Curry in a Hurry

Indian food is probably my favorite international cuisine. There's nothing quite like spicy dal, hot fresh garlic naan, or savory chicken tikka. But the one thing that makes cooking Indian food on workdays or even busy weekends hard is that the preparation and actual cooking time can easily take well over an hour or two. Who has time for that?

Because my family loves Indian food and yet I don't always have a lot of time to prepare it, I've come up with a couple of easy recipes for meals that though not authentic Indian, have a bit of Indian flavor to them. These satisfy our craving for Indian food until I manage to carve out time to make the real thing.

Here's one quick and easy "Indian" recipes I've come up with:

Hurry Chicken Curry

1 onion, thinly sliced
1.5 pounds boneless chicken breast, cut into 1" cubes
1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 heaping tbsp garam masala
1 cup beer
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp. cumin seeds

Heat oil in a heavy skillet over medium high heat. When the oil is hot, toss in the cumin seeds and allow them to cook until they emit a nice aroma and turn a reddish brown color. This generally takes about 30 seconds.

Add the sliced onion and cubed chicken to the skillet and cook until the onion is translucent and the chicken is browned on each side.

Stir in the garam masala and cook and stir for about 1 minute.

Mix in the can of undrained tomatoes, 1 tomato can of water and the beer. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for at least 20 minutes, until the flavors have mixed well and the chicken is cooked all the way through. If the sauce is more watery than you like, cook for a few additional minutes to give the sauce time to thicken a bit.

While the chicken dish is cooking, cook some white rice and serve the curry chicken over the top of the rice.

This also goes well with Indian style salad which is simply sliced tomatoes, sliced cucumbers, thinly sliced red onions and chopped cilantro. Squeeze a bit of lemon juice over the top of the sliced vegetables and sprinkle with some salt and pepper and you have a nice fresh, authentic Indian salad to serve with your hurry curry.

This is a great dish to serve any time of the year, but is especially nice served in the summer since the cooking time is short and won't heat up your kitchen too much.

Related Content by Rebecca Livermore:

I Fell in Love with Cooking in a Kitchen in India

How to Make Naan Bread

Easy Indian Style Lentils Recipe