Is Paleo Chinese Food Real Life?

Chinese? Collard greens? Do not fret loyal reader, this recipe is stupid easy once again. You might actually convince yourself that you can cook in 10 minutes total effort from prep to cleanup. Phew.

I often vary my spices to help keep things interesting, and of course spicy. If you don’t love the spicy as much as I do, just use less spicy on yours. When eating with Paleo sauces and seasonings, the mustard seed is a great way to vary the kick in your meals. This recipe requires browning the chicken in a skillet first, which makes it one more thing to clean up, and more than one thing to do. If you are super lazy and want to cheat, you can skip the browning phase, yet the awesome will not be as awesome as it could otherwise be.

What you need:

1.5 pounds free range pastured chicken thighs.

1 large bunch of Collard Greens. You want at least one big awesome leaf for every thigh that you have, and then 4-6 extras.

1/2 cup hot Chinese mustard. Ingredients should include only water, mustard seed, vinegar, and perhaps salt. The Chinese brand I used from the local market was only water, mustard seed, and rice vinegar.

1 medium red onion.

Clove of garlic for every chicken thigh you have.

2 teaspoons of ground cayenne pepper.

1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes and/or seeds.

About 1 tbsp of coconut oil.

How you kick it:

Add your tablespoon of coconut oil to a medium-high heat skillet. Sprinkle chicken thighs with a few pinches of your cayenne pepper. You want to give the chicken some browning out the outside and some crisp. You are not looking to fully cook the thigh at this point in time, chill. Slightly wilt your collard greens so that they can wrap the chicken. You can either briefly steam them, or if you are super lazy and awful, you can wet them and throw them in the microwave for a minute or so. You simply want the stems and leaves to soften enough so that the leaves are pliable and can wrap the chicken. Don’t go crazy here. Again, less is more! Mix your Chinese mustard in a bowl with your cayenne pepper and red pepper flake. Slice your garlic cloves into small slices and add them to the mustard and stir. Cut your red onion into medium slices through. You want one medium thick slice for each chicken wrap. Assemble by coating the chicken in the mustard and garlic mixture, and then place in the middle of a collard leaf. Place an onion slice on top of the thigh and wrap the collard leaf around it. Think stuffed cabbage style. Lightly grease your slow cooker with some coconut oil to ensure that the leaves on the bottom do not stick. Place your extra collards on the bottom of your slow cooker and then line the bottom with your wraps. Place 1 or 2 extra leaves on top if you have them, covering the wraps. Cook on low for 6 hours.

They should look all cute and nestled like this before cooking.