Curry Chicken with Wild Rice

Yesterday I was reading a novel set in South Africa, in which the lead character sat down to a bowl of mutton curry. For the next hour all I could think about was curry. I was craving it - which is weird because I never cook with curry and I certainly didn't have any mutton on hand.

I finally went to the kitchen and checked the cupboard, happily finding a brand new container of curry. My body also craved long grain wild rice. Not white or brown rice, but the nutty flavor and crunch of wild rice. Lucky for me we had some of that as well.

I didn't have a recipe in mind so I made this one up. I looked at three different recipes and just rather took a little of this and a little of that. What I ended up with reminded me of a spicy Chinese dish actually once the rice was mixed in - and the fact that I cut up the chicken into bite sized pieces.

Here is basically what I did - have fun with it and change it as you wish.




Curry Chicken with Wild Rice


1 lb. chicken - cooked and diced (I used precooked chicken appetizers that I quartered)
4 T butter
1 T olive oil
1/4 c chopped red bell pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 c chopped onion
1/2 c chopped sliced celery
2 whole tomatoes, chopped with juice
2 t curry powder
2 t chili powder
1/2 t ginger
1/2 t dried leaf thyme, crumbled
salt and pepper

1 c long-grain rice (I used organic wild rice because I had it on hand you can use white or brown!) - cook per directions (usually 1 cup rice, 2 cups water and simmer 30 minutes).

Heat the butter and oil in a large skillet; add the bell pepper, garlic, onions, celery, tomatoes, and seasonings. Simmer the mixture for 10 minutes. Mix in the chicken. Spoon the rice over the chicken mixture. Garnish with slivered almonds if desired.

The vegetables, right after adding the curry

I was craving long grain wild rice
but you can serve with brown or white