Basil Coconut Curry Chicken

One of my favorite recipe websites is the fantastic Simply Recipes run by the amazing Elise Bauer (no relation to Jack). I love her site because it's essentially an online index of her family's homemade recipes. And they value "real food". An exerpt from her website describes her take on food as such:

" The recipes shown here use mostly whole food ingredients and only occasionally a few things from cans or prepared foods. We believe in a varied, healthy diet, using real butter, real cream, eggs, lots of green vegetables, and protein from meat, fish, beans, and cheese."

This is, of course, very similar to the primal eating lifestyle concept, minus the beans and cheese. So, she gets mad respect from me. More people need to eat real food. Anyway, on to tonight's adaptation....


Tonight I modified one of her yummy creations, Basil Chicken in Coconut Curry Sauce, to fit my Paleo-friendly preferences. I chose this recipe because I love anything with coconut, and anything that only invovles using one pan to make an entire meal. Can I get an amen for less dishes to wash? The results = yummy. And super E approved. He was turning his bowl upside down after he was done searching for any remaining remnants of our delicious meal. Below is the recipe as I prepared it:

Ingredients

• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric

• 1 lb skinless, boneless chicken thighs

• 1 large red onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 jalapeño peppers, seeded and minced (I did not include these so E could eat it, although normally I would love anything with a kick)
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 14-oz can coconut milk
• 2 teaspoons coconut flour
• 2 Tbsp basil leaves
• 1 Tbsp ground ginger

• shredded cabbage (pre-made bag for making cole slaw)

Method

1 In a small bowl, mix together the salt, ground coriander, cumin, ground cloves, black pepper, chili powder, and turmeric. Set aside.

2 Rinse chicken, pat dry. Cut into 1-inch pieces. Put into a bowl and sprinkle the spice mix over all the pieces. Coat well and let sit in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours.

3 In a large skillet heat 1 Tbsp oil on medium high heat. Add the onions and jalapeños and cook for 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more. Remove the onions, peppers and garlic from the pan and put into a medium sized bowl. Set aside. Use the same pan for the next step.

4 Add 1 Tbsp oil to the skillet and heat on medium high heat. Add one half of the chicken pieces, spreading them out on the pan so they are not crowded. Brown for a few minutes on each side. When the chicken pieces are cooked through, and no pink remains, remove from pan, add to the bowl with the onions. Cook the second batch of chicken pieces the same way. Remove from pan, add to bowl with onions.

5 Add the coconut milk to the skillet. Add the coconut flour. Cook on medium heat and stir till thick and bubbly. Add chicken mixture, basil, and ginger. Cook 2 minutes more to cook through.

Serve over cabbage or pre-made cole slaw.

I wish I had gotten a picture of it after I was done cooking, but bay-bay was hungry. At least I got a cell phone pic of E digging in.

Instead I will share a super cute pic of my little man from today, sporting his new BMX shirt and wanna-be ChuckT's. I can't believe how big he looks in this pic! He is such a funny kid, he makes me laugh every day!

 If you try this recipe or any of Elise's fabulous family creations, let me know!