Basil Chicken in Coconut Curry Sauce

This is truly delicious. Don't forget to make up the rice so it's hot and ready to serve when the chicken is done. Steamed carrots with a little brown sugar glaze and a simple salad make this a beautiful meal.

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

2 tsp. curry powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cracked black pepper

1/4 tsp. chili powder

1 cup chopped onion

5 cloves garlic, minced

2 fresh jalapeño peppers, seeded and finely chopped

1 TBS. olive oil

1 14-ounce can unsweetened coconut milk

1 TBS cornstarch

3 TBS snipped fresh basil

1 tsp. grated fresh ginger

3 cups hot cooked rice

Cut chicken into 1-inch pieces. Place chicken in a medium bowl. In a small bowl stir together the curry powder, salt, black pepper, and chili powder. Sprinkle spice mixture over chicken, tossing to coat evenly. Cover and chill for 1 to 2 hours to allow spices to penetrate meat.

In a large nonstick wok or skillet cook and stir onion, garlic, and jalapeño peppers in hot oil over medium-high heat for 2 minutes. Remove onion mixture from wok. Add half of the chicken to wok. Cook and stir for 3 to 4 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Remove chicken from wok. If necessary, add additional oil. Cook remaining chicken as above; remove from wok.

Combine coconut milk and cornstarch. Carefully add to wok. Cook and stir until slightly thickened and bubbly. Return chicken and onion mixture to wok. Stir in basil and ginger. Cook and stir about 2 minutes more or until heated through. Serve over hot rice.

Ham and Cheese Sliders

Thanks, Benay, for this addition to my cookbook. I use it all the time. These are perfect for a party. Kids love them too if you don't mention the onions. One of our pint-sized guests last night said, "These are great! Can you teach us how to make them?" Here you go:

1 ½ lb. thinly sliced ham

1 lb. sliced Swiss cheese

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 stick soft butter

3 Tbs. poppy seeds

3 Tbs. dijon mustard

2 Tbs. Worcestershire

3 pkg. small rolls (12, unseparated per package)

Mix onion, butter, poppy seeds, mustard, and Worcestershire. Slice rolls while still unseparated and spread paste-like mixture on tops and bottoms of rolls. Lay slices of ham and cheese on bottoms of rolls and put tops back on. Do not separate rolls until after they are baked. Wrap each set of prepared rolls in foil. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Remove foil and cut into individual sandwiches.

These can be prepared ahead of time and frozen. They should be wrapped in foil to be frozen. If frozen, they should be baked for 60 minutes.