That Was Dessert; This is the Main Course: Thai Curry Pasta

I think one of the best things to happen in modern times is the globalization of the world. This has enabled us to learn so much about cultures around the world, and be connected. I love the concept of cultural diffusion, so I try to mix and match dishes occasionally. Here, the traditional Thai curry mingles with Italian pasta. I do think, however, that linguine would serve better than bow-tie pasta.

Serves: 2
Prep Time: 10 min*
Cook Time: 20 min
Approx Calories: 560 without the pasta (varies with pasta)


* I say 10 min bc marinating takes the longest. Otherwise, the prep is pretty straightforward and easy.

Ingredients:

To marinate chicken:
2 Cut Chicken breasts
1/2 cup tomato paste
1/4 cup basil
Salt according to taste

For the dish:
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup mushrooms
1/2 cup onions
1/2 tsp garlic
1/2 cup green peppers
2 cups coconut milk
1 tbsp curry powder
1 tsp fish sauce

Pasta of choice. Linguine would be my next trial, because although bow-tie was delicious, it would probably be better if we use linguine.

Step 1: Marinating the chicken

Tomato-basil is prevalent in a lot of Italian cuisine. Basil is also used in Thai cooking (who knew!). Heck, I didn't realize that basil is actually tulasi (तुलसी)--the stuff that grows in our gardens that us Nepalese worship as Vishnu! Stuff we find out through Wikipedia. Anyway--so to make this dish, marinating the chicken is important. I cheated and bought marinated chicken from Hy-vee. But for those of you who don't have this readily available--fear no more! Marinating is really reaaaly easy. You just rub the spices and whatnot onto what you are marinating, and store it in the fridge (covered of course) for a few hours. Boom!

For this dish, mix the tomato paste, basil and salt together in a small bowl. Then put the chicken and be sure to coat all sides. Cover with saran wrap and store it in the fridge for a few hours. You can add extra spices too, but that's totally up to you.

Step 2: Dish itself

After the chicken has been marinated for 3 hours (ish. The more the better), cut in small pieces and set aside.

Chop mushrooms and onions and add to a heated wok/saucepan with 1 tbsp of olive oil. Sautee the mushroom and onion until onion browns. Add the chicken to the pan, along with the curry powder and cook until the chicken is not pink anymore. Add finely chopped peppers and cook for about 1 minute. Add coconut milk and fish sauce, and stir it together. Simmer for about 10 minutes.

Step 3: Pasta
While the dish is simmering, prepare the pasta. I'm not going to spend time here on that. Look it up here.

After the pasta is done, serve in a plate with the dish on top of the pasta. Be sure to use the sauce.

mm mmm goood

[update]

I tried it with Basmati rice this afternoon for lunch, and it works just as well!