Mango Coconut Chicken

My deepest apologies invisible friends for the tardiness of this post. I haven't been so much busy as just extremely messy. Our baseboards required re-painting, therefore all the furniture was pulled into the middle of every room, and all nick-nacks and tchotchkes were relocated to all available stable flat surfaces (ie the kitchen island). And after I finished that (super fun, btw) I made ten litres of Thai coconut shrimp soup for a soup exchange I am participating in with some lovely ladies (recipe to come, after the said exchange has happened so I can tell you about it). Anyway, all these activities left my kitchen in a non-photographable state, and now I'm out of excuses.



I've repeatedly read a quote online (typically on Pinterest) that true friends are not necessarily the people you see and speak to often, but those that you can fall right back into the same place with, regardless of how long it's been since you've seen or spoken to one another.

I very much believe this is true (partly from necessity, since I'm lucky if I get to see 99% of my friends once a year).
My very best friends are well aware of who they are, and we really do fall right back into place. I do feel a bit sad when I think about them, because I tend to miss the simple day-to-day stuff that happens to them and isn't worth sharing later when we manage to get together, but I still know what's going on in their lives and we would all drop everything if we were needed to fly around the world to support one another. (Although the missing of the day-to-day stuff makes me inexplicably and monstrously jealous of their facebook friends. I know, sad sack right?)

While I could extol the virtues of each and every one of these friends in what would ultimately turn into an epic poem to rival The Odyssey, at the moment I'm planning to tell you about one in particular (because she, via her boyfriend's mom, was the source of this recipe; don't get jealous Jennifer!).

This is my beautiful friend Chelsea (photo courtesy of either her talented father, Kel, or friend and photographer, Karen McGregor. I can't remember which.):

I've also read that you are the combination of the five people you spend the most time with; this scares me because those people are my pets...

Chelsea and I went to high school together, so our particular brand of crazy really evolved and matured side by side. Chelsea is so many things to me: she has been my example of what true female strength is; she taught me what it means to have principles, and to defend them when necessary; she is unbelievably beautiful and I swear when I am with her I feel what it means to be truly, purely loved by another human being. In many ways Chelsea (along with a few other notables) taught me what love is, and is responsible for me knowing when I met the man who was right to marry.

For as long as I've known her, Chelsea has been a staunch promoter of animal rights and intended to become a veterinarian. This journey took her away from me to Scotland to the University of Glasgow. As a result, I have seen her even less than when we were at separate universities for our undergraduate degrees. We all hoped (and crossed fingers, and begged and pleaded!) she would come home once finished her degree, but alas she has been commandeered probably for good (not that I can much blame her, I would happily move to the UK tomorrow too). Chelsea now lives in Northern England with her two awesome Staffordshire Bull Terriers, Ellie and George Bailey.

This is the look you get while eating breakfast.

Everyone should sign the petitions circulating to end breed-specific legislation (especially in Ontario) because one of Chelsea's reasons for not returning home is that her dogs aren't allowed at home. I keep telling here they are in Nova Scotia, but this hasn't brought her back yet.

Luckily, every few years I seem to come up with a really great excuse for the expenditure of flying to the UK, which I then translate into a trip to visit Chelsea as well. This year it was Hubby coming into port in Southampton in April. Well, I've never seen London (and a port visit is basically the only way Steffan would ever allow himself to visit a city that big) so why not fly out? Let me tell you, London is expensive! But awesome. If the Canadian military wants to open a base there and post my husband, I will very happily tag along. And probably refuse to come home too...

After London, and visiting Chels at home, we decided to spend a night in Bath (posh!) since I had to get back to Heathrow, and she was on her way to Wales to work for the weekend. Of course, when you drive the kind of car that a young professional paying off five years of international student loans drives, not everything goes to plan. By the time we got to Bath the car was smoking heavily from under the bonnet and claimed to be on fire if the temperature gauge was to be believed. So rather than exploring the fancy pants Roman town, we spent several hours waiting for AA to arrive. We were lucky they ever came to be honest, since Chelsea's phone basically died mid-call while she was in fact purchasing a membership to AA, so that we could call them out in the first place. So in National Lampoon-style, my experience of Bath was the train station car park. And what's a pair of girls to do after such an experience but go back to the inn and get roaring drunk through dinner? During which, no joke, the ceiling started pouring water next to our table. Not dripping, pouring, in a steady stream. Our waiter was very apologetic and likely thought us completely insane when we couldn't stop laughing long enough to tell him it was a perfect end to the day.

Welcome to Bath!

Anyway, this year on my visit, Chelsea made me this mango chicken dish. Which is so painfully simple (even her boyfriend Chris can make it, according to Chelsea!) I feel like it doesn't even warrant a recipe, but it's very yummy and slightly sweet so I get a sugar fix out of it too. Chelsea made it with cream, but when I got home I thought it was worth a coconut try because I have an obsession with coconut. I made it with Peruvian rice but it could be served with whatever tickles your fancy. And if you want to be more healthy and aren't inappropriately satisfying a sugar fix with dinner like I was, you could add some veggies. Sugar snap peas would be delicious in here.

Mango Coconut Chicken with Peruvian Rice

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

Chicken:                                                        Rice:

1 1/2 lb chicken breast/thigh/a mixture        1 cup rice (I used a mix of red wild rice and white rice)

1/2 cup mango chutney                                         2 cups water

1/2 cup coconut cream*                                       1 tbsp olive oil

1 ripe mango, chopped                                         1 1/2 tsp lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste                                         1 garlic clove, smashed

                                                                                         1/4 tsp salt

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Remove any excess fat from chicken; chop into small pieces and place in a baking dish.
2. Stir in coconut cream*, mango chutney, and salt and pepper; don't worry if it is very thick at this stage.
3. Bake chicken for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from oven and stir in mango, then bake another 10 minutes**.
4. While chicken is cooking, rinse rice until water runs clear to remove starches. Combine all rice ingredients in a pot; bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and cover. Cook without stirring (it's hard, I know) until all water is absorbed and rice is tender***. Remove the garlic clove.
5. Spoon chicken and extra sauce over rice and serve.

* Coconut cream is the solid part of the coconut milk (yes, the fatty part = flavour); make sure your coconut milk is not low fat, and open the can from the bottom this way you can pour off the liquid and scoop out the cream. Save the remaining milk and cream, which you can freeze in an ice cube tray and store in a bag in the freezer until needed.
** Cooking times will vary depending on your oven and the size of dish you use. I have a convection oven and used an 8x8 Pyrex. However, in our house virtually all chicken is overcooked and rubbery because Hubby got salmonella in university and is now massively paranoid about the doneness of all poultry. Use your discretion and if the chicken is almost cooked through before the 30 minutes, toss in your mango and cook it just long enough to heat through.
*** Pay attention to the cooking times, especially if using different kinds of rice like I did. I had to start the red rice (which takes 30-40 minutes) then add the white rice when only about 20 minutes remained.