Slow Cooker Indian Curry

I love Indian curry dishes. I created this recipe as an attempt to replicate a dish I can't even begin to pronounce that I order at a local restaurant.  Although not authentic in the ingredients I chose to add, it comes close in flavor.  I tend to sneak a lot of vegetables in my curry dishes because it's a way to get my family to eat them.   Now if I could only make authentic nahn bread I would be in chef heaven.  I use my food processor to do all the chopping, but you can do it by hand. 

2 pounds lamb or boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into cubes,   (I prefer lamb

1 stalk celery, chopped fine

1 onion chopped fine

1 carrot chopped fine

1/2 yellow onion chopped fine

1 large tomato diced 

2 cloves garlic chopped fine

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper 

1 cup plain Greek yogurt

1 1/2 tablespoons Garam Masala *

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 14oz can coconut milk

1 small cans tomato paste

1/2 teaspoon tumeric

2 teaspoons red curry paste

1 teaspoons grated fresh ginger

raisins and cashews for garnish 

In a medium sauté pan over medium high heat,  melt the butter. 

Sauté all of the vegetables except the tomato until they are soft, about 2 minutes.  Pour the vegetable mixture into a crock pot. 

In the same sauté pan, brown the meat on all sides. 

Add that to the crock pot. 

Mix together all the sauce ingredients and pour into the crock pot along with the tomato. 

Cook for 5 hours on low setting.  The lamb should be very tender. If not, it needs to cook longer.  (Chicken takes less time. Check at  4 hours.)

Serve over rice or quinoa, or with fresh Nahn  bread.  

Garnish with raisins and cashews.

Serves 4

*if you can't find garam masala in the spice section of the grocery store, you can easily make your own. Recipe here.

INSTANT POT INSTRUCTIONS:
 I tried making this recipe in the Instant Pot and it took 10 minutes!  Follow these instructions if you want to try this method.  I have to tell you though, it tastes better the next day as the flavors have more time to blend.

Set the Instant Pot to saute, and brown the vegetables, spices and meat of your choice for about 5 minutes.
Add all the remaining ingredients to the Instant Pot.  Lock the lid into place and turn the Instant Pot to Pressure Cook High for 7 minutes.  Once finished, turn the Instant Pot off, then perform a quick release to release the steam pressure.  Once the valve  button drops, unlock the lid and remove.

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