International food can be incredibly easy to make special-diet friendly. Even better, warm ethnic dishes like stews and curries are easy to make in your slow cooker if you need exotic flavors blended with American ease. This flavorful, nut buttery West African comfort food gets tossed in my crockpot at the beginning of the day and fills my house with images of sub-Sahara scrub land and rolling drum rhythms until dinner time. Serve with mounds of tender cauliflower rice, and you have the whole experience in a veggie-packed International whirlwind.
Crockpot West African Nut Butter Chicken (with Cauliflower Rice)
By guest contributor, Stephani Jenkins
Ingredients:
1 small whole chicken, cut into pieces, or 2-3 pounds boneless skinless chicken pieces (find pastured chicken here)
1 1/2 tablespoons coconut oil, ghee or butter, divided
3 onions, chopped
10 tomatoes, chopped (or equivalent canned)
3 cups butternut squash, peeled and chopped
1 red bell pepper (optional)
1 habanero pepper, whole (optional)*
1 1/2 inch piece of ginger, grated
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon coriander (find organic non-irradiated herbs and spices here)
1 bay leaf (find organic non-irradiated herbs and spices here)
1 teaspoon vanilla (optional)
3/4 cup almond, peanut or sun butter, or to taste
1 head of cauliflower
Sea salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
*May substitute GAPS-legal habanero sauce or a generous scoop of cayenne pepper. This ingredient can be left out entirely if you don’t like heat.
Optional Toppings:
Pineapple, banana, coconut, shredded cheese, raisins, sweet peppers, sunflower seeds, chopped almonds, parsley or cilantro
Directions:
Place chicken pieces in bottom of large crockpot. Saute onion in 1/2 tablespoon coconut oil over medium-high heat until translucent and pour over chicken. Add tomatoes, butternut squash, peppers, ginger, garlic, coriander, and bay leaf to slow cooker, sprinkling spices evenly over tomatoes. Cook on low 6-8 hours or on high 4 hours, until chicken is cooked through.
Turn off crockpot and stir in vanilla and nut butter. Remove habanero pepper and discard. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Meanwhile, pulse half of the chopped cauliflower in the food processor 10-15 times (1 full second each), until cauliflower looks like rice. Repeat with other half. Do not over-process or it may turn to mush.
Melt 1 tablespoon coconut oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat then add cauliflower. Stir frequently for 3-5 minutes, until rice is tender. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Mound piles of caulilflower rice in your bowls and top with a piece of chicken and generous drizzle of sauce. Set out toppings in little bowls on the table and let each person top as desired.
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Oh this sounds so good!! I love African Peanut Butter soup, so this is perfect!
Since the cook period is rather long, would an older bird work as well, maybe even better? Perhaps a stew hen or mean old rooster? I like the idea of an older bird, because their flavor is always superior if their texture is a little tough.
Just tried this… we do not care for it. I would recommend halving the recipe to see if you like the flavors the first time.