Kalyn's Kitchen Picks: Patak's Biryani Paste Crockpot Chicken Curry with Patak's Sauce

If you've been paying attention around here, you'll notice a new mini-header at the beginning of this post, and if you've really been watching you might realize this is a new feature on Kalyn's Kitchen. Doesn't every good cook have a few standby ingredients they rely on to help get dinner on the table sometimes? I know I do, and Kalyn's Kitchen Picks is how I'm going to share those recommendations with you. Thanks to my wonderful brother, Rand, for the new mini-header; more are coming! And it was purely a coincidence that the first dish I wanted to share perfectly matched the new mini-header. I think that's called synchronicity.

I'm going to start Kalyn's Kitchen Picks with a recommendation for Patak's Biryani Curry Paste which I used to make the chicken curry dish above, truly delicious. I used the Cilantro and Cumin flavor, medium hotness. Of course I know Chicken Biryani is a dish traditionally made with rice, and I'm certainly not implying that curry paste that comes in a jar could replicate what a true Indian cook would make, but still, this is worth eating. Not only that, it was made in the Crockpot, so it needed no attention at all after the chicken was sauteed and an onion cut up. You see, wonderful readers, as much as I love getting in the kitchen and whipping up something fabulous to share with you, I teach school all day, and sometimes I just want something easy.

Patak's has a lot of other curry pastes and Indian food products, and they seemed to be readily available online. For some reason, I could not get this particular product to show up on Patak's product list, although I found it lots of other places.

Of course this would be great to serve over rice if we weren't focusing on phase one recipes all month, but quite honestly I ate it plain and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Crockpot Chicken Curry
with Patak's Sauce

(Made with Patak's Biryani Curry Paste, Cilantro and Cumin / Medium spiciness. This is about 6 servings. I used a small 2 1/2 quart crock pot, so if you have a bigger size you might need to increase the amounts.)

2 small onions, diced in 3/4 inch pieces
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 T olive oil (or more, depending on your pan)
1 can diced tomatoes (I recommend Muir Glen organic fire roasted tomatoes.)
6 T Patak's Biryani Curry Paste (to taste, this was only slightly spicy)

Heat 1 tsp. olive oil in frying pan and saute chopped onions 3-4 minutes, until starting to soften. Place onions in Crockpot.

Add a bit more olive oil, heat, and then saute chicken breasts until slightly browned on both sides. (They do not need to be cooked through.) Remove chicken from pan, let cool enough to handle, then cut into 1 inch pieces and place in Crockpot.

Add diced tomatoes with juice and Patak's Biryani Curry Paste. (The six tablespoons I used is about half the jar.)

Turn crockpot on to high for half hour, then reduce heat to low and cook 6-8 hours.

This could easily be simmered on top of the stove in a heavy pan instead of being cooked in the Crockpot. I would eastimate that stovetop cooking time would be about 45 minutes.

Reminders:

If you bought raffle tickets for A Menu for Hope, winners were announced Monday at Chez Pim. Head over there and check the list to see if you won something cool! Even if you didn't win, how cool is it that we raised over $60,000 to help hungry people! If you were a winner you should contact the blogger who sponsored the prize and give them your mailing address. ( saw a lot of names I recognized among the winners, so congrats to all!)

If you're thinking ahead to next weekend, here are the rules for Weekend Herb Blogging. The host will be Scott from Real Epicurean. Send your entries to scottsinclair AT nerdshack DOT com.

To Print Recipes:
You can print any recipe without the header, sidebars, or photos by clicking on the main title of the post, then printing.

Tags:
Food Recipes Cooking South Beach Diet Recipes
Low Carb Recipes Low Glycemic Index Recipes Weekend Herb Blogging