Chicken Makhani in the Slow Cooker

For Christmas my kids gave me this cookbook because I never cook anything I like in the slow-cooker.  This is the first recipe I've tried out of it and it was SO good!  The best part was that you just dump everything into the crockpot raw, no sauteeing and all of the rest of it.  I don't see the point of cooking everything separately then putting it in the crockpot.  Why?  Why wouldn't I just cook it before we eat it?  You have to sew the cardamon pods together. . . that almost stopped me in my tracks - I don't sew, and I don't know where my cheesecloth is.  Then I remembered that my 7 year old is a crackerjack seamstress. . . so I summoned her to help me - she was thrilled as well as skilled.

But anyway, back to this great recipe. . .You can find it on the A Year of Slow Cooking website, right here.  But I'll write it out for you here too:

2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs

1 onion, sliced

6 garlic cloves, chopped

4 T butter

15 cardamom pods (sewn together!)**

2 tsp curry

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper*

2 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 Tbsp. brown sugar (this wasn't in the original recipe, but I thought it needed it)

1 can coconut milk (I used light)

1 can (6 oz) tomato paste

2 T lemon juice

1 cup plain yogurt (to add at the end)

The Directions.

1. Use a 5 quart or larger crockpot.
2.  Sew together the cardamom pods using a needle and thread, or make a little cheesecloth bundle - the point is you want to fish them out at the end, not have people biting into them.
3.  Put chicken in crockpot - it can even be frozen!
4.  Add  the onion, garlic over the top.
5. Mix togetherthe coconut milk, tomato paste, lemon juice and dried spices and sugar. Pour over the chicken and vegetables.
6. Slice the butter over the top.  Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or high for 4. The chicken should shred easily with 2 forks when fully cooked.
7. Stir in plain yogurt 15 minutes before serving. Discard cardamom pods. Salt to taste, serve with white or brown basmati rice.

 Printable Recipe

*I omitted this because I know that the Madras curry powder I buy at the Indian grocery store near me packs some heat. . . so take that into consideration when you're adding heat.

** I recently made this with no cardamom and it was still really good. . . my daughter was still sleeping and I really couldn't deal with sewing on my own.