Crockpot Indian Butter Chicken, aka Chicken Makhani

This recipe is from the Crockpot Lady, Stephanie....the original recipe is here. Stephanie actually got it from a fellow blogger, Kindra, and modified it to suit herself. Kindra's recipe is here.

Crockpot Chicken Makhani

Ingredients

2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs (can be frozen)
1 med onion, sliced
6 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 stick butter, cut into chunks
15 cardamom pods (sewn together or tied in cheesecloth)
2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 T garam masala
approx 1 inch grated fresh ginger root
1 can coconut milk (13.5 oz)
1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
2 T lemon or lime juice
1 C plain yogurt
1 tsp salt (more or less to taste)

NOTE: If you don't have cardamom pods, you can use 1/2 tsp ground cardamom, maybe a bit more. You can always add salt, more spices, to taste. Always feel free to modify it to suit your own taste buds!

Directions

Use a 5 quart or larger crockpot. You can either sew together the cardamom pods using a needle and thread or you can tie them in a little cheese cloth bundle instead, if you have cheesecloth in the house. Put some sliced onion in the bottom of the crockpot, then place chicken on top. Scatter rest of onion and garlic over chicken. Combine dry spices, grated ginger, tomato paste, lemon or lime juice, and coconut milk in a medium sized bowl and pour the resulting mixture over the chicken and vegetables in the pot. Drop chunks of butter randomly over the top.


Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or high for 4 (I doubled the recipe and cooked it on high for 2 and low for 4). The chicken will shred easily when fully cooked.

Stir in the plain yogurt 15 minutes before serving.


Discard cardamom pods. Salt to taste, serve with white or brown basmati rice. Enjoy!!

Crockpot Thai Chicken Curry

Wonderful recipe!! Stephanie, the Crockpot Lady, got this one from Rachel Ray when she appeared on her show:


Ingredients:

1 13.5-oz can coconut milk
1 T brown sugar
1 T soy sauce (La Choy is gluten free, and so is Tamari wheat-free)
1 T Thai red or green chili paste, or more to taste
1 tsp fish sauce
1 yellow onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1/2 large eggplant, chopped
1-inch knob of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 sweet potato, diced (large chunks)
1 1/2 pounds chicken thighs and/or breasts, boneless, skinless

Directions:

Combine the sauce ingredients: coconut milk, soy sauce, brown sugar, chili paste, and fish sauce in the bottom of your crockpot. Taste. If you think you need more chili paste, add some, carefully. It's hot stuff!

Add the chicken pieces to the sauce, flipping them over a few times so they get nice and saucy.

Wash and cut the vegetables, and add to the crockpot.

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 4-6. This is done when the chicken is fully cooked and the vegetables have reached desired tenderness.

Serve over white or brown rice.

Crockpot Indian Coconut Curry with Chicken

If you love Indian food AND you love the convenience of Crockpot cooking, this recipe is for you! I got it from Stephanie's blog, and she got it from Rachel Ray when she appeared on her show last summer. My kids loved it too....which makes it a keeper.


My only deviation from the Stephanie-Rachel Ray recipe was to add 1/3 C cornstarch + 1/4 C sugar dissolved in 2/3 C apple juice at the end, just to add a little sweetness and make the sauce thicker and smoother. After adding the juice mixture, stir gently and let it cook on high for 20 minutes to thicken. Next time I will probably omit the sugar; the apple juice is sweet enough.

Ingredients

1 13.5 oz can of coconut milk (NOT the light kind)
1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
4-6 frozen skinless, boneless chicken thighs (or 4 boneless skinless breasts)
1 T tomato paste
2 T curry powder
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 inch peeled and grated ginger root
few dashes of hot sauce (I used Tobasco)
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

Directions

Assemble all of your spices, coconut milk, tobasco sauce, and tomato paste. Combine the sauce ingredients in the bottom of your crockpot. Add the chicken, flipping it over a few times to coat. Pour in the garbanzo beans. Wash and chop all of the vegetables, and then add to the Crock-Pot. You don't have to mix all the ingredients thoroughly, the veggies will cook well on top of the chicken.

Cover and cook on low for 7-9 hours, or on high for 4-6. Stir gently to mix flavors. If you stir too roughly, the sweet potato will fall apart. Serve over rice.