Quick Dinner Idea

So, seeing how right now our cupboards and fridge is getting pretty bare, I had to be a little bit creative with dinner the other night, and it had to be a quick made dinner. I was hungry.

I was thinking about what sounded good, and something Asian sounded good. I cut up a quarter of an onion, and crushed and minced some garlic. I also had a chicken thigh and removed the skin and bone, and then diced it up. I also grabbed some quick cook rice and garbonzo beans (aka chickpeas). The chickpea idea came from some Indian dishes that use chickpeas in a curry. I started by cooking the onion in a mix of canola oil and chili oil. I also started heating up some water to boil. after a few minutes I added the chicken, then the garlic after a few more minutes. I added the rice to the boiling water then removed it from the heat. Meanwhile I added the chickpeas to cook with the onion, chicken, and garlic. When the rice was done I added it to the pan. Following that I added some soy sauce, fish sauce, sriracha hot suace, lime juice, Madras curry powder, lime juice, and coconut milk. I let that simmer for another 5 minutes to tighten and thicken up a little bit. I then spooned it into the bowl and topped with peanuts. Total cooking time was less than 20 minutes and only two pans used, one for the rice and another for everything else. 

I thought the flavor was pretty good for just throwing things together. I ended up with a mix of Indian, Thai, Indonesian, and southern Chinese flavors. It had a nice acidity from the lime that complimented the heaviness of the coconut milk. There was a little heat, but not too much. The natural sweetness from the onion also added a nice counterbalance to the other flavors. The peanuts added some texture to the bowl. I might have to try and perfect this one.