Coconut Curry Roast

This is a little more involved than my typical recipe and requires about 20 minutes of prep time, but totally worth it. Don’t let the spices scare you off, this is a deliciously tender roast with a slightly sweet, velvety sauce. If you’re tired of plain-old pot roast, this is a great change.

What you need:

• Fat of choice, preferably coconut oil
• 1 large chopped onion
• 1 lb baby carrots
• 2  cloves of garlic
• 1 TBSP minced fresh or jarred ginger
• salt and pepper (to season the roast), about 2 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper
• 3 lb chuck roast
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp or 1 tsp red pepper flake – more if you like it spicy, less if you don’t!
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1 1/2 cups beef stock
• 1 14oz can of coconut milk
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 cardamom pods (lightly smash)
• 2 bay leaves

What to do:

Preheat the oven to 325 while you prep all your ingredients – chop the onion, salt and pepper the roast on both sides, get out all other ingredients. Prep the spices by measuring them out into a small bowl so you can add them all at once when the time comes:  coriander, cumin, red pepper, turmeric, cinnamon stick, bay leaves and cardamom pods.

In a large dutch oven add a couple TBSP of coconut oil and add the onions and carrots (leave the baby carrots whole or they will cook to mush). Cook until the onions are tender, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger for the last minute or so because you don’t want them to burn. Remove it all to a bowl. Add a bit more coconut oil and brown the roast for about 5 minutes a side and then remove to a plate. Add the beef broth and scrape up all the bits of goodness from the bottom of the pot. Add the spices, coconut milk and bring to boil. Add roast and onions/carrots back in, cover and pop in oven or 2 1/2-3 hrs until the roast is tender. This is great served with some basmati rice, roasted/mashed potatoes or just a salad on the side if you’re doing the lower carb thing.

Note: this one doesn’t freeze or serve very well as a left over because the sauce tends to separate. The flavor is still amazing, the sauce just doesn’t look as good the second time around as it does when you first make it.