Indian-Style Crock Pot Curry

This is the last of the recipes that the PND girls requested. This one is from the Rachael Ray website. Again, I tweaked a few things to make it better. And Liz, I made this "as is" at my house, with the few dashes of hot sauce and all, and it still was pretty mild. This recipe is all about the extra toppings that go on at the end... so take the time to chop, slice, etc. Makes about 8 servings, delicious as leftovers. Prep time 30-45 minutes, cook time 3.5-4 hours. If you're having friends over and want extra- bump the chicken up to 2 lbs, and use more eggplant and sweet potato.

Ingredients:
1 13.5 oz can coconut milk
2 T curry powder
1 t ground coriander
1 t ground cumin
few dashes hot sauce

1.5 lbs bone-in skinless chicken thighs (you may have to buy with skin, and then remove it- don't be intimidated, it's easy)
1 medium onion chopped
1 T tomato paste (buy a tube- it's so handy)
2-3 cloves garlic- through the press
1 green bell pepper- or which ever color looks good at the store
1 14 oz can chick peas
1 inch knob ginger- peel and grate with your microplane
1/2 large, or 1 small eggplant
2 smallish-medium sweet potatoes
S&P

White rice
1 lemon
3 scallions, sliced thin on the bias
1/2 c chopped cilantro
1 c chopped toasted peanuts
mango chutney
Naan or pita bread wedges

So, it's 2 in the afternoon- good time to start this meal. Put the coconut milk, curry, coriander, cumin, and hot sauce in the crock pot, and get it going- start on low.

Pull skin off your chicken if needed. Heat a couple of T's of veg.oil in a big non-stick skillet. Pat chicken dry, season with S&P. One the oil is ready to sizzle, put your chicken in and brown both sides of each piece- nice golden brown color. Move the chicken into the pot.

Now add your onion and green pep to the skillet, and saute until getting soft- ~6 minutes, add tomato paste- 1 minute, now garlic- 30 sec to 1 min. Scrape it all into your pot. Crank it up to high. Add the chickpeas too. And grate your ginger right into the pot.

Clean up, go do something else for 2 to 2.5 hours.

Now, add your sweet potato and eggplant. You could have put them in with the chicken and onion, but they will get mushy and disintegrate, but still taste good. Go do something else for an hour or so.

Now your sup has been cooking for 3 to 3.5 hours on high, time to get your rice going. Look and see, the meat should be falling of the bone by now, use a fork to pull out the bones. The meat will just fall apart when you give it a good stir. Chop your cilantro, scallions, chop (food processor mini if you have it) peanuts. Toast peanuts in a small sauce pan on the stove top until fragrant- 4-6 minutes, shaking the pan every minute or so. Slice lemon into wedges.

Your sweety is home! Now it's time for your delicious curry buffet- Put some rice in the bottom of your dish, Curry on top, and then the toppings- scallions, cilantro, peanuts, mango chutney. Lemons and Naan on the side.

This meal is great to make on a day you plan to spend at home, there's plenty of time to do other things- like make peanut butter cookies and see what's new on the Seatsleaf blog.