(Easy) Paleo Chicken Curry
I am not a gourmet chef. In fact, I’m fairly simple in the kitchen. I’m lazy and a huge procrastinator and a horrible planner. There are at least a million other things I’d rather do than get stuck in the kitchen cooking. Which means I often find myself in the predicament where we discussed what to make for dinner, but put off doing anything about it until it is mostly too late to reasonably make whatever it was in enough time to both eat it and get the kids to bed before their bedtime.
Unfortunately, I despise bland and boring food. I believe your food should assault your senses. You should know you’re eating something. You should be looking forward to that first bite of food with an expectation of flavor explosion, and every bite after should provide you with the same anticipation. And when you come to the last bite you should be really sad when the experience is over
These qualities often conspire against me. It’s really hard to be such an expert procrastinator and demand a high quality dining experience. It usually means I have to get off my duff and cook. I’m also one of the world’s foremost experts at the misunderestimation of time required to complete any given task! This skill does not, in combination with the others, lend itself to having timely meals at all. In fact, it’s not uncommon for me to start cooking entirely too late for use to actually eat the food on the night it is made. Of course, we do end up with some fantastic leftovers, so all is not lost, just late.
This is how things started out the other night. CaveMom told me early that morning that company was expected sometime after the CaveKids came home from school. Of course, tell me something in the morning which I’m supposed to remember in the afternoon is pointless. Once my brain gets absorbed in my work, anything I’m told beforehand usually gets pushed right out of my memory banks! So it’s not surprising at all that I found myself just beginning to cook dinner that evening at 6:15ish while our guest was still here.
The original plan was to have Grilled Lemon-Dijon Chicken, a recipe by John Fragoso, Sarah Fragoso’s (of Everyday Paleo fame) husband. Oh, I should probably mention that I pretty much despise chicken and that this is (or was until now) the only chicken recipe I actually enjoy. I’d much rather have beef, pork, or fish over pretty much any type of chicken. I find it bland, flavorless, and, well, always tasting like chicken.
Here it is, 6:15ish, and the chicken is not quite defrosted (I had at least remembered to take it out of the freezer and toss it into a sink full of water a few hours before). But marinating it for an hour, or even a half-hour didn’t seem possible given that still partly frozen status. So, 6:15 p.m. The guest is still here. Dinner hasn’t been started. It’s entirely too late to make what I had planned. Now what?
Clearly this is the perfect time to experiment with something I’ve never done before, don’t even know if I have all the ingredients for, and am clueless about whether my family will even like, right? Obviously!
Enter…
(Easy) Paleo Chicken Curry a la Thoughtful Cave Dad !
We start off by googling for “Paleo Chicken Curry” and land over at NomNom Paleo’s page with this recipe for Thai Chicken Curry. Which looks fantastic. Of course, of the 11 ingredients she lists, I have:
- waaaay more than the 1 pound of chicken she lists (about 4 pounds or so)
- no curry paste of any kind (I don’t even know what curry paste is, nevermind where to find the stuff!)
- no frozen veggies
- no leftover roasted kabocha squash (whatever the heck that is!)
- no apple juice
- no fresh basil leaves.
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I am off to an AWESOME start! What I do have is this:
Ingredients:
- 4 pounds of partly frozen chicken thighs
- coconut oil
- a couple of onions
- a bunch of golden zucchini squash
- some celery and a few carrots
- fresh garlic (1 head)
- curry powder
- ground ginger
- garlic powder
- salt & pepper
- tomato paste (1 6oz. can)
- full-fat coconut milk (2 cans)
Directions:
Clearly this is almost as good, right? So, following Mrs. NomNom’s directions, I do the following:
- Cut the partly frozen chicken into small, bite-sized chunks (this takes a long time when you have 4+ pounds of chicken. You fingers also become partly frozen and unable to move or feel at a certain point. This is sub-optimal when dealing with sharp knives or kitchen scissors!)
- Melt some coconut oil in 2 different frying pans (did I mention I had a LOT of chicken?)
- Toss the chicken in the frying pan(s) and cook until browned
- While the chicken is cooking, chop all your other veggies
- Remove the chicken when cooked to a separate (and really LARGE) bowl
- Leaving all the chicken juices in the pan(s) add the onions and sauté until translucentish/golden brownish
- Season the chicken and onions with salt and pepper
- Then douse with curry powder and ground ginger
- Mix well and continue to add curry powder and ginger until things look yellowish
- Now is a good time to add any other veggies you’ve chopped up
While the onions are cooking make the “curry paste” replacement:
- Open 1 can of tomato paste and scrape it all out into a mixing bowl
- Open 2 cans of whole-fat coconut milk and dump them into the mixing bowl with the tomato paste
- Add more curry powder and ginger
- Mix well with an immersion blender
(or use a whisk and beat this stuff into submission. The final color should be a reddish-pinkish yellowish color) - When you’re satisfied with the color/flavor of the “paste” (which is much more liquidy and anything but pasty and ) pour it into the pan(s) with the chicken and everything else
- Mix well until everything is well slathered and looking yellowish.
When the carrots not quite soft and the zucchini isn’t yet mushy, turn off the heat and serve. This can be served over white rice, cauliflower rice, sweet potato noodles, spaghetti squash, or even baked white potato. Use your imagination!
This was a complete “wing-it and serve” meal. The CaveKids and CaveMom loved it. The CaveKids loved it enough that at least one of them had it for breakfast the next morning! It was extremely filling, and it made enough to freeze a significant portion. There you have it. (Easy) Paleo Chicken Curry by a guy who has no idea what he’s doing!
