Hey guys! I am still working with Iphone photos for now as my professional Canon camera was stolen and I don’t have funds to replace it yet so thank you for bearing with me. Phone pics are not as pretty for sure, but it will do in a pinch and you get the idea. Besides the food is way more delicious anyway, just make it and see.
With fall well underway and my pantry kind of overflowing in dried beans and lentils that I have been hoarding for way too long, I decided I need to start making recipes using up as much of my dried ingredients as possible. You do not want to know how many bags and bags of dried stuff I have. It’s kind of ridiculous for just 1 person, but I used to like having any ingredient at my finger tips when I got a craving for a new recipe.
It’s also extremely affordable to make plant-based/vegan slow cooker recipes using dried, canned and frozen ingredients, especially when a small amount of work can yield such delicious food and have lots of leftovers. So even though it’s just me, i don’t mind having leftovers of super delicious curries because I can just give away a few portions to hungry friends, and freeze some for easy meals when I’m too tired to cook. Plus why spend $5-7 on a single frozen vegan meal, when you can make a big batch of something a few times a month and freeze it yourself, right? Right.
Although I don’t have a slow cooker recipe book yet, I know it’s something that a few of you have been asking for. It does take some time since I can’t make several recipes a day using this method and crank them out for recipe testing. It’s a slower process, but convenient for people who are busy and really hate “active cooking time” i.e. standing at the stove and/or making a big mess and fitfully sobbing when you didn’t stir it enough and it ends up burned… I mean that doesn’t happen to me that often, but I understand not everyone WANTS to live in the kitchen making food day in and day out.
Any slow cooker you have laying around that is a standard size (not individual sized) will do for this recipe, I used my Ninja Cooking System because I could sauté the onions, garlic and ginger right in the cooking insert over the medium heat setting. I don’t like having extra dishes to do when I make slow cooker recipes, so I find this convenient for me and the thing I hate most about cooking is dishes honestly. If you haven’t signed up to my newsletter yet to stay up to date on new (and favourite free) recipes you can sign up in the pink box on the upper right hand side of the screen there too.
Plant-Based Butternut Squash & Chickpea Coconut Curry (Slow Cooker Recipe)
serves 8-10 side portions or a hungry family of 4-5
Ingredients:
1 medium butternut squash (about 5 cups) peeled, de-seeded and cubed
2 cups dried chickpeas, soaked 8 hours or overnight
1 medium onion, diced
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
2 inch chunk of ginger, minced
1 can 13.5 oz fire roasted diced tomatoes
1 can 13.5 ounce light coconut milk
3 cups/1 litre low sodium vegetable broth
2.5 tablespoons yellow curry powder
1 tsp sugar or honey
2 bay leaves
4 large handfuls of baby spinach or 1 bunch of fresh spinach, rinsed and roughly chopped
2 cups frozen sweet peas
1 teaspoon sea salt or to taste
handful of fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
Directions:
1. Carefully cut the skin off the butternut squash, remove the seeds and cut into 1 inch cubes. To make cutting easier you can slice is in half and microwave the squash for 3 minutes and let cool before cutting.
2. *Optional step: sauté the onions, garlic and ginger in a pan with a little water or in the insert of a Ninja Cooking System.* Assemble all of the ingredients in your slow cooker excluding the peas, spinach, salt and cilantro. Cook on low for 8 hours.
3. About 20 minutes before serving, add in the fresh peas and spinach and stir until spinach is wilted.
4. Taste test and add salt as desired. For a slightly thicker sauce you can use a potato masher and mash some of the squash and chickpeas.
5. Serve over basmati rice and garnish with fresh cilantro. (I prepared 3 rice cups of basmati rice in my Zojirushi rice cooker)
Tips:
Dried chickpeas are best as they will absorb the flavor of the curry as they cook. Don’t use canned chickpeas and cook this for 8 hours as that’s completely unnecessary, 4-6 hours maximum as they’re already cooked.
The night before, sort and rinse the dried chickpeas in a strainer, place in a large bowl and cover with at least 6 cups of water. Alternatively you can do the Quick Soak Method: bring the rinsed chickpeas to a boil in a pot of water and cook for 1 minute and let soak for at least an hour. I find slow soaked chickpeas rather than quick soak chickpeas more tender when cooked, but it’s up to you.
For easy frozen meals later, freeze small portions of the curry and rice separately in tupperware containers.
Question: Have you started using your slow cooker yet this season? What’s your favorite recipe?
Janeen
Made this recipe in my slow cooker last night. It was so delicious and easy. Thanks for the terrific recipe. If you haven’t tried you should you won’t be disappointed.
Kenda
This looks like an awesome recipe. I’m looking forward to trying it. I look forward to more crock pot recipes. You have another email address for me Kenda that I am getting ready to cancel since I was married in August and got a new email address. Please use this one and cancel the one for sbcglobal.net. Thanks!
Merry Christmas!!
Sharon
Welcome back Veronica! I’ve missed your recipes! I have an extra butternut squash from the garden and this recipes looks perfect for it.
Christine Manges
This recipe looks delicious! Can’t wait to get some dried chickpeas tomorrow and try it out. I also love butternut squash so this should be just perfect. Thanks!
Robyn
Welcome back. Some of my folks have decided to adopt a plant-based low-fat diet (dad is diabetic and was completely frustrated about gaining weight, always tired, etc) and now they’ve started to “experiment” with “exotic” foods and flavors. They aren’t much for e-books so I’ll be purchasing a hard copy of your comfort foods cookbook to send to them. This recipe looks really wonderful. I’ve always loved curry, but it’s a flavor profile you either have to have known all your life, or acquire the taste for it. In my case I grew up with curry and many other global flavor profiles. I think using familiar foods helps new plant-based eaters to explore the world of spices and herbs in different combinations.
Veronica Grace
While curry powder isn’t an authentic curry combination for traditional curries, i find it a great flavouring to use in mild curries, especially for tentative eaters. I find most ingredients taste amazing with curry powder and coconut milk and so it’s a seasoning I use quite often.
Debbie
I love my crock pot! Nothing better than coming home to a house that smells like dinner! I even sauté any ingredients that need it the night before, and do any chopping or measuring before as well so the morning is super quick and smooth to throw together. And this curry looks wonderful, I will have to try it soon! Such a simple, healthy dinner!
Christina
Ohh I like the looks of this. Made something similar last night as I had 5 butternut squashes taking up space on my counter. Will have to try the slow cooker method.
ann marie
Welcome back Veronica. Thank you for this entry. I love your food. I’ll be here waiting.
Lisa
Missed your emails! Could you use stevia as the sweetener and if so how much would you recommend?
Jacqui
So glad to see an email from you in my inbox! This looks delicious, and I have everything in my pantry. I’d love to see more slow cooker recipes.