Crockpot Indian Curry Recipe

photo by Debbie Sheets

Originally posted on July 10, 2008. See all the recipes from my one-year challenge, here.

Day 192.

Curry, day 2! This is the Indian version of the curry recipe that Rachael gave me on the show.

The flavors are again spot-on. This is just as good, if not better, than the take-out coconut curry we order. Lots.

But maybe not anymore, since now we can make it Whenever We Want.

The Thai Curry Recipe is here.

The Ingredients.

It sounds like a lot, but many of the spices are (hopefully) staples in the spice rack.

1 (13.5 -ounce) can of coconut milk (don't use the light, it doesn't taste as good. or use the light and then stir in heavy cream at the end. Your tongue wants the thick stuff... trust me.)
1 (15-ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
4-6 frozen skinless, boneless chicken thighs
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 tablespoons curry powder (not a typo, it's a lot, but it's good. Curry isn't spicy, just flavorful)
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 inch peeled and grated ginger (I didn't use that much, I don't particularly care for ginger)- few dashes of hot sauce (I used Tabasco)
1 yellow onion. chopped
2 or 3 cloves of smashed and chopped garlic
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1/2 of an eggplant, chopped (I didn't peel)
1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped (I hate peeling sweet potato, so used a knife and lost a lot of the flesh accidentally)

The Directions.

Assemble all of your spices, coconut milk, tabasco sauce, and tomato paste. Combine the sauce ingredients in the bottom of your crockpot. The sauce will be a lovely yellow.

Add the chicken, flipping it over a few times to coat it nicely. Pour in the garbanzo beans.

Wash and chop all of the vegetables, and then add to the Crock-Pot. Don't worry about stirring them in the sauce. Let them sit on top of the chicken and steam away.

Cover and cook on low for 7-9 hours, or on high for 4-6. I cooked our dinner on high for almost 6 hours. The chicken was fully cooked, but still had shape, and the vegetables were soft and quite nice.

Stir carefully to mix flavors. If you stir too rough, the sweet potato will fall apart.

Serve over rice; I used brown.

The Verdict.

Delicious. We had family over for dinner, and they all really enjoyed it, and took home leftovers. This was really good.

The kids were not interested in trying it at all. They had buttered brown rice.

and taquitos.

Adam and I were so pleased with these two curry recipes, and will definitely put them into our dinner rotation in the years to come.

As for a side-to-side comparison... we noticed that if you eat one and then the other back and forth, your tongue gets confused and everything tastes alike.

These are two distinct dishes, the Thai is a touch sweet and has a spicy kick, where as the Indian is creamy and rich with a beautiful curry taste. There is no spice (unless you add it) in the Indian curry dish.

Like many dishes made in the Crock-Pot, the flavors are even more pronounced the next day.