Chocolate Covered Love

Toast the arborio rice in a pan along with the butter and a pinch of salt.

While the rice is toasting, bring the milk to a simmer in a pot along with the cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and sugar.

Once the rice has been toasted and the spiced milk has come to a simmer, start adding in the milk to the rice in half-cup increments. Only adding more when the previous cup has been completely absorbed.

When there is about one cup left of milk, add in the cocoa powder and stir to completely mix it in. Continue adding the milk until it is all gone and absorbed by the rice. It should be al dente; not too soft and not too crunchy or chewy.
Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.
Serve topped with whipped cream and any garnish you prefer.
Enjoy.

Most people who know me know that I grew up in Cambodia. I lived there for seven years with my family, all of middle school and high school. We moved there for my dad's job, he became the Southeast Asia Director for World Relief - an organization he'd already been working for in Chicago. The rest of my family is still over there now, although my sister has graduated from high school and is getting ready to go on a missions trip and my brother is in high school. Makes me feel so old. He was three years old when we moved! 

Anyway, I spent those seven years eating jasmine rice basically everyday. This curry is a very common dish made in Cambodia and I adapted the recipe from a cookbook my mom gave me from a restaurant over there. The recipe in the book calls for you to make your own chili paste - but I can't get all those ingredients here in Chicago, so I used a pre-made chili paste. The paste I bought was from Thailand and they have much spicier food over there, so I had to add in extra coconut milk to balance out the spiciness  I do love spicy food though, so it wasn't a big deal to me. The flavors were the same and it made me homesick for Cambodia.

Khmer Chicken Curry

adapted from the Best of Friends (The Restaurant) cookbook

- chili paste, 4 oz.

- two cans unsweetened coconut milk

- two tablespoons fish sauce

- one pound chicken breast, cubed

- two medium potatoes, cubed

- chicken stock, if needed

- one tablespoon sugar

- one tablespoon curry powder

- one medium onion, sliced

- one cup green beans, cut in half

- salt to taste

- cilantro for garnish

Bring one can of the coconut milk to a boil in a saucepan and reduce until most of the liquid is gone - more than half reduced down. 

Add in the chili paste and cook until fragrant. Add in the fish sauce.

Mix well and add the chicken. Stir well again. Add the potatoes and the other can of coconut milk and if needed, chicken stock to cover the potatoes and chicken.

Cover and and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Add in the sugar, curry powder, onion, beans and salt and simmer for 15 more minutes.

Serve with jasmine rice or crusty french bread, or both!

You can either serve the curry to the side of the rice, or on top of it, as I did here. 

Enjoy!