Chicken Peanut Curry or Addicted to Peanut Butter

I love peanut butter. I like it on sandwiches with or without jam, in cookies and in savoury dishes like satay and this Chicken Peanut Curry. The funny thing is that I remember the first time I tried it I didn't like it at all. You see, in Germany, it isn't as popular as in America and many people probably won't have heard of a PB&J Sandwich. So when I bought a jar some time in my teens I didn't enjoy it. I didn't mind the taste but hated the way it made your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth. Well, I have definitely been converted since.

The best peanut butter I have ever had is the freshly ground honey roast peanut butter from Whole Foods Market in America. I always by some when I'm there and bring it back, but as I don't get to go to the States regularly, I usually have a large jar of organic Suma Unsalted Chunky Peanut Butter in my cupboard, which is just that, chunky ground peanuts without any other additives.

I find peanut butter and peanuts quite addictive and can never just eat a handful or just one sandwich, which is bad and I have as a result been known to continue eating until I feel slightly unwell, which is not good and I'm ashamed to admit. What's the thing you can't stop eating?



Chicken Peanut Curry (serves 2)

1 large chicken breast fillet, diced
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 tbsp red curry paste, heaped (this time I used Korma paste)
2 tbsp chunky or smooth peanut butter
3/4 can of coconut milk
1 tsp ginger syrup (optional)
1 tbsp soy sauce or nam pla
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste

Heat a little vegetable oil in a frying pan and fry the onion and chicken until the chicken is sealed on the outside.

Add the pepper and the garlic and fry for another minute or so.

Add the rest of the ingredients and stir until everything is well combined.

Bring to a simmer and cook until your chicken is cooked through.

Serve with Jasmin rice.

Some pictures

Okay, so this doesn't have anything to do with cooking or even food, but many of you left comments saying they'd like to see some pictures from my holiday in Ireland, so I thought I'd be obliging and share a couple.......















Remember, if you haven't done so already you need to leave a comment on Returning with a Give Away by 31st August, for your chance to win a copy of The Irish Spirit cookbook!

The Omnivore's Hundred

I've seen this posted on a couple of blogs now and thought I'd join in.

Andrew over at Very Good Taste, posted a list containing 100 food items (well some I think you can call food if you're very adventurous), that he believes every omnivore should try in their lifetime. He encourages everyone to have a look at the list and see how they're doing with it.

So, without further ado here is the list. The items in orange are the ones I have tried and the ones that are in italics (I couldn't figure out how to do the strike through thingy) are the ones I don't think I could bring myself to try without getting very, very drunk first and even then the chances would still be rather slim.

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht (definitely something on my to try list for this atumn/winter)
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese (Someone suggested that the German Töttchen is pretty much the same and I have tried that when I was very little, didn't like it though!)
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar (I have had both, but never at the same time.)
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects (Do all those flies count that I have swallowed whilst cycling in the summer?)
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst (of course I have, I'm German)
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill (my dad once ran over a pheasant and my mum, plugged it, gutted it and put it in the pot)
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant. (Two stars had to do for me so far, I'm afraid)
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Go on try your own results and write about them on your blog, this is what Andrew wants you to do:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

Okay, I guess I'm not doing to badly 49 out of 100 I have tried (50 if you count the flies swallowed while cycling) and there are only 3 I wouldn't try. I have to admit though that I'd struggle with the Phal, because twice now I have attempted to try a Vindaloo and hated every bit of it. That's just too hot for me and the reason why I wouldn't try the Scotch Bonnet. I guess I'd try it though if it meant completing the list. It's the sweetbreads, brain and intestines that I'd really struggle with. I have had kidney and liver and like neither (strangely I do love pate and the foi gras wasn't that bad either, even though I have no intention of ever eating it again), so I don't think I'd want to try the others.

Sweetcorn Fritters

The other day I bought some cobs of corn and they'd been lying around in my fridge waiting for me to eat them. Usually, I would just grill the corn as it is and have it with a herb butter or just simply with some butter and salt and pepper, but I didn't really have anything to serve alongside and didn't want to go out spending more money on groceries this week either. Plus, tomorrow I have to draw the contents of my fridge for an artist book project I'm involved in, so I don't want to fill it up with more stuff (Be honest, is there ever a time when you go to the grocery shop and only pick up the thing you actually went in for?!), instead I wanted to empty it out a bit to make my job easier.

I've been meaning to try and make some sweetcorn fritters in ages, so I went searching the net and combined a number of different recipes to come up with this one. I had them with a simple tomato, cucumber and pepper side salad and some sweet chili dipping sauce. You can easily double the recipe and I'm sure frozen corn would work just as well instead of the fresh.



Fresh Sweetcorn Fritters (serves 2)

60gr plain flour
1tsp baking powder
1 pinch of cayenne pepper
1 pinch of salt
2tbsp milk
1 egg, beaten
1 cobs of corn, cooked and cooled
1/4 red pepper, chopped finely

Sift together the flour, baking powder, cayenne pepper and salt.

Add the milk and the egg and whisk until you get a smooth, thick batter.

Slice the corn kernels of the cobs and add them to the batter together with the red pepper, mix in well.

Heat some oil in a frying pan and place one heaped tablespoon in the pan for each fritter, pressing it down to spread the batter out a bit so it can cook evenly.

Fry until golden brown on both sides, place on some kitchen towel to soak up any extra oil when done and serve with your favourite dip.

Returning with a Giveaway

I am back and this time I should be around a bit before going off again, at least I hope so. I have survived the camping trip ( I never doubted that I would really, apart from maybe those hours I was kept awake during one very stormy night), getting back late on Thursday night. My sister and I had a lovely time. (Thank you I. for taking me with you!) Ireland has changed quite a bit since I last went there in 1995 it is definitely a great place to go on holiday.



Because I have been gone for so long and haven't been able to blog, I thought I'd do a little something special on my return. I brought back a cookbook from Ireland to give away to one of you. It's called The Irish Spirit by Margaret M. Johnson and contains recipes inspired by Irish drinks. So, if you like cooking with booze, or just like cookbooks and would like to add this one to your collection, all you need to do for a chance to win is to leave a comment on this post before 31st August 2008.

I'll be randomly drawing one name out of a hat once the deadline is gone, to determine the winner. If you're the lucky person I will then post out the book to you wherever you are.



Good Luck!