Curry Coconut Chicken

Yes, fellow InterWeb users, I'm totally on a curry kick. LOVE curry - though I've only used the yellow curry. one of these days I'll have to branch out into red and green curry, but until then, I'll stick with this. Today's recipe comes from allrecipes.com, pretty much my standard go-to. Brean concurs that this was fabulous, despite my original apprehension and proceeded to eat two giant bowls. Coconut and chicken just don't exactly go together in my book! But today, they definitely do.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
• 1 teaspoon salt and pepper, or to taste
• 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons curry powder
• 1/2 onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can stewed, diced tomatoes
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 3 tablespoons sugar

Directions

1. Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper.
2. Heat oil and curry powder in a large skillet over medium-high heat for two minutes. Stir in onions and garlic, and cook 1 minute more. Add chicken, tossing lightly to coat with curry oil. Reduce heat to medium, and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink in center and juices run clear.
3. Pour coconut milk, tomatoes, tomato sauce, and sugar into the pan, and stir to combine. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, approximately 30 to 40 minutes.

Followed the first part of the recipe to the T - sautéed the onion and garlic in the oil/curry and added the chicken. Cut the chicken up until cubes and salted and peppered "to taste" (which doesn't make any sense as the chicken is raw and you can't "taste" it!). I only had unsweetened coconut, so I added 4 Tablespoons of sugar to compensate for that. I also did not have stewed tomatoes, or tomato paste, and as I don't actually LIKE stewed tomatoes, I didn't see the need to remedy this fact. So I used 16 ounces of Tomato and Basil spaghetti sauce, which was quite satisfactory. I taste tested at this point, and it wasn't quite salty enough for my taste, so I added some garlic salt "to taste". Simmered it UNCOVERED for about 40 minutes and served it over white rice. It was AMAZING!!! I think covering it while simmering will prevent the sauce from thickening at all, and having it thicker is a plus. Definitely a keeper, though I will agree with a reviewer that the whole house smells like curry. Good thing I like curry! :D