Curry along sweetie the heat will get you...

Yup turns out am a fan of curry after all these years. If you like spicy Mexican of Szechuan you'll love the deep rich spicy flavor of curry. Got hooked on the stuff when I tried a recipe a few months back, since then its been experimenting with curry.

This recipe has a jumble of flavors some Thai, some classic Indian but tasty none the less. It is spicy, but I suppose you could dial it back if you want by reducing the amount of chili peppers in it.

Thai chilis are so hard to find at my local grocery but I learned on the food channel you can swap out a couple of red jalapenos for them with great success. Which is what I do, can't justify spending a ton in gas tracking down just one chili and no need since red jalapeno are so easy to find at my local groc.

I have learned the hard way that it is best to crush your cardamom seed pods and just extract the seeds for your cooking. The pod itself is way too harsh a spice and if you bite into it you've ruined your mouth for the next few bites. Seriously take the couple of seconds required to bust open the pods and extract the seeds. A little of them go a long way but at least you don't have a big nasty mouthful of pod when you toss them after a seed extraction.

Thai Chicken Curry

• 1 1/2 lbs chicken - 1" dice
• 1 bell pepper coarse diced
• 2 red minced
• 1 onion coarse diced
• 1 bunch spring onion, diced, green tops reserved.
• 1 T garlic
• 1T olive oil
• 1 T sesame oil
• 4 cardamom seed pod crushed and seeds removed
• 2 T curry powder
• 1 T cumin
• 2 T soy sauce
• 1 T fish sauce
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 c water
• 2 T peanut butter
• Chopped cilantro
• green onion tops
• salt to taste.

Heat oil over medium high flame until shimmering. Add the diced vegetables and stir fry until onion is translucent. Add garlic and cook 1 minute longer. Remove from pan. Add chicken, curry powder, cumin and cardamom seeds and stir fry until well browned.

Return veggies to pan. Add coconut milk, water, soy sauce, fish sauce and peanut butter, stir until smooth. Test for salt and add some if needed. Bring to boil then reduce heat. Simmer, stirring occasionally for 30 minutes. Serve over rice with a sprinkle of green onion tops and cilantro.