Nr.6 Daring Cook's Challenge - Nut Butter and Chicken with Curried Tomato Almond Sauce

Chicken with Curried Tomato Almond Sauce

The July 2010 Daring Cooks' Challenge was hosted by Margie of More Please and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make their own nut butters from scratch, and use the nut butter in a recipe. Their sources include Better with Nut Butter by Cooking Light Magazine, Asian Noodles by Nina Simonds, and Food Network online.

There is unbelievable variety of opportunities out there to make nut butters from nuts or seeds. I went for the almond butter. The technology behind it quite simple, just get some nuts or seeds and put them in the food processor and let the machine do the work for you. I don't have a food processor, so I was using my hand mixer. I definitely suggest to use the food processor if you've got one. My poor hand mixer was close to smoking. The mixture wasn't quite coming together like a butter is suppose to, so I added little bit of olive oil, for it to help to combine. You can admire the result below on the photo.

By the way for the Chicken Tomato Curry recipe it suggests to take out the onion as it's meant to be a smooth sauce, but I kept it in. I like chunky texture. Also, all that almond butter and butter in the sauce, makes it a very rich meal, so I would easily serve it for more than 4 unless the eaters are big big big people. And the recipe is definitely a keep and a delicious meal. I encourage you to try it!

My very first almond butter

Chicken with Curried Tomato Almond Sauce


1 Tablespoon (15 ml) olive oil


170g

boneless, skinless chicken breast halves


Salt to taste

Spice Blend:


1.5 tablespoons (20 ml) garam masala seasoning


1 teaspoon (5 ml) ground ginger


1/2 teaspoon (2 ml) ground cinnamon


1/4 teaspoon (1 ml) black pepper

Sauce:


4 tablespoons (60 ml) butter


1 large onion, cut in half pole to pole


2 cloves garlic, minced


1 425 g can tomato sauce


⅓ cup (80 ml) almond butter


⅓ cup (80 ml) milk


½ to ¾ cup (120 to 180 ml) chicken broth or water, more as needed


1 cup (240 ml) frozen peas (optional)

Hot basmati rice for serving
Chopped parsley (optional garnish)
Sliced almonds (optional garnish)

Directions:

Cook the chicken. If desired, pound chicken to ¼ inch (6 mm) thickness to promote even

cooking. Sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper to taste. Heat 1 teaspoon (5 ml) olive oil a

large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add half the chicken; sauté 3 to 5 minutes on

each side or until cooked through. Cook the chicken in 2 batches, adding more oil if needed

for second batch. Dice chicken into bite-sized pieces; set aside on clean plate and keep

warm.

Prepare spice blend. Stir garam masala, ginger, cinnamon, and pepper together in a small

bowl. Set aside.

Melt the butter in large nonstick skillet over medium-low heat. Add the onion and cook

gently for several minutes to infuse the butter with onion flavor. Keep the heat low to avoid

burning the butter; a little color is fine. Add the spice blend and garlic and cook for 1 minute

or till fragrant, stirring constantly. Add the tomato sauce, stir well, and bring to boil. Reduce

heat to simmer. Whisk in almond butter and milk until thoroughly combined with tomato

sauce. The almond butter is thick so it takes a while to make a smooth sauce. Return to

simmer. Add broth (or water) to sauce to reach desired consistency; return to simmer. Add

more broth (or water) as needed to thin sauce as desired.

Remove onion from sauce and discard. Stir frozen peas (if using) into sauce. Transfer sliced

chicken to sauce. Simmer gently for a few minutes until peas and chicken are heated

through.

Serve chicken and sauce over rice. Garnish with chopped parsley and/or sliced almonds if

desired.