jasmine rice

Thai-Spiced Roast Chicken, Ginger Jasmine Rice

/ Ren

Local, pastured chicken roasted with raw coconut oil, lemongrass, onion, garlic, coriander and fermented soy..

Thai-Spiced Roast Chicken, Ginger Jasmine Rice

Thai-Spiced Roast Chicken, Ginger Jasmine Rice

Rinse and pat dry a 3-pound pastured chicken.  Place in a large glass bowl.

Melt raw coconut oil over low heat.  Transfer to the bowl of a food processor with cumin, coriander, garlic, onion, lemongrass, fermented soy, turmeric, paprika and fresh lime juice.

Pour mixture over chicken, taking care to coat all sides.  Allow to sit 1 hour, turning occasionally.

Place chicken in a heavy skillet and roast in a 400 degree oven until the skin is crisp and brown and the juices run clear, about 50-60 minutes.

Pour the fat, oil and juices from the pan into a glass measuring cup and use that and some filtered water as the cooking liquid for the rice.

Add fresh ginger, minced lime leaves, cilantro and thinly sliced peppers to the rice during the last 5 minutes of cooking.



Healing Tomato Curry

/ Ren

Tomato curry is one of the most delicious and nutritionally powerful healing dishes around.  Start with homegrown tomatoes, just-dug onions, coriander leaves, garlic and red chili pepper..

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Peel, seed and chop just-picked tomatoes and set aside.

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Turmeric (Curcuma longa)

Cook jasmine, aged basmati, or long-grain brown rice in bone broth, vegetable stock or filtered water with a spoonful of turmeric and another of black pepper.  The piperine in the pepper increases the bioavailability of the anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anti-cancer properties of the turmeric.

Toast whole cardamom, cinnamon, cumin, fenugreek, mustard and coriander seeds in a dry skillet until fragrant, about 5-10 minutes.

Add 1 tablespoon of raw, organic coconut oil to the pan and sauté the chopped garlic, slivered raw almonds, raisins, chopped curry leaves and chili pepper until soft, about 5 minutes.

Add reserved tomatoes, ginger, slivered onions and chopped coriander leaves and heat through, about 5 minutes.

Spoon tomato mixture over rice and garnish with yoghurt sprinkled with curry powder.

Coconut Curry Chicken

/ Ren

Yoghurt-marinated coconut curry chicken with jasmine rice, toasted cashews, raisins and creamed spinach..

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Remove the skin and bone from fresh, pastured chicken (I prefer thigh pieces for this) and cut into large pieces.  Marinate 4 hours or overnight in a combination of plain, whole milk yoghurt, coconut milk, turmeric, curry powder and black pepper.

To prepare, heat ghee in a Dutch oven over medium heat.  Add chopped onions, garlic, ginger, and cracked green cardamom pods, coriander, cloves, black pepper, shards of Ceylon cinnamon and a whole red or green chili that has been slit open with the tip of a knife. Sauté, stirring continuously until brown.

Add chicken pieces and all of the yoghurt marinade to the pot, and stir to comine with the onions.  Thin with a little filtered water or chicken stock, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally until tender, about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, wash and rinse a bunch of fresh spinach, cilantro and parsley.  Blanch in boiling water for several seconds, then purée with an immersion blender or food processor.  Season with salt and pepper and keep warm.

Meanwhile, prepare jasmine rice according to package directions.  Remove from heat, add raisins and cover until raisins are plump and all the water has been absorbed.

To serve, ladle spinach onto the center of the plate, top with rice and spoon curried chicken over the top.  Dress with toasted cashews and chopped parsley or cilantro.

Thai Curry Shrimp with Ginger Jasmine Rice

/ Ren

Fresh ginger, shallot, garlic, peppers, cilantro, lemon grass, coconut milk, Thai spices*, coconut oil, jasmine rice, fresh jumbo shrimp and unsweetened flaked coconut.  Not shown; red curry paste**

Substitute coconut milk for 1/2 of the water called for in the instructions for the rice.  In that mixture, steep freshly grated ginger, lemon grass and spices for 15 minutes.

Saute the shallot and garlic in coconut oil until colored. Add peeled & deveined shrimp, spices and peppers and continue to saute until shrimp is just under done.  Add curry paste, coconut milk and cilantro. Stir to combine, then simmer on low until thickenend, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook the rice in the coconut milk and water mixture until liquid is absorbed, about 15 minutes.

Serve topped with toasted coconut and additional cilantro.

* corriander, red pepper, cumin, nutmeg, cinnamon, garlic, black pepper, basil, cardamom and cloves

** dried red chili, garlic, lemon grass, salt, galangal, shrimp paste, kaffir lime peel and pepper

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