This weird thing happens when I’m pregnant. I crave Indian food all the time. And I have a theory. The theory is this: when you’re pregnant, you’re more likely to crave the food the father was raised on. It’s a super scientific theory, because I tested it on my tight-knit local mom group, so it’s basically natural law. And if it wasn’t right for you then… whatever. Outlier. Doesn’t count. So for me that means Indian and Pakistani food, which isn’t the most convenient thing to crave when you’re pregnant and tend to grow babies with full heads of hair, with the fiery heartburn to match. But it is what it is, and I’ve accepted it now. If I ever get pregnant again, I know what to expect. Send India Palace gift cards. This Whole30 chicken curry recipe totally did the trick for me during pregnancy, too: it helped me strike a balance between omg give me all the chutney and maybe we should eat sort of a little bit healthy. It’s, after, all, a Whole30 chicken curry recipe, meaning there’s a gorgeous focus on real, whole foods, with no weird extras or ingredients that drag your system down. Instead, it’s loaded with flavor and is actually pretty simple to make! I whipped it up as a weekend lunch for the first time I ever made it and was surprised at just how easy it was to get a restaurant-quality chicken curry out of a little bit of time and effort. Bonus points: there’s not even any hard-to-find ingredients necessary to make this (Unlike my restaurant style chicken tikka masala which is so much better with dried fenugreek leaves)! You do need garam masala, but even Kroger makes their own blend of that now, so I maintain my stance that this is a pantry-doable recipe that you’ll love to throw into your rotation. A Note from Cheryl: Years ago, we referred to certain ingredients in this recipe as “weird”, a term we erroneously used to describe harder-to-find ingredients that are generally unfamiliar to the average American reader. In using this term, though, we unintentionally contributed to furthering the stigma that these ingredients are somehow “not normal”. That was never our intent, but it was our impact, and that’s what matters. The beautiful thing about this Whole30 chicken curry recipe, aside from the fact that it’s, duh, Whole30, low carb, and paleo, is that you can control how spicy it is or isn’t, and it’s takeout-quality without all the styrofoam and rice coma to follow. I’m in love, y’all. I added mushrooms for extra veggie power and coconut milk for a super creamy texture. I actually prefer coconut cream for most recipes, which you can find canned next to the regular canned coconut milk. Make absolutely sure that you do not get sweetened coconut cream, or you’ll find yourself feeling like you’ve got a Whole30 chicken curry piña colada infusion. Pass.
