Coconut Curry Brown Rice & Peanut Sauce

“To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art.”

― François de La Rochefoucauld

Coconut Curry Brown Rice & Peanut Sauce

Food that is healthy and good for you doesn’t have to be boring. During competition prep we eliminate a lot of additions in our food such as sauces and dressings and eat the food very dry and plain. When I am not in prep I like to add those things back in to make my food enjoyable and extra tasty. Even though I am not prepping for a show, I still keep my cooking healthy and low in carbs and fat but still full of flavor! There are so many ways you can make your food look and taste delicious while keeping it clean and low in calories. I go through fazes on what style of food and flavors I like to eat. Recently it’s been a lot of Asian cuisine.  Sushi, Thai, and Vietnamese top my list, and one thing I am always drawn to is the ginger peanut sauces… I put it on everything! My salad, dip my sushi in it, put it over my chicken, you name it. Because I like it so much, I decided to come up with a low fat, low carb version that is guilt free and that I can enjoy as much as I like. In a typical Thai Peanut sauce the recipe will have ingredients like corn syrup, sugar, full fat peanut butter, ingredients that add up to approximately 168 calories 11 grams of fat and 11 grams of sugar in a small serving. Without sacrificing flavor my recipe will have only 30 calories and 2 grams of fat and 1 gram of sugar per serving. Try it, you just might like it. J

In this dish I baked the chicken in the peanut sauce and served it with a side of red coconut curry brown rice. (Will post recipe for that as well) I apologize for not having more pictures, I was not feeling good this weekend and did my meal prep rather quickly.

Peanut Sauce:

Ingredients:

¼ c. PB2 plain flavor

1 tsp. fresh ground peanut butter

1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup of water

2 tbsp. of ponzu sauce or low sodium soy sauce.

1 tsp. hoisin sauce

1 tbsp fresh grated ginger

2 garlic cloves chopped

1 tsp fresh basil leaves

Dash of red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp. xanthan gum

Directions: In a blender combine all the ingredients except the xanthan gum and blend until mixed thoroughly add in the xanthan gum and blend on low for about a min. Allow to settle and your sauce is done. Pour over chicken and bake at 375 for 30 min.

Coconut Curry Brown rice:

Ingredients:

1 cup brown rice

1 cup water

1 cup of low fat coconut milk

1 tbsp. coconut oil

1/8 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

2 tsp of curry powder

1 tsp turmeric

 1 tbsp. of red curry paste

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp low sodium salt

Dash of red pepper flakes

2 basil leaves*

2 thyme leaves*

2 cloves of garlic finely chopped

2 green onions finely chopped

Directions:

In a pot melt coconut oil on low flame, add in coconut flakes, onions and garlic and brown. Add in the spices except for the basil and thyme. Once ingredients are mixed pour in the water and coconut milk. Cook until boiling then reduce heat to low. Simmer on low flame until rice in cooked. Add in the fresh basil and thyme at the end. This can also be made in a rice cooker. Comes out perfect!! Enjoy!