Quick, Delicious, Dairy and Soy Free Indian Food

First let me start by saying I'm sorry I haven't had time to take pretty pictures for my posts. The fact that I'm able to find time to post still amazes me, given that I'm juggling so much at home these days. That being said, I'll try in the future to get some good pictures of the food I make, as that's one of my favorite things about looking at other blogs. HA!

But back to the subject of this post....Indian food. I love it. I've never cooked much at home, but I like going to Indian buffets a lot. At least I used to. Now that I'm dairy and soy free, I don't dare, since most Indian food has yogurt in it, and you can never be sure at a buffet what's in the food you're eating. So last week I was shopping at Costco with my father, and started perusing products looking for things I could eat...and boy did I hit the jack pot. In the refrigerated section where they sell pesto, salsa, etc. I found Maya Kaimal Indian Cocount Curry Simmering Sauce. It's dairy and soy free (not that the ingredients list on their web site says it contains vegetable oil (which is usually soybean oil), but the ingredients on the actual package say canola oil, so it's OK).

Tonight, we tried the sauce, along with homemade roti (a sort of Indian flat bread) that I made from scratch. It was AWESOME!!! If you like Indian food and have a Costco near you, run run run out and buy this sauce. It's super tasty and really fast to throw together for dinner. Here's the rundown....

Indian Coconut Curry with Chicken and Green Beans

Serves 3-4

1/2 container Maya Kaimal Coconut Curry Indian Simmer Sauce

1 1/5 lbs. skinless boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 cup fresh green beans, trimmed
Canola oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Lightly coat the bottom of a nonstick pan with canola oil, and cook the chicken until it's mostly done. Pour the coconut curry sauce into the pan with the chicken, and simmer for 5-6 minutes. Add the trimmed green beans, and simmer until the beans are just slightly tender and the chicken is cooked through. Season with salt and pepper as needed.

Serve over white rice, with Roti on the side (I used this recipe for roti, following it exactly, except I used canola oil instead of vegetable oil).
Next time I'm going to toss in some cauliflower too - and potatoes would also be awesome.

Dinner ideas: Thai Chicken Curry

One of the challenges I've found about being dairy and soy free, is coming up with ideas for dinner. There are tons of non-dairy, non-soy dinner ideas out there, but I get so hung up on what I can't have, that I have a hard time coming up with ideas for dinner. Not sure if you all have had that same challenge, but I thought I'd start a series with ideas for dinner, in case you find it helpful too.

Tonight I had some leftover roasted chicken, and not a lot of time to make dinner. I also had a can of coconut milk in the pantry. I did a quick online search and decided to try making coconut curry with chicken. It was fast, easy, and tasted great. You can easily add more veggies and/or leave the chicken out, depending on your tastes.

Thai Chicken Curry

recipe adapted from Epicurious.com.

• 1 14-ounce can unsweetened coconut milk, whisked to blend
• 1 1/4 teaspoons Thai curry paste
• 1 large red bell pepper, cut into 1/3-inch-wide strips
• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
• 1 pound chicken, cooked and shredded (I used leftovers from a roasted chicken)
• 1 tablespoon (packed) brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 cup chopped seeded tomatoes
• 1/3 cup thinly sliced fresh basil
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• Salt, to taste

Bring 1/4 cup coconut milk and curry paste to boil in large skillet over medium-high heat, whisking constantly. Add bell pepper and onion; sauté 5 minutes. Stir in chicken, remaining coconut milk, sugar and fish sauce. Heat through, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Stir in remaining 3 ingredients and simmer 1 minute. Season with salt. Server over rice.

You can also add other veggies - I through some sliced zucchini in with the tomatoes and it added a nice pop of green color and tasted great.