Spicy Chicken and Coconut

Yesterday I had to work. On a stinky Sunday. Blah! All I could think about the entire time, was..."I'm so hungry I want to make dinner." Dinner was good. Nothing super special, but tasty and filling and used up more stuff I had at home. Gotta try to be as frugal as possible! And this wasn't a bad dish to be frugal with. Chicken--legs and thighs are great here!. Rice. Easy enough. A veg. I had a bell pepper and if I would have used my brain, some frozen veg as well. The only real specialty ingredient was a can of coconut milk!

This is an adaptation of another Everyday Food recipe.

Coconut Chicken Casserole

1 TB olive oil
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, but into large pieces
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 can (14.5 ounces) coconut milk
1 ½ cups chicken broth
1 tsp Garam Masala
1 tsp Sweet Curry Powder
1 tsp hot sauce
2 tsp grated ginger
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and left whole
1 cup jasmine rice
1 red bell pepper (ribs and seeds removed), cut into 1-inch pieces

Directions
1. In a large pan or pot, heat oil over medium-high. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Working in batches if necessary, cook chicken until browned; transfer to a plate (chicken will cook more in step 2).

2. To pot, add coconut milk, broth, ½ cup water, and seasonings (garam masala, sweet curry powder, hot sauce, ginger, garlic cloves); bring to a boil, and stir in rice. Add chicken (with any juices), arranging pieces in a single layer. Cover, and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook, without stirring, until rice is almost tender, 15 minutes.

3. Scatter bell peppers on top of chicken mixture; cover, and cook until vegetables are crisp-tender, 8 to 10 minutes.

The chicken and rice are bubbling away. The original recipe called for chicken legs. They would be delicious, as would thighs. So juicy and flavorful. The chicken breast are what I had on hand and worked very well. Next time when I plan this recipe in advance, that's what I will be doing! Cheaper too!

Half way done. Just a few more minutes. Again, the original recipe called for green beans and more bell pepper. I used one pepper as I'm saving the other for later and I forgot the green beans. I'm sure you could add just about any veg you like. Just give it ample time to cook until tender.

Done. Very filling. It was spicy from the heat in the sweet curry and the hot sauce. I didn't have the listed Red Curry Paste--I thought I did, but must have thrown it out. I like the spice combos I used. I think with just coconut and garam masala, it would almost be sweet, so the curry and hot sauce took over a little. Next time a little less hot sauce for a milder spice.

And it's a ONE POT MEAL! Less dishes!