The One. The Only. Curry.

If you have visited my house more than say once, you are aware that I am deeply, truly, madly in love with habanero peppers. A meal isn't good unless you're sobbing and begging the sweet Lord above to kill you, and once you've forgotten the painful memories and literal heartache, BAM! Like a bad exboyfriend's friend request on Facebook, you're reminded of your delicious meal in the bathroom the next day. That's a tasty dinner. So people come over and I cook them curry. Usually it's tolerable, but since habanero peppers can vary in heat based on the season, time of year, conditions they were grown in, I either get a *just enough* spice or a look of horror and betrayal when my dinner guest goes, "OH MY GOD, D, WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME!? MY FACE IS MELTING OOOOOOOOFFFFFF!" And I use the same amount of peppers every time, so all I can do is shrug and say "Now you know what the disclaimer is for."

Regardless, most people love this stuff just as much as I do and it usually turns out great. If the above paragraph terrifies you, you can always lower the habanero quotient, or swap habaneros for serranos or jalapenos. And I will berate you endlessly and call you giant baby.

This recipe comes from Doug Irvine in British Columbia (Canadians do everything better), who apparently was sitting around one day and thought "Man, I love curry. I love all kinds of curry. I love Indian curry and Thai curry. Curry rules." I couldn't agree more. So the man is a GENIUS and combined the two. He should win the Nobel Prize in Curry. I vote we make that a category next year:

Ingredients:

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 large spanish onion
4 cloves of garlic
1 knob of ginger, about inch in diameter
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1 cup of chopped cilantro or more to taste
3 habanero peppers
1 14oz can coconut milk
1-2 tbls Madras curry powder, available asian markets
1 tbls Thai Red curry paste
1 tbls sugar....and ...salt to taste

Chop onion and garlic and ginger, the onion medium dice the rest small dice, and place in a fair sized pot, not aluminum, in a small amount of olive oil, sprinkle with the curry powder, and cook on low heat, long and slow...the secret to a good curry is long slow cooking of the onion mixture.

While this is starting to go, cut chicken breasts into medium strips, across the breast, and about half inch by 3 inches. When the onion mixture is transparent and fragrant, remove it to a bowl, add a little more oil to the pot, and throw in the chicken pieces, raising the heat, and stir frying the meat, so it doesnt stick. Throw the onion mix back in, and add the coconut milk, the Thai curry paste and the sugar...bring to simmer, put on lid and finely chop the habs,seeded. Toss them in too, and let it go, with the lid ajar, so it will thicken.

While this is going, cut the red and green peppers into 1/4 inch strips about the length of the pepper, so that you have a pile of red and green pepper strips, use more peppers if you wish...PUT THESE IN LAST, ALONG WITH THE CILANTRO, and cook for about another five minutes, taste for seasoning, and add salt and more sugar if needed. Serve with Thai rice.