cashew chicken curry

Made this curry last week.

It was good because it used cashews, one of my favorite nuts.

Cashew Chicken Curry adapted from "Hajimete no Spice Curry" makes 2 servings
1 tablespoon oil
1/2 onion, diced
1 nub of ginger, grated
2 small green bell peppers, cleaned and chopped
1 clove garlic, grated
150 grams canned diced tomatoes
50 grams cashews, unsalted
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon ground coriander
200 mililiters hot water
1 piece of grilled chicken thigh, cut into bite sized pieces
1/4 cup skim milk

Puree tomatoes and cashews in a mixer to make a paste
In a frying pan, add the oil and on a medium high heat cook the onions and ginger.
Add the bell peppers and cook until the color changes.
Add the garlic.
Add the cashew paste and cook until the liquid evaporates.
Then add the turmeric, cayenne and coriander and cook for 30 seconds.
Then add the hot water and bring back to a boil.
Cook on medium low heat for 15 minutes.
Add the chicken to heat
And add the milk and heat through.
Serve over rice.

NOTES: this recipe was fairly easy. I used pre-cooked chicken but you could use raw, just add it after the hot water and simmer for 15 minutes. I was also supposed to use a half cup of cream, but didn't have any, so used milk instead. The recipe also called for hard boiled eggs, but I omitted that part.

I thought the cashews would make this curry a little sweeter but it didn't. It was quite spicy, which was a good thing. I'm making this one again.

blueberry-cashew scones and a new blog

Every 15th of each month, a bake shop in our shopping arcade gives away a dish or bowl if you purchase 600yen worth of merchandise or more.

During August, the bake shop had an ad showing what giveaways were coming up for the rest of the year--October through December caught my eye...cafe au lait bowls!

In most interior/kitchenware shops, cafe au lait bowls have been priced at about 1000 yen or so. Hopefully you can understand my excitement to get them for about 600yen's worth, give or take.

I decided that we should initiate our cafe au lait bowls along with some scones for breakfast...I wanted to try making them using cashews and blueberries. I used this recipe for the scones and added 1/4 cup dried blueberries and 1/4 cup unsalted roasted cashews.

After measuring out all the dry ingredients, I added the blueberries and cashews. Then added the cream and followed the rest of the recipe.

NOTES: the cashew and blueberry combination went well in the scones and with the cafe au lait.

I also wanted to mention that I've started a new blog, which displays my crafts called My Craft Adventures. It includes a lot of my beading from 3 years ago--when I first started. If you're interested, please check it out.

blueberry-cashew bread

With the weather turning drastically cold the past couple of days, I think the "cold" season has officially started here. My student emailed me to say that she wasn't feeling well and wanted to cancel our lesson today. Since I now had some time on my hands, I decided to bake some bread.

I had seen this blueberry-cashew bread in the neighborhood bakery before and decided to re-create it.

I used the butter roll recipe that comes with the yeast packets and added cashews and blueberries to the dough before baking. I didn't know how much of the cashews or blueberries to put into the bread, and put just a little. Now I know, I could have put WAY more...

Still, the rolls rose very nicely and you get cashew and blueberry in every bite.