Daniel Raisu
(That's Japanese for a darn good dish)

Yes, I can cook.  OK, I can only cook this dish.  But it's so good that I have no desire to cook anything else.  I classify this under American Cuisine, which is a new field of cooking devoted to taking the best ingredients from all over the world and creating innovative tastes.  So if you're interested, give the recipe a shot!

INGREDIENTS

chicken breast 200g
1 orange pepper
1 small eggplant
S&B Golden Curry
1 clove of garlic
rice
olive oil
turmeric
fennel
cinnamon
nutmeg
cardamom

PREPARATIONS

Start with the rice.  You might as well have the rice ready by the time your indgredients are ready to go.  Once the rice is cooked, add some turmeric, to give the rice a little curry flavor (and a yellow look).

Remove all skin (and fat if possible) from the chicken breast and cut into pieces.  Beef is also fine, it's just that chicken is healthier (and cheaper in Japan!) 

I like to use orange peppers, but yellow peppers would also suffice.  I don't recommend red or green peppers because orange and yellow are sweeter.

Since this is a recipe for one large portion, you only need one small eggplant.  These are very popular in Japan, unlike the huge eggplants that we tend to use in the U.S.  In this case, the smaller, the better.

I am a garlic freak, so those less tolerant might want to use less than the whole clove that I use.  One of these garlic crushers would be handy, but shredding or slicing would do as well.

I use this S&B Golden Curry (actually, I've never tried anything else), which comes in different degrees of spice.  I prefer medium and spicy, but starters may want to take it easy the first time.

ALL SYSTEMS GO

Start by turning on the heat full throttle (I'm rather impatient).  Then pour in the olive oil, but be conservative.  There is no need to add unnecessary fat to an otherwise healthy dish.  Plus, the curry and the juices from the vegetables create enough of a base for the dish to cook anyway.

Then for the base, add in the garlic and curry.  WARNING: those of you who often use block curry may be accustomed to adding water, but I don't use any for this dish.  Stir until the curry block has melted down.  

Lower the heat to medium and add chicken.  Stir the chicken in with the garlic and curry base.

Add the spices.  Here, you should adapt the spices to your taste, but I use, in descending order of quantity: fennel, cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom.  Other recommended spices would be garam masala or clove.  Experiment and try something new! (be sure to e-mail me if it works)

Add in the rice and stir.  This shouldn't take long.  This is more to mix the curry base into the rice than it is to cook any further.  The chicken should be ready by the time you mix in the rice.  After about a minute of stirring, remove from the heat.

BUON APPETITO

OK, putting this page up is a little embarrassing.  And I can't tell you the stimulation I got from taking pictures of sliced eggplants.  I wouldn't have gone through this trouble if I didn't really like this dish.  It's quick (about 35 minutes from start to finish), relatively inexpensive (outside of Japan) and healthy (if you watch the oil).  I think it is important for folks who live on their own to learn how to cook and enjoy it.  I began to cook out of necessity when I was an exchange student at Hokkaido University in Sapporo and didn't want to make the long walk from the dorm to the dining commons during the long, cold winter.  Over time, it has evolved into the Daniel Raisu that I have introduced to you.  I hope you like it.