Chicken Coconut Curry

The meal ended up being based on Crockpot Lady's Indian Curry, which we've tried once before. Seriously, getting to use a crockpot is so much easier if you leave the house during the cooking time. If not, you have to try hard not to think about the delicious food, since you are smelling it for several hours before it's time to eat. So, I'd like to share my version, which has some changes in veggies and cooking style.

Chicken Coconut Curry
1 can coconut milk
1 1/2 pounds frozen or fresh chicken (I used breast tenderloin, but anything works)
1 T tomato paste
2 T curry powder
1 t dried cilantro
1 t ground cumin
1 t ground ginger
1 T smoked paprika
black pepper to taste
few dashes of tasty Mexican hot sauce
1 cup onion, chopped
2 or 3 cloves of smashed and chopped garlic
1 bell pepper (any color), seeded and chopped

Dump all of this in the crockpot. It doesn't even have to be stirred. Turn on high for 4-6 hours, or on low for 8-9 hours. I cooked mine on high.

2 russet potatoes, chopped
2 carrots, chopped

When cooking on high, about an hour before eating, toss in the potatoes and carrots. If cooking on low, add in about 2 hours before eating.

When the curry is ready, the chicken will be tender and the potatoes and carrots soft. Oh, and your house will smell divine. We boiled up some white rice to serve with it.

UPDATE (4 March 2009): This is truly a 30 minutes or less. Yesterday I was rushing home so we could catch a film festival show where we were meeting some friends. On the way from work to get the boy, I knew the show wouldn't be out until after 10 pm. And I suspected that neither of us had eaten much all day. I though - curry! Brilliant! I walked in the door, pulled out the crockpot, and started dumping in ingredients. Coconut milk, spices, frozen chicken breasts, aromatics, garbanzo beans, even a chopped sweet potato. We walked in the door later at 10:30 to curry dinner. I threw some rice on the stove and by 10:45, we were dished up. Gluten free can be convenient, filling and tasty!
(We had also pocketed some banana chips, almonds and beef jerky to munch during the show. That saved the day:)