And I’m back in the game! It’s been a while since I’ve said hello on here. I’m not going to lie, life caught up to me. New job, a wedding, holidays, winter blues (yes, a real thing here in Michigan), and now spring! But truthfully, all excuses aside, writing doesn’t come easily to me. With the whirlwind of the last year, I needed to take some time to decide if writing on my blog really made me happy vs. feeling obligated to do it for some type of side hustle. Call me crazy, but I think taking a timeout for a while to figure out what makes you happy is A-O-K. And the wonderful thing is, I found myself running into individuals asking where I (my blog posts/recipes) have been. Some were people I knew, some were random people I didn’t even realize I was making an impact on. So I took it as a sign from the universe and here I am 🙂 Plus, spring time always brings an extra jolt of energy with the sun shining well into the evenings again.
I’m starting y’all off with a recipe I tried on a Saturday afternoon. My husband and I have gotten into a bad routine of eating out on the weekends and we finally decided enough was enough. We got an Instant Pot for one of our wedding gifts and I have only dabbled with it once so I decided to give it another go.
This recipe is fairly easy. I would say about 4-5 level of difficulty. In other words, everyone can make this…no excuses! I am an avid user of a combination of fresh, frozen, and canned vegetables (I don’t discriminate!). Plus, this always makes cooking more convenient and economical.
I started off by slicing the chicken breasts into 1-inch bite sizes. Then chop your vegetables on a different cutting board. Once all your veggies are chopped, set your Instant Pot to the saute setting. Add the chicken, garlic, onion, cumin, curry powder, and red curry paste. Saute for about 3-5 minutes until the onions are barely translucent and the chicken is lightly browned on the outside. Then turn your Instant Pot setting to Slow Cook. Now the timing on this depends on what you have going on that day. I slow cooked it for about 4 hours. To really finish it off, I turned it back on the saute setting for about 5-10 minutes to help it reduce a little. However, if you plan on slow cooking for 6-8 hours, you should be good as is.
Once you’ve turned it to Slow Cook, add the diced tomato, sweet potato, coconut milk, and cauliflower. Stir and then put the lid back on. Slow cook for at least 4 hours.
Again, I decided to saute after slow cooking for 4 hours for about 5-10 minutes while I cooked the rice to pair with it. Before sauteing, I added the chickpeas, 3 sugar cubes (or about 1 1/2 Tbsp sugar), and salt/pepper to taste. Top with a little extra coconut milk and/or fresh cilantro for garnish. I served over a bed of white rice, but it would pair nicely with quinoa or brown rice too.
My husband and I enjoyed this bowl of yummy, comfort food while snuggling in for a night of March Madness basketball. Go Green! The nice thing about this dish is it really only leaves you with minimal clean up due to pouring all your ingredients in one pot. Can’t beat that on a Saturday night. If you want to keep it vegetarian, feel free to leave out the chicken. I’ve done it both ways and my vegetables can stand on their own two feet 🙂 I hope you enjoy!
-EAB
Sweet Potato, Cauliflower Coconut Curry
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts, chopped into 1-inch pieces
- 1/2 yellow onion, diced
- 1 15-oz can diced tomatoes
- 1 15-oz can coconut milk, unsweetened
- 1 15-oz can garbanzo beans, low sodium (if possible)
- 2 sweet potatoes, chopped into 1-inch pieces
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 tsp red curry paste
- 1 1/2 tbsp cumin
- 2 tsp tsp curry powder
- 1 head cauliflower, chopped into bite-size florets
- 3 cubes sugar or 1 1/2 Tbsp sugar
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1-2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
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Cut chicken into bite-size pieces.
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Chop the sweet potato, onion, cauliflower, and garlic on a separate cutting board.
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Set the Instant Pot to saute setting. Saute the chicken, onion, and garlic in the olive oil for about 3-5 minutes until the onions are barely translucent. While sauteing, add in the cumin, red curry paste, and curry powder.
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Change the setting to slow cook. Add the sweet potato, cauliflower, diced tomatoes, and coconut milk. Slow cook for at least 4 hours.
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Once it has slow cooked for 4 hours, change back to saute setting. Add in the sugar, garbanzo beans, and salt/pepper to taste. Saute for about 5-10 minutes while cooking the rice.
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Serve over a bed of white rice and garnish with coconut milk and/or fresh cilantro. Enjoy!