Green Curry Chicken Chili

Happy New Year!  Hope everyone had a lovely start to 2014, I sure did!  Good friends, good food, good champagne, and lots of opportunities to say the word "boner" over the course of the evening.  Seriously, try the game What's Yours Like.  Cards Against Humanity is so 2013.

I'm sure you've all made your resolutions to be healthier and more organized in 2014.  My resolution this year?  Only eat out when I'm with other people.  I think my slump into kitchen avoidance had a lot to do with how easy it is in my neighborhood to go and get good food.  I love my city but it is too tempting to order greek food through grub hub, grab a croque monsieur at the french bakery down the street, or choose between the 3 pho places in walking distance.  It's time to get back in the kitchen and take away the lazy route!

To start off my resolution on the right foot (the one with all the metal?  Maybe I should start it on the left foot), I created a kitchen inventory on an excel sheet.  I now know everything I have in my kitchen, how much I have, and when it expires wherever I go.  Seriously, I didn't realize how helpful this would be until I made it.  I know a lot of people aren't as ridiculous as me and I'm sure there is an app for this, but I can't shake my excel habit.  True story: I made an excel sheet of everything in my closet in middle school.  Organized by clothing type, brand, and color.  Yup, coolest kid ever.

In my inventory madness, I found a lot of things that I love in the my freezer and pantry that I had completely forgot about.  Namely, a frozen pound of ground chicken, frozen ginger root, a tin of green curry paste, and some coconut milk.  I have never liked the consistency of unfrozen ground meat, I decided to put my own spin of chicken chili.  My mother has been requesting a traditional chicken chili recipe from me for awhile, so sorry this one is a little off the beaten path, Ger.

Green curry paste was used to flavor the chili in lieu of traditional spices.  I added some right before adding the ground chicken and a little extra at the end to amp up the heat.  Completely optional, if you are a spicy food fan then the green curry just at the beginning will have a mild spice with a lot of flavor.  Instead of stock, I simmered the chili in coconut milk and added chick peas at the end as my beans.  Easy weeknight dinner, perfect with a little scoop of rice and a dollop of non fat yogurt.

So what are your New Years resolutions?

Thai Chicken and Dumplings

I am a proud dog person.  After years and years of begging, we got our english springer spaniel Monty (he needed an english name) as a puppy when I was 10 years old.  When I was about to go off to college, we got him a golden retriever companion named Bailey.  Because Monty never shed and Bailey was like a ball of loose hair,  I quickly discovered that I was allergic to dog dander.  Unfortunately, Bailey is no longer with us but we did pick up another shed-prone golden from the SPCA named Brody.  Because I was the only one who would discipline Brody the first night we brought him home I am his "pack leader" (and FAVORITE).  When I am home, he is my shadow and climbs me like a jungle gym.  As much as I love my Brody bonding time, I usually forget to take allergy medicine and end up with no voice by the end of the weekend.

The last time I went home was no exception.  Brody slept right next to me and the next day I developed the tell-tale sore throat.  Five days later and I was still sans voice!  So despite the warm weather, I knew needed something spicy and comforting to help me get back to fighting form.  Enter thai chicken and dumplings, a cross between the coconut and lemongrass soup Tom Kha and traditional chicken and dumplings.

I started the soup with sliced red onions, minced garlic and ginger, green curry paste, and lemongrass paste.  A can of coconut milk and some homemade chicken stock are added and then a simple (buttermilk) drop dumpling batter is poached in the spicy soup.  Topped with thai basil, mint, and a squeeze of fresh lime, it is the perfect way to get over a cold or a sore throat!

And here are the obligatory photos of Monty and Brody:

 

Mussels in Thai Green Curry Broth

In addition to a bakery and a butcher directly behind my family house, we are within 15 minutes to ridiculously good seafood at this little family owned fish shop.  Giant slabs of tuna, beautiful orange and white sea scallops, jumbo lump crab, and a great supply of mussels that are cheap and always open (that's what he said?).  My first experience with mussels at 9 years old, when I convinced my aunts I could handle a whole pot of mussels by myself.  The briny bites of goodness were infused with the garlicky white wine broth, too good not to finish!  The Belgians take their mussels seriously and now so does our family!

When we found out we could get great mussels at the little fish shop, it was game on.  At under 5 bucks a pound, we would grab a bottle of white wine and a loaf of crusty bread and steam away.  Recently, I've seen places like Mussel Bar in Bethesda get creative with their broths.  I took license with their thai green curry version and created a spicy coconut and lemongrass based broth to steam open the mussels.  I cleaned the mussels by getting rid of any open (bad) mussels, removing the beards, and soaking the mussels in water with a little flour added to help get rid of any grit.

I built the broth by first sauteing shallots, ginger, and garlic.  Next, I added green curry paste from the can.  Sarah?  Using a prepared product?  As many times as I've tried to replicate the flavor of curry paste, I haven't come close yet.  Best leave that to the experts and focus on the mussels instead.  I then added the zest and juice of 2 limes, a can of coconut milk, the same amount of stock, a bruised and knotted lemongrass stalk (ends trimmed, outer leaves removed), a smidge of honey, and a few whole stalks of thai basil.  When all of the flavors had come together with a balance of spicy, sweet, sour, and salt from simmering  over medium high heat for 5 minutes of so, I added the cleaned mussels, chopped thai basil and cilantro, covered and steamed until all of the shells had opened.

Serve with hunks of good dipping bread to get all of the yummy broth.  We forgot bread so we toasted some english muffins and when we ran out of bread my mom and I just attacked the broth with spoons.  No shame, it's THAT GOOD!