When all you have to do is simply prepare the ingredients, add the liquid and flick on switch … that’s my kind of gadgetry!

Then you can get back to life while the slow cooker slowly simmers away to produce a meal of mouthwatering, melting tenderness.

I was so chuffed with myself coming up with this flavourful creation which my whole family applauded!

This Coconut Chicken and Potato Curry will definitely be making a regular guest appearances on the weekly meal planner.

Best part –  it makes so much you won’t have to cook again the next night!

Many of the ingredients in this recipe can be sourced from my one-stop-favourite, organic wholefoods online store, The Wholefood Collective. They go to great lengths to ensure everything they source is amazing quality, they stock all my favorite products and I don’t even have to leave the house! Oh and the cherry on the cake is they donate profits to improve food security for vulnerable Aussies.

Here are some of the ingredients you’ll need:

Chicken stock
Coconut milk
Curry powder
Garlic powder
Coriander
Cashews
Basmati rice

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Slow Cooker Coconut Chicken Potato Curry

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 3 hours

Servings 8

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 8 chicken thighs chopped into bite size pieces
• 1 onion chopped
• 3 potatoes chopped into bite sized chunks, I used Desiree potatoes
• 2.5 cups chicken stock I used homemade
• 1 cup coconut milk I used 1 x 270ml tin Ayam brand
• 1/2 cup lime juice
• 3 tablespoons curry powder
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder or you can use 4 cloves crushed garlic
• 3 big handfuls green beans topped and tailed
• 1 large red capsicum sliced
• Coriander chopped
• Cashews for serving
• Cooked rice I used basmati rice

Instructions

• Pop onion into the bottom of the slow cooker, followed by the potato and then the chicken.
• In a bowl mix the chicken stock, coconut milk, lime juice curry powder, garlic powder (or crushed garlic).
• Pour this over the chicken.
• Cook in slow cooker on high for 3 hrs or low for 5-6 hours.
• One hour before cooking is complete pop in the green beans.
• Half and hour before cooking is complete pop in the capsicum.
• Serve with rice, extra squeeze of lime and top with coriander and cashews

Enjoy! 

If you know someone who could use some healthy dinner inspo, please share this recipe with them and while you’re at it feel free to share my FREE breakfast ebook below : – )

If you make my recipes please take photos and send them to me, or if you share them on instagram, remember to tag me @brendajanschek. I get a total kick out of seeing you make my recipes.

Here are a couple other dinner recipe ideas you might love – Baked Chicken Nuggets and Middle Eastern Spiced Chickpea Rice 

Bren x

Spicy, succulent and very satisfying,  instantly connecting me with the food of my childhood.

What makes this dish special is the use of the Baharat spices, adding a complexity and depth of flavour that makes this dish so tasty. Baharat can be hard to find unless your can get to a Middle Eastern grocer, otherwise it’s really simple to make your own.

Many of the ingredients in this recipe can be sourced from my one-stop-favourite, organic wholefoods online store, The Wholefood Collective. They go to great lengths to ensure everything they source is amazing quality, they stock all my favorite products and I don’t even have to leave the house! Oh and the cherry on the cake is they donate profits to improve food security for vulnerable Aussies.

Here are some of the ingredients you’ll need:

Baharat Spice Mix

2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon ground cardamom

Mix together and store in a glass jar

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Middle Eastern Spiced Chick Pea Rice

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Servings 8

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 1.5 teaspoons Baharat Middle Eastern spice blend
• 1.5 teaspoons curry powder
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 cups basmati rice
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3.5 cups water I do 2 cups homemade chicken stock and 1.5 cups water
• 1 can chickpeas rinsed and drained
• 500 g rump steak
• 1/2 cup slithered almonds pan fried in 1 tablespoon olive oil until golden
• Handful of fresh coriander leaves

Instructions

• In a medium to large saucepan, on medium heat, add olive oil and rice. Pan fry until rice granules are heated through and start to whiten.
• Add salt, one teaspoon Baharat, curry powder and turmeric and stir to coat rice.
• Add water and bring to boil, then reduce temperature to a simmer and cover for approx 12 minutes or until rice has absorbed most of the liquid.
• Stir through the chickpeas and replace lid for a further 5 minutes or until rice has absorbed all the liquid and is cooked.
• While rice is cooking, rub the rump steak with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and remaining half teaspoon of Baharat and sprinkle with sea salt and pepper.
• Heat a frying pan until hot, then pan fry the steak until cooked medium - rare. I did 3 minutes one side and 2 minutes on the other.
• Once cooked, rest the steak for 5-10 minutes, then slice thinly.
• Mix steak and toasted almonds through the cooked rice, sprinkle with coriander and serve with a side salad or greens leaves, plus pickles or fermented vegetables.
• Eat and Enjoy!!!!

Notes

Tips: Soak basmati rice for at least half an hour beforehand to make a fluffier rice.
The rump teak will keep cooking once tossed through the rice, so don't over cook it on the pan.
Cut the recipe in half for 4 servings.

Enjoy!

It’s not every day you can just go and strike up a conversation about Tahineh (a delicious breakfast spread) or Mann al-Sams (Iraqi Taffy and my all time favourite sweet). Ta-what? Ma-who? So it was was a real thrill to be able to discuss these dishes with a real foodie after my own heart!

I don’t really cook traditional Iraqi food that much for my family. I leave that to my mum who visits every second Tuesday night with a truckload of Cooba bil Leben (Arabic meatballs in yoghurt soup), Fasoulia (white beans with lamb in tomato sauce) and Baklawa (Lebanese sweets, which she forgot this week, and is now in the bad books!).

Mjaddra is a wholesome, tasty vegetarian dish of lentils, rice and caramelised onions that I have always looked forward to when visiting my Lebanese Aunties and cousins. Having a fair idea how this simple recipe would go, I checked with my foodie Auntie (who made my favourite version … sorry mum …!) to get the benefit of her experience, and tweaked it to make it right for me (and you!).

Apparently this is an ancient dish that has roots in the Old Testament, being mentioned in Genesis as the dish Jacob gave up his inheritance for. He clearly had good taste, if not financial matters!

The recipe is inexpensive, easy to make and delicious. You could try to soak your lentils in an acidic medium and rinse off well before cooking (I did my rice too) the night before. This makes them both more digestible and quicker to cook. Don’t stress though if you don’t have time. It’s delicious served with Fatoush (a beautiful Arabic salad, which I will blog for you at some point) or a Cabbage salad and minted yoghurt.

Many of the ingredients in this recipe can be sourced from my one-stop-favourite, organic wholefoods online store, The Wholefood Collective. They go to great lengths to ensure everything they source is amazing quality, they stock all my favorite products and I don’t even have to leave the house! Oh and the cherry on the cake is they donate profits to improve food security for vulnerable Aussies.

Here are some of the ingredients you’ll need:

Lentils
Basmati rice
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Cumin
Parsley

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Lentils and Rice (Mjaddra)

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes

Total Time 5 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 cup brown lentils
• 1/2 cup basmati rice
• approx 2.5 cups water use home-made chicken stock if not vegetarian
• 3 medium onions diced
• 2 tablespoons ghee or Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 tsp celtic sea salt
• pinch of cumin
• Parsley chopped

Instructions

• Soak lentils and rice overnight and rinse well before cooking.
• Heat ghee or olive oil n a skillet and fry the onions on medium heat until golden-brown (approx 15-20mins). Pop in a splash of water to the pan if the onions start to stick to the bottom. Make sure the onions don't burn. Reserve half of the onions for garnish.
• Meanwhile, place the lentils and rice together in a saucepan, along with half of the caramelised onions and the water (or stock).
• Bring to the boil, then simmer gently with no cover, add cumin and mix.
• Stir occasionally until the mixture starts to thicken (10-15 mins)
• Add the salt at the end of cooking and stir.
• Serve on a platter and garnish with the onion set aside earlier and a sprinkle of parsley.

Notes

Mjadra can be eaten hot or at room temperature with a side salad and some natural yoghurt mixed with mint, lemon juice and some ground coriander. You could even add some Lebanese bread if you like. We ate it with a thinly sliced raw cabbage salad with some salt, lemon and olive oil drizzled on it.

If you’re looking for more recipe inspiration, take a look at my new recipe ebook which is getting rave reviews, Easy Wholefood Lunchboxes.

It’s packed with 40 delicious nut-free, refined sugar free sweet and savoury recipes which have all been kid-tested and approved!

If you make my Mjaddra recipe, please take photos and send them to me. If you share them on instagram, remember to tag me @brendajanschek. Otherwise feel free to pm me your photos via Facebook. I get a total kick out of seeing you bring my recipes to life.

Other recipes you might like are Roasted Spiced Chickpeas and Mediterranean Buddha Bowl.

Bren x

So when I found some “need to be used” coconut cream and ginger in the fridge, I decided to throw it into the batch of rice I was cooking that night. The end result was a delicious and subtley infused rice.

This rice was perfect with a simple red kidney bean, sweet potato and kale casserole for dinner and with the leftovers I made a winter-warming rice porridge for breakfast.

So keep in mind this recipe made enough rice for 1 dinner and 2 breakfasts for a family of 4 (or 2 dinners & 1 breakfast).

If you decided to cook only 1 cup of rice, then add 1 cup of water and 1 cup of coconut cream.

Many of the ingredients in this recipe can be sourced from my one-stop-favourite, organic wholefoods online store, The Wholefood Collective. They go to great lengths to ensure everything they source is amazing quality, they stock all my favorite products and I don’t even have to leave the house! Oh and the cherry on the cake is they donate profits to improve food security for vulnerable Aussies.

Here are some of the ingredients you’ll need:

Basmati rice
Coconut cream
Chia seeds
Sunflower seeds
Cinnamon
Vanilla powder
Raw honey or maple syrup or coconut sugar
Cashews
Coconut flakes
Brown rice syrup

Here’s what I did…

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Coconut & Ginger Infused Rice Porridge

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 2 cups basmati rice
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup coconut cream
• 3 big slices of ginger
• 1 cup of chia seeds
• A good handful of sunflower seeds
• Both are quite neutral tasting for difficult for the kids to detect, otherwise you could grind them up
• 2 teaspoons of cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla powder
• 1 tablespoon of raw hone pure maple syrup or coconut sugar for serving
• ½ cup almond flakes
• ½ cup cashews
• ½ cup coconut flakes
• 1 tablespoon brown rice syrup honey or maple syrup

Instructions

• Put the rice, water, coconut cream and ginger into a saucepan and stir.
• Bring to the boil and then turn down to low & cook for approximately 20 minutes until rice is ready.
• Discard the slices of ginger.
• You can now serve for dinner and/or save some or all for breakfast.
• In the morning put desired amount of cooked rice into a saucepan with double the amount of milk.
• Add chia seeds, sunflower seeds, cinnamon, vanilla powder.
• Put on low heat for 10 minutes to heat and absorb some of milk.
• While this is warming up heat a small to medium frying pan and toast up the almond flakes, cashews and coconut flakes in the dry pan.
• Just before the nuts were lightly toasted, added a tablespoon of brown rice syrup and stir the mixture around for a further minute.
• Serve the rice porridge in bowls, topped with the nut mixture and some slices of banana or your favourite fruit.

If you’re looking for some lunch inspiration, take a look at my recipe ebook, Easy Wholefood Lunchboxes. It’s packed with 40 delicious nut-free, refined sugar free sweet and savoury recipes which have all been kid-tested and approved! 

Stay warm.

Bren x