The past few weeks I have had some serious rotations for cooking and eating. Sometimes I go through stages of cooking new things almost every day, and other times I feel comfortable and happy making the same few dishes every week in a row and eating meals without much thought put in. It’s hard to get sick of lamb burgers and roasted veggies, but it’s also good to venture out, make new dishes, and to be reminded of how much I love to cook and eat.
A few days ago when feeling hungry and uninspired, I picked up Bon Appetit magazine and flipped past the photos of ‘Nachos for Gameday’, ‘Best waffles ever’, and ‘Creamiest pasta’ dishes. (It was hard!) But before giving up and picking up my phone to rifle through ‘MyKitchen’ app by The Primal Palate, (go ahead and download it, it’s wonderful), I came across a beautiful photo of a dark, earthy pot of stew with the title ‘Global Warming: Wintery stews packed with flavors from around the world will heat up the coldest of nights.’ Although this past week the sun has begun to show it’s face more, the cherry blossoms have popped open, and the birds are chirping, I haven’t been ready to move past stews and/or crockpots just yet. Bring it on spring, and I’ll just have to eat my hot stew with my feet in the grass and sun on my back.
I chose a stew recipe titled ‘Indian-Spiced Chicken with Tomato and Cream’ and made some substitutions to make it Autoimmune Protocol friendly (although I’m including nightshades). This is my version:
Ingredients:
- 3 Tbsp. ghee (I like Purity Farms)
- ~3 lbs. of chicken legs
- Sea salt, freshly ground pepper
- 1 medium onion
- 5 garlic cloves
- 2 Tbsp. finely grated peeled ginger
- 3 Tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tsp garam masala
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp ground tumeric
- 1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- 3/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 3/4 tsp ground cardamom
- 8 cups of bone broth
- 1 cup full fat coconut milk (I like Native Forest)
- 1 lb sweet potatoes
Instructions (from Bon Appetit) with my substitutions included:
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Heat ghee in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Working in batches, cook chicken, skin side down, until golden brown (do not turn), 8–10 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
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Add onion, garlic, and ginger to pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is very soft and golden brown, 8–10 minutes. Add tomato paste, garam masala, cumin, turmeric, coriander, cayenne, and cardamom and cook, stirring often, until tomato paste is beginning to darken, about 4 minutes.
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Add chicken, bone broth, and coconut milk to pot; season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, partially covered, skimming occasionally, until chicken is almost falling off the bone and liquid is slightly thickened, 1½–2 hours.
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Add sweet potatoes to pot and cook, partially covered, until potatoes are fork-tender, chicken is falling off the bone, and liquid is thick enough to coat a spoon, 30–45 minutes. Remove skin and bones from chicken, if desired, and return meat to pot; season stew with salt and pepper.
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Serve with Paleo Naan Bread. (I used coconut flour instead of almond flour and it turned out very well.)
Difficulty: Easy-moderate. Throwing it together is reasonably easy, but make sure to have the bone broth made ahead of time and plan to have enough time to let it simmer.
Tastiness: I loved it and will definitely be making it again!
Diet savvy: With my substitutions, it fits under the Autoimmune Protocol. If someone cannot tolerate nightshades, I think leaving out the tomato paste and cayenne could be an option. I would play around with substituting a different curry paste or perhaps even a small amount of beets!
Other comments: Chicken is never my favorite meat, but there’s something about a curry or Indian dish that welcomes it for me. With all the fresh spices, this stew was quite flavorful. This is a great meal to serve for guests or make a pot of and freeze portions for later.
Enjoy!
