Turmeric chicken is a very popular meal in our house. My youngest, who swears up and down that she hates all spicy food, calls turmeric chicken one of her favorite meals. Admittedly, I don’t put a lot of the red chilies in there, but the flavor is there. I’m not going to point that out to her.

That my picky youngest likes this goes well with my husband’s theory on kids and yellow foods. He says kids just like yellow foods. He counts carrots as yellow. Unless you’re buying yellow carrots, they’re usually orange when I look at them. But it’s not worth the argument. Too minor.

I like making turmeric chicken when I don’t want to spend a lot of time on dinner. Chopping the onion and the chicken can take a while, but it’s not that bad. Start cooking the onion and garlic in the oil. Add the chicken.

Then you throw the turmeric and other spices. Stir to coat the chicken completely with turmeric. Cook until the chicken is lightly cooked on the outside, but not cooked through.

Add water, cover and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer and cook for 15-20 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

This goes very well with rice. The leftover water in the pan goes well with rice. I usually simmer the water down a little to evaporate the excess water before adding to rice.

Be warned that turmeric stains. Get too much on your hands, and it’s hard to get all of it off. It can also be difficult to scrub off your countertops, floor, sink… trust my experience on that one. If any turmeric gets spilled, clean it up promptly. Try hard to keep it off your clothes.

I served this one with rice, tomatoes and bell peppers. The mess off to the side is a pile of grilled, marinated artichoke hearts. I found the bottles at my local 99 Only store, and they are soooo good! I bought probably too many bottles (over a dozen!) but at a dollar per, I figured it was reasonable. The hard part is not going through them too fast, because I want to figure out some recipes with them. They’re good on their own, though.

Add mushrooms, onion, celery and garlic in a large skillet coated with cooking spray and saute until vegetables are tender-about 5 minutes. Place vegetables in slow cooker and add chicken.

In a cup, stir together flour and chicken broth until smooth. Add to slow cooker. Add the seasonings, crushed tomatoes and raisins, and stir in. Cover and cook on low for 5 hours.

To serve, spoon 1/2 cup rice onto each of 4 plates. Top each with chicken and sauce and serve.

Directions

1. Place all ingredients except pineapple in crockpot, cook on low all day.
2. Turn to high and remove lid for last hour and add pineapple chunks. Serve over rice.

Directions

1. In a baking dish, mix soup, water, rice and pepper.
2. Place chicken on rice mixture.
3. Sprinkle with additional pepper.
4. Cover. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes or until well done.