Curry meatballs, built without the curry paste

This curry gives you the creamy, warming body of a good curry built entirely from ingredients this way of eating welcomes, no nightshade or seed spice paste required. It packs into 4 containers, so a busy week has dinner already waiting. It asks for some real effort and a few dishes, so save it for a day you have a little more energy; the work pays you back across the week.

The food is doing more than tasting good. The sauce gets its creaminess from blended sweet potato, a source of beta-carotene that your body converts to vitamin A, involved in mucosal and immune health. The coconut milk carries fats that help you absorb it, and the ground chicken gives you lean protein for rebuilding. Ginger is one of the gentler anti-inflammatory aromatics, and it does the warming work here that a chili would do in a conventional curry.

Source the chicken from a bird raised with care, and notice the small gratitude in using it well, with vegetables tucked right into the meatballs so little is wasted. When you plate it, let it be beautiful: the golden sauce over the meatballs, the cauliflower rice underneath, a wedge of lime. Take a breath before you eat. A settled nervous system is part of how the meal lands in the body.

Ingredients

Meatballs:

• 1 lb ground chicken
• 6 oz shredded carrot (by weight)
• 6 oz shredded zucchini (by weight)
• 1 tbsp minced fresh basil
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tbsp coconut oil, for the pan

Curry sauce:

• 1 lb sweet potato, diced
• one 14 oz can full-fat coconut milk
• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 1/2 lb onion, diced
• 3 large garlic cloves
• a 1 1/2-inch knob of ginger, grated
• 1 tbsp minced fresh basil
• juice of 1 lime
• 1 1/2 tsp sea salt

Cauliflower rice:

• one 2 lb head cauliflower
• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• sea salt

Method

Mix the ground chicken, shredded carrot, shredded zucchini, basil, and salt. The shredded vegetables add moisture from the inside, which is what lets these hold together without egg. Form 8 meatballs.

Pan-fry the meatballs in coconut oil over medium heat for about 15 minutes, turning halfway, until browned and cooked through.

For the sauce, boil the diced sweet potato until soft, about 12 minutes. Drain, then blend it with the coconut milk until completely smooth. This blended sweet potato and coconut milk is what gives you a creamy curry body without any curry paste or powder.

In a skillet, brown the onion in the coconut oil for about 8 minutes. Add the garlic, ginger, and basil and cook on low for 1 minute, just until fragrant. Stir in the sweet potato puree, the lime juice, and the salt. Garlic, ginger, basil, and lime are what carry the flavor here.

Pulse the cauliflower into rice-size grains in a food processor. Saute in oil with a little salt for 8 to 10 minutes, until tender.

Pack each container with cauliflower rice, then meatballs, then sauce over the top. Store up to 5 days in the fridge or up to 4 months in the freezer.

Instant Pot variation

You can save a pot or two by working in the Instant Pot. Use the saute setting to brown the meatballs in coconut oil, then set them aside. Saute the onion in the same pot, add the garlic, ginger, and basil for a minute, then add the diced sweet potato and just enough water to keep it from scorching, and pressure cook on high for about 4 to 5 minutes with a quick release. Blend the cooked sweet potato with the coconut milk, stir it back in with the lime and salt, and warm through. The cauliflower rice is still quickest in a skillet. This conversion is untested in our kitchen, so treat the pressure time as a starting range and check that the sweet potato is fully soft before blending.

*Adapted from asquirrelinthekitchen.com*