Desert Lights: Japanese Curry Chili

Thatboy has been complaining for months that we never get out to Palm Springs anymore.  We used to go several times a year but it has been a while.  So for his birthday, I booked us a weekend in Rancho Mirage - right between Palm Springs and Palm Desert.

We've been having a fair amount of rain lately, but the skies were clear last weekend.  And that rain, meant the mountaintops were dusted with snow.

Our hotel had its own fun surprises.  The boys took advantage of the hotel pool and water slide.  There were also tortoises and giant...desert hares?  Big big rabbits.

We didn't have any big plans for the weekend, we really just spent the time walking around and hanging out.

I love traveling during the holidays and seeing towns all "dressed up."   There were even photo ops on the street.

We missed our town's annual tree lighting, but we were in town for the Palm Springs Festival of Light parade.  We got to the parade route early enough to stake a claim on some prime curb real estate, and ate our dinner al fresco.

Once the sun set, the parade began.

Garfield was the Grand Marshall for the parade, and Thatbaby got a big kick out of waving and screaming to him.

The parade is a Festival of Light parade, so there are lights.  Lots of lights.  Even the marching bands had lights on their instruments.

And the dancers had lights on their clothes.

But the main draw were the floats and vehicles that were just covered in lights.

Like all the best parades, there were also giant balloons.

And fire engines, both old and new.

Along with other interesting vehicles wrapped in lights.

The parade ended with a visit from the big guy himself - Santa!

The kids had a great vacation.  Thatkid even asked if he could get something to remember it by.  Which is about the cutest way to ask for things there is.  And he was really serious.  We ended up in a spice store where he picked out special sugar for making cookies, and a new spice mix for his "house famous" taquitos that end up on our menu week after week.

Kid takes after me.  I also get a little giddy over spices.  Like when Raw Spice Bar sent me these two spices to try out.

I'm already quite familiar with Garam Masala, and I used it to create an Indian cashew chicken.

But the Japanese curry powder was new to me.  And intriguing.  The only recipes I could find which used it were all Japanese curry - a sweet stew style dish served over rice.  The sweet, stew-y nature seemed like it would lend itself pretty readily to a chili.  A warm, thick, fall chili with sweet apples, sirloin, and potatoes.  The addition of tomatoes and kidney bean is not the traditional way of serving Japanese curry, but made for a really nice hybrid.

Japanese Curry Chili

 1/2 lb sirloin, cut into bite sized pieces

1 onion, chopped

1 large yukon gold potato, peeled and chopped

1/2 cup carrot, chopped

2 cloves garlic

1 Tbsp Japanese curry powder

1 qt beef stock

28 oz canned diced tomatoes, drained

1 can kidney beans

1/4 cup grated apples

1 Tbsp honey

1.  Brown the sirloin in a dutch oven over medium heat.  Remove meat and set aside.
2.  Place onions in the now empty dutch oven and sweat for 5 minutes.
3. Add the potato and carrot.  Cook for another 5 minutes.
4. Add the garlic and curry powder and cook for 30 seconds or until fragrant.
5. Add the stock and bring to a simmer for an hour.
6. Stir in the tomatoes and beef and simmer for another 30 minutes.
7. Add in the beans, apples, and honey and cook for another 30 minutes before serving.

Spiced Caramel

Believe it or not, I'm still trying to use up the can of chipotles in adobo.  Those suckers last forever!  On the plus side, that means I get to bring in new dishes to our house that I might not otherwise have considered.

Like this chipotle chicken.  For some reason, I am far more apt to use chipotles in sauces - mostly in Mexican dishes.  Tossing one in to a sauce, especially a tomato based sauce, gives it a nice spicy smokiness.

This chicken, however, has far more spice than I'm used to in a chipotle dish.  This is one spicy chicken.  I attribute it to the fact that there's not much to temper the heat.  However, as Thatboy pointed out the spiciness of this dish doesn't detract from the great flavor.

The original recipe calls for 2 Tbsp of chipotles in adobo and if I were to make it again, I would probably only use 1 Tbsp.  It would still have the heat and the kick, but maybe not to such a high degree.  We're missing a broiler pan right now, so instead of broiling it, I cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces and just cooked it in the skillet with the sauce.

Caramelized Chipotle Chicken (Adapted from Oishii who adapted it from Gourmet)

3 TBS. olive oil, divided
4 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 onion, chopped
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp. packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp. chopped chipotles in adobo
1/2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp. cider vinegar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
a pinch of cumin
2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

1. Heat 1 1/2 Tbsp of the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. 
2. Add the garlic and cook for one minute, until golden.  Remove from skillet.
3. Reduce heat to medium and add the onions to the oil. Cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, about 15 minutes.
4. Return the garlic to the skillet with the ketchup, mustard, sugar, chipotles, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, cinnamon, salt, pepper, and cumin.  Simmer 3-5 minutes until the sauce is thick.
5. Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces.  Add the chicken to the sauce and continue simmering until chicken is cooked through, 5-10 minutes.