Chicken Curry Riiiiice

I was really craving curry... I used to buy/make it all the time! In fact, when I worked in Long Beach, I used to have it every Friday with the guys from work (New Miyako on Carson Street in Long Beach). That's where I get the title for this post:  The Japanese lady at the counter would take your order (me: "#14, please!") After taking my order, the little Japanese lady would turn to the back kitchen area and say "Chicken curry RIIIIIICE!!" and stand on her tippy toes to emphasize "rice" (and be seen over the counter that separated the front from the kitchen area).

So when I saw this post for beef curry by cavegirl Tiffany (it's a paleo diet thing), I had to try it. Trouble is, I had almost none of the ingredients, at least the ingredients that mattered (give me a break, I'm new to paleo!) But I did try the cauliflower rice thing from *another* cavegirl recipe that was linked from that post to their other post for Korean BBQ, which you have to find toward the very end of the post (third paragraph from the bottom). Did you miss it?? Yeah, I had to read the post a couple of times to find it, so I'll just quote it here:

Serve with your choice of vegetable or cauliflower rice. I simmered finely chopped cauliflower in a shallow pan with about 1/2 cup of chicken stock, teaspoon onion flakes and garlic powder until the stock cooked off. This created more of a "white rice" versus our fried rice recipe.

Sooo simple, and just so happens... I was at the Lancaster Farmer's Market last Thursday, and found a vendor selling heads of cauliflower. I bought one just to go with this recipe :) And BTW, I wish the cavegirls would quit posting such awesome sounding food... I might have to try it all!

Annnnyway... curry, yeah, that's where I'm going with this... So I have boneless, skinless chicken thighs, some carrots, a sweet potato (more paleo than a regular potato, aparently... plus... farmer's market again), a large white onion, about 4 garlic cloves, 2 jalapenos, some left over zucchini (from those zucchini fries I made, yum!) and some Golden Curry (because I'm lazy, and it's pretty good). And damn, I forgot the eggplant I got from someone at work (thanks, Michelle!) and the mushrooms! I had to cook those separate and add in at the end.

Bummer! I'll have to cook these separate and add to the finished product...

For the curry, I just browned the onions, garlic, and chicken, then added everything else. Use just enough water or chicken broth to cover, and bring to a boil. Add the curry, cover, and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the sweet potatoes are soft. In my case, add the cooked eggplant and mushrooms at this point (D'OH!!)

Finished curry

For the "rice," I kinda food processed it too much (I need to remember to break up the pieces smaller before dropping them in or they get stuck and the rest gets over processed). I also probably didn't cook it enough, since it was a little like mushy, watery oatmeal, not sticky rice consistency. It still tasted like cauliflower, so kinda disappointing. Hmmm... Maybe I'll try broccoli next time... I don't have a problem with green rice.

Finished cauliflower rice

So that's it... overall, pretty yummy! Actually, I had to have a bowl in the middle of writing this ;)

Curry was a little runny, but delish!

OK, there's one more image I have to show, but I have to warn you, it's a little graphic...


You probably don't want to see this...


Might be NSFW, at least I wouldn't want my boss to see this...


OK... here we go...

Graphic photo of the consequence of curry. Sometimes you lose one :(

Sous-Vide Steaks

So this sous-vide thing is all the rage right now (?) so I thought I'd try it. Couple of New York steaks, some salt and pepper, and about a beer cooler full of warm water (~140°F).  That's about it...

Here's some more info:
Obligatory Wikipedia link
Awesome Serious Eats Primer
Serious Eats sous-vide on the cheap

Basically, you hold the meat (vacuum sealed or in a zip-lock bag) at a constant temperature (I used a beer cooler) using a water reservoir at your cooking temperature (~140°F for medium, in my case).

Ready to go in the cooler (heater?)

Zip up the baggies until just a corner is unzipped and dunk in the cooler full of water at the proper temperature. Use this to help you get out all the air from the baggie (the water pressure will squeeze out the air).

Steaks in the cooler, water at 140°F

I only let out enough air so the steaks would rest on the bottom but float upright so they could have warm water on all sides.

Final temperature

After about 4 hours, the temp had gone from 140°F to 129°F. Oops, that's a little low, so I added boiling water until it was back up to 135°F. Now it's time to cook the veggies.

Carrots and asparagus cooked in the toaster oven:

1. Wash and pat dry

2.  Mix with some EVOO, salt, and pepper in foil or baking dish

3.  Bake @375 for about 10 minutes

Take the steaks out of the cooler, and throw in a pan at high heat with melted butter (just for color) for about 2 minutes. Add salt and pepper at this stage. Here is the final steak (ok, so I ate a few bites before I remembered to take a picture):

Pan seared for about 2 minutes