Sweet Coconut Curry Chicken (easy way)

This Sweet Coconut Curry Chicken (this is a lightly sweet dish, it is NOT the burn a hole in your tongue kind) is a recipe I re-created because I ordered it once. When you find a dish you can't do without, you scour sites for a recipe you're willing to spend time and money on so you can have it at home whenever you want. I found one that wasn't too complicated and my doubtful husband turned into a fan. 

I have since re-recreated the recipe when I figured out there was something in it making me fall asleep. There's no reason for that.

I took some snapshots of the ingredients (but I forgot to take complete pictures of the food, sorry). 

Since I like to prepare white rice with the meal, I started the water boiling before I start on the chicken.

I pick up the 8-piece boneless, skinless dark meat chicken at my HEB and chop it up to cook in olive oil. I prefer dark meat because it's juicier and more flavorful (otherwise, I won't eat the chicken). This is the only chicken dish that my pickiest eater, Bianca, will moon over. She was purring so much during our dinner last night her Daddy demanded she stop (she was rather loud in her theatrical way).

While the chicken was cooking, I added about 2 tablespoons of the Los Aminos soy-sauce (soy free, baby! you can always add more to suit your taste), McCormick Ginger and McCormick Curry spices, garlic powder, salt and pepper. I rarely measure (again, sorry) but I covered the chicken twice with the ginger, curry, and garlic when I added these spices.

Here's a link for Los Aminos Soy-free Soy Sauce, but I added a picture of the label to show you how much sugar is in it. I also added the Coconut Milk label just so you can see just how much sugar we're adding to this dish (almost none because you have to divide it into eighths). Again, all these were at my local HEB.

I like to add frozen veggies to the pot. There's an HEB whole green bean frozen bag (HEB also offers the steamable fresh produce version) that makes preparation easier. I stir chicken while the microwave steams the veggies. I like the frozen version because I make plans just for life to throw monkey wrenches in them. I'll have put food aside for a certain meal and not get a chance to make that meal (for whatever reasons) for a week or more. Frozen veggies give me the freedom of getting to the meal when I have a chance (or just remembering to get to it!) and I don't have rotten veggies waiting for me.

Sometimes, I can find a whole mixed-bean and carrot frozen mix (like this one from Birds Eye) and I'll pick that one up instead. I'll steam that up in the microwave while the chicken is cooking.

In addition to all this, I chop up mushrooms and add them to the skillet when the chicken is thoroughly cooked. Dark meat creates a lot of juice (yesss!) so the mushrooms cook quickly enough. I used to put in button mushrooms, but Portobellos have a flavor my children will eat (and I'm all about poking natural vitamins and such down their gullets).

I love mushrooms. I've spoken of my love and adoration for mushrooms, haven't I? Of course, HEB is my store for all my mushroom supplies. I usually grab whatever is cheapest. Sometimes, I'm cutting up the large Portobello mushrooms, or I'm grabbing the pre-cut container. And if you don't like mushrooms or accidentally used them for another meal (I did that yesterday, oops), the meal tastes just fine without.

When the mushrooms have cooked to the desired consistency, I add the coconut milk and the steamed veggies and mix it until the coconut milk heats thoroughly and it's ready to serve. Usually by this point, the rice is done, which makes this a 30 minute or less meal, doesn't it? I love it when I make a meal in 30 minutes or less (I'm a total Rachel Ray fan, I just revamp her meals to be low-carb or served with gluten-free noodles).

I serve rice with my meal, but I keep my rice portion small, 1/2 to 1 cup total so I'm keeping my carb count where it should be. One cup of white rice has 45g of carbs, which isn't horrible if you kept your other meals low-carb (Doc says 60g of carbs per day and that does not include veggies). Like I've said before, I'll make my breakfast and lunch low-carb and have a carb meal with my family for dinner. It's an easy compromise and even my husband knows I load up on extra veggies (and in this sauce, how could you not? I tell my pickiest eater if she'd quit eating around the veggies and mix them with the rest, she won't notice the veggies as much in their creamy sauce...it's true the times she does believe me and it's still true the times she doesn't). When I pile on the veggies for myself, there isn't enough room in my stomach for 1 cup of rice. The fiber fills you up plenty, so 1/2 to 2/3 cups are more than enough! And for that picky eater? Guess who was raiding the fridge last night for leftovers? Veggies and all.

Happy eating!