Red Chicken Curry in Four Easy Steps

Part of homemaking my own meals includes a focus on cooking with not only natural, fresh ingredients, but those with an emphasis on ingredients that help boost the immune system and have anti-inflammatory properties. Because of this, one of the dishes I have added to my family list of recipes is curry.  Below is a quick and easy dish you can make in four easy steps for a family of four. 

Ingredients for Red Chicken Curry: 

1 tablespoon of coconut oil
I stick to organic, virgin, cold pressed, coconut oil. Coconut oil is rich in MCT's (medium chain triglicerides) and has been shown to improve cognition function in Alzheimer's patients (Perlmutter, 2013) I've personally seen improvement with my brain fog lifting, so I use it regularly, even as a moisturizer. 

3 cloves of garlic
I can't say enough about the gift of garlic and I make sure to add it to most meals I cook. In addition to helping detoxify the body of heavy metals, it has enormous power to fight infections, parasites in our GI tract, yeast, bacteria, and viruses (Colbert, 2003). Recent findings have linked it to fighting fungal infections in sinuses (Dr. Axe, 5:59). 

1- 1 1/2 lbs of chicken
organic, and not treated with hormones or antibiotics is the only chicken I buy. I will dedicate a whole blog post about the meats we eat on a future post. 

1 lb bag organic broccoli
The benefits of broccoli are too extensive to list but this wonderful vegetable assists with chronic inflammation, oxidative stress, and digestion. Click here for a wider list of benefits. 

1 1/2 tablespoon Thai Kitchen Red Curry Paste
you can make your own from scratch, but for the sake of cutting your time in half, this paste is quite delicious. The paste includes ginger, an incredible root for digestion and for reducing inflammation. The more I cook with ginger, the less pain I feel. 

1/2 tsp turmeric
Also known as curcumin, this has far reaching anti-inflammatory benefits, with its list of diseases long and still growing as more is studied about this powerful herb. It aids with rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, irritable bowel syndrome, colorectal polyps, and age-related cognitive impairment (Challem, 2010).

Red Pepper Flakes
1/2  - 1 1/2 tsp 
If you don't like hot, spicy food, 1/2 tsp is quite mild. On the other hand, if you enjoy spicy, hot flavors, go with the 1 1/2 tsp

1/2 tsp fish sauce
Beneficial impact for blood pressure since this sauce minimizes the use of salt. Because I don't care for fishy tastes,  I add salt to this dish and keep the sauce at 1/2 tsp. To read more about the health benefits of this fermented sauce, click here. 

1, 13-ounce can of coconut milk 
(Coconut is a good fat, but you can use Lite, if you are concerned about high fat content and live a sedentary life. Since I started exercising regularly, I'm less concerned about eating good, healthy fats like those found in avocado, coconut, and olive oil and more concerned about eating foods that are going to set my body on fire with inflammation, like gluten)

My tiny container garden
include organic, fresh basil

1/4 cup tsp of fresh basil leaves
organically grown from your own garden is truly the best tasting. I've tried store bought, and in addition to the cost, the benefits of maintaining this wonderful herb far outweighs the trip to the grocery store. It's very easy to plant and maintain, and it makes a great companion plant to tomatoes because of its ability to ward of insects and diseases that tomatoes tend to attract. 

3/4 tsp kosher salt (optional)
If you need to decrease your salt intake and fish tasting flavors don't bother you, then you can increase the amount of fish sauce seasoning to your taste and not bother with the salt. 

1 box of Annie Chun's Pad Thai Rice Noodles

(I have an MTHFR polymorphism so I have to avoid gluten, so I stick to non-enriched folic acid, rice noodles. See subheading folic acid vs. folate to Are You a Mutant? link)

Directions: 

1. Heat coconut oil over high heat and lightly brown chicken with garlic.

2. Remove chicken from pan and saute the broccoli with turmeric, red curry, and red pepper flakes until semi-soft. 

3. Add chicken back into the pan with broccoli and pour coconut oil and fish oil into pan. Let it reach a small boil. 

4. Once it starts to boil, add fresh basil leaves. Simmer for 10 minutes, adding salt (optional) to taste as it simmers. 


Sources:

Axe, Josh (2017, Mar 1). Black Mold Symptoms and 16 Natural Remedies. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9G-T0bNLUss&t=17s

Axe, Josh (2013, Sept 20). Top Health Benefits of Ginger Root.
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlLwgjL5h3k

Challem, Jack (2010). The Inflammation Syndrome. New Jersey: Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. p.144.

Colbert, Don M.D. (2003) Toxic Relief.  Florida: Lake Mary: Siloam, p. 71, 147

Perlmutter, David M.D. (2013) Grain Brain. Boston, New York: Little Brown and Company, p. 137.

Ware, Megan (2016, Mar 7). Broccoli: Health Benefits, Nutritional Information. Retrieved from http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/266765.php