In my last post I discussed the role of vitamin C, sulfur, and water-rich foods in supporting flexibility. This week, I have a yummy Chicken Curry recipe to be served over Cauliflower Rice.

If you haven’t tried Cauliflower Rice, you are in for a surprise! It’s a pleasant stand-in for rice that automatically increases your vegetable intake. All you need to prepare it is a food processor (ideally) or a box grater.

Using a food processor, you can either roughly chop it, then pulse it until you are left with rice-sized kernels. Or, if you have a grating attachment for your food processor you can simply cut it into small enough chunks to feed into your food processor and let the shredder do the rest of the work.

If you don’t have a food processor, the next best thing is to manually grate with the large holes on a box grater. And if you have neither, the next best thing would be to dice it into small pieces with your knife as you would a clove of garlic.

Then, you can either microwave or sauté it for 5 minutes to give it a nice texture. Season it as desired with butter, olive oil, salt, pepper, paprika, turmeric, etc. to give it additional flavor.

Cauliflower is also one of those rich vegetarian sources of sulfur I mentioned. This recipe also contains tomatoes and spinach for vitamin C, a little turmeric in the curry powder as an anti-inflammatory, and lastly eggplant for extra water. Enjoy!

*Be sure to check out our other blogs in this series covering how to stay flexible with age, the specific nutrients you can take to stay flexible, and good food sources of these nutrients.

Chicken Curry with Cauliflower Rice

Recipe by Lauren Larson, MS, RDN

• 2 tablespoons cooking oil, divided
• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into ½” cubes
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ½-inch piece ginger, peeled and grated
• 1 jalapeño, seeded and diced
• 1 small red onion, diced
• ½ teaspoon salt, divided
• 6 Roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped
• 1 small (or ½ large) eggplant, cut into ½” cubes
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 2 cups spinach, roughly chopped
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 head cauliflower, shredded or chopped and pulsed in a food processor
• 1 tablespoon butter or ghee

1. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add chicken and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until chicken is brown on the outside; about 4-5 minutes. Transfer to a plate and set aside.

2. In the same skillet or wok, heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic, ginger, jalapeño, onion, and ¼ teaspoon salt. Sauté until onion is soft; about 3 minutes.

3. Add tomatoes and eggplant. Sauté until broken down; about 5-7 minutes.

4. Add curry powder and remaining ¼ teaspoon salt. Stir to combine.

5. Add spinach and cook until just wilted.

6. Return chicken to pan and add peas. Cook until chicken is cooked through and peas are warmed through; about 4-6 minutes.

7.  Meanwhile, microwave cauliflower in a large microwave safe bowl for 5 minutes. Stir in butter and season to taste with salt and pepper.

8. When curry is done, taste and add more curry powder, salt, and pepper, to taste. Serve over cauliflower rice.