AIP chicken and butternut squash coconut curry with AIP spice blend - nightshade-free, seed-spice-free, 30-minute weeknight meal

2 handfuls of chicken left in the fridge from Sunday, half a butternut squash, and 2 cans of coconut milk are not much to look at on their own. Put together with a spice blend you mix yourself, they turn into a real curry in under 35 minutes, on the kind of weeknight where a real dinner otherwise would not happen. That is worth something when you are the one doing all the extra thinking a protocol like this asks of you.

Butternut squash is doing more work here than sweetness. It bulks the dish out further than the chicken alone could, and its starch gives the sauce body instead of letting it thin out. The chicken already did its protein work on Sunday; tonight it is mostly here to make the bowl feel like dinner instead of a side dish. The spice blend, turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and a pinch of mace, replaces a store-bought korma paste built on cumin and coriander, both seed spices excluded during elimination.

Serve it over cauliflower rice or alongside whatever roasted vegetables are already in the oven, finish with cilantro, and let a good meal happen on a night when you were not sure one would.

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon coconut oil
• 4 spring onions (green onions), sliced
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground mace
• sea salt, to taste
• 2 cans (800 ml total) full-fat coconut milk, unsweetened
• half a medium butternut squash (about 350 to 400g), peeled and cut into bite-sized cubes
• 2 large handfuls leftover cooked chicken, roughly chopped or shredded
• fresh cilantro, to scatter over

Note on korma paste: the original source uses Patak's korma paste, which contains seed spices including cumin and coriander - both excluded on AIP elimination. The AIP spice blend above replaces it entirely. If you are cooking for someone beyond the elimination phase who has reintroduced all seed spices, a tablespoon of a clean korma paste would work in place of the blend.

Method

Warm the coconut oil in a large skillet or wide saucepan over medium heat. Add the spring onions and cook for 2 to 3 minutes until softened. Add the turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and mace. Stir for 30 to 60 seconds until the spices are fragrant and coated in the oil.

Pour in the coconut milk and stir to combine with the spices. Add the butternut squash cubes and season with sea salt. Bring to a gentle simmer, then reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the squash is tender and the coconut milk has thickened slightly.

Add the cooked chicken and stir to combine. Cook for another 3 to 4 minutes to warm the chicken through. Taste and adjust salt.

Serve over cauliflower rice or alongside roasted AIP vegetables, scattered generously with fresh cilantro.

*Adapted from comfortbites.co.uk*