Crock-pot chicken stew with cauliflower rice

This is a comfort food recipe that I’d usually cook with beef (chuck roast, ribs, or any parts that are suitable for stewing) on a rainy or cold day. But it is now only August; even when it’s  only hovering around 20C in Holland, I feel that a hearty beef stew would still be too heavy. So why not lighten it up with with chicken instead? Skinless boneless chicken thighs are perfect candidate in this case. For a leaner and healthier version, you can go with chicken breast (like I did!) and use a bit more tomato sauce to achieve the same level of juiciness.

The best part is, you just chop and chuck everything in the Crock-Pot and let it does all the magic for you, either overnight, or during the day while you’re at work or out having fun.

Ingredients – 4 to 5 servings

• 600gr chicken breast, cut into chunks
• 400gr potatoes, cut into large chunks
• 350gr carrots, cut into chunks
• 150gr celery stalks, cut into 2-cm pieces
• 2 shallots, chopped
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 25gr tomato puree (for a deeper red colour)
• 400gr fresh or canned tomatoes
• 15gr (1 full tbsp) minced ginger
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 1 tsp salt OR 20ml fish sauce + 1/2 tsp five-spice powder for an Asian twist
• 1 vegetable stock cube
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• (optional) 1/2 tsp turmeric powder for colouring
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1/2 cup water
• 10-15ml extra virgin olive oil
• parsley for garnishing OR coriander in the Asian version
• 1 cauliflower head (about 650-700gr)

Method

For the chicken stew:

• Marinate chicken with some salt, pepper for 15-20 mins
• I’d like to sautee onion, garlic and ginger on the stove until softened, before transferring them to the slow-cooker. This step will make sure we have the most fragrant allium base for our stew
• Layer potato, carrots and celery on top, followed by chicken
• Mix the remaining salt, pepper with other spices and dried herbs. Sprinkle them on top
• Next, add tomato and tomato puree
• Mix the cornstarch in the water and add to the pot
• Give the whole thing some rough stir to incorporate all the ingredients
• Put the slow-cooker on High for 4hrs, or Low for 6.5hrs

For the cauliflower rice

• To make this dish 100% summer-proof and even healthier, I’d go for cauliflower rice
• Cut into chunks and pulse in a food processor until you get the rice consistency (4-5 pulse in my case). If you don’t have a food processor, you can grate it instead
• Roast it on a sauce pan on medium high heat until slightly brown
• Since we’ll get most of the flavour from the stew, there’s no need to add oil or spices to the rice in this recipe

Nutritional values per serving (MyFitnessPal)

• Chicken stew: 305Cal / 1,276 kj, Fat 4.2g, Sodium 685mg, Potassium 679mg, Carb 32g, Fiber 5.8g, Sugar 7.5g, Protein 33g, Vit A 13% DV, Vit C 27.7% DV, Iron 7.4%DV
• Cauliflower rice: 66Cal / 276kj, Fat 4.3g, Sodium 93mg, Potassium 365mg, Carb 6.5g, Fiber 3gr, Protein 2.4g,  Vit C 92% DV, Calcium 2.7% DV, Iron 3% DV