Dinner Revised to Chicken Curry

Do you every plan something for dinner and then just not feel in the mood for it?  That was me tonight.  It's hot again (okay, maybe not hot hot, but we had to turn the air back on) and I just wasn't in the mood for my quinoa and zucchini and beans meal that was planned.  I made the beans earlier today, so those are ready to go both for dinner tomorrow night as well as some other time.  Earlier in the day I had decided to add some chicken to the quinoa meal, so that was thawing.  Since I just wasn't in the mood for our usual dish, I went to one of my favorite cooking/recipe sites, The Kitchn, to get some ideas.  I wanted quinoa so I searched for some quinoa recipes.  One click led to another and I was on my way to some great Indian recipes.  Now, Indian recipes use rice instead of quinoa, but hey, why not substitute?  Another click or two led me to this great base recipe for Indian Chicken Curry.  I had everything on hand with the exception of the coconut milk.  A quick call to Mom's Pantry remedied the situation! :)  A can was delivered right away along with some time with Grammie Julie for the kiddos.  The bonus tonight, everyone had seconds!

My Version of Indian Chicken Curry
Ingredients
small bit of olive oil
1/2-1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
3 T curry
1 t cinnamon
1 t paprika
1/2 t sugar
1/2-1 t fresh ginger root*, minced
salt
2 boneless skinless chicken breast halves cut in to bite sized pieces
1-2 T tomato paste*
1 can coconut milk**
couple dashes of cayenne pepper
Frozen peas
Chickpeas

How To
Warm the olive oil in large skillet.  Add the chopped onion and cook over medium heat until slightly browned.  Add all of the rest of the ingredients except for the cayenne pepper, peas, and chickpeas.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes.  Add in desired amount of green peas and chickpeas and let simmer for about 5 minutes.  A minute or so before serving add in a touch of cayenne pepper.
*I keep a ginger root in a baggie in my freezer so that it is ready to go when needed.  Just set it out a for a few minutes to soften a bit then use a sharp knife to slice some ginger off, cut off the skin edges, then chop it up.  Fresh ginger always on hand!
*Rarely do I use an entire can of tomato paste when I open it.  So, I just put however much is left over in to a small baggie and spread it out and freeze it.  To use, just break some off and pop it in to your dish as needed.  Never waste tomato paste again.
**The original recipe called for 3/4 cup of coconut milk and 1 cup of plain yogurt. To keep it dairy free I just added the entire can of coconut milk and it turned out great.  Some of the reviews did the same as me and some did the opposite--all yogurt and no coconut milk.  Some used neither and subbed in half and half and cream cheese.  Also, the original recipe called for some lemon juice to be added at the end.  I had planned on doing that, but forgot. Oh and it called for a bay leaf too, but I didn't have that either.  It still tasted great!

Serving
Tonight I served this over the quinoa (cooked in chicken broth) however I bet eating it with rice instead would make the dish taste even better!  Also, serving it with naan would be fabulous too.

Enjoy!
Shared on Today's Creative Blog 
and on Momnivore's Dilemma