal, but it is very much worth it.
Coconut Chicken and Curried Coconut Wild Rice
adapted from Anja's Food for Thought and Thai Kitchen
Yield: Rice (about 4-5 large servings) & Chicken (4)
Ingredients
For Rice:
For Chicken:
Instructions
For Rice:
For Chicken:
Enough of that. Let's talk about this meal! Wow! It was amazing. I made this last week when Ron was in Seattle. It began as a simple rice meal. I initially began by mixing up the rice and eating it separately for lunch, then dinner, then lunch again. (The recipe said it yielded 2 servings, but I think they may have been referring to elephant servings.) Then I realized that I had leftover coconut milk to use, was sick of eating just rice, and I decided it might be worth it to add some type of protein with the rice. So, I looked on the Thai Kitchen website and found a recipe for some coconut chicken. I omitted the peppers from the original chicken recipe because there was so much in the rice.
This was delicious. It also tasted very ethnic so I felt like I was branching out from my comfortable zone. I'm starting to like the taste of thai food! I may have to start searching for a decent Thai restaurant in the Twin Cities to see how my cooking is living up to the hype. I definitely suggest checking this recipe out. It takes a bit to prepare and there might be more hands-on time than that involved with a quick week-day meal, but it is very much worth it.
Coconut Chicken and Curried Coconut Wild Rice
adapted from Anja's Food for Thought and Thai Kitchen
Yield: Rice (about 4-5 large servings) & Chicken (4)
Ingredients
For Rice:
- 1 c brown rice (uncooked)
- 1 c water
- 1 c coconut milk (I used RF)
- 1/2 c dried apricots, chopped
- 1/2 c dried cranberries (or raisins, currants or cherries)
- 1/2 c slivered almonds
- 1/4 c coconut flakes (unsweetened)
- 1 tbsp canola oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- Bell peppers: 1 each of red, green, yellow / chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp curry powder
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp grated orange peel
- 1 tsp grated lime peel
- salt and pepper
For Chicken:
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- bell peppers: 1 each of red and green / chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 can (14 fl. oz) coconut milk
- I only used about 1/2 can (whatever was leftover from my coconut rice)
- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (more or less depending on spice preference)
Instructions
For Rice:
- Place brown rice, water and coconut milk in a pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until all liquid is absorbed and rice in tender. (This will depend on the rice you are using, anywhere from 30-45 minutes.) Set aside.
- In the meantime, combine the chopped dried fruit in a bowl. Pour bowling water over the fruit and let it stand for 15 minutes or until the fruit is plump. Drain and set aside.
- Toast the slivered almonds in a dry pan over medium heat for 5-10 minutes or until slightly browned. Set aside.
- In a deep, heavy bottomed bowl, heat the oil and cook the onions and bell peppers. Keep stirring. When onions are softened (about 5 minutes), reduce the heat to medium. Add the ginger, garlic, spices, orange and lime peel and cook for about 1 minute. Stir in the cooked rice, dried fruit, almonds and coconut flakes. Cook for another 5 minutes.
For Chicken:
- Sprinkle chicken breasts with salt and pepper.
- Heat oil in a large skillet. Lightly brown the chicken on both sides in hot oil, about 3-5 minutes per side.
- Remove chicken from skillet and set aside.
- In same skillet, saute onions, peppers and garlic until onions are translucent, 5-8 minutes.
- Stir in coconut milk and red pepper flakes. Simmer for 5 minutes over medium heat.
- Return chicken to pan, spoon sauce and veggies over chicken and continue to cook, uncovered over medium heat for 20-30 minutes longer or until chicken is cooked through and veggies are tender.
- Serve with curried rice (or you can use just regular Thai rice).
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