Curried Chicken and Cauliflower Chowder

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp. coconut oil
• 1 large vidalia onion
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2-3 stalks celery, chopped
• 2-3 carrots, chopped
• 1 large red pepper, seeded and chopped
• 2 cups cubed sweet potato or butternut squash
• 1 head cauliflower, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 10 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces (much easier to cut when partially frozen)
• 2-3 tbsp red curry paste (or to taste)
• 1-2 tsp curry powder (or to taste)
• 1 can unsweetened coconut milk (shake can well before opening-don't use lite)
• 1 large can diced tomatoes
• 3-4 cups chicken broth, depending on how thick you would like chowder to be
• sea salt and freshly ground pepper (to taste)

• Sometimes I throw in a couple of handfuls of chopped spinach (uncooked) or chopped green onion just before serving.

Instructions

1. Saute onion in 1 tbsp of the coconut oil, in a large dutch oven for 5 minutes on medium heat.
2. Add garlic, celery, and carrots. Saute a further 8-10 minutes.
3. Add sweet pepper and cauliflower, continue to saute a few more minutes.
4. Brown chicken (in 2 batches) in skillet with remaining 2 tbsp of coconut oil. Sprinkle with a little salt, pepper and curry powder.
5. Add chicken to vegetables in dutch oven, then add 1/2 cup of the chicken broth to the skillet, stirring and scraping up the browned bits on bottom of pan. Then add curry paste to broth and stir til combined.
6. Add this to the dutch oven, as well as the remaining chicken broth, tomatoes and coconut milk.
7. Let chowder simmer on medium-low heat for about 40 minutes or so until the flavours are combined and vegetables are tender.