Coconut Curry Chicken (GFCF)

Tonight for dinner we had a family favorite Coconut Curry Chicken with Rice. It is not too labor intensive but in my mind if it takes prep work it is not a quick meal either. We made quite a bit which we always do because it freezes well and we all love the left overs! This has a lot of flavor, a creamy sweet richness and the heat from the curry gives it a wonderful spicy finish! Also this is one of the few dishes I think taste even better as left overs. The longer the better!

Ingredients:
3 TBS Peanut Oil
4 TBS Red Curry paste
1 cup chopped green onion
1.5 tsp dried minced garlic 
1 large tomato diced
1 tsp fish sauce
2 tsp salt
canned Coconut milk 20 oz (1.5 cans)
2-2.5 lbs skinless chicken breast cubed (can use less but decrease other ingredients only slightly NOT proportionally or may not have enough flavor)


Directions:
1. Cook Peanut Oil and Curry Paste for 5 minutes Med-Low heat
2. Add Onion and Garlic to pan and saute for 5 mins
3. Add Chicken and salt. Cook until it is no longer pink
4. Add Tomato, fish sauce and coconut milk
5. Simmer uncovered for 30 minutes
6. Salt to taste and serve

We like it served over white rice (to soak up all that yummy sauce!)

SHORT ON TIME IN THE EVENING??
I have a great solution and I actually prefer the flavor to the traditional way above but it does take more steps and overall time.
1. Cube and cook the chicken in oil
2. In a freezer bag put curry, fish sauce, garlic and coconut milk, mix well.
3. Put chicken into bag and put in fridge for when you are ready to make dinner
4. Can cut up onion and tomato now and put in fridge until dinner or cut up at dinner if you have time
5. When ready to cook put veggies and bag of sauce and chicken in a sauce pan and heat on Med heat for 20-30 minutes (until nice and hot)

Chicken Nuggets - a kids staple and cooking ahead

One of the best investments in cooking tools that we have purchased since going allergy free is our mini fry daddy. I am still in disbelief that I actually own an appliance for deep frying since I have always been such a crazy health nut. Priorities changed though when I needed my allergy free child to eat. Plus he is so skinny a little deep frying might do some good.

About once every couple of weeks we break out the fryer and make a bunch of something. This time we made sweet potatoe fries and chicken nuggets. We marinade 7 breast in a bowl of zesty italian ($1/bottle) and let it sit in the fridge at least one hour (longer = more flavor). I like to use my kitchen sissors and cut the breast up into chuncks before they marinade (more flavor), but my husband marinates then cuts them with a knife. The kids like them no matter what. It is really hard to mess up deep frying hence the regularity of doing it.

To bread the pieces we use 1/2 potato starch and half corn masa (corn flour for making corn tortillas). My husband like to add spices to the mix, like paprika, italian seasoning, cajun mix. I just add some salt and pepper. We like to use a plastic bag and put the (wet) marinated chicken pieces in the bag and shake. You could also use a plate and coat each side but it will probably take longer.

We use peanut oil and fry the chicken pieces in a basket approx 5 mins. We put paper towles on a baking sheet and dump them out. We serve them for that meal and make pleanty of left overs. We put the left overs in a freezer bag, roll the air out and freeze. When we are ready to use we take out the desired # of nuggets (and fries) then microwave (about 1 min for 8 nuggets).

If you want a consistancy more like asian sweet and sour (fried) chicken you can use a corn starch dip. First you put a cup of cornstarch the add a cup of water then stir. Let that sit about an hour (until water starts seperating) and pour off excess water. Now you have a sticky paste. Dry the meat and dip then fry. This will need a sauce on top post frying -traditionally sweet and sour. 

I love to have a quick easy non-cook kid food available in the freezer. When we first went allergy free we were buying chicken nuggets and they were $8/box. One box would feed both kids twice (maybe three times if we really stretched it). We could not afford to feed them several dollars in nuggets too often! I was relutant to buy a fryer but I can say it paid for it's self on the first batch of nuggets we made. We have also breaded and baked nuggets and meats, as well as pan fry, but the results are not always as sucessful with the kids. The breading falls off much easier and is not as crispy. We still do it because  it IS healthier, but sometimes I just need to have something I KNOW my kids will excitedly eat and that can be heated up fast! Fried nuggets do that for us.

Please take a moment to answer in the comments (and add any comments on the post of course!)
What is your preferred "go to" kid meal in a time crunch?