Chicken Curry and Almond Milk Success!

Hello folks! I sure had an interesting evening today! It started off with a lovely panic attack as I realized that I had left my WALLET on the BUS when I got home! As the tears started to stream down my face (I do not do well in stressful situations such as that) the phone rang, and a lovely man named Michael was securely holding onto my wallet, waiting for me to come and pick it up! Very, very relieving!

After I had stopped hyperventilating, I realized that the house smelled absolutely incredible! Mom and Ian (yes, he is starting to help with cooking dinner...exciting) had worked together to whip up a tasty chicken curry for dinner!

I was absolutely starving tonight, look at this heaping plate!

I got the recipe from them, don't you worry! This curry was the perfect combination of heat and flavor, mmm.

Chicken Curry

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced

5-8 tablespoons curry powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon paprika

1 bay leaf

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated ginger root

1/2 teaspoon white sugar

salt to taste

3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 cup plain yogurt

3/4 cup coconut milk

1/2 lemon, juiced

1/2 teaspoon Indian chili powder

Heat olive oil in a large skillet or sauce pan over medium-high heat.

Add the onions, and cook until clear.

Add the garlic, curry powder, cinnamon, paprika, bay leaf, ginger, sugar and salt.

Continue stirring for 2 minutes.

Add the chicken pieces, tomato paste, yogurt and coconut milk.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 20-25 minutes.

Remove the bay leaf and stir in the lemon juice and chili powder.

Simmer 5 more minutes.

Enjoy!

With the curry we had yummy "pickled" carrots and zucchini. Unfortunately my mother has gone to bed already and I didn't get the recipe from her, so I will post it on another day!

After dinner I turned my attention to the murky bowl of almonds sitting undisturbed on the counter!

It was time to finish up the almond milk that I had started last night! I started off by draining off the gross over night water and then rinsing the soaked almonds!

Now comes the surprisingly simple step:

In a blender, food processor, or magic bullet add the soaked almonds to 4 cups of fresh, cold water. If you want to sweeten up your almond a bit add some honey or agave! You can also add a splash of vanilla extract for a little extra flavor.

Then: blend away! I did mine up in the good ol' magic bullet. Since four cups of water and one and a half cups of almonds does not all fit into the provided bullet cups, I did 'er up in batches.

After you blend the almonds to smithereens, strain off the almond "pulp" with cheesecloth, or a simple sieve. I would recommend the cheese cloth if you've got it, because the sieve method worked quite well, however there was a BIT of almond grit in the bottom of the glass when I had a taste!

Here is the pulp in one bowl (I've saved it...I bet you could make something delicious from the stuff) and the creamy, rich almond milk in another!

Homemade almond milk is so simple!

It's so much creamier than store-bought almond milk...yum! Look at that froth!

I was ecstatic about the success of the almond milk, and thought that my luck (retrieving my forgotten wallet so quickly) was starting to spill over into the other areas of my life! Until...

My camera fell off the kitchen counter and crashed down onto the tile floor...hard.

:(

Fortunately it is still functional, however the front of my beloved camera now looks like terminator with his face blown off. I am very sad. At least it works though! The food blog WILL continue (the food blog will ALWAYS continue)!

xoxo

Mariel