Hurry Curry Chicken

The beauty of the 911 system is that someone always picks up.  The dispatcher will always send help, even if you’ve done something stupid like starting your kitchen on fire with the towel that caught flame when you took out the pizza (which almost happened to me).  Regardless of the caller’s stupidity, the dispatcher is always there and will always send help.  I wish that I could say the same for my “911” system.

My “911” system is on speed dial, since I use it frequently.  However, I wouldn’t have quite so many calls logged to my mother if she would pick up everything I called.  And if she doesn’t pick up, I have to shuffle through my next “911” alternatives, my dad and my home phone, before I get to a reliable dispatcher, my sister, who will pick up the phone even if she is driving a stick shift through downtown Minneapolis during rush hour while drinking coffee (which she had done with me in the car). 

Fortunately, I didn’t have to go through my alternative options because my first dispatcher picked up.  When I called my mom, my curry looked more like chicken curry soup than chicken curry.  I tried to boil away the water to thicken the curry sauce, but, according to my mom, while boiling normally does thicken sauces, sauces that are yogurt based (like this one), only get more watery the more you boil them.  Immediately, I pulled the curry off the burner, and thought that we were going to have soup for dinner.  However, my mom and my roommates began to spew out a list of redemptive ideas.

Staring at my curry soup, with everyone talking at me, I could feel my stress level rise.  I don’t deal well with external stress, such as loud noises and crowds, because I generate more than enough internal stress for myself to handle.  That’s probably why I have adjusted so well to living in Wyoming—its endless tracts of emptiness inhabited only by antelope and the occasional person, creates little opportunity for external stress.  If you have ever driven the 120 mile stretch between Douglas and Gillette, you understand what I mean.  But the kitchen, at the moment, was far from the empty, exhaustive, fields of sage brush and antelope; everyone was loudly talking, trying to redeem the curry with cornstarch and water.  Unable to deal with the pressing external forces, I focused in on the curry, the only thing in the room that was quite and still, and realized that slowly, on its own, it was beginning to solidify.  Turns out I forgot a cooking rule: that once cooled, sauces tend to solidify.  So with everyone talking and freaking out, I grabbed a fork and dug into the wonderful curry. 

Ingredients:

½ 2.25 lb. pkg. Chicken Breast

1 tbsp olive or vegetable oil

1 tsp. paprika

½  tsp. salt and pepper

1 8oz container plain yogurt

½ cup low fat mayo

½ cup chopped onion

½ cup raisins

1 tbsp. curry powder

1 tsp ginger

Rice

1. In skillet, combine oil, paprika, salt, pepper, heat and add chicken cubes.  Cook over medium heat for  

    about 15 min, stirring occasionally until chicken begins to brown and juices run clear. 

2. Meanwhile, in small bowl, combine yogurt, mayo, onions, raisins, curry, ginger and mix.

3. Add yogurt mixture to chicken, stir and cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until bubbly and heated through.