SPICED RIGHT

A few weeks ago I realized we had no good spices to make a curry, so I went on a major spice shopping spree. John and I always loved getting the banana chicken curry from RICE in NY and since we had plenty bananas on hand I decided to try a banana curry of my own. I found a few recipes I combined and came up with this. The only thing that I think was wrong with it was the brand of coconut milk we get… CHAOKOH. We buy a case of it from Costco and it has a bit of a strange flavor to me. It tends to not stay as creamy as the brand I prefer… THAI KITCHEN and I will start buying that from now on.


1 tablespoon olive oil
2 carrots, peeled and sliced,
2 mini red peppers
2 mini yellow peppers
2 mini orange peppers
(you can use all one color if you cannot find mini's.)
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/4 cup diced pineapple
1 medium onion cut into 1/2 wedges
1 sliced banana
2 boneless chicken breasts
2  cardamom seeds

For the sauce:
2 bananas
3/4 cup coconut milk
2 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon garam masala
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon ginger powder
coarse salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Basmati or Jasmine rice

- In a food processor or blender, add banana, coconut milk, curry powder, garam masala, cinnamon, cayenne pepper and ginger and process until smooth.

- Preheat oven to 425ºF. Lay 4 large pieces of aluminum foil on a work surface, placing 2 on top of each other in a + pattern. Place one sheet of parchment paper on top of each

- Toss vegetables in olive oil and place half of the vegetables in center of each parchment paper Smash the cardamom seeds and place one on top of each vegetable pile. Top with 1 chicken breast. Season chicken with salt and black pepper.

You can see the smashed cardamom seed in the center on the bottom image.

The sauce mixture in the food processor.

- Pour banana-coconut milk mixture over each chicken breast, dividing evenly.

- Seal foil/parchment packets by bringing together 2 opposite edges and folding them down together. Place packets on a rimmed baking sheet and cook in oven for 30 to 40 minutes.

- Let cool a few minutes before opening.

- Carefully open foil packets. Place rice in bottom of serving bowl and spoon packet contents on top. Garnish with cilantro.