Written by Katie of Nourishing Simplicity
I love a fragrant bowl of curry or a steaming cup of chai. They are full of intoxicating spices that are popular in Indian, Thai, and Malaysian cuisine. Just a brief smell of their aroma draws me in.
Almost anytime I go out to eat, my first pick is to a restaurant serving one of these cuisines. I can’t get enough of it!
The delicious aroma and flavor of these dishes is due to the delightful spices used, such as cardamon, clove, allspice and cinnamon.
My infatuation with these spices has me cooking with them frequently at home. A new favorite dish at my house is chicken mint meatballs on a bed of coconut rice infused with various spices.
None of my unsuspecting kids guessed the secret ingredient… chicken liver.
That’s right folks, chicken liver. When mixed in with ground chicken and spices you can’t even notice it’s there. Which honestly, in order to eat organ meats, I currently need to disguise them, and I’m okay with that. Though my goal is to learn to embrace them and one day enjoy them in all their glory.
For now I’ll stick with hiding them in meatballs and taquitos. You still get all the amazing benefits like healthier hair, skin, nails, and a strengthened immunity system.
Delicious meatballs made with tantalizing spices of cardamom, all spice, and clove. Made with chicken livers, yet, you'd never know it!
Ingredients:
- 2 cups white rice
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 2 cups coconut milk*
- 1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced
- 5 cardamon pods
- 2 dried red chilies
- 8 allspice berries
- 5 cloves
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 lb ground chicken
- 1/4 lb chicken livers, finely chopped
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs
- 1/4 cup spearmint, chopped
- 1 clove of garlic, crushed
- 1 TBS coconut oil
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp ground cardamon
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger
Method:
- In a sauce pot, saute the onion until soft. Sprinkle a little salt over them to help them sweat.
- Using a mortar and pestle or the side of knife blade, gently crush the all spice berries, cardamon pods and clovers.
- Add the crushed spices and the cinnamon sticks to the onions. Saute for 5 minutes to release their fragrance.
- Pour the chicken stock and coconut milk to the pot. Bring to a boil.
- Add the rice. Stir gently to mix.
- Place the lid on the pot and return to a boil. Once the pot has come to a boil, turn the pot down to medium heat. Simmer for about 20 minutes. Do not lift the lid!
- After the rice is cooked turn of the heat and leave it to sit for 10 minutes. Remove the lid and fluff with a fork.
- *I used homemade coconut milk, if you are using canned the coconut milk needs to be thined to 1 can (full fat) to 1 1/2 cans of water.
- Saute the garlic and onions in the 1 TBS of coconut oil over medium heat. Sprinkle a little salt over the top to help them sweat.
- Combine the bread crumbs, spearmint, salt, cardamon and ginger in a medium sized bowl.
- Add the sauteed onion, garlic, ground chicken and finely chopped liver to the bowl.
- Mix with your hands until all the ingredients are thoroughly incorporated.
- Form the meat mixture into 1 inch size balls. Bake on a cookie sheet for 18 minutes at 425 F.
- Plate the rice and top with the meatballs, garnish with spearmint if desired.
Do you cook with chicken livers? How does your family like to eat them?
I love Rumaki – a chicken liver wrapped around a whole water chestnut, all of which is then wrapped in bacon and then broiled/grilled. It’s an appetizer, but for me it’s dinner…
That sounds amazing! Bacon makes everything better! 🙂
We eat chicken livers the way my mother-in-law used to fix them. Toss them in a little flour and then saute them in butter briefly, i.e enough to form a crust but not enough to toughen them. Sprinkle with good salt.
When we roast a chicken, my husband and I always fry up the liver that’s in the cavity as a snack. If for some reason there is no liver, we’re bummed.
Liv, thanks for stopping by! Yes, I do enjoy chicken livers that way as well. So simple, but it taste so good.