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2006-11-09T13:48:00.000-08:00

2006-06-15T09:14:00.000-07:00

Chicken Curry Salad Recipe

Filed under All Seasons, Chicken, Main Course, Salad, Wheat-free

From the recipe archive

I love this curry chicken salad. I made up this recipe 20 years ago after a friend of mine gave me a gift box of curry spices and have been making it ever since. It's quite easy to make. The important thing to remember is that you need to "cook" the curry powder in the olive oil before adding it to the rest of the salad ingredients. Heat releases the flavor of the curry. It's also easy to make ahead, the added time just allows the flavors to blend.

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 lb skinless chicken breast, cut into 1 inch cubes
Salt
1 yellow onion, roughly chopped
2 heaping Tbsp yellow curry powder
1 cup raisins
1 apple (tart or sweet, your preference), peeled, cored, and diced
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro (just lightly packed)
2 green onions, sliced

1 Tbsp mayonnaise optional

1 Heat olive oil on medium/medium-high heat in a thick-bottomed sauté pan. Add chicken pieces and cook, stirring frequently until just cooked through, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle some salt on the chicken pieces while cooking. Check doneness by removing the thickest piece and cutting it in half. If it is still pink in the middle, keep cooking. Try not to overcook the chicken or it will be dry. Remove chicken pieces with a slotted spoon, set aside in a bowl.

2 Add yellow onion and cook. After a few minutes, when the onions are beginning to get translucent, add 2 heaping tablespoons of yellow curry powder. Cook a few minutes more, stirring frequently. If the curry sticks to the bottom or the mixture gets dry, add a bit more olive oil to the pan. As you stir, scrape up the stuck curry bits. Add raisins, and cook, stirring another minute. (If adding optional mayonnaise, remove curry from heat and mix in mayo.) Add raisin and onion mixture to chicken and mix well, coating the chicken pieces with the curry infused olive oil. Refrigerate until cool. At this point you can make the salad a day a head of time.

3 When you are ready to serve the salad, mix in the apple, green onions, and cilantro.

Serves 4.

2006-06-15T09:11:00.000-07:00

Six Rules for Eating Wisely

Filed under Observations

In the June 4, 2006 online edition of Time Magazine, Michael Pollan has written an article entitled, Six Rules for Eating Wisely. For those of you unfamiliar with Michael, he is the author of The Botany of Desire and most recently, The Omnivore's Dilemma. Michael's Time article hits the mark, and is well worth a read. In short, the six rules are (with my notes in italics):

1) Don't eat anything your great-great-great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.
Well my German great-great-great grandmother wouldn't recognize the chipotle in adobo, and my Mexican great-great-great grandmother wouldn't recognize sauerkraut. But point taken.

2) Avoid foods containing high-fructose corn syrup.
Can't think of anything that contains it in our pantry or fridge, unless maybe some of the liqueurs? No soda pop here.

3) Spend more, eat less.
Spend more is hard to do when you are short on cash, but you can certainly eat better for the money. When I was a starving student I would beg bones from our local butcher and make my own stock, add a bunch of lentils, some onions, garlic and carrots, and live off of that for a week.

4) Pay no heed to nutritional science or the health claims on packages.
We don't buy much packaged food.

5) Shop at the farmers' market.
Every Saturday morning.

6) Eat with pleasure.
And with friends and family, absolutely!