Pineapple Curry Chicken

Do you have one of those recipes that started out as one thing, then over the years, it has morphed into something else?  This is one of those.

The original was whole pieces of chicken, served with a curry sauce on top that had pineapple in it.  It has gradually turned into a, use-what-you-have, one-pot curry.  The only ingredients that are absolutely necessary are a can of coconut milk, some sort of curry powder or paste, vegetables and/or a protein.  And if you live at my sister's house, fish sauce.  She says it ain't curry if it doesn't have fish sauce.  I rarely use it, but feel free to add some to taste. 

This would be more than delicious as a vegetarian dish. 

Here's the recipe with my notes:

Pineapple Curry Chicken

1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken, cut into pieces (I used breasts this time, but I prefer thighs - you could also omit the chicken or substitute tofu)
1 tsp curry powder + more to taste (paste is fine as well)
1 can coconut milk (lite is fine)
1 Tbsp packed brown sugar
1/2 a fresh pineapple, cut into bite-sized chunks (canned is fine)
2 C chopped fresh vegetables (this time I used a red bell pepper, broccoli, and cauliflower)
1 can garbanzo beans (again, these are optional, but I had most of a can open, so I threw them in and they were delicious)
1 sliced hot pepper (I used a jalapeno this time - serranos are good too)

Sprinkle your chicken with the 1 tsp of curry powder and 1 tsp of salt.  In a skillet, heat 1 Tbsp of oil and brown chicken pieces on both sides, in batches if necessary.  Remove and set aside.

Add more oil if necessary and brown your veggies.  Remove veggies and brown your pineapple to get it nice and caramelized.  (You can skip the browning of the veggies if you're trying to get dinner on the table quicker.  Just throw them all in with the chicken when it's done browning.)

Add garbanzo beans.

Stir in the coconut milk and brown sugar.  Add more curry powder, or paste, to taste.  You can add the fish sauce at this point as well.

Cover and simmer until the chicken is cooked through.  Fifteen minutes or so.

Serve over rice.  If you have some fresh cilantro or basil, that's good sprinkled on top.  I had basil this time.

SPICE ALERT:

If you have kids or adults with sensitivity to spice, don't put the hot pepper in to simmer with the other veggies.  I've never had a problem with it being too spicy until this last time.  Must have been a hot batch of peppers.  It had some serious kick and was way too spicy for the kids.  They ended up just eating rice with the chicken and garbanzo beans.  No sauce.

You can just serve the peppers fresh on top if you think it will be an issue.

Here's dinner on my plate:

So good.

And super quick, too.

You could definitely get this on the table in 30 minutes, especially if you already had your veggies cut up.

The Dad took all the leftovers to work for lunch, darnit.

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