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Recipe Box

No hurry for this curry

by Kirk Pfeiffer

Published Thursday, 30-Oct-2008 in issue 1088

My readers are so wonderful. Time and time again, I see them out or hear from them, and they tell me how much they enjoyed making one of the recipes we featured in the column.

I know many of you have recipes to share – so send them in! We want all our readers to have a recipe box stuffed with the best recipes we can find.

This week isn’t the first time I’ve sung the praises of the slow cooker. I mentioned in a previous column how a tough cut of meat can become moist and delicious after stewing in its own juices for a bit. Slow cooking allows you to have a savory hot meal ready to eat when you get home from work or the gym.

This particular recipe for curried chicken with cauliflower is so good. My partner Dan and I made a big batch and I have been eating it for three days – and I’m still not sick of it!

Use lots of fresh cilantro and lemon on the top – it really makes a difference. We bought a family pack of chicken thighs with the skins on and simply removed the skins and extra fat when we rinsed. I recommend you prep all the ingredients the night before and have the slow cooker out and ready to go. You can even do the garlic and ginger the night before and put it in sealed Tupperware, although sautéing it just before placing it in the slow cooker is best.

And, there you have it – a great, healthy, filling, inexpensive and savory dish. What more can you ask from your Recipe Box? If you have suggestions, ideas or a recipe you’d like to share, visit www.gaylesbiantimes.com/links/1088.

Kirk Pfeiffer is a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist in private practice in Hillcrest. For more information, including his contact information, visit www.gaylesbiantimes.com/links/1088.

Slow cooked curried chicken with cauliflower

3 tablespoons canola oil

6 cloves garlic, minced

2-inch piece fresh ginger, minced

1/3 to 1/2 cup prepared South Asian curry paste

3 cups chicken broth, low-sodium canned, or homemade

2 cups whole milk plain yogurt

6 bone-in skinless chicken thighs, about 2 1/4 pounds

1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 (1 pound) bag red lentils, picked over (2 1/4 cups)

1 head cauliflower, broken into large florets

2 (16-ounce) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 bunch fresh mint or cilantro leaves, chopped

1 lemon, cut in wedges

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Heat the oil; add the garlic and ginger and cook, stirring, until fragrant. Add the curry paste and continue to cook until fragrant, about two minutes more. Whisk the broth with all the aromatics in the pan; then pour the liquid into a slow cooker. Whisk the yogurt into the liquid.

Season the chicken all over with salt and pepper. Add the chicken, lentils and remaining salt to the slow cooker. Cover and cook on HIGH for six hours, adding cauliflower and chickpeas about half way through cooking.

Divide curry evenly into bowls and scatter freshly torn mint or cilantro on top. Serve with a wedge of lemon.