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This is what I call summer cozy food.
Who says that because it’s summer we can’t have cozy food? Personally, I am all about the cozy foods. And yeah, maybe I love them just a little more come fall and winter, but summer needs a little coziness sometimes too.
And this is that meal.
And while this may feel cozy, it is actually lite and packed to the brim with summer garden veggies, so you can still have dessert or maybe even a margarita float (…or two if this Wednesday is really not being friendly to ya).
Plus, it’s Wednesday and I feel like if there is any day of the week for a little bit of cozy food it would be today. We still have two days left till Friday (sorry for the reminder), kids nagging us or bosses watching our every move and who knows what else. That just means our hump days need to curry. Ah duh.
I actually had this other recipe that I am jumping out of my skin to tell you about (SOON like Monday maybe?), but I don’t know, I just felt like today was a curry day.
On a different, and completely unrelated, note I do have to tell you guys about that tiny chipmunk from Monday.
Well, the poor little thing hid in a corner between the counter in the pantry and the wall for probably close to twenty-four hours. I put the cat in my room overnight and put a cereal box in the corner, hoping he would go in there. There are about a million different places he could go, but I figured it was worth a shot. So I got up in morning and nothing. Not a thing had been moved, so I figured he was still back there. He was, because the second the cat got out he went right to the corner and guarded it for the next three hours.
At this point I was starting to worry that the thing was never going to come out and he was going to die back there. UGH. That would smell and he was in between the tiniest of tiniest cracks between the counter and wall. So how was anyone even supposed to get back there? Eew.
At some point the cat must have given up his watch, because as I was sitting at my computer, which is right next to the kitchen, I heard what sounded like little itty bitty feet/claws in a box (we all know what that sounds like, right?).
I turned the corner, and I turned it slowly because well that’s what you do when you are slightly afraid of a tiny chipmunk, only to see the box in the same spot. But I knew I had heard something, so I went and tapped the box with my foot. Oh yeah, he was in there.
At that point I jumped back and screamed a little because again, I am girl and apparently that’s what we do.
Then I picked up the cereal box, ran to the door and put the box on the ground outside. The thing bolted like you have never seen. I’m surprised it didn’t give itself a heart attack.
And that’s my little chipmunk story. Hey, I saved a life on my Monday, what did you do?
And now I will stop my yapping about the varmints in our house and talk about this curry that I love so much.
It’s everything you love about curry and everything you love about summer and it’s ready to go in thirty minutes. Because I really would rather be outside in the nice summer sunshine than inside cooking something for hours. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes I love cooking for hours, but not when the weather is nice and I am busy and I really just want some good food – fast.
I am sure you are probably figuring this out by now, but I love basil. It reminds me of being a kid and making Friday Night Pasta with my dad. Back in Ohio he would grow bush upon bushed of basil. Then, every night in the summer he would send me out in the backyard to pick some for dinner.
It’s the best smell, and in my opinion one of the best herbs.
So instead of curry with loads of cilantro, which I do love too, I added some basil to this, mostly for a nice summery kick. Pretty sure you are going to love it.
And then of course there is all the garden veggies. You might think they are a little strange to pair with curry, but veggies are amazing when coated in spicy, creamy coconut, curry sauce.
I also added some diced mango salsa and just a little goat cheese, because why the heck not?
Goat cheese is good stuff, and mangos should go in just about every dish they can in the summer.
And the rice!! Ginger-lime with coconut milk and basil.
And umm?? Fresh homemade NAAN?!?! So good. Yup, totally cozy and totally delicious.
Oh and last thing. To make this a vegetarian and vegan meal swap chickpeas for the chicken and leave the goat cheese off. Simple as that!
Simple Summertime Basil Chicken Curry with Coconut Ginger-Lime Rice from Half Baked Harvest on Vimeo.
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
And that right there is how you do hump day right. Cozy, healthy, summer comfort food.
Oh my!!!!! This is on our menu for dinner tomorrow. How beautiful and the aromas from this dish will fill our home. Thank you for posting this!!! Jaci from Missouri.
Thanks for the fast reply. I will give fish sauce a try. For the zucchini-averse, what would you recommend as a replacement? A friend who cooks Thai regularly has used Onion, Bamboo, chestnuts, broccoli, snow peas, lots of ginger and garlic with “special Asian sauces”. This is her pic and, sadly, I have not tried it. I DO tend to like my dishes to be well spiced/seasoned.
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff138/Bresson34/Kim%20Ginger%20chicken%20with%20coconut%20rice.jpg
I would use broccoli, but any of those options would be delicious!!
I am ready to try this and have a question about the fish sauce: the recipe calls for 1 tablespoon and I will be heading to an Asian market tomorrow for some of the ingredients. For the budget-conscious gourmet, is the fish sauce really necessary or can it be substituted?
Hey John,
I personally love using fish sauce and think it is a great pantry staple to have that adds lots of flavors, BUT if you do not want to shell out the money you can leave it out or replace it with soy sauce. Hope you love this curry!
I made this last night-SO GOOD!!! This is probably the third or fourth meal I’ve made from half baked harvest and every single one has been amazing!!!! You have really become my go to for inspiration ! Thank you!
YEAH!! I am so happy you loved it! THANKS!!
This was positively delicious! We just made this for dinner and it was so easy and a great change! Thank you so much for this!
So happy you loved it! THANKS!
Made it. It was absolutely wonderful!! Noticed there is no salt measurement for the rice. I LOVED the rice!! So good!! Thank you for sharing. The mango and goat cheese with this was really a nice touch.
So excited you love this, thank you!! I will head and fix the salt now, thanks for letting me know it is missing.
have a great week! 🙂
Hiya! Saw this on Buzzfeed’s list of 39 things you can make in a skillet (now I just need to get my hands on an oven-proof skillet lol). My question is, I’m not all that experienced with curries but I do have some green curry paste on hand. How would that work in this recipe?
Hey Christina, green curry paste will work, but it will be a slightly different flavor. Still good I am sure though!
Thanks so much for clicking over and I hope you love the curry!
I made this with my mom tonight, and I thought I was going to die. It was delicious! I’ve always been such a devout curry hater, but this recipe just made its way into my favorites list. It was absolutely scrumptious!
Yay!! Thanks so much, Sophie!
Oh, I cannot wait to try this!! It looks amazing! And so perfect for summer.
Thank you!
Made this last night and it was amazing! Would like to try the chickpea version. I’m not very experienced with them except for making hummus and roast chickpeas. Question, do I saute the chickpeas and remove them from the pan like the chicken, or add them in another way?? Thanks for your help
Hey Rie, Just add the chickpeas towards the end. Stir them into the sauce and just warm them through.
So glad you loved this, Thanks!
Thanks Tieghan……Will do.
The most exciting meal I’ve made in a while, me and husband were raving about it. Thank you for posting! Will have to try some of your others now too.
Yeah! Thats is awesome, THANK YOU!
I just stumbled on to your blog. Holy cow! Your pictures are just beautiful and your recipes are very intriguing. I’m looking forward to making some of the delish recipes.
Made this and it was absolutely delicious. Kicked it up a notch with some thai chillies. Great recipe.
Hi Tieghan! I so appreciate your site, you’re very talented. One small recommendation: sometimes it’s difficult to load your site, because of the plethora of pictures, it really slows down my connection, and makes it hard to scroll. Maybe smaller file sizes or a few less pictures? It could be just me 🙂 They’re beautiful pics by the way.
Thanks so much for the kind words, Becky! I will looking into what I can do to help with that. That is so annoying, I am so sorry!
I just made this and it is SO tasty! I’ve been following the blog for a while and I think this is in the top 5 recipes for sure! Now I have lunch for the week 🙂
Yes!! So happy you loved this! Thanks Jill!