Thai Yellow Curry Chicken and Rice

I love, love, love, curry; especially yellow curry. There was a Thai restaurant near my old office and I would often get their yellow curry with chicken for lunch. I was so excited recently when I saw this yellow curry sauce at Trader Joe’s.

Now I could attempt to recreate this delicious dish at home. The restaurant curry sauce was pretty thin and flavorful, almost like a soup. It was served with white basmati rice on the side so you could add the rice to the sauce to, allowing the rice to soak up all the delicious sauce. When I’m adding the bottled sauce to the pan I put a little bit of water (a Tbl or two) in the bottle, shake it up, and dump it in the pot so that I get all the sauce out. I suppose that if you feel like you need to you could add water or chicken broth to stretch out the sauce. I don't because I don’t want to risk diluting the flavor. Of course you could use any rice that you want, but I prefer brown basmati rice, since it has a low glycemic index. Also, you don’t have to add the sweet potato; you could use all white potatoes. But sweet potatoes are so nutritious that I try to mix them in with white potatoes any chance I get. I prefer using baby yukons because all you have to do is wash and cut them in half. I have used russets before, just peel them before cubing. I debated whether or not to add garlic, but decided against it this time. I think I have added garlic in the past. Of course vegetarians/vegans could use tofu instead of chicken.



Thai Yellow Curry Chicken
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Serves 3-4

for the rice:
1 c brown basmati rice
2 c water

for the curry:
1 bottle Trader Joe’s Thai yellow curry sauce
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
~1 to 1 ½ cup baby carrots (or some regular carrots, peeled and roughly chopped)
1 sweet potato, cubed
About 2 c cubed Yukon gold potatoes (if using russet potatoes, peel before cubing)
1 onion, sliced
Naan, optional, but oh so good

First get your rice and 2 c water cooking, according to package instructions. I just put mine in a rice cooker on the brown rice setting.

Next, put all the potatoes in a glass bowl (I used a 2 qt bowl and it was about ¾ full). Put a little bit of water in the bowl, cover it with plastic wrap, poke a couple holes in it with a knife, and microwave on high for 3 minutes.

Remove and test potatoes for softness. Mine still were not fork tender, so I stirred them, recovered, and microwaved on high for an additional 4 minutes. Once fork tender, set aside.

Then cook your carrots the same way you steamed your potatoes. Put carrots in a small bowl, add water, cover with plastic wrap, poke a couple holes in wrap and microwave on high 3-4 minutes, til softened.
Heat a medium pot or dutch oven over med-high heat. Add some olive oil then add the chicken. Once the chicken starts to brown add the onion. Cook about 5-7 min til the chicken is browned and the onion is translucent and golden.

Add the potatoes, carrots, and curry sauce to the pot. Cover and simmer til chicken is cooked through and all the veggies are well coated with the curry sauce.

To serve, add some rice to a bowl and top with the chicken curry sauce. You could top with any fresh herbs (cilantro, scallions, etc) or a dollop of yogurt if desired. Serve with some naan on the side for dipping. Mmmmmm.


Update Can't find the Trader Joe's sauce? Or want to make your own yellow curry from scratch? Check out my post for Yellow Curry with Chicken over Rice. I promise you won't be disappointed.