Darling Diva's Kitchen- Crock Pot Curry Chicken

Some of you may know about my recipe blog...you can find it here.  However, I have decided that any more recipes I post will post to this blog (favoring the idea of having this blog be more of a beat all, end all kind of thing for simplicity for me).  I will see if I can figure out how to archive or link recipes on the recipe blog to here so you can find them more easily.  If I can't figure it out, I will make sure to find ways to post a link in each of the recipes I post here.  Today I announced on Facebook that I was making crock pot chicken curry for dinner and I got some responses asking for the recipe.  Since its one that I made up with the help of friends who know Indian cuisine, I decided I would post it here for ease and simplicity for me as well.

My love affair with Indian food is one that started too late in my life as far as I'm concerned. I love it! Its simple, yet complex, healthy (for the most part, or its easy to make healthy substitutions for unhealthy stuff) and is rich in flavor that doesn't come from salt and pepper but unique spice blends.  I didn't discover Indian food until college last year.  I went to Nepal night with my husband on a date (and partially because I had to go to a cultural evening for one of my education classes.) Needless to say, I. was. hooked! I spent the next two weeks researching authentic Indian cuisine and found a website that has not only authentic Indian recipes, but also shows you how to make your own Garam Masala, curry powder,and other Indian spice blends that are used for cooking.  I don't cook Indian food enough to make my own spice blends (I wish I did...but you can only handle too much curry I'm afraid...) but I did learn a lot from the website.

I happened to meet an Indian friend on campus who showed me some shortcuts...confessing that you didn't have to add as many spice blends to the food to get it to taste "authentic"...but I had been too afraid to try as my first experience cooking Indian at home had landed us with food so spicy that we almost couldn't eat it (Jeff could...but he LOVES curry...)

While searching the net, I stumbled upon a recipe (I wish I remembered where) that substituted a jar of salsa for diced tomatoes and cilantro- stating that because salsa already contains cilantro, pepper spices and tomatoes that you could skip several steps in the whole "curry making" process.  I got brave and decided to try it...

and curry heaven was born on our table...and it was rebirthed tonight...

Here is the recipe for Crock Pot Curry Chicken:

2 lbs bonelesss skinless chicken breasts uncooked diced ( the dicing is simply to help the chicken get equal parts of spice, it will shred and fall apart anyway since it cooks for so long.)

1 small onion, quartered and sliced thin

1 jar mild/medium salsa . (I prefer the Herdez brand salsa as its has more tomato and smaller chunks of peppers making the dish seem more traditional.) If you want to go the traditional route, substitute 1 large can diced tomatoes and 1/4 cup cilantro chopped fine. Just know you will likely be adding more curry powder and cayenne pepper to spice it up. It can be very bland if you're too light handed with the spices.

1 TBS cumin

1-2 TBS curry powder( yellow curry is mild spiced, red curry is medium spiced, and green curry is very hot. We use medium salsa with yellow curry. I usually err on the side of 2 TBS, but, as I said,  my husband LOVES curry! )

1 tsp salt

Cayenne pepper to taste (Usually about halfway through the cooking time I stir the chicken and sauce and add the cayenne. This way you can taste the sauce and add more curry as well if you desire. Just remember that if you're using red curry it already has loads of cayenne pepper and you may be able to skip this step.)

Cook on low for 5-8 hours

Just before serving add 1 c sour cream or plain yogurt and stir in. This will down the spice a little. You can also serve it with extra yogurt or sour cream on top or the side for children (or members of the peanut gallery) who may not appreciate too much spice (unless they are my little sister's children who loved it as is the last time I made it. LOL)

Enjoy! This usually serves 4-6 people depending on how much they take. I usually serve it with Naan bread, rice, and some type of steamed veggie. You scoop it up and put it on the bread,this also kills a little heat. If you can't find Naan bread, or if its "hello expensive!" as it sometimes can be, you can substitute pitas or even tortilla shells cut into triangles ( a little trick I learned when researching Naan to make it at home because I refused to pay what they wanted for it in the store. Naan is basically an unleavened bread so tortillas and pitas will serve the same purpose and, in my opinion, taste just about the same.)

Happy eatings darlings! Hugs and loves until next time.