The unexpected two+ months hiatus.

Hello hello! My apologies for the unexpected hiatus that I recently took from my blog. No worries my dear readers, I still love this blog and love to cook. I've been heavily focused on school and working hard to get my degree :D and hence, my blogging/cooking time has reduced significantly. The good part is, the hard work has paid off well (at least for the last quarter). I will try to put more effort into blogging, but also try to keep it as genuinely passionate as possible. :] For tonight's dinner, I spontaneously, for the first time in a long time, wanted to cook for the pleasure of cooking, and out of desire for something to romance my palate. After experimenting, I concocted a delicious meal! I would like to declare that this isn't a recipe post, but rather a reminder on the happiness of food for me. :D Also, there is a confession I must make in regards to tonight's dinner: tonight was the very first, FIRST, time ever in my life that I cooked carrot (sticks). Orange carrots aren't really part of my cultural/native cuisine and hence it's not really involved in my meals. But! I do strongly enjoy the quick and healthy snack of carrot sticks and ranch dressing. :] But back to the point--yes, it is the first time EVER. It was experimental, but delicious. I will try to repeat the concoction again and then post up a recipe.

So, tonight's dinner:

Herb baked chicken with curry braised carrots over julienne lettuce served with white rice. 

A close up of the deliciousness :D

Herb baked chicken (hindquarter) with curry braised carrots over julienne fresh lettuce served with hot, fresh, white rice. :]

@90 miles. They served water in jars :D

 Also on another note, recently I had finally reached the age of 21 and went out for an exquisite treat: Cuban food! I went to a very popular local place called 90 Miles (in reference to the southern most point of the eastern US to Cuba) located up on the north side of Chicago. Ever since I went to Miami for spring break vacation last year, I fell in love with Cuban food. Although I don't get much of it back in Chicago, it's a nice treat for special occasions. My boyfriend and I ate ourselves full on congri, chuletas, ropa vieja, and frijoles :D. It was such a wonderful meal.

My order of ropa vieja with congri & maduros. 

My boyfriend's order of chuletas with rice and frijoles. 

Well my dear readers, I'm off to conquer the world! I promise to return soon with recipes and ideas for the love of your palate!

Steamed Tilapia

Hello hello! Here's another fish recipe (which I do so rare! yet love fish so much) that is simple with minimal ingredients. We just had dinner not too long ago and have been stuffed ever since. The mothers keep coming around and bringing food so we've been trying to cram everything down before anything goes to waste :(. But! That does not stop me from cooking. I bought this fish yesterday afternoon but got caught up with things and couldn't have cooked it till today. Usually, like all seafood, fresh is best. No argument. So, if you go buy a fresh fishy it's always best to cook it within that day. Holding it off a day isn't a crime, but not exactly the best idea. While also, never, EVER freeze fresh fish. That's a felony right there. Lucky for me, I have fairly easy access to a Chinese fish market that keeps tanks of live tilapia in the store to let you pick out and they do a rough prep of it for you. Just a good note: you should always ask them to be careful about gutting the fish for you. If they do it carelessly, they will most likely cut open the swim bladder (I'm not 100% sure it's the swim bladder since I have difficulty of the figuring out the English equivalent for the term in Chinese) and ruin the entire fish. Regardless of the amount of seasoning and washing you do, the fish is absolutely ruined once the swim bladder is cut open.  So, be nice to your fish butcher because he's the first person to lay hands on your fish. This method of cooking fish is very common in parents' village and can be applied to different varieties of fish. For this recipe in particular, I had chosen tilapia because it is my favorite fish. The texture and taste is amazing while also the cost is fantastic, always! I got this fish for about $4.00 and it feeds a large group fairly well. So, grab your fish, your ingredients, and your wok--it's time for cooking!

Ingredients:
1.) 1 whole fish. Unless you're eating fish that is monstrous in size, then eating partially is acceptable.
2.) Salt
3.) Ginger (use as much as you want)
4.) Scallions (use as much as you want)
5.) Cilantro (use as much as you want
6.) ~5 tbsps of soy sauce
7.) 5 tbsps of hot oil

Directions:
1.) Take the fish and thoroughly rinse through. As mentioned before, the fish itself is usually roughly prepped by the butcher; meaning scales are roughly scraped off and the guts are just yanked out without much thought. So, make sure that all the scales stuck on the fish are removed and the insides are washed with running water.

Close up of Mr. fishy for tonight's dinner.

2.) Place fish on plate--best to use a plate with some basin like a baking pan of that sort. Coat with salt on both sides and inside.

Salt the fish on both sides, and inside. 

3.) Place fish in a steamer and steam for about 20 minutes. Since I have a small steamer and inadequate utensils to cook the fish in, I just instead placed a curved plate with neck in a wok and filled the bottom with water, placing the fish in the plate.

Since I can't fit the fish in my mini-steamer, I just placed in a curved bowl in a wok with water.

4.) Peel the ginger and julienne. Since many people do not like ginger, it's best to cut it as small as possible. Even though it seems like a good idea for this recipe to use a grater, grating the ginger is a bad idea since the ginger root itself is extremely fibrous. This just makes you remove the flesh from the fiber and leave you with a watery, gloppy, ginger mess. Julienne the ginger. It doesn't take that much effort.

Julienne the ginger. It's already topped on the fish in this picture.

5.) Cut the scallion in a julienne fashion but in a diagonal direction. This elongates the scallion and makes it easier to pick up with eating utensils.

Repeat the same with the scallions.

6.) Wash your cilantro, fold and roll your cilantro similar to that of an egg roll or cigar to make a nice compact bundle. Give the bundle a rough chop.
7.) Check on fish to see if it is ready. Usually, the skin will break and peel back due to heat, but that's normal. Remove the fish from the wok (or steamer) and drain water collected on the bottom of the plate. For me, I transferred my fish to a bigger plate after it had finished cooking, but still something with a basin.
8.) While hot, top the fish with the ginger, scallion, and cilantro. Coat heavily with soy sauce.

Freshly steamed fish--before toppings. 

Add toppings, and heavily coat with soy sauce.

Heat up oil in wok. Canola or veggie works best.

Place in sink basin before adding hot oil to reduce splatter.

Finished product. I ultimately ripped the tail off and pushed it to the side since it was a bothersome to have it hanging off the plate. 

9.) Heat some oil in a wok for the fish. Once the oil is heated, remove from heat and ladle over the fish with toppings. Tip: Best to place the fish in the basin of your sink before adding the hot oil. This is because when hot oil comes in contact with liquids, i.e. the toppings and the soy sauce, splatter will happen. If the fish is in the basin of the sink, the splatter is significantly less dangerous. Serve! Best with white rice. Enjoy!


Afterthoughts: I have not had this dish in such a long time! It was so delightful with the soft and sweet flesh of the fish. I could have used a little more salt but overall, the dish came out great. I wish I had better dishes, like a quiche dish, or something wider with a better basin since the soy sauce and oil does collect and add up under the fish for dipping, but was slightly inaccessible due to the plate size I had used. Overall, very delicious.

Costs:
1.) 1 whole fresh tilapia = $4.00
2.) scallion, ginger, (I didn't use cilantro in this instance) = $1.00
Total Costs: $5.00 for a serving of ~5 or so. 

Chicken with Shiitake Mushroom.

Hellooooooo! The blog is back on! Sorry I haven't posted any Chinese New Years recipe but I had to miss out too. I unfortunately came down with the flu for the past two weeks and had been living in hell. I was so looking forward to this holiday since last year's New Year was dismissed due to the insane Chicago blizzard. I guess I'll just have to wait till next year's New Year. But, we can't sit and mope all day so the best we can do is to salvage what's left of this blog for now. I've been cooking here and there but haven't had the time to post up a new recipe since New Years. Fortunately for you (and me, since I get to eat it), I had sometime today and thought it would cheer me up from a crappy month. Yes, it has cheered me up.

This dish is one of those home cooked dishes that you can't live without. Trust me, I've tried and have failed. With just a few ingredients and some white rice, dinner is served! I personally love mushrooms and its many forms, but shiitake (or as I call them 'black') mushrooms are my favorite. They range from extremely price to dirty cheap, but you just need to learn how to pick. For Chinese markets, they're usually dried and in a sealed package with silica gel for better convenience. I've seen them fresh before, but you have to be a baller to purchase something of that sort. And this being an *economical* college student food blog, we always try to make due with what we have. These black mushrooms are wonderfully fragrant raw and especially cooked. I honestly cannot think of a better dish to cook black mushroom with other this. Oh yes, and lo mai gai (a Chinese breakfast tamale) which I might post a recipe eventually when I get the time. Please keep in mind that this dish is usually steamed, but since I don't have the utensils to steam it, I'm using an alternative cooking method of a basic hot wok. So, get ready to get your hands dirty cause this down home dish is going to make you drool.

Ingredients:
1.) 3-4 large handfuls of dried shiitake mushrooms. For this dish, you can add as much or as little mushrooms as you want, but I'm a mushroom lover so I'm going nuts over this. :D
2.) 1 hindquarter of a chicken (I also used some left over steamed chicken I had from the day before and threw it in all together so in reality, I used about 6-7 cups of chicken in total--ideally dark meat works best in this recipe)

3.) 5-6 tbsps of soy sauce (dark version can work very well with this dish)
4.) 1/2 - 1 tbsp of salt
5.) 1 tbsp of sugar
6.) 2-3 dried goji berries (optional--but this gives it a very nice sweet flavor. I never tried until Mama Zhu gave me some :D)

Directions:
1.) Place dried mushrooms in a bowl and soak with hot faucet water (the hottest water possible from your faucet; not boiling water). Soak the mushrooms until soft. You can check by pinching the centre. You want the centre to be spongy. If the centre is not spongy, still semi-hard, then change the water, and keep soaking. This should take about 10 minutes or so.

Use as much mush as you please. Soak in hot water until soft.

2.) Cut up chicken in to medium sized chunks. Keep in mind, if you're using dark meat, there is going to be bone, so you're going to need to put in a little more effort in hacking the chicken. Best to use butcher knife :D Remove any loose shards of bone.

Cut chicken (through the bone) into chunks. 

I had some left over steamed chicken that I used for this recipe.

3.) Drain the mushrooms and cut into smaller pieces. You can leave them whole, but they can be very large and/or very small and not as comfortable for the eater to masticate.

Cut mushrooms into thirds or leave them whole. Your choice. 

Best to continue soaking them after they're cut up to the point of cooking.

4.) In a hot wok, heat up a few a tbsp or two of oil. Add chicken and cook into a semi state. Add mushrooms.(If you're using already cooked chicken like I did, add it after the mushrooms.) Add goji berries if using goji berries for this recipe.

Add chicken and sear first. Cook to semi state.

Add mushrooms and in this case, cooked chicken. I had used to the coagulated  broth left from the chicken also.

5.) Add soy sauce, salt, and sugar. Add enough water to submerge about 93% of the contents in the wok. You can use chicken stock, but water works just fine in this recipe. Put a lid on the wok and bring to boil.

Add water to submerge most of the ingredients. Add soy sauce, salt, and sugar.

Cover with lid and bring to boil.

6.) Once boiling, stir contents and give a taste test. Adjust whatever is needed. Continue boiling for another three minutes.
7.) Remove from heat and serve. 

Remove from heat and serve. Best to keep the broth within the dish to keep the chicken moist

Close up of final product.

Afterthoughts: I have not had this dish in such a long time. Steaming is a better method in cooking this dish since it basically cooks the chicken in the juices while it brings out the fragrance quicker and stronger within the mushrooms without drying out the chicken. This method of cooking it in a wok works almost the same but just takes a little more effort. If anyone is interested in how the steamed version works, just leave me a request through comments. This is a very simple and filling dish. The hardest part would be cutting up the chicken with the bones in, but a little effort goes a long way since the bones within the chicken (the bone marrow) creates a nice strong chicken broth within itself. You can try this recipe with goji berries too which add a special kind of slightly heavier) sweetness  to the dish, but I generally prefer it without since this is more of a savory with a light sweetness. I hope you can enjoy this dish as much as I did.

Costs:
1.) Dried mushrooms = $5.00 for a medium sized packet; ~1/3 was used for this dish, so ~$1.70 was used
2.) Amount of chicken used = ~$4.00 worth; I used a lot of chicken in this recipe
3.) Soy sauce, sugar, salt, etc = ~$0.15
Total Costs: $5.85 for 8-9 servings

Lunch #002

Leftovers from tonight's dinner. This is my first use of the bento box and I love it! I eat very little during the day because of my whack schedule (10am lunch!) so this is what I packed. Trying to eat healthy :D

Contents:
1.) Rice
2.) Seared Italian Sausage
3.) Stir fry fish with cilantro, jalapeño, and shallots
4.) Softened cabbage & shredded carrots
5.) Pickled seaweed with sesame seeds

:D

Rice & seared sausage.

Cabbage & carrots, stir fry fish, and pickled seaweed. 

Bento box!

Hello hello! I know this blog is nearly dead and is on life support, but I can't help it. Chinese New Years seems like it's almost here and yet so far away! I might even start posting recipes soon before New Years :D However, I'm trying to resist and give myself time to focus on school a bit more. I have been cooking here and there, but not as serious as before. :[ However, there are good news.

The good news is: I got my first bento box! I just got it yesterday and I've been loving it since! Ever since the beginning of the new year, I've been trying to keep a good and healthy balanced diet of fruit, veggies, rice, and meat for every meal. Except I had a problem. I had stored almost all of that in a Rubbermaid container and just crammed it in my messenger bag. Well, let's say that by lunch time, I had a weird mix of flavors which wasn't bad, it's just I like each food group as separate entities. However, any who, I decided then to go on a lunch box hunt and I came across this bento box. I couldn't find anything super compartmental and compact which made me disgruntled until I checked Amazon. I got this box for ~$20 and a second one for the same price. This came yesterday and it has a beautiful lacquer texture (I'm a lacquer addict, no joke) with giraffes with two layers (and it's microwave safe!). The other one I got was one with sakura blossoms that should be on its way soon (which I will post a picture once it gets here). But I'm happy for now and will start posting some more lunch time news soon!

My first bento box. 

:D

Lunch & Hiatus :D

Hello hello! My apologies again for not posting recently but I've been busy with school and what not with just having the first week over. I'm here to announce that I am officially going on hiatus for a week until Chinese New Years! My favorite holiday of the entire year in which I am going to be in a cooking frenzy while making a cornucopia of food. But don't worry, recipes will be posted and posted they shall! So I can only fast and save energy till then. However, in the meantime, I am not going to be posting new recipes, but rather just a few shots of my meals here and there. Within this post I am posting what I have had for lunch and just list some details. My apologies for any inconvenience but this is a massive holiday for me (like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years concentrated into one day!). Well speak to you soon my reader and I hope you can enjoy!


Lunch Today:
1.) Lays Potato chips
2.) Pickled carrot & daikon salad
3.) Baby carrot sticks covered in honey dijon dressing
4.) Pressed honey baked turkey with cheddar cheese.

:D

Pizza Pizza!

Hello hello! My apologies that I haven't posted in a while but I have been quite busy with school. The quarter just started up for me and I'm running around like a chicken without a head but, I managed to still find something to post about which is: pizza! I made this recipe a while ago and I just didn't get the opportunity to post it till now. And besides, it is a perfect time since school did just start. :D I know know, I said no pizza delivery, but this isn't a delivery. Unless you count it as one from your oven. This recipe was made with my friends Juan and David. I hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:
1.) 1 packet of active dry yeast
2.) ~1 tbsp of sugar
3.) 3 cups of all purpose flour (you can use wheat for alternative)
4.) ~1-1.5 cups of hot water (hot as possible from faucet, not boiling hot)
5.) ~2 pinches of salt
6.) pepperoni slices (as much as you want--also you can top with whatever you want)
7.)  ~2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese
8.) 1/2 cup of chopped cilantro
9.) ~1.5 tbsps of fennel seeds
10.) 3/4 tbsp of oil
11.) 1-2 tbsps of yellow cornmeal
12.) ~1/2 cup of tomato sauce (I used Classico brand spaghetti sauce and it works out delicious)
13.) ~2 tbsps of oregano

Directions:
1.) Place 1 packet of dry yeast in a bowl or container and add hot water. Vigorously stir the yeast in the water. Sprinkle sugar on top and stir. Wait till the yeast starts to "foam." This is called "proofing" yeast where you wake up the yeast and cause it to grow. The warmth of the water gives heat for the microbes to grow while the sugar acts as food. This allows them to multiply and helps bring fluffy goodness to carby baked goods. Keep in mind that if the water is too hot when added to yeast, the yeast will not proof as it has been killed by the heat of the water.

Foamed yeast. Sorry for the over exposure.

2.) Add 3 cups of flour, oil, and salt to a mixing bowl. Once yeast has foamed, add the mixture into the mixing bowl and mix until a dough forms. The dough should be moist enough to not crack, but not moist to where it sticks. If the dough sticks, add a small amount of flour at a time until the dough stops sticking. This can be checked by how much is stuck to the bottom of the bowl.

Once the yeast as foamed, add to flour, salt, and oil.

3.) Collect the dough into a ball and leave in mixing bowl. Cover the mixing bowl with a wet towel and leave the bowl in the warmest place of the house. I left mine on top of my radiator that had been shut off but warm. Leave for it sitting for 30-45 minutes. Once time is up, check on the dough. It should have doubled in size. If not, then at some point, you have murdered the yeast, but still can be eaten regardless. Punch the dough. You should hear a "pop" due to the rapid release of air. Kneed the dough.
4.) Remove the dough from the bowl and flatten with rolling pin. Depending on how thick you want your pizza (I like thin crust), roll out your dough and constantly pull on it to stretch out. Once desired thickness and shape is achieved, slightly roll in the edges to form a crust. On a greased (or sprayed with non-stick), sprinkle cornmeal over the bottom. Place dough inside the tray.

Spread out dough by pulling and with rolling pin.

5.) With a spatula, add tomato sauce over the dough and spread out evenly. Add chopped cilantro, fennel, cheese, and then toppings. Add as much of whatever you please.

Not a big fan of sauce, so we added a thin coat. The added cilantro was delicious.

Add sauce then cheese. Also delicious if you add cheese, then sauce, the cheese again.

6.) Bake in oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until the edges are golden brown. This should take about 45 minutes to an hour in the oven. Remove from heat and serve.

Before oven.

Fresh out of the oven pizza. :D

Afterthoughts: Came out delicious! Served us three extremely well. I would say this serves about six to eight people. I actually used half the ingredients listed above (for the dough only) because I wanted a thin crust pizza to serve three, but it still came out more than we had thought. The dough was great, the cornmeal was a great texture, and the toppings were delicious. I would like to make this again with pineapple and ham (my favorite) and will post the results later. You're free to top as you please in which I hope you enjoy!

Costs:
1.) Ingredients (i.e. Pepperoni, mozzarella, spices, sauce) = $~3.50
2.) Dough, yeast, spices = ~$1.00
Total Costs: ~$4.50 for a serving of 8 or so

Pineapple Black Bean Salad.

Here's another salad recipe that I had made with my friend Juan a while ago. It came out delicious and very delectable.

Ingredients:
1.) 3/4 cup of diced fresh cut pineapple
2.) 1/2 cup of black beans
3.) 1 romaine heart
4.) 2 cups of spinach
5.) 2 tbsps of lime juice
6.) 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese
7.) 1/3 cup of Honey Dijon dressing
8.) salt and pepper
9.) 1 tbsp of fennel seeds
10.) 1 cup of grape tomatoes
11.) 3/4 cups of shredded carrots

Directions:
1.) In a container, add lime juice to pineapple pieces. This is only if you're using fresh pineapple. The lime juice helps inactivate the enzymes that causes that awful burn.
2.) Chop romaine heart into bite size pieces. Roll spinach and chop. Add tomatoes, carrots, and wash all together.

Fresh, delicious salad! Eating better just got easier :D

3.) Add black beans, pineapple, salt, pepper, and fennel seeds. Toss in dressing and top with cheese and serve.

Coat with dressing and cheese. 

Afterthoughts: This was delicious and very refreshing. The pineapple was an excellent addition. I wish I had made some bread sticks to go with this salad, but other than that, it was great. We ate it with toasted English muffins. Yummy!

Wilted Salad with Seared Italian Sausage & Honey Dijon

Happy New Year to you all! In correspondence with the standard New Year's resolution of "eating better" here's a quick salad recipe that I had randomly concocted within the past week. With just a few leafy greens, eating better only got easier. To be honest, this isn't a legitimate recipe on my part, which I do apologize for, since there's so many varieties out there for you to think of. Who'd thunk it? So, over the course of the upcoming year, I will be posting a salad recipe or two just for the heck of it. (Psst, this is a great first step for all those veggies haters out there who need to eat better!) I hope you enjoy.

Ingredients:
1.) 1/2 romaine heart
2.) 2 cups of spinach
3.) 1/2 cup of grape tomatoes
4.) 1/2 cup of shredded carrots
5.) 1/4 cup of sun flower seeds, pine nuts, or walnuts (whichever you prefer)
6.) 2 Italian sausages
7.) Honey Dijon dressing (I used store bought since I got lazy)
8.) Parmesan cheese

Directions:
1.) Dice the romaine heart in to bite size pieces. Take spinach and "roll the leaves" somewhat like a cigar and give it a rough chop. The leaves I'm using are rather large so I'm cutting down. This is also optional.
2.) Place carrots and greens in a colander and wash. Wash the tomatoes but keep them separately.
3.) Microwave the sausages for 3 minutes on high heat and then slice. Note: This particular step is important due to the fact that is it very difficult to cook a sausage whole without steaming or microwaving first. As a result, people are unaware of consuming raw sausage. It's okay if the center is still a bit raw when it comes out of the microwave, but the majority of the sausage must be cooked when it comes out of the microwave.
4.) In a hot pan, add nuts and toast. Keep them in pan for about 1 minute but continually tossing to toast. Remove and place aside. Then, in the same pan, add a few drops of  oil (olive oil works best here) and add sausage slices. Let the sausages sit for 2 minutes and then flip. Let the slices sit and sear. Add grape tomatoes (this is optional, but this searing of the tomatoes makes them sweeter).
5.) Turn off heat and quickly add mixed greens. The residual heat of the pan wilts the greens a slight bit but not enough to burn. Add nuts, give the contents a quick toss. Top with cheese and dressing. Serve.

Sorry I didn't take pictures of the cooking process--I had originally intended for this not to be posted :]

Optional Honey Dijon recipe:
1.) 1 tbsp of dijon mustard
2.) 3/4 tbsp of honey
3.) 1/2 tbsp of either red wine, balsamic vinegar, or olive oil (your choice).

Afterthoughts: This was a great salad for me since I'm not a big fan of eating raw greens, but love eating veggies. I decided to wilt the salad just because raw romaine hearts and be a very crunchy while also raw spinach (which annoys me the most) tends to dry out my mouth and leave a sandy taste; hence this was a great way to avoid those problems. Grape tomatoes are a wonderful addition since they're naturally sweeter than regular tomatoes and go very well with the carrots. The sausages I had used were great in which they added a smoky spice to the salad. I also didn't use "baby spring mix" greens that come in a box from the store since I had more knowledge (and fondness) towards the greens I used. Romaine lettuce are natural sources of antioxidants while spinach contain excellent amounts of iron (wonderful for anemic women) and calcium. Again, this is a very flexible recipe in which you're free to use as you please. I hope you enjoy this one!

Costs:
1.) 1 box of grape tomatoes = $0.98 so $0.20 was used
2.) 1 romaine heart = $0.60 so $0.30 was used
3.) 1 pack of Italian sausages (5) = $4.00 so $1.60 was used
4.) 1 bag of spinach = $2.00 so $0.30 was used
Total Costs: $2.40 for serving of two 

Chicken Curry with White Rice.

Hello hello! I just wanted to share my favorite dish of all time: chicken curry. Among southern Chinese, curry is a very popular home dish that is very easy to make with minimal ingredients. In this recipe, you only need two main ingredients and some spices. Simple, yes? Exactly. It's a very quick and easy meal that serves plenty. This is great for lunch and/or dinner (in my case both) in which leftovers are very welcomed.

Ingredients:
1.) 3 large russet potatoes
2.) ~1.5 cups of cubed or diced chicken breast (I used the meat from the hindquarter of the chicken)
3.) 2 tbsp of curry
4.) salt and pepper to taste
5.) ~1-1.5 cups of chicken stock

Directions:

1.) Season the chicken bits with salt, pepper, and 1 tbsp of curry powder. Mix to evenly coat the pieces.

Season the chicken first so it can marinate. 

2.) Wash, peel, and dice the potatoes into half inch chunks (you can cut them as big or small as you want but just adjust cooking time accordingly). Add to a pot of boiling water and let the potato bits cook until soft. (For this recipe, I cooked them in the skillet I'm using to cook the dish since it's one less thing to wash.) Drain potatoes once soft.

After the potatoes are soft (~8 minutes), remove and drain.

3.) In a hot skillet, add a small about of oil and add chicken. Sauté the chicken for about a minute and half and potato bits and stir. Add salt and pepper.

Sauté the chicken for about a minute before adding potatoes.

Once the chicken has cooked for about a minute or so, begin adding potatoes.

4.) Add 1 tbsp of curry powder and chicken stock. Continually stirring, let the chicken stock evaporate. Depending on how you dry you want your curry (in this dish, this is a bit drier than I would normally make it), add more chicken stock for more moisture (or sauce) or less for a drier version. Once the stock as evaporated, remove from heat and serve with white rice.

Add about 1 tbsp of curry powder and a cup of chicken stock. Let the chicken stock evaporate.

Cook until the stock as evaporated. 

Best served with white rice. Very delicious. 

Close up of final product. 

Afterthoughts: This is actually the first time I've actually made curry chicken this dry since usually I like a thicker, saucier curry. This is just as good though and a lot of quicker. I can put up a thicker, saucier version some other time also. Mirepoix can also be added to this recipe, but traditionally it is just chicken and potatoes. This is just excellent with rice. I hope you enjoy.

Costs:
1.) 1 bag of russet potatoes = $0.98 so 3 potatoes = $0.15
2.) Chicken = $1.00
3.) Spices = $0.20
Total Costs: $1.35 for serving of three