I don't know what possessed me, but I have been craving curry like you wouldn't believe.  Living on "the Island", ethnic cuisine is hard to come by...unless you make it yourself.  Coming from Toronto, this is both a good and bad thing for me.  Bad because I'm used to eating at Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Greek, or Indian restaurants whenever I want.  Good because it means I don't eat out often.  This said, whenever I'm in "the city", I make sure to stock  up on all my Japanese, Indian, Korean, Thai, Chinese ingredients.

This afternoon, I whipped up a curried vegetable dish, chickpea Channa and doubles, a chicken curry, and a Japanese curry. With all that food and just Hubby, The Student, Little One and myself to eat it, I decided to have an impromptu dinner party.  I invited my parents, a few friends and their kids, and we feasted on all that delicious curry.

Since I'm feeling generous, I'll share one of my curry recipes with you :) This one is my favourite! I love how all the senses are awakened by the contrasting flavours of the curry and spices, the refreshing zing of the lemon, and the sweetness of the coconut milk.


Ingredients
2 medium onions, chopped
Lots of garlic, chopped
3-4 heaping spoonfuls of curry powder
2 Tbsp. cumin
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
Grated ginger
cayenne powder
paprika
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
The juice of 1 lemon
Salt and Black pepper to taste
4 chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
Coconut milk (I used creamed coconut milk in the bar form and added boiling water to thin it out a bit)
Olive oil to saute with

1. In a heavy pan, heat oil. I used my dutch oven (just because I LOVE using it!). Saute onions until translucent. Add garlic and spices. Stir for a few minutes. This is when everything starts to smell delicious!

2. Add chicken to pan. Add coconut milk and tomato paste. Bring everything to a boil.

3. Reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes. Add lemon juice and simmer for a few more minutes.

4. Serve over bed of Basmati rice. I served vegetable curry to accompany this dish. Altogether, there were 4 different types of curries I made.

One of my friends brought some red wine, homemade guacamole and multi-grain tortilla chips, and a yummy dessert. Yeah, the wine, guac and chips, and dessert didn't really go with the Indian curry theme, but were a welcomed addition. I guess it wasn't entirely Indian themed, since we had Japanese curry and Caribbean chickpeas and doubles! :)

Everyone had a great time! For me, the best way to spend an evening is to share good company, good conversation, and good food!






**The chicken curry photo is not mine. Sadly, there were no leftovers of this dish!  I found the image here.