Paleo Quick Thai Coconut Curry

Coconut curry is a wonderful source of nourishing FAT and PROTEIN and as many tasty phytonutrients from veggies as you can stand.  It’s rich and satisfying, and you can easily use cheaper cuts of meat (which makes buying grass-fed/pastured meat a lot more financially sustainable) without sacrificing on taste and texture.  This is a great week-night meal, super quick and easy to throw together.  The entire process only takes about 25 minutes from cutting board to bowl.  

Ingredients:

• 2 TB unrefined coconut oil
• Veggies of choice (for this recipe I used cauliflower, carrots, green beans and kale)
• 2 cans bamboo shoots
• 33 oz. coconut milk* (see below for recommendations)
• 1.5 TB curry powder
• 1 jar (4 oz) curry paste (red or green)-for this recipe I used red
• 1 TB sea salt
• 1 lb protein of choice (here I’ve used grass-fed round steak-I’ve also had excellent results with raw chicken breast (2 breasts) and leftover shredded rotisserie chicken).   I don’t recommend using any soy products as a protein source.  See HERE for more information.

*Coconut products are an amazing source of nutrition.  The fat is incredibly nourishing, and because it does not require bile to be digested it is an excellent source of healthy fat for anyone with gall bladder issues/removed gall bladder.  However, there are a few things to be aware of.  1) Beware of the container.  Many brands of coconut milk come in cans with BPA that can leach into the milk.  Always look for BPA-free cans or cardboard “tetra pak” packaging.  2) Also, be sure to check the ingredient list to make sure you are ONLY getting what you ask for, good pure coconut milk!  Many brands add thickening agents such as guar gum and preservatives (which can be very hard on the digestive system-see HERE for more on why this is a concern) to watered-down coconut milk to give the appearance and texture of a rich, creamy product.   I recommend Native Forest or Aroy-D brands to avoid these issues.  3) In addition, people with digestive issues such as IBS and GERD may find coconut milk irritating to the gut. Be sure to watch for any symptoms of intolerance.  Know your body!

Directions:

• Chop up veggies
• Heat wok on medium heat, add coconut oil and let heat up for 2 minutes (we don’t want the oil smoking, that leads to oxidation of the fats)
• Toss veggies into wok
• Stir veggies occasionally and allow to cook for 5 minutes
• Mix in curry powder, salt and curry paste
• Stir in coconut milk, taste and add additional salt to preference
• Turn heat up to medium high and allow the mixture to come to a gentle boil (roughly 10 minutes)
• While the mixture is heating up, cut up your protein source into bite-sized pieces
• When mixture reaches a boil, add in meat and stir occasionally, allow mixture to gently boil for another 10 minutes
• Check meat for doneness, ladle into a bowl and dig in!

**I like this mix as is, but my hubby likes to kick the spice up a notch with an added dose of sriracha chili sauce.