Basil Chicken in Coconut Sauce

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I have a confession. I was over-served last night. That is what I am going to keep telling myself anyway. I have a wee bit of a headache. Wes and I finally found a babysitter (always the hardest part of a move!) and went out to dinner with my brother and his girlfriend. We had a great time, and watched football at a fun bar in Bethesda. Who played? I couldn’t tell you. I was too busy people watching and drinking beers. I love the aluminum bottles. And let me tell you, the people watching was fabulous. I would bet that there are few Redskins fans feeling a lot worse than I do right about now. How do you treat a hangover? What is your remedy?

This is the first time in many, many years that we live near our family and I love it so much. Just this week, I got to take pictures of my newest nephew and have dinner with my brother. I have seen my family more in the last month than the last 5 years combined. It makes my heart so happy.

How sweet is he?

Please do not let the length of the ingredients list scare you from making this recipe. It is mostly spices. And there is a good chance that you have them in your cabinet already. Recipes like these are great for actually using some of the spices that are hiding out in your cabinet. If you do not have all of the spices, you can also use some curry powder. I was rather surprised at how much my family enjoyed this dinner. They can be hard to impress these days. But the boys loved it and cleaned their plates. I think that we tend to avoid strong flavors with children, but mine seem to really like some spice. There is not a lot of heat in this recipe, so please feel free to add more if you would like. 1 pound chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
1-2 jalapenos, depending on your taste, seeded and chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 (14-ounce) can coconut milk
2 teaspoons cornstarch
3 Tablespoons fresh basil
1 Tablespoon fresh ginger
rice

In a small bowl, combine the spices in a small bowl. Add the chicken pieces to a large plastic bag and sprinkle the spice mixture over. Toss so the spices cover all of the chicken. Let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. You could also do this early in the day and keep in the fridge until you are ready to cook.

Dice the onion, garlic, and jalapenos. Grate the ginger and set aside.

Cook the onions, garlic, and jalapeno in a large saute pan with one tablespoon of olive oil. Cook for 2 minutes, until the vegetables begin to soften. Transfer the mixture to a plate.

Add more olive oil if needed, and cook half of the chicken until brown on both sides. Take out of the pan and cook the other half.

Mix together coconut milk and cornstarch.

Add the coconut milk to the pan and cook until it begins to thicken. Make sure that it comes up to a bubble.

Add the chicken and vegetables back to the pan, adding the basil and ginger. Check for seasoning, add more salt and pepper as needed.

Serve with rice and additional basil. Lime wedges would also be great, but I did not have any. This recipe is from BHG.