Quick Basil Chicken Curry

I am a little admant when it comes to trying out new cuisines. My husband always makes fun of me that I cook food in my plate in the restaurants. I am always adjusting salt and pepper. I had a very hard time initially in US eating exotic foods. By exotic I mean anything non Indian and non-pizza!

For my surprise I just fell in love with Thai cuisine the very first time. The only secret being its so much closer to Konkani food. Yeah, true Thai and Konkani- bhai Bhai..!!
You must have guessed it by now, both have coconut. But the similarity doesnt stop there. Bamboo shoots, taro, jack fruits, ripe banana fritters..it goes on. After savoring Thai delicacies for years, now I had to experiment with the recipes. I wanted to make the curry paste from the scratch as in here but did not want to buy a whole lot of ingredients, so I just cut down on most of things and ended up with this quick and easy delicious curry. Here it is..

1 cup chicken breast, cut into strips
1 cup bell peppers of different colors, cut into strips
1/3 cup green beans, cut into thin long strips
4 mushrooms
1 cup coconut milk
2 sprigs of fresh basil leaves
water or veggie/chicken broth, as needed upto 1/2 cup

to grind :
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 small red onion or shallot
3 cloves garlic
small piece ginger
1-3 red chillies
2-4 pepper corns
lemon peel, optional

In little oil, lightly roast cumin, coriander seeds and red chillies. Cool and grind into a rough powder, add all the other ingredients listed for grinding and blend into a smooth paste.
Prepare chicken, bell peppers and green beans, cut them into thin strips. Roughly chop the basil leaves.

In a wide shallow pan heat 2 tsp of oil, Sauté the ground paste for a min, add chicken breast and stir under low flame for another minute. Add green beans, coconut milk and salt, bring it to a boil. Add water or veggie/chicken broth if you have to thin the sauce. Simmer on low flame for 5 mins till the chicken is done but tender. Add bell pepper and basil leaves. Cook for another minute or less. Do not over cook the bell peppers, let them be crunchy.

Serve hot over brown rice.



Vegetarians, just substitute chicken breast with some tofu. Pan fry tofu before you add it into the curry.