Chicken Curry with Brown and Red Basmati Rice

A good curry is delicious and easy to make.  First take boneless skinless chicken breasts out of the fridge to warm up and get the rice cooking.  At this point in my culinary progress I prefer basmati rice for everything.  My favorite whole grain rice mix isn't carried in town anywhere so I've had to improvise. I used 1/3 cup of brown basmati and 1/4 cup of red basmati or red Thai rice. I find that half water and half stock gives a good background flavor to brown rice. I use american basmati that doesn't have to be washed and has a wonderful nutty flavor. Any rice you prefer will do fine except minute rice and ilk.  Processing food means taking the flavor out in favor of storage, portability and ease of preparation.  If you start with flavorless ingredients you will end up with flavorless meals.

1 onion diced
1 green pepper diced
1/4 cup pineapple pieces - canned is easier to work with or 1 red pepper diced or a spoonful of chutney
2 chicken breasts diced in bite size pieces
2 tablespoons curry powder
a pinch of cayenne or some hot sauce to taste
3 tomatoes diced
1 tablespoon flour in a plastic bag
chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste

Fry the onion in a sauce pan with a tablespoon of oil on medium high heat.  When it is translucent turn the heat down to medium and cook till they are golden. Add the green pepper.  When the pepper has sweated scrape everything onto a plate and put aside.   Add 2 tablespoons of oil to the pan and shake the chicken pieces in the flour. Put the chicken in the hot pan by the handful, shaking excess flour off in the bag.  Brown the chicken pieces on all sides

Turn the heat down to medium and add the curry powder and cayenne to the pan.  Add more oil if it gets dry while you stir the chicken around.  Put the green pepper and onion back in.  Add an ounce or two of chicken stock till it's not gummy and the tomatoes and pineapple. Turn the heat down and simmer it for 15 minutes. When the rice is done take it off the heat and fluff it with a fork.

Serve the curry over or beside the rice blend.  Some peas on the side work well to.