Quick & Easy Turkey Curry

I am tired, stuffy and coughing tonight. There has been a lot of "Vog" in the air that drifts over from Kīlauea, the most active volcano in the world on The Big Island, for what seems like forever now (and supposedly will get worse next week-yippee!). Plus I had to be up at 5:00 and at Ala Moana Beach Park by 6:00 for a charity run/walk our company sponsors and spent several hours outdoors which didn't help the breathing. Between the vog and whatever is blooming in the air right now I am a delight to be around, either coughing up a lung or blowing my nose. Although I am supposed to be at a Bachelorette Party tonight, I begged off and have (what I hope is) a good Chick Flick to watch at home as I am not fit company for anyone.

I also wanted, no NEEDED, something very quick, easy and comforting for dinner. Curry is often comfort food to me, warm, creamy, slightly spicy and I can spend hours chopping and simmering ingredients to make an authentic one. Tonight however I didn't have the time or patience for that and wanted to whip something up quickly and use up some leftovers in my cupboard, fridge and freezer. I had some turkey breast, coconut milk, a couple red potatoes, cilantro and yellow curry paste that needed to be used. (Can you believe I opened my cupboard a few weeks ago and had 14 cans of coconut milk in there!? I think I kept buying it thinking I needed it--I am through about 1/2 of it right now). I also had a bunch of bags of steamed vegetables in the freezer that I need to work through. Food snobs and curry purists should sniff and pass by the recipe below because this is really more like a curried Turkey Ala King, than a traditional curry, but if you are like me and sometimes just want something really easy but good, it works. You can vary the meat and veg to your liking.

Quick & Easy Turkey Curry
1 Tbs olive oil
1 small onion, diced
2 gloves garlic, chopped
1 can lite coconut milk
1/2 cup 2% milk
2 Tbs yellow curry paste
1 tsp turmeric (makes it a bit more yellow)
1 1/2 cups chopped, cooked turkey breast
3 small red new potatoes, diced into 1/4" cubes
About 1 1/2 cups mixed frozen vegetables (I used 2 small packages--one with broccoli, carrots and cauliflower and one with peas and mushrooms)
salt and pepper to taste
chopped fresh cilantro

Heat the olive oil in saute pan and add onion and garlic, cook about 5-6 minutes until onion is translucent. (Meanwhile steam potatoes about 3-4 minutes in steamer or covered bowl in the microwave until just soft and then steam frozen vegetables microwave a bout 4 minutes until done). Add coconut milk, milk, curry and turmeric and stir until curry is thoroughly mixed in. Add potatoes and frozen vegetables to curry and simmer about 5 minutes more. Add salt and pepper to taste and mix in chopped cilantro.

That's it--about 20 minutes after I started I had something hot and yummy. Rather than rice tonight, I spooned the curry over a split Thomas English Muffin (there is something about creamy curry in all those "nooks and crannies" that spells comfort!), there is plenty left for lunch tomorrow with rice. I had a half-used jar of some locally made mango chutney and a bit of that accompanied the curry perfectly. It doesn't photograph that pretty--but it was good!

Time to turn on the movie; P.S. I Love You. I read the book a few years ago and liked it--hope I like the movie too...