Curry Chicken

This was my attempt to duplicate a dish at Monsoon’s Vietnamese Bristro. Monk Curry—with sweet potatoes, eggplant in a coconut milk curry sauce with your choice of chicken, tofu, beef or pork (I always get it with tofu). The combination sounds odd, but one bite and I was hooked. I won’t get anything else when I go there. I crave it.

I had some left over chicken tenderloins and debated what to make. I thought perhaps I could try Monsoon’s dish, knowing full well it wouldn’t be the same. I had a sweet potato but no eggplant. Too lazy to go to the store. I made do.

I stirfried the chicken pieces in a little butter. Cut up the sweet potato in little cubes and threw that in with the chicken.

I added half a can of Trader Joe’s Lite Coconut Milk and simmered until the sweet potatoes were soft and the coconut milk reduced by half. I sprinkled in curry until I felt it was the right color and taste.

I added the rest of the coconut milk, some more curry and about a teaspoon of honey.

I let that cook on low for 20-30 minutes or longer.

The one thing I learned from reading Mastering the Art of French Cooking that the slower and longer one cooks food, the more blended and the better tasting the dish seems to be. One can’t hurry good taste.

I wanted to eat with my daughter who was dropping by after coaching Lacrosse, but I couldn’t wait. This dish (at Monsoon’s) is my daughter’s favorite too.

I shoveled it in. There was something missing. Monsoon’s had a bit more of a bite to it, so I threw in a chili pepper. That’s probably not going to be enough time for the hotness to work in, but by tomorrow it should be near perfect. Not bad for making it up on my own. Now we’ll see if daughter agrees.

Daughter concurs. It’s a hit. Just needs a kick. And whatever calories or fat that's in this dish, it doesn't matter to me, I'll eat it anyway!

Ingredients:
Chicken
Sweet potato
Coconut milk
curry

Rating & Type: E/C