Thai Spicy Coconut Curry Chicken

I usually don't post about food, but here it goes...

I live in an average sized town. With average restaurants. So when I craved Thai food one night, I knew that going to my local Thai restaurant was out of the question. We got great Cajun and great Chinese. But no Thai.

So I decided to make some coconut curry chicken - my fave dish. I got the recipe from foodnetwork.com, and the BEST thing about this site is that people can comment on the recipe. Usually the comments consist of ways to make the recipe better and mistakes to avoid. So I altered the recipe a bit.

And it was melt in your mouth good.

I just had to share - for those of you out there WITHOUT a fab Thai restaurant around the corner:

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons butter
• dash of olive oil
• 1-inch piece ginger, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons curry powder
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon powder
• 1 to 2 cans green chilies (usually found in the ethnic section)
• red pepper flakes
• cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper
• 1.5 cans coconut milk
• 1.5 cups chicken stock
• 2 tomatoes
• 4 chicken breasts cut into 1 in cubes
• 1 vidalia onion
• 1 bunch green onions
• chopped jalapeno peppers
• chopped cilantro
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 4 - 5 carrots, sliced

Directions

1. Heat the butter and olive oil in a large pot over medium
2. Add the onions, ginger, garlic and carrots and cook slowly till the onions are soft - 15 min.
3. Add the tomato paste, curry powder, cinnamon, chilies, salt and pepper and chopped jalapeno and stir well
4. Add the coconut milk and chicken stock and bring it to a simmer
5. Cook until the sauce has thickened - 30 minutes (some people said that they had to cook it for an hour until it thickened, but 30 min to 45 should do it with the adjustments I made to the ingredients)
6. Add the tomatoes, chicken, cilantro (just a bit chopped) and lemon juice. cook until chicken is cooked through - 15 min
7. Season with red pepper and cayenne pepper to reach the perfect spiciness!

Serve with jasmine rice.