Vegetarian Caribbean Chicken Curry Recipe

My father-in-law brought back soya chunks* from his home of Jamaica a couple of years ago, and I remember staring at the package trying to figure out how to cook the things. I’ve come along way since then and recently after I bought a bag of Imitation Chicken Chunks, I found this recipe on VegWeb and adapted it a bit. It came out so well, that I thought I would post it in honor of Meatless Monday. This takes a while to prepare, but the results are definitely worth it. And the best part? All of the ingredients cost me less than $15!

Vegetarian Caribbean Chicken Curry Recipe

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup chicken flavored soy protein chunks
• 2 carrots
• 1 stalk celery
• 1 medium-large onion
• 4 cloves garlic,chopped
• 1/2 medium red pepper
• 1/2 medium green pepper
• 2 medium tomatoes
• 1 medium white potato
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon ground allspice
• 1 sprig of fresh thyme (you can also use dried, but you’ll need to use a lot more to taste it)
• Salt to taste
• Black Pepper to taste
• 1/3 cup Jamaican curry powder (If you only have regular curry powder, that’s fine)
• 1 can coconut milk (try using a light version to save on calories)
• 1/8 cup olive oil

Directions:

Soak protein chunks in a bowl with enough water to cover it for at least 20 minutes but no more than 45. Drain well.Coarsely chop all vegetables.

Saute onion and garlic in oil in a dutch oven on a medium-low flame until the onion turns clear. Then add all vegetables (except 1 tomato, the potato, and thyme) and saute until the carrots begin to soften. Add the curry powder, salt and pepper, and allspice and stir until vegetables are well coated. Add the drained soy chunks and saute until chunks are well coated with curry. Add the can of coconut milk and thyme, and enough water to cover everything in the pot. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes on a low flame stirring frequently. (The key is to keep the pot just under boiling, adding water if necessary – but keeping the sauce thick.) When sauce begins to thicken, add the tomato and the potato, coarsely chopped. Cover and cook until the tomato and potato are cooked. Serve over a bed of brown rice with a side dish of your favorite vegetable.

Serves: 8
Preparation time: 1 hour

Original recipe submitted by Kimberly Clovis kclovis@yahoo.com to vegweb.com

*Soy chunks are made from texturized vegetable protein, and can me made to taste like a variety of meats.

• How do you make your veggie curry?