Chicken Curry Clafouti
Almond flour and coconut flour can be perfect substitutes for traditional flour in many Primal baked goods, but they don’t always provide a texture that is as light and airy as we want. This is why we were so pleased when Katie Hudgens sent us a recipe for baked clafouti that eliminates flour entirely. Her Chicken Curry Clafouti bakes up into a rich, savory pastry with a texture that’s so smooth and buttery it made us wonder why we ever thought clafouti needed flour in the first place.
A clafouti is a French pastry with a texture somewhere between cake and custard. It’s usually served as a dessert, and Katie often makes it this way herself by adding mixed berries to the batter. As good as this sounds, don’t let the temptation of berry clafouti dissuade you from trying Katie’s savory version, Chicken Curry Clafouti. A simple batter of eggs, butter and coconut milk (or whole cream) bakes into a flourless, sugarless pastry that’s more like a quiche than a cake. It does retain a pastry-like quality, however, in the puffy, light-as-air crust and in the sinfully buttery texture. The butter and coconut milk also lend a slightly sweet flavor that is the perfect backdrop for spicy curry powder. A generous amount of chicken adds to the ample amount of protein already in this savory, eggy custard that can be enjoyed any time of day. Make it for dinner and eat the leftovers for breakfast, or pack it up for lunch or an afternoon snack. Whenever you eat it, we think you’ll find it as surprisingly delicious as we did.
Now that we have this flourless clafouti recipe down, Katie has inspired us to experiment with all the tasty combinations we can think of. Salmon and dill? Ground bison and basil? Numerous combinations abound. With a little experimentation, you die-hard pizza lovers might even be able to turn this clafouti into the perfect pizza crust. We haven’t tried it ourselves but can imagine adding sausage to the batter and then in the last 15 minutes of baking, spreading tomato sauce, sautéed veggies and a little cheese over the middle of the clafouti. If you try this, let us know how it turns out.
Before you go wild with variations, however, Katie’s recipe for Chicken Curry Clafouti is the first one you should try. Mainly because it’s so dang good, and secondly, because tinkering with baking is always easier once you’ve mastered the original recipe. But any way you slice it, this clafouti is an easy way to satisfy any sweet, or savory, cravings and is sure to be a favorite of kids and adults.
Ingredients:
- 6 eggs
- 6 tablespoons melted butter cooled to room temp. + 1 pat for greasing pan
- 3/4 cup cream, half & half or coconut milk
- 4 cups cooked, chopped chicken
- 2 tablespoons curry spice, or to taste
- Salt & Pepper to taste
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400° F.
Butter a 10” round or 13×9” baking dish.
Whisk together eggs, butter & cream until frothy.
Mix in chicken and spices and pour into baking dish.
Bake about 45 minutes or until top is golden brown and puffy.
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Posted By: Worker Bee
To those whom tried this, how many “servings” does this make, given the quantity of ingredients above? I know “servings” is an arbitrary term here, but do your best!
Thanks.
Wow, that turned out better than I thought. It is a lot more like a low density ommlette. all that butter definitely WAS worth it!
Delicious!
400F is definitely too hot. I almost burnt it at 38 minutes.
checkin’ it out. in the oven with a bit of peas.. felt it needed a vegetable? Maybe next time some potatoes and carrots too?
I love curry but my wife is not a big fan. I threw in a package of dry, onion soup mix and sprinkled on some shredded, Mexican cheese mix prior to serving. Went over well and tasted pretty darn good if I do say so myself!
ok, it’s awesome. really looking forward to the many variations! I added canned peas and some precooked butternut squash pieces. Forgot the salt and pepper and it doesn’t need it. It cooked about 40 mins and I preheated to 400 and then turned to 350 when I put it in the oven. nice golden crust – but check it early and often.
OK, I made it again this weekend and added chunks of fried pork, bell pepper and onion sauteed in coconut oil. Because I’m in New Mexico I also added green chile. (I’d lose my driver’s license if I didn’t.)
This time I used an electric mixer to get enough air into the eggs and heavy cream.
Baked 30 minutes at about 350.
Came out perfect.
I made it just now with cherries although for some strange reason it failed to occur to me to add vanilla or spices. For the batter I just whipped together the butter, eggs, cream and 2 tsp honey. I had two leftover egg whites left over in the fridge so I tossed them in there as well. This resulted in a quite runny batter, however, and I had to bake it for a full 60 minutes at 350 F for it to set properly. The top didn’t burn but thanks to the honey it got wonderfully caramelized. It is incredibly addictive. Many more variations to follow!
I was just reading about Mark’s recipes, I have a recipe for bread, muffins, pancakes, etc., all made with seeds, eggs and cream, plus some other ingredients that will not spike your sugar, Went to this workshop for losing weight. It is pretty much the premise of what Mark is putting forth to the public, no carbs and sugar, But using no grains and sugar, flours, is much better. Substitutes for sugar, use Stevia and xyzitol, which is actually good for your teeth.
For animal lovers, be care with xylitol; it is deadly for dogs.
Mark,
Thanks for this recipe…amazing! What would be a good substitution for the butter? I am trying to get away from diary. Olive Oil? Coconut butter? Please advise.
Thanks,
Justin
Lard.
Lard sounds good. Coconut oil would probably work well too.
Made it with berries. Delicious, but next time I’d add cinnamon & vanilla. Also going to try a mushroom/cheese variation. The other ideas in this thread look good, too.
This is an excellent recipe. I tried the traditional Curried Chicken version and then made another one with peaches, cinnamon and vanilla with cinnamon coconut cream as a topping.
Had to try it the *minute* I read it — the only chicken I had in the house was the Applewood sliced deli chicken from Whole Foods. Okay, cut that into tiny strips and mixed it in. Don’t like curry, didn’t use it. YUMMY!
Second time, I intentionally used the Applewood deli chicken (bought some just for this!), and added some sliced mozzarella. Third time, chunked ham, mozzarella. All superb!
Am thinking about those strawberries in the freezer…. hmmmmmmmm. Thanks Mark (and Katie!)
p.s., I am reading “Primal Blueprint” to my husband in the car — we’re both really enjoying it! He’s FINALLY quitting soda (YAY!) (Now, on to getting him off grains! Fingers crossed!)
Yum! I made it with berries (fresh picked) for breakfast and it was wonderful. I’ve also started doing a scaled down version on the stovetop in a cast iron skillet. Doesn’t heat the house up quite so much as the oven. I add a touch of stevia, vanilla, and whatever berries I have on hand. The young spawn loves it. She ate almost all of mine this morning. She doesn’t like it so well savory, though she didn’t mind the bacon version….
Here’s a variation I’m taking to a 4th of July party:
A tin of sweet, frozen Canadian LOBSTER meat, tarragon and pinch of nutmeg. Sprinkle w/freshly grated Parmesan.
I used chopped ham and a little less than 3 TB bacon fat and kept everything else in the recipe the same, and it came out tasting delicious.
Oops, I meant I used ham instead of chicken and bacon fat instead of butter, but kept everything else the same.
Is carob OK for PB ? I made a version & added a cup of carob powder and a handful of cherries and walnuts. It made a good cake-ish desert.
After reading all of the comments, this seems to be an absolute winner.
I’m cooking a big meal for family in a few weeks and one of my non-primal relatives challenged me to develop a good sausage gravy (like that eaten with biscuits and gravy). I’ve got the gravy down, but am looking for something delicious to put it on.
Although this dish seems to stand well on its own, is the texture and consistency conducive to some primal sausage gravy on top? Let me know!
I used 3 parts half and half, 1 part cream, and added garlic to the melted butter.
For ingredients, I used Italian sausage, 1 minced jalapeno, minced white onion, sliced black olives, and some sharp cheddar.
I recommend whipping cream, butter, egg combo very well. I took some extra time and effort for this and it paid dividends with a very light and fluffy form!
This sounds reeeeallly good and I can’t wait to try it! I’m having a great time just thinking of all the sweet or savory combinations I might try. It’d be a good use of that grass-fed buffalo sausage in my freezer, maybe with some sun-dried tomatoes. Or peaches and raspberries. Or pineapple and coconut. Or salmon and basil…. and it goes on and on.
But I have a question. I live alone, so I have only one mouth to feed. How to handle leftovers? What is the best method to reheat it? (Although I’m sure some versions would be good cold, to me curry just screams warmth.) Any suggestions, anyone? Thanks!
So I just made this, with bacon instead and all I can say is – BLISS. :0)
I made my own version of this yesterday at 5am!
I used pumpkin and sweet potato. It was great! Thanks for posting this:)
Now I want to make another one!
I followed the recipe with three exceptions: 1) I only had 1 Tbsp of curry powder left so I used that, plus 1/2 Tbsp cumin and 1/2 Tbsp Turmeric; 2) I used an immersion blender instead of a whisk; 3) It looked done at about 34 minutes so I took it out then.
It was good! The top of it was more of a brown film than an airy crust, so next time I think I will follow others’ suggestions to bring the heat down to 350 degrees.
I did not have left over chicken so cooked some specifically for this recipe. Someone asked about this so I figured I’d say how I cooked my chicken: I brined it in saltwater for about an hour; seasoned it with salt, pepper, and garlic powder; then cooked it at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. That will get the chicken very close to “done,” then it will cook the rest of the way in the clafouti.
I made this, but I added crispy bacon that I had cooked earlier in the day and spinach. It was probably one of the top ten most awesome things I’ve ever put in my mouth.
Wow – I just found this, looks fantastic!
I made this just like the recipe called for, (with heavy cream instead of the coconut). It REALLY was flaky buttery awesomeness, but the curry flavor was pretty bleh to me. Has anyone else made this with other savory spice blends? Because I know this has potential, but the curry doesn’t do it!
Also I loved how freaking fast and easy this was to throw together. No extensive chopping or sauteeing, just mix and bake!
I made this this morning, wow….so good. I fried up 1 chopped up chorizo, dotted halved cherry tomatoes through it and snipped some chives on the top. Mine was probably ready in about 25 minutes (fan forced oven). This will be a staple in our house…am wondering how it would work with yoghurt instead of cream also.
Waw, this was made for me today and tonight I have the recipe. Thank you!
Eh, this is really a crustless quiche or ingredients-stirred-in omelet, not a clafouti. And a rather bland one, at that.
I suppose labeling it with a somewhat exotic word makes it seem more exciting.
Rather than a single note of curry, I’d use Indian-spiced ghee.
Also would add more ingredients.