Crockpot Curry

It's the youngest daughter here tonight, and I will freely admit that my idea for this freeze ahead crockpot meal is totally taken from my dear friend Steph over at Cupcakes and Curls. I did, of course, adapt it to be my own.

Here's Steph's original recipe:
Chicken Curry

4 Chicken Breasts - Cut up in strips or chunks
2 Bottles of Trader Joe's Yellow Curry
4-5 Red Potatoes sliced or cut into chunks

This one is easy - Cut up your chicken and potatoes, toss them in a Ziploc freezer bag and pour in your ready made sauce. Freeze. When ready to cook, defrost in fridge overnight and cook on low for 8 hours. Serve with Trader Joe's Microwave Jasmine Rice.

I tweaked this in a couple of ways, mostly to include a bigger variety of veggies, since Steph's husband is notoriously picky about vegetables, but I am a huge fan of veggies of all stripes.

Here are the ingredients I used to make two freeze ahead bags of curry tonight.

Ingredients
2 bottles of either red curry or yellow curry
1/2 curry bottle of water, shaken to get lose curry
1 gallon size freezer bag full of the following:

• 2 of those massive frozen chicken breasts
• 2 red potatoes, cubed
• 2 gold potatoes, cubed
• 1 1/2 bell pepper, variety of colors, sliced
• 1/2 large yellow onion, sliced
• FREE CHOICE - Add more or less of any of the above ingredients, as well as different vegetables. I fully intended to include eggplant and bamboo, but I fell short on two accounts. My eggplant had gone bad and I forgot to buy a can of bamboo. I upped how much potato and pepper went in, accordingly. If you don't like veggies or use smaller hunks of chicken, you'll need to put in more breasts to fill the bag.

Steps

1. Label bag before adding food, as it is much easier to label an empty freezer bag. I specify what the dish is, the date it is made, and any cooking instructions (low 8 hrs).
2. Chop and slice all meat/veggies according to preference. I did not slice the chicken, as it was already frozen. I will just fish the chicken out and either cube, slice, or shred it when it is time to serve.
3. Dump all chopped meat/veggies to the ziplock.
4. Pour two bottles of curry sauce (yellow or red to taste) over top.
5. If you're like me and your crock is often on for longer than 8 hours--work, am I right??--this step is crucial to maintain moisture. Fill one bottle about 1/2 way with water; cap and shake it. Dump the curry water into the other bottle; cap and shake it. Dump into bag. This gives you extra moisture and maximum flavor!
6. Seal the bag and squeeze it to be sure all veggies are coated in cooking liquid. Freeze flat.
7. The night before you use it, leave in refrigerator to thaw.
8. The morning of, dump contents into crockpot; set it; forget it.
9. Cook rice when you get home to serve with curry. You can use instant rice, stovetop rice, or a rice cooker (my preference). 
10. Chop, shred, or slice chicken if need be.
11. Enjoy! This is really easy, delicious, and satisfying.

The bag between bottles. Is your mouth watering yet?

Savory "sweet "Potatoes

The sweet potato, which is also sometimes called a yam in the United States, is only a distant relative to the potato and not really a yam at all.  But these are only labels and if you really want to know about the biology and history of the sweet potato then I suggest you visit the sweet Sweet Potato Museum in Raleigh-Durham, NC.  Growing up, I thought that sweet potatoes were a disgusting canned mess, reserved for Thanksgiving, that could only be served if disguised under liberal globs of pecans, brown sugar, butter and marshmallows.  I am not a big fan of sweet except for dessert so I didn't like sweet potatoes.  Sweet potato pie really didn't capture my imagination either. 

Now though, I am a huge fan of sweet potatoes.  I love to eat them in curries.  I could eat them instead of regular French fries every time but the recipe I am sharing today you will have to trust me on.  It sounds ridiculous. It is delicious. It is easy! Your kids will eat it.  Your mother-in-law might even ask you for it but you can claim it as a family secret.

Savory Sweet Potatoes

Peel and cube 14 to 16 ozs. Of fresh sweet  potatoes

Cut into 1/2 in square cubes

1 large red onion peeled, halved length-wise and cut into about eight total wedges

1/3 cup olive oil

2 teaspoon fresh thyme ( what! No fresh thyme, the next ingredient is ketchup, use dried thyme, a generous teaspoon, maybe more if your thyme is a little old, more than 6 months since you opened it )

1 tablespoons ketchup ( Yes this hurts to share but this recipe is no good with any substitute. You must use ketchup.  Don't be a snob!)

2 teaspoons chili powder

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon  ground pepper

Place all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir until well mixed.  Pour onto a double layer on heavy-duty aluminum foil. If you are grilling, place packet on the grill as you preheat it and cook for about 30 minutes with the grill at 350 to 400. Same instructions for in the oven.  This keeps for up to an hour very well at warm (175) so you could cook ahead and serve later if needed.

This is good with pork or turkey.

Two fun facts.

1. The sweet potato skin isn't really  a skin. When the tubers are harvested, they are heated for a time and the outer layer dries out and get tough for the trip to the grocery store.

2. If you do not want your sweet potato to split while cooking, round all the edges.  Then it will hold together.