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Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Curry for the Whole Family

I never thought I would find myself preparing dinner for my family with a recipe I found in a cookbook for babies but that's exactly what I did tonight. And guess what... it was a huge success!
Last year my aunt sent me a copy of Cooking for Baby as a birthday gift while I was expecting my first baby. The first chapters are full of what you'd expect in a baby cookbook: lots of mush and recommendations for adding new foods to baby's diet. Don't get me wrong, those early chapters we very helpful in guiding our food choices as Genevieve began trying solids. Now that she's gotten a little older, however, the meal ideas in the book have gotten much more exciting and include dishes I never would have thought to feed a baby. I've been letting Genevieve sample portions of our meals, usually fairly plain vegetables and chicken, the occasional noodle, but tonight was the first meal from which she received a complete portion.
Enough talk though, right? On with the recipe! My version makes about 3 times what the original makes and has a variety of veggies. It originally called for a cup of diced zucchini but since I only had one small zucchini to work with I had to add some other ingredients to triple the final product.
The cookbook's authors recommend this recipe for babies ages 9 months and up but check with your doctor before introducing new foods to babies especially if there's a history of allergies.

Baby! Oh Baby, It's Curry!Ingredients
2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 can (about 13 oz) coconut milk
1 1/2 cubes of chicken bouillon
1 tbsp red curry paste (make sure it doesn't contain shellfish or shrimp. This makes a very mild curry, I think you could safely increase the amount to 1.5-2 tbsps or more depending on your tastes and the age of your baby)
1 zucchini, diced

1 head of broccoli, florets trimmed and cut into bite sized pieces
2 large carrot sticks, diced
Basil to taste


  1. Put broccoli and carrot into a steamer basket over about 2 cups of boiling water. Meanwhile cut chicken into thin strips. 
  2. Heat oil in a wok over medium-high heat, then stir-fry chicken for 3-4 minutes. Remove chicken from pan then set aside. 
  3. Add zucchini, broccoli, carrots, coconut milk, curry paste, bouillon and 1 1/2 cups of water used to steam the veggies to the wok. Bring to a boil then cover and reduce to a simmer for 6-7 minutes.
  4. Add chicken back to the wok along with basil and continue cooking until chicken is completely cooked and the vegetables are tender. Serve over rice.For baby's portion, cut the chicken into small pieces.