8 and $20 Recipe: Coconut Chicken Curry with Chardonnay

Eight ingredients. That’s all it takes to build a meal from scratch. Add in a good bottle of wine for less than $20, and you’ve got a weeknight feast for family and friends. That’s the philosophy behind our “8 & $20” feature. We hope it adds pleasure to your table.

One of the tough things about making basic wine-and-food pairing recommendations is that people are often looking for a sound bite: Cabernet with steak, Pinot Noir with salmon. But it gets tricky trying to cover an entire cuisine in this manner, such as matching Riesling or Gewürztraminer with Indian food. Yes, an aromatic, off-dry white most likely can take on a dish with bold spices, but “Indian food” encompasses a whole range of recipes that might be better served by a different wine.

Take this recipe for coconut chicken curry with winter squash for instance. On paper, the squash and spices suggest an earthy character that would be well-served by a Viognier, while the coconut milk and chicken combo would marry nicely with a lightly oaky Chardonnay. When I went to my local market to pick a wine to complement this dish, I settled on a Washington Chardonnay for $13. The wine had a touch of oak—a bridge to the coconut flavors in the curry—and the tasting note indicated it would still have plenty of acidity to balance the rich sauce, as well as juicy fruit flavors, reminiscent of a Viognier, to go with the squash.

A quick note about ingredients: Store-bought curry powder may not be the most authentic of options—more complex curries could be made using a calculated mix of spices—but when you’re looking to minimize your grocery list, it’s a reasonable shortcut. Each commercial version is going to vary a little, so just think about a wine pairing that goes with the general idea of “spice” rather than trying to figure out which one will work better with, say, cumin or cayenne. For the record, the version I used was mild and listed these ingredients: coriander, turmeric, fenugreek, cumin, mustard, pepper and cayenne.

My hunch about the wine was right: It made a great match for the dish, brightening the creamy rich sauce while teasing out the earthy flavor of the squash. A squeeze of lemon over the curry at the end of cooking—not something I would add to a curry normally—helped emphasize the attractive citrus flavors in the wine.

Coconut Chicken Curry with Winter Squash

Pair with a Chardonnay with a light touch of oak, such as Chateau Ste. Michelle Chardonnay Columbia Valley 2012 (89 points, $11)

Total time: 35 minutes

Approximate food cost: $23

• 1 medium-sized onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tablespoons mild curry powder
• 1 1/2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 can (15 ounces) coconut milk
• 3 cups kabocha squash, cut into 3/4-inch dice (butternut and acorn squash are good substitutions)
• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 3/4-inch dice
• juice from 1/2 lemon

1. In a medium-sized saucepot, heat 1 tablespoon of cooking oil over medium-high heat. Add the diced onion and cook until slightly softened, around 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and continue to cook until it becomes aromatic, around 1 minute. Add the curry powder and the tomato paste and stir until they coat the onion mixture and the bottom of the pot begins to brown, around 1 minute.

2. Add the coconut milk to the pot and stir, scraping off the brown bits at the bottom of the pot. When it comes to a boil, turn the heat down to a simmer and add the squash and chicken. Cook until the squash is soft and the chicken cooked through, around 20 minutes. Adjust the seasoning with salt, add the lemon juice and serve while warm over rice or with naan bread. This can be made a day ahead and reheated. Serves 4