May 30, 2018
This week I wanted to share with you another Whole30 approved recipe. I know, I know, I am turning into a diet blog. Not really though, because this recipe is so damn good you won’t even notice that it is Whole30 approved! It’s been my mission on this diet to make the tastiest food so that a. I don’t feel like I’m missing out, b. I can get back into my love of cooking again and c. my partner doesn’t notice how healthy we are really eating. He was very skeptical about this whole thing, and I’ve been getting a little smug about how much he is loving the food. Seriously, I feel like my cooking on this diet has surpassed his love of my usual cooking, so if that isn’t a plug for the food I don’t know what is!
This week I had a slow cooker recipe recommended to me and of course I had to tweak it to make it practically a whole new recipe because I just can’t help myself. Honestly I would be terrible on Masterchef because I am so bad at sticking exactly to what I’m meant to cook. The results were so good though that I was glad I still had what I’d chucked into the slow cooker in my head so that I could share it with you all. This recipe definitely doesn’t make you feel like you are missing out on delicious food, and the smells in the house while it was cooking away were so unbelievably good!
I was a little skeptical about putting chicken curry in the slow cooker, but I have seen it on Pinterest a lot and decided to finally give it a go. The results were absolutely delicious and made me think there is something to allowing the flavours to really develop in a curry in order to get the most out of them. On top of this, it makes for very minimal effort on your part, because you literally just chuck everything in and the slow cooker does the work for you. Seriously, all you have to do is brown the chicken, roughly chop some veggies and herbs, then chuck it all together and let it go. We all know how much I love a minimal effort meal, especially when for the most part on Whole30 I’ve been putting a lot of time and effort towards the kitchen, so it was nice to let the slow cooker do the work for once.
- 500 grams skinless chicken breast cut into chunks
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tsp coconut oil
- 1.5 cans of coconut milk
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh basil leaves
- 2 fresh chillis diced
- 1.5 tbsp yellow curry powder
- 1 large red onion diced
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 3 carrots chopped
- 1 zucchini chopped
- 1/2 bunch of kale roughly chopped
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Heat the coconut oil on a medium-high heat in a fry pan until melted. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, and add to the fry pan once hot. Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side or until browned and remove the chicken from the fry pan and set aside.
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Add the coconut milk, basil leaves, salt and pepper to taste, yellow curry powder, chillis and garlic to the slow cooker pot and stir to combine. Add the onion, garlic, carrots and zucchini to the pot and stir slightly to mix before adding the chicken and giving it a final stir, ensuring the chicken is nestled in the sauce.
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Cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 6-8 hours.
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When you are almost ready to serve, using two forks pull apart the chicken breast in the pot (it should have cooked enough to pull easily) and stir to combine. Add the kale and allow to cook for another half an hour before serving.
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Serve over some rice, or for a Whole30 approved meal over some cauliflower rice.
As I said, this recipe is super simple and really requires minimal effort on your part. You could easily put this on before work on low and come back to an amazing meal! I really didn’t put much time in to the prep either, all the effort really went to chopping the veggies, but you don’t need to be precious with this and can really just chuck it all in. Just make sure you brown that chicken good to get a crispy edge (it makes it that much more delicious).
You could easily make this with chicken thighs, I just had chicken breast on hand but they would probably work better. You can also add in whatever veggies you have on hand, and feel free to leave them out if you don’t feel like adding them in. I served this with some rice for my partner (have to give him some sense of normality) and then some roasted brocolli for myself, but I would recommend using cauliflower rice if you can to soak up the juices from the sauce.
This dish is so Moorish and delicious, perfect for a winter warmer as the days get colder. I loved the kick of spice you got from the chillis on a colder evening, it really made me feel comforted, which is something you sometimes feel like you’re missing out on with Whole30. The meals are great, but I was missing the curries we normally get for takeout on the weekend, and this really hit the spot to reduce my cravings! Plus it was a whole lot healthier than what I would normally be eating without compromising on the flavour!
Until next time, happy eating!
Ella xx
