Basil Coconut Chicken Curry

Basil Coconut Chicken Curry

Time: Marinate for 1-2 hours, prep 15 min, cook 15 min

Serves: 4-6

From: My Kitchen Cafe

Ingredients:

3 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
2 teaspoons curry powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
¼ teaspoon chili powder
1 medium red onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped (by seeding the jalapeno you lose most of the spice/heat but retain great flavor)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 14-ounce can light coconut milk
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
3 cups hot cooked rice

Directions:
Cut chicken into 1-inch pieces. Place in medium bowl. Stir together curry, salt, pepper and chili powder. Sprinkle over chicken, tossing to coat evenly. Cover and chill for 1 to 2 hours.

In a large nonstick frying pan, stir onion, basil, garlic and peppers in hot oil over medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes, until onion is translucent. Add chicken and cook for 5-6 minutes until no longer pink.

Combine coconut milk and cornstarch and whisk well to combine. Carefully add to skillet, whisking vigorously. Cook and stir until slightly thickened and bubbly. Stir in ginger. Cook and stir for another minute. Serve over hot rice.

Notes: Make sure you incorporate the jalapeno peppers. Do not omit this from the recipe. As long as you scrape out the seeds and the white veins that hold the seeds as well as chopping them finely, you should be able to omit the heat and you wont get big bites of jalapenos. If you take them out of the recipe you will lose great flavor. Also, make sure you are not using Mexican hot chili powder, that will make this dish spicy. I added more onion, garlic, and curry powder to taste.