Cooking things:  Leftover chicken curry

Today I actually had an idea for dinner before the minute when M comes in and says “so what’s for dinner tonight? Foraging in the Fridge?” as she has to do most nights, and I have to figure out something on the fly.  I remembered that I had some half-pound bags of shredded leftover chicken in the fridge and a couple of cans of cheddar cheese soup, and thought “I wonder what would happen if I stirred them together and put some curry powder in?”

I found the chicken, and a little bit of standing in the middle of the kitchen and staring aimlessly produced an apple, some raisins, and half an onion.  That seemed like enough to start with.  (The cheese soup got lost somehow during creation and became part of a jar of Bulgarian yogurt.)

Quick Leftover Chicken Curry

Recipe By     : Sam Waring
Serving Size  : 4     Preparation Time 0:30
Categories : Chicken

  Amount  Measure       Ingredient — Preparation Method
————————  ————————      ——————————————————————————————
   ½                    Onion, minced
  1                     Apple, chopped
  1                     Garlic clove, minced
  1                cup  Raisins or sultanas
  2        tablespoons  Butter
  1         tablespoon  Cornstarch
                        Chicken broth, fresh or canned
  1              pound  Cooked chicken, shredded or chopped
   ¼          teaspoon  Tabasco sauce
  2          teaspoons  Curry powder
  1½              cups  Plain yogurt
                        Hot cooked rice

Mince the onion; chop the apple roughly and mince the garlic.  In a custard cup, mix together the cornstarch and ¼ cup of chicken broth.

Melt the butter in a big saucepan or a Dutch oven over a medium-low flame.  Add the minced onion and sauté for a few minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onion begins to turn golden.  Add the raisins and allow them to cook for a few minutes, then add the chopped apple and cook a few minutes longer, continuing to stir at intervals.

Add the shredded chicken to the pot to warm.  Slosh in a cup of chicken broth, or thereabout.  Add the Tabasco and curry powder (or you can be a purist and use garam masala).  After two or three minutes, stir in the yogurt and leave until it begins to bubble and become a sauce.

Give the cornstarch-chicken broth mixture a stir to re-combine and add to the pot, stirring it in.  Allow everything to simmer together about ten minutes.  Serve hot over cooked rice.

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Per Serving: 450 Calories; 14g Fat (28.2% calories from fat); 40g Protein; 42g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 124mg Cholesterol; 196mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 5 Lean Meat; ½ Vegetable; 2 Fruit; ½ Non-Fat Milk; 1½ Fat; ½ Other Carbohydrates.

I used a mix of light and dark meat in the recipe.  Every so often I go wild and poach four or five pounds of chicken pieces, cool it, shred it, and bag it in half-pound bags that I throw into the freezer.  It means I never have to think “oh god, first I have to cook some chicken …” not to mention that it’s also a great way to use up leftovers.