Crockpot Chicken Curry - So Easy!

I have always been a bit intimidated about cooking Indian food. I love eating it, but I always thought it would be so hard to make. I'm no expert on Indian cuisine, but this recipe is pretty darn good, and it's so simple.

The recipe calls for coconut milk. I used light coconut milk, which is basically watered down coconut milk (no fake ingredients). Feel free to use regular coconut milk; I just find that it's a bit too heavy for my preference. I did add a tablespoon of raw coconut oil back into the recipe to get just a bit more fat and coconut flavor without using the whole can of coconut milk. Remember to use as many organic vegetables as possible, and of course, go for organic chicken! You don't want to add hormones and antibiotics to such a delicious dish, do you?

This recipe is from Rachael Ray's website. Check it out here.

Indian Style Crockpot Curry

Serves 4

• 1 13.5-ounce can coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons curry powder
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• Few dashes hot sauce
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 to 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated
• 1-inch knob ginger, peeled and grated
• 1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1/2 large eggplant, peeled and cut into chunks
• 2 medium sweet potatoes
• 1 14-ounce can chick peas, drained and rinsed
• 2 pounds bone-in skinless chicken thighs (about 6 thighs)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• White rice
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges, to garnish
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced, to garnish
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro, to garnish
• 1 cup chopped toasted peanuts, to garnish
• 1/4 cup mango chutney, to garnish
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Preparation:

In the bowl of a crock pot combine coconut milk, tomato paste, curry powder, coriander, cumin, and hot sauce. To that, add onion, garlic, ginger, bell pepper, eggplant, sweet potato, chickpeas, and chicken. Season with salt and pepper. Turn the crock pot on high heat and simmer for 4 hours or until the chicken is cooked through.

Megan's version: since I like to prep the night before, I refrigerate the prepared ingredients to put on the crock pot in the morning. I omitted the coconut milk until the morning so that the vegetables wouldn't soak it up. Here are some shots of how I prepared it.

All the vegetables together:

Seasoning (minus coconut milk) added:

Chicken added:

When finished, serve atop rice and garnish with lemon wedges, scallions, cilantro, peanuts, and mango chutney. I omitted the lemon and mango chutney, but go for it if that's you're thing! It was absolutely delicious.