When life gives you freezer burned chicken, make chicken curry. Here’s a meal prep friendly recipe for chicken with rice, and an accidental life lesson on making do.

Time: 3/5
Comfortably done within an hour, maybe a bit more if you count the defrosting and knife work.

Effort: 3/5
Could have been a two if I just threw everything into the saucepan instead of browning the chicken.

Making Do

Sometimes things just don’t work out the way you intend. I got 2 packs of boneless skinless chicken thighs at a very good price, but after cooking the first pack I found that they were cheap for a reason – they tasted super freezer burned. In retrospect I should have known when I saw the ice crystals on the surface of the thighs, right inside the bag. Look before you buy, people.

Fortunately, like wise men before me have said: it’s not about what you got, it’s about how you use it. Knowing the characteristics of the materials you have gives you the power to work around their flaws. While this chicken won’t taste good on its own, it could still function as a protein in a stew or a curry where it can rely on the sauce to provide the flavour.

I happen to have half a jar of Malaysian-style curry paste hanging out in the fridge which I’ve almost forgotten about. There’s no shame in using store bought shortcuts, especially if you’re a busy home cook with priorities outside of the kitchen. At the end of the day, you’re still putting cheap and nutritious food on the table.

So off we go, to Malaysian-style curry chicken over rice for this week. It turned out pretty well. Wet cooking undos some of the damage from the freezer burn, and in a dish like this you don’t need the chicken to be super high quality. Unlike other cooking techniques, where you do as little as possible to the meat to really showcase the ingredient, like steamed chicken.

I made everything except the rice right inside my stainless steel pan, because afterwards it can go right inside my dishwasher. It amazes me how long I’ve been sleeping on a dishwasher – it handles all the heavy lifting, so I can concentrate on the part of cooking I actually enjoy. I highly recommend getting a dishwasher if you don’t already have one.

Dramatis Personae

Served six.

Chicken – 1kg boneless skinless thighs

In my opinion, chicken thighs are the king of meal prep proteins. They come in affordable big packages, and you don’t need to worry about overcooking them. Cutting them while they’re still half-frozen is easier than doing so when they’re fully defrosted, soft and slippery.

While you could leave the thighs whole, dicing them up gives them more surface area to absorb flavour with, and gives you more flexibility with portion sizes (which is especially relevant if you’re cooking for more than one person)

Curry paste – ~100g

Straight from the store. A 226g jar is supposed to go with 1.5kg of meat, but at that sort of ratio it’s much saltier and spicier than I like it. Just as there’s no shame in using store bought ingredients, there’s no shame in adjusting proportions to your liking.

Coconut milk – ~100g

A big enough splash that you get enough liquid to cover the chicken. You may have to supplement with some water, if you want to go light on the coconut milk to watch your calories.

String beans – 2lbs

Always eat your veggies! 2lbs is a conservative amount for 6 portions, but the market sells them by the bunch and it’s hard to get exact amounts. I want these to act as a fresh counterpoint to the rich curry, so I’m cooking them with two cloves of minced garlic and a squeeze of lemon juice. Salted to taste, of course.

Others

Optionally garnish with fresh herbs. Cilantro is an obvious choice, but I have a pot of Thai basil growing outside my windowsill and it gave the finished dish a wonderful aroma as well as a pop of colour.

Executive summary

1. Defrost and cut chicken into cubes.
2. Make rice.
3. Cut string beans into sections. Wash and drain. Mince garlic. Dice chicken thighs.
4. Stir fry beans in a bit of oil over medium heat. Add garlic when beans are almost done, and salt to taste. Add lemon juice with the heat off.
5. In the same pan, brown chicken in batches and reserve.
6. Return browned chicken to pan. Bloom curry paste in the middle of the pan, then stir to combine.
7. Add coconut milk, and a bit of water if needed. Simmer chicken in curry for about 10 minutes.
8. Assemble and serve, with optional garnish.

Play by Play

I want to keep the vegetables clean and fresh-tasting to counteract the richness of the curry. Since I’m only using one pan, the beans go in first. Cut, wash and drain.

Pan on medium heat, bit of oil in. The beans get a head start before the garlic, to keep the garlic from burning. Salt lightly, stir occasionally until almost done then kill the heat. Give it a squeeze of lemon off the heat, and toss to combine.

Working in two batches, I browned the chicken a bit. Normally I wouldn’t bother to do so in a curry as the sauce is plenty flavourful, but the chicken isn’t the best quality and they’ll need all the help they can get.

Blooming spices is always a good idea. Both batches of chicken are back in the pan to cool things down a bit, which allows me to fry the curry paste without fear of burning it.

The silicone spatula did a pretty good job of getting the curry paste out of the jar. I’ll rinse out what’s left with a splash of water and add it to the pan as well.

Tossing the chicken pieces in the curry paste helps disperse the paste, which means less effort combining it with the coconut milk.

At this point you could simmer it for potentially forever, but at least 10 minutes to let the chicken pieces cook through and take on some of the flavour.

And we’re good to go! Plate up, garnish and enjoy.

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