Curried Chicken a la Ande

My sewing machine hates me tonight. My thread knotted, I couldn't spin a bobbin to save my life and the tension was just all over the place. I gave up after I finished the first step in the blankets I was going to post a tutorial for, so here's a recipe for Curried Chicken a la Ande. I rarely make dishes like this (ranch dressing? really?) but I did it on a lark once and now my family can't get enough. Also, these pictures are really old. I was uploading my camera to the computer and found them - I think they're from last October. Yikes.

Disclaimer: This started out as a real recipe from somewhere. Some throwaway cookbook or something I was given/inherited/found randomly. I no longer have any idea where it came from, and I've been making it for about six years, so your guess is as good as mine. If you recognize it and can show me the original recipe, I'd love to credit it to someone because I didn't make it up myself. However, I'm 99% sure that this is so far removed from the original recipe I found that it wouldn't matter - I change everything.

Here's what you need:

• Ranch dressing (light is better, but I didn't have any on hand and I'm lazy)
• Lemon juice (I usually juice a real lemon but again, lazy)
• 1 bell pepper; red, orange or yellow. Or purple, but I can never get my hands on those.
• 1/2 red onion
• Pressed garlic (I used my backup garlic here because my real garlic had sprouted)
• Small package of slivered almonds (optional, but so good)
• Curry powder, yellow
• Olive oil
• 2c cooked rice
• 2lb diced chicken breast

 

 Do a thick julienne on your pepper and onion. I often add carrots and zucchini, I'm not sure why I didn't this time. Like I said, really old pictures. Who remembers what they were thinking seven months ago, anyway?

 Toast your almonds in a skilled over medium heat until they begin to brown. Medium heat is completely arbitrary - your stove and mine are probably completely different animals. It is very, very easy to burn almonds on the stove. Don't say I didn't warn you.

 I'm reasonably certain this picture was meant to indicate that you should measure out 1 1/2c ranch dressing. I can't help but think of several better ways to depict this now that I'm not taking pictures.

Add to your dressing 2T of lemon juice (aren't my nails pretty? I have them done at Van's. She does the sparkly french for me and I have a serious weakness for sparkly things).

And 2-4T of curry powder, depending on how much you like curry and how much you don't like your spouse. Or roommate. I won't tell you how much I use.

 And then add a little more than a tablespoon of garlic. I just eyeball the garlic, because in my opinion, more garlic = more awesome.

 Saute your chicken in 2T olive oil until cooked through and slightly crispy.

 I think this either got out of order or I forgot to mix the sauce ingredients together. At some point, you should combine the ranch, lemon juice, curry powder and garlic. Or don't, and see what happens. I'd mix though, if I were you.

 Add your toasted almonds to the sauce.

 In the same pan you cooked the chicken in (which you have now obviously removed, according to the picture) add a little more olive oil and saute those veggies.

 An action shot of the veggies being sauteed.

 Add the now cooked veggies to your pot of cooked rice.

 Gratuitous stirring shot.

 Add the chicken and the sauce back into the pan you cooked the veggies in and heat it through. It'll turn a brighter yellow and look a little oily - just stir. Stirring is definitely your friend here.

 Serve the sauce over the rice, of course. Ta da! You just made Curried Chicken a la Ande!

Up close, in case you were wondering what it would look like if you stuck your nose in a bowl of curried chicken. 

This is great served with naan bread (which you can usually buy in the deli section of your grocery store or fresh from a local Indian restaurant) and maybe someday I'll post a recipe for that. But not tonight. I'm tired and cranky and thanks to this post, very hungry for curry.