Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Slow Cooker Turkey and Sweet Potato Chili / Curry (Tomato-less and Bean-less): Whole30 Approved

On the Whole30 diet, there are a few altered food lists for those of us with autoimmune issues, gut issues (the FODMAP list), and histamine issues. You can find the shopping lists here. I was going to combine all the foodlists, but it was so restrictive I knew I wouldn't be able to follow it, so I opted to start out with the autoimmune and low FODMAP lists. This means tomatoes are out for me, since they're an autoimmune no-no as a member of the nightshade family (as are bell peppers and white potatoes).

It's a nice chilly fall, and chili is a nice make-in-big-batches food, so I decided to try to make a chili without a tomato base. The results were delicious, but it might be more of a curry than a chili. Either way, see below for deliciousness:


Ingredients

48 oz ground turkey (I used 85% lean)

4 large sweet potatoes

1 can coconut milk (look for the stuff without sulfites and sulfates in it)

1/2 can pureed pumpkin

salt

pepper

garam masala

*Not in mine but you might add 2-3 tsp cayenne if you like spicy

Wash and peel the sweet potatoes, coarsely chop into cubes, toss into your 4-qt crockpot. Brown the turkey (at this stage, while browning, I add the salt and garam masala to the meat while it cooks to really bring out the flavor of the spices). Drain meat and add to crockpot. (I reserved a bit of the turkey fat juice and put about 1/4 cup into the crock.) Shake your can of coconut oil well, open it and pour into the crockpot. Ditto with the half can of pumpkin puree, which will help thicken things the same way tomato paste or pureed beans helps a sauce or chili. I added another 2 teaspoons garam masala, one teaspoon of salt (beware, I'm a very light salt user,you may want to double the salt), and a teaspon of pepper. Spices and peppers tend to work against my gut health, but here is where you might add your chili/cayenne pepper if you like it spicy. Stir it all up with a wooden spoon, cook on low 6-8 hours.

This was heavy on the meat, the way my husband and I like it; I made a second batch in my 6-qt slow cooker, and increased the sweet potatoes to about 6-7 and the balance was a bit better. You could also add cubed butternut squash; I'm going to try that when I make the next batch. We portioned it out into lunch-sized containers, labeled it with the date, and stuck it in the fridge. With the 4-qt and 6-qt crocks full, we portioned out 10 lunches plus two quarts for the freezer.

It looks a bit like cat food when you pull it out of the fridge and dump it into a bowl, but it's delicious. I was concerned the garam masala might be offputting since I am usually not a fan of Indian cuisine, but the combo of cumin, pepper, and cinnamon smells vaguely like autumn, and my husband and I both devoured the stuff. Bonus: it didn't offend my sensitive gut.

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