When Curry Equals Bravery

I have a huge drawer filled entirely with spices. I have spices that range from the standard (rosemary, sage and thyme) to the more unusual (juniper berries, cardamom and whole nutmeg). What I didn't have, until I went to the grocery store today, was curry. I am not a huge spicy food fan and curry does tend to make its way into spicy dishes. However, when I am served a mild curry dish, I generally like it. My husband enjoys curried food in a range of spiciness but my kids turn their noses up at the strong smell and won't even taste food that has curry in it. When I told my husband that I was cooking a curry chicken dish for dinner his response was "Wow, you're brave." I'm pretty sure that what I'm attempting does not constitute bravery but I am most definitely setting myself up for an epic fail with the kids.

I'm not sure what came over me. My Mom had picked up a rotisserie chicken at Costco for me (so cheap and so tasty!) but then I thought to myself that I was bored with always serving the chicken with a side of mashed potatoes and a side of broccoli. Instead, I wanted a recipe that used rotisserie chicken in it. I did a quick Google search and found an easy recipe on RealSimple.com called Chicken Curry in a Hurry. http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/chicken-curry-hurry-10000001586856/print-index.html

I thinly sliced some yellow onion and began sautéing it in olive oil. Right then, my 10-year-old daughter came over and asked if she could help me cook (absolutely!). She helped me prepare the next set of ingredients (in furtherance of my pledge to read my recipes thoroughly and to be ready for each step in advance) by pouring out the correct amount of heavy cream, salt and pepper. I then asked her to chop the fresh cilantro. She was excited to try out her knife skills. However, shortly after she began chopping, when the cilantro scent became stronger, she asked if she could be excused and informed me that she would not be having cilantro on her dish (Order #1: no cilantro). With my sous chef on the run, I continued cooking alone. I added curry to the onions but only used half of the recommended amount as I was already nervous about how my kids would react to the flavor. About one minute later I added some plain greek yogurt and the heavy cream, salt and pepper.

The recipe calls for rice but my husband generally does not eat rice and I have been trying to eat more brown rice. I have been buying Minute Rice cups so that my kids can each have a serving of jasmine rice or long grain white rice and I can have a serving of brown rice and that is what I used for this meal.

At this point in the preparations, the recipe states that you can add the optional can of drained, chopped tomatoes. My son dislikes tomatoes so, before I added them to the dish, I served his curry sauce over rice, added some shredded rotisserie chicken, and put some chopped cilantro on top (Order #2: no tomatoes). I wanted to use fresh tomatoes instead of the canned but I only had a half of a Roma tomato. I chopped it up and added it to the remaining sauce and then began serving everyone else. My husband did not have rice so he got extra sauce on his chicken (Order #3: extra sauce, no rice). This recipe had appealed to me so I opted for all of the ingredients (Order #4: Chicken Curry in a Hurry with everything, use brown rice instead of white).

As my daughter began eating she stated that this was her favorite of all of my "blog" dinners. However, by the end of dinner she informed me that she would like it without the curry (Order #1: no cilantro, no curry). My husband chimed in that he loved the dish but he would have liked me to add the full amount if curry (Order #3: extra sauce, no rice, extra curry). My son liked the dish well enough although he said later that he could have done without the onions...and that "leafy green stuff" (Order #2: no tomatoes, no onions, no cilantro).  I really liked it but wished I had put in more tomatoes (Order #4: use brown rice instead of white, add extra tomatoes).

Dirty Dish Count: A frying pan, a cutting board, a knife, two measuring spoons, two measuring cups, a spoon, a fork, and a spatula.

Next time I'll have to take pre-orders so I get all of the preferences correct (yeah, right!). Wish me luck!