Thursday, March 10, 2011

Cooking with Dr. Monkey

Today's episode: Thai thighs!

I got this recipe out of an issue of Woman's Day, it was in an article about recipes for your slow cooker aka crock pot. I tweaked it a bit as I went and here's what I did:

I cut up one and a half red bell peppers. I cut them into approximately one inch sized lengths. Then I sliced up one large white onion.
Next I took the skin off four chicken thighs and five drumsticks. I then put the chicken and the peppers and onion in the crock pot.
To the chicken and veggies I added one can of lite coconut milk, two tablespoons of smooth peanut butter, one tablespoon of red curry paste, a teaspoon of ground ginger, a table spoon of cracked black pepper, and a pinch of sea salt. Then I turned my crock pot on and let it do it's thing for about 4 and a half hours.
Slow cooking, steady rolling.

I turned it off after almost five hours of cooking, and let me tell you it made the whole house smell great. Anyhoo, I took the chicken out and it was falling off the bone. I set it in a bowl and then I poured the liquid veggie mixture in a mini food processor and I pulsed it all up. Then I poured it in a pan and I added a table spoon of Thai fish sauce, a table spoon or two of soy sauce, a cup of frozen peas, a cup and a half of roughly chopped cilantro, and a bit of chopped basil. I let that come slowly to a boil while I made my rice.

When the rice was done, and I made Jasmine rice by the way, I laid some chicken on top of it when I put it on our plates and then I poured the coconut broth all over over the chicken and rice.It doesn't look all that appetizing but believe me, it was tasty. I'll definitely make this again but I'll make the following adjustments next time:
  • I'll roast my peppers and remove the skin before chopping them up and putting them in the crock pot.
  • I'll add more salt next time, this version needed a little more of the oomph salt provides.
  • I'll use boneless chicken thighs instead of using bone in ones. Dealing with gristle and bone parts was a pain, not enough to make us not enjoy this dish, but just enough to irritate us. I'll use skinless boneless thighs from now on.
  • I'll squirt a bit of lime over the chicken and rice right before I serve it. The lime will give it a bright little kick and the acid will counter act some of the natural sweetness of the coconut milk.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thai style curries are my favorite. Something like this is my go to meal for busy nights. Instead of the slow cooker, I saute spices and curry paste in the solids that collect on top of the can of coconut milk, then add veggies and left over roast chicken that's always on hand here.

MommyLisa said...

Yum

Devilham said...

Sounds really good. Can I go on the record and say skinned chicken (especially in a dish like this) is WAY better than skin on? Not only are you removing the bulk of the fat, but your also avoiding getting a mouthfull of wet flacid chicken skin....blech. When I make fried chicken these days I ALWAYs skin it, and it's a much better product because of it. Yaaay skinless chicken!!!