Personal Chef Here! Ask Me Anything!

love the smell and flavor of curry. you got an easy healthy chicken curry recipe? emphasis on easy. I am all thumbs in the kitchen. thank you sir.

I don't have a recipe saved for curry, but I can walk you through an easy way to make it!

First off, crocktherock hit it on the head with the Indian grocers. With a little searching you should be able to find a pretty good premade curry mix (fun fact: the word "curry" actually is just a mix of usually 22 different spices) and a paste. Feel free to use either recipe. I always appreciate different recipes! We're going to use those as your spice base to make it as easy as possible.

EDIT - also a shoutout to gmallan who beat me to the coconut milk idea :P

Heat coconut (or olive, or I like blending the two) oil over medium heat.
Cut skinless chicken breast meat into chunks and saute for somewhere between 5 and 7 minutes.
Throw in some minced garlic and your favorite mix of vegetables (if you have frozen veggies though them out first!) and saute them until they have some nice color in them.
Add in the curry spice mix and stir well, making sure the spice mix doesn't clump up and covers everything.
Add some coconut milk and paste until you have the desired amount of sauce, then finish with a little soy sauce and lime juice. I also like to throw in a little bit of Sriracha and stevia to add a nice sweet-and-heat element to the dish.
Let this cook for a couple more minutes until everything is hot and it seems like the coconut milk starts to thicken a little bit.
Serve with whichever type of noodles you like.

I know I said little a LOT, but that's really all it should be. Dashes of everything, and feel free to play around. Remember, you can always add more seasoning but you CANNOT take seasoning away.

I am looking for a great beef barley soup recipe?

I meant to say more before I clicked. Thank you for this offer!!

Very nice of you!

No problem at all! I love being able to help people out!

As for Beef and Barley soup, the hardest part is cooking the barley. Everything else is pretty straightforward. I'll go ahead and tell you how to make it, but unfortunately the recipe I use is the same recipe as a restaurant I work at and I signed a nondisclosure agreement, so I can't share specifics =\

First off, the barley:
I recommend buying the quick barley from your local grocery store (Meijer/Kroger for me) and following the instructions on the box. The barley really turns out quite well! If you'd rather cook it from completely raw, I can walk you through that as well. It's pretty similar to cooking rice.

Cut beef into chunks, around 1/2" to 1" in size (I recommend a roast, they're cheaper than if you buy something like a tenderloin and the meat will become tender anyways!).
In a stockpot (or something you can use to make soup), heat a little oil over high heat. Sear the beef chunks until brown on all sides.
Add your favorite beef stock/broth to the pot and stir, making sure to scrape up some of the residue left on the bottom of the pan (Fun fact: this stuff is called "fond" and adds a TON of flavor to the soup).
Let the soup simmer for 30-45 minutes or until the beef is tender (this really depends on what type of cut you used in the beginning, but rest assured the beef WILL get tender eventually).

While the beef and broth is simmering, saute carrot and celery until the carrot just barely begins to soften (it should still have a good bite to it!).
Add the onion and saute until it starts turning translucent.
Once you are done sauteing the veggies, add them to the broth!
At this point I also like to cut up yellow squash and zucchini to add towards the last 10 minutes of simmering, but it definitely isn't necessary.

Season the soup to your taste with salt and pepper and add the barley. Wallah, you have yourself a pretty darn good beef and barley soup!