Good morning! Today we have for you:
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A coconut chicken curry that’s so smart and so good
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A blistered broccoli pasta for blistered broccoli lovers
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And a carrot cake that won’t ask you to grate carrots
Sometimes you ask for something, and the universe (or rather, the algorithm) really delivers.
It was about 6 p.m., I was starting to get hungry, and I was specifically hungry for some sort of chicken curry. I knew I wanted my curry to have creamy, floral coconut milk — there was an open carton in my fridge — and I knew I wanted it to come together relatively quickly. I typed “chicken coconut curry” into the search bar on New York Times Cooking, and out came this coconut chicken curry.
I cannot say enough good things about this smart, easy and wholly delicious chicken curry, a recipe adapted by Genevieve Ko from the cookbook “Burma Superstar,” by the chef Desmond Tan and the writer Kate Leahy. Here’s what makes the recipe stand out:
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After you cut your boneless, skinless chicken thighs into bite-size pieces, they get tossed with salt, turmeric and paprika and then hang out in those colorful, flavorful spices while you prep the rest of the ingredients. You could tuck your seasoned chicken back into the fridge at this point, but even 10 minutes of marinating goes a long way.
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You’ll notice that the recipe doesn’t call for anything in the curry besides chicken. Take that as an invitation to add whatever you’ve got kicking around. For me, that was a Japanese eggplant and half a bunch of chard; I added the eggplant (cut into pieces the same size as the chicken) to the broth in Step 3, and stirred in the chopped chard leaves right before adding the curry powder in Step 4.
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And about that curry powder: Adding it at the end, along with a pinch of cayenne, keeps the spicy flavors of the curry perky while still allowing them to bloom and relax into the dish. Fantastic.
Serve your coconut chicken curry with rice, noodles or platha, the buttery, flaky Burmese flatbread. For something green and crunchy to serve alongside, I’ll point you to this savory Burmese slaw, heady and refreshing with fermented tea leaves, or this cucumber salad with roasted peanuts and chile.
Featured Recipe
Coconut Chicken Curry
Today’s specials
Blistered broccoli pasta with walnuts, pecorino and mint: I like my broccoli one of two ways — sliced and raw, as in a broccoli salad, or so seared it borders on burned. This reader-favorite pasta from Dawn Perry features crispy-edged broccoli from the second category, with walnuts and pecorino for umami, and lemon and mint for freshness.
Beef chops (meat-stuffed potato cutlets): This recipe from Zainab Shah is a perfect rainy weekend activity for friends. Put one person or group on potato duty to make the creamy mashed potatoes; another friend makes the spiced ground meat filling; whoever is wearing the least precious shirt does the frying. But I would also gladly do all of this myself for those golden, crispy-soft patties.
Orange-ginger brussels sprouts: Make this sprightly Ali Slagle dish now, with your favorite cooked grains or beans stirred in, as a light dinner or hearty lunch. Trot it out later at a certain gratitude-themed holiday as a bright, unexpected side for a very big roasted bird.
And for dessert
My love of carrot cake is inversely proportional to my love of grating carrots. So Yewande Komolafe’s bolo de cenoura is the carrot cake for me, as the carrots — along with sugar, oil and eggs — are tossed into a food processor or blender to form the base of the batter. Sweetened condensed milk, cocoa powder and salt combine to make the shiny brigadeiro frosting. With its orange interior and shiny dark glaze, this surprisingly simple cake is very ready for Halloween.
Thanks for reading!
The post I Won’t Stop Talking About This Coconut Chicken Curry appeared first on New York Times.
