This meal that has taken almost ten years of fussing and simplifying to become a regular in my kitchen. It all started January 14th 2008, and I know because the printer put a time stamp on it.

This was during my year of Monday Night Dinners. Every Monday morning I’d call a list of friends and announce “It’s Monday! Are you coming to dinner?”

Then I’d search the internet for cooking inspiration. That Monday at 10:25am I printed a Bon Appetit recipe on Epicurious for Chicken Curry with Dried Apricots. It called for a jar of mango chutney. But I was ambitious so I also printed a recipe from Alton Brown on the Food Network for mango chutney.

In the intervening years I’d occasionally make it with purchased mango chutney. I even blogged about it once before. It was ok, but too simple and not nearly as good as the original. But making chutney separately was too much of an extra step. Now I use fresh mangos in a hodgepodge of a one-pot recipe. It’s way tastier than the purchased version and super flexible with ingredients. I love it.

I don’t measure anything. I also make a HUGE quantity to feed us for the week and freeze some for later.

On medium heat… So things cook and lightly brown and eventually lightly stick to the bottom…

oil (could be vegetable or coconut, not olive)
chilis (whole dried, flaked, fresh whatever)
Onion diced (I used red, but anything could do)
Ginger minced (about 3″)
Garlic (about 8 cloves)
Red bell pepper (1 or 2, but don’t use green)
Curry (powder or Thai red curry paste, or a mix of both)

Mangos diced (I used 4 big ones)
Pineapple (I used an 8oz can of crushed pineapple, but you could use juice or whatever)
Vinegar, a generous gurgle or two (apple cider? Rice vinegar? Both?) just make it nice and acidic.
Brown sugar? It depends on how sweet and ripe the mangos were.  I didn’t need any this time.
Salt. Make sure to taste it before adding the raw chicken. The flavors should punch you in the face.  If it’s not, keep tweaking until it’s powerful. 

Chicken thighs roughly diced (I used 6)
Coconut milk (12oz can, the creamer the better)

Very optional: diced dried apricots, dried golden raisins, toasted nuts like macadamia (I didn’t use any this time, but mostly because I forgot).
Possibly add a green vegetable at the end such as snow peas or broccoli (I didn’t this time).

This time I wanted to have a summery veggie side with it.
I threw together a cucumber corn salad. First I mixed the dressing.  Again, didn’t measure anything but kept tasting and adding stuff until I liked it.  Brown rice vinegar, hot chili oil, sesame oil, powdered ginger and garlic, and brown sugar. 

Then added 2 fresh raw sweet corn cut off the cob. Diced 1 English cucumber. Diced a small red onion.

Served the mango chicken curry with rice (perhaps with cilantro in it).