asian chicken with cauliflower & broccoli purée

ASIAN CHICKEN WITH CAULIFLOWER & BROCCOLI PURÉE

Asian Chicken with Cauliflower & Broccoli Purée: less than 5g carbs, delightful and super quick.

Working and balancing family life, as well as eating ketogenic, isn’t always easy. My best tip for an easier life is best summed up with one word: prepping. Prepping is key to variety, enjoyment, simplicity and time saving. You’re more likely to stick to keto if you’re not eating the same food over and over again. There is only so much bacon and eggs that one can devour every day before getting sick of it! If you get used to prepping, you’ll also be less likely to eat unhealthy, convenience food.asian chicken with cauliflower & broccoli purée

When it comes to chicken, prepping and freezing will give you a head start. Especially if you tend to buy large quantities that are enough for multiple meals. Use what you need immediately. Prepare and freeze the rest, ready for your next chicken recipe.

My second best tip is: freezer. Frozen vegetables can be a huge time saver. Fresh cauliflower and broccoli are tedious and messy to prepare. Getting them out of a bag and straight into a saucepan is far quicker and easier.

If you follow my tips, you’ll make Asian Chicken with  Cauliflower & Broccoli Purée in a flash.asian chicken with cauliflower & broccoli purée

Fresh vs Frozen produce: which one is best?

Is frozen produce less nutritionally dense than its fresh counterpart? Not if you compare it to shop bought produce. 

Obviously, freshly picked and quickly consumed produce is the best, but very few people have access to freshly picked fruit and vegetables. Most of us have no choice but to buy our fresh supplies from grocery stores. Yet these are far from ‘fresh‘. Today’s crops are mostly grown in artificial conditions and in far flung places. So, most fresh produce was probably picked weeks before you actually get to consume it. Then there’s premature harvesting to consider. All the produce you see in the supermarket aisles was harvested long before it was ripe enough to have developed  its full spectrum of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. And, as produce degrades over time, even less nutrients are present by the time it reaches your table. 

Even if you’re lucky enough to have a farmer’s market near you and you have the time to traipse around stalls, how do you know when the produce was harvested? Is it really ‘fresh‘? You probably think I’m nit-picking here. But trust me, the flavour and texture of my home grown summer vegetables is miles away from the tasteless, often limp, equivalent produce that I buy in stores, even when labelled as ‘local’ and ‘fresh’.

The solution? Frozen. When I don’t use my own, organically home grown, freshly picked produce, I prefer to buy frozen, rather than ‘fresh‘ from the shops. Produce is frozen when ripe, and often within hours of harvesting, which means it retains more nutrients. Admittedly, frozen produce tends to be less flavoursome, but at least you’re pretty confident that it is as nutrient-rich as you can get. You can read more about Fresh vs Frozen here.

How to Make Asian Chicken with Cauliflower & Broccoli Purée.

To save time, I had previously deboned and cut into strips some chicken thighs from a large family pack. They were kept in the freezer until last night, when I transferred them to the fridge so they would defrost gradually. This is a better way to defrost meat than plunging it in hot water or using the microwave, both of which can make the meat tough and chewy. If you don’t have a ready-to-cook supply in the freezer, buy some chicken thighs, remove the skin (which you can grill separately with salt and pepper for delicious chicken crisps), debone them and cut the meat into strips. Or to save even more time, buy boneless and skinless chicken thighs.asian chicken with cauliflower & broccoli purée

After defrosting in the fridge overnight, my chicken strips were ready for action. But first it was time for my frozen bag of cauliflower and broccoli florets to be put into use. I just poured the contents into a deep saucepan, filled it with enough water to cover my veggies, added salt and turmeric and brought it to to the boil over high heat, lid on. Once drained and blitzed with an immersion blender, I just had to add all my ingredients and hey presto, purée done.

Then I turned my attention to the chicken. A little olive oil, some minced garlic, a dash of sieved tomatoes, some spices and 10 minutes of tossing in the wok. Ready to plate.  asian chicken with cauliflower & broccoli purée

Healthy, full of flavour, piquant and 100% keto. I hope my Asian Chicken with  Cauliflower & Broccoli Purée will have inspired you enough to try it. The recipe yields 2 portions. It will be ready in no time at all, so you can spend more time with your family or just relaxing with a good book.

Enjoy!

ASIAN CHICKEN WITH CAULIFLOWER & BROCCOLI PURÉE
 
Author: 
Nutrition
  • Yield: 2
  • Serving: ½
  • Calories: 595
  • Fat: 32g
  • Net Carbs: 4.9g
  • Protein: 69.68g
Recipe type: Main Course
Cuisine: Ketogenic. LCHF. Low Carb. Grain Free. Gluten Free.
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Delicious. Super Quick. Less than 5g carbs per serving. A delicious keto meal doesn't need a lot of effort or time.
Ingredients
For the Asian Chicken:
  • 600g boneless and skinless chicken thighs
  • 1 garlic clove (minced)
  • 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tbsp passata (sieved tomatoes)
  • 1 tsp ground cardamom
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • ½ tsp fine Himalayan pink salt
  • a generous sprinkle of freshly ground black pepper
  • 30ml water
For the Broccoli Cauliflower Purée:
Instructions
  1. boil cauli and broccoli in salted water with turmeric for 5 mins.
  2. drain, blitz with immersion blender until smooth, then stir in nutmeg, cream, Parmesan and butter, plus salt and pepper to taste; set aside.
  3. in a frying pan or wok, pour olive oil, add minced garlic and cook for 10 secs.
  4. add chicken strips and all other ingredients.
  5. cook the chicken on medium-high heat for 10 mins, stirring often; taste test and adjust salt and pepper if required.
  6. re-heat purée and spoon onto serving plates.
  7. place chicken over the purée and serve.

 Enjoyed this post? I value your feedback! Please leave me a comment. If you make this recipe, post a photo on social media with the hashtag #queenketo. Thank you! 🙂

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2 Comments

  1. I made this Asian Chicken dish last night with the cauli/brocolli puree and it’s delicious although the turmeric dominated the flavour of the vegetables It mellowed after a day in the fridge so the next night was even better! Thanks for another quick and easy addition to my recipe file!

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