My mom sent me a recipe for this, from which I made my grocery list and menu plan. Then tonight when I set out to start dinner I couldn’t find her recipe! I did find this one from Cooking Light and am thinking it was awfully close to hers so started from there. I know she subscribes to the magazine. I wanted to halve the recipe but didn’t want half a can of tomatoes or half a can of chickpeas sitting around my already-crowded fridge so just used whole cans. I printed off the recipe upstairs and asked my daughter to toss it down to me. She looked at as she was walking to the stairwell and made some less than enthusiastic comment. Oh well.
Know that this takes about an hour and a half to cook so probably not a weeknight meal for most folks, unless you can get started early or eat late like we do. Our normal dinner is 7pm but was 7:30 tonight. I work from home but don’t usually start dinner until 6 or so.
When my daughter sat down to dinner she said “This smells really good!” Then she tasted it and said “Oh, this is yummy! This is from Grandma? I didn’t think she’d cook something like this.” Well, we are all full of surprises, eh? Here’s my variation, that easily serves 4 or 5.
Sweet Potato and Chicken Curry
Ingredients
- 1 tsp curry powder
- 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 Tbs olive oil
- 3/4 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into 1/2″ cubes
- 3/4 cup sliced onion
- 1 tsp minced ginger
- 1 large garlic clove minced
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 14- oz can diced tomatoes undrained
- 1 14- oz can chickpeas rinsed and drained
- 1 medium sweet potato peeled and cut in 1/2″ cubes (about 1 cup)
- 1/2 cup frozen peas
- 2 tsp fresh lemon juice 1/2 of one of my large lemons
Instructions
- Combine the curry powder, coriander, turmeric, salt, pepper and bay leaf in a small bowl to have ready for later.
- Heat the oil in a Dutch oven or large deep skillet with a lid. Cook the chicken for about 5 minutes, stirring periodically, until browned. I started with half frozen chicken because it’s much easier to cut into pieces then. Remove the chicken from the pan.
- Lower the heat and wait a minute, then add the onion slices and cook about 10 minutes, stirring often. Put the heat back up to medium high and add the ginger and garlic and cook another minute or so, stirring, then add the spices and cook another two minutes or so, stirring.
- Add the chicken broth and tomatoes, bring to a simmer, cover and cook for an hour or so. (I actually just did 45 minutes.) Uncover and stir in the sweet potatoes and chickpeas. Cook, stirring periodically, until the sweet potatoes are soft when pierced through with a fork. Add the peas and cook another 5 minutes. (This is when I started the chapati and spiced broccoli.)
- Serve over steamed rice.
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