A warming curried chicken stew with cauliflower rice and mango, built on a seedless nightshade-free curry blend

There is no jar of curry powder on this recipe, not on the elimination phase. You build the blend yourself in a small bowl first: turmeric, cinnamon, dried basil, dill, a whisper of clove, and none of the seed spices, cumin, coriander, mustard, black pepper, that a store-bought tin depends on. Stirring 9 ingredients together before you have even chopped an onion is an extra step most nights do not ask for. Do it anyway. It is the reason this stew tastes like curry at all.

Curcumin is the compound that gives turmeric its color, and researchers have studied it for its part in how the body handles inflammatory signaling, useful territory when an immune system has been working overtime for a long stretch. Grate the carrots fine and you pick up beta-carotene along with them; your liver turns that into usable vitamin A on its own schedule, no supplement required.

Brown the chicken thighs properly before they go back into the pot with the broth, dark meat from a whole bird someone raised and sent to your kitchen. Let the mango cook down until the pieces go soft and start to melt into the sauce, finish with a good squeeze of lime, and you have curry built from a blend nobody sells in a store.

Ingredients

For the stew:

• 1 Tbsp coconut oil
• 2 lbs boneless chicken thighs, cubed
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4 medium carrots, grated
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 1/2 Tbsp nightshade-free seedless curry blend (below)
• 2 cups chicken bone broth
• 2 large mangoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 small head cauliflower, riced
• 1 lime
• sea salt, to taste

Nightshade-free seedless curry blend:

• 1/2 Tbsp granulated garlic
• 1/2 Tbsp granulated onion
• 1/2 Tbsp turmeric
• 1 tsp dried cilantro
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp dried dill weed
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp powdered ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground clove

This seedless blend is used in place of a standard curry powder, which relies on seed spices (cumin, coriander seed, mustard) and black pepper held back in the elimination phase. Peaches or apricots can stand in for the mango.

Method

1. Stir the curry blend together in a small bowl and set it aside.
2. Warm the coconut oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the cubed chicken thighs and brown them on the outside, working in batches if needed so they sear rather than steam. Set the chicken aside.
3. In the same pot, lower the heat to medium and cook the onion until soft. Add the grated carrots and garlic and cook a couple of minutes more.
4. Stir in the curry blend and let it toast briefly until fragrant. Pour in the bone broth and scrape up anything stuck to the bottom.
5. Return the chicken to the pot, add the cubed mango, and simmer until the chicken is cooked through and the mango has begun to soften into the broth.
6. Stir in the riced cauliflower and cook just until tender, a few minutes. Finish with a squeeze of lime, season with sea salt, and serve warm.

Instant Pot variation

Brown the chicken on Saute, then set it aside. Soften the onion, carrots, and garlic on Saute, add the curry blend, and toast briefly. Deglaze with the broth, return the chicken, add the mango, and pressure cook on high for a short cook until the chicken is done (appliance time untested). Quick-release, switch to Saute, stir in the riced cauliflower until tender, and finish with lime and salt.

Notes

• The 'rice' is riced cauliflower, which is Core-compliant; grate a head on a box grater or pulse it in a food processor.
• Peaches or apricots can replace the mango.
• Confirm the bone broth is clean-label with no nightshade-based seasonings.
• Servings and cooking times are not given in the source; the Instant Pot times above are estimates and untested.

*Adapted from phoenixhelix.com*