Whenever I have time or necessity, I experiment with my crockpot. I have been making this dish for a long time now (discovered it as a new mom) and have shared with many friends. Never had the time to write it down but when a friend called today and mentioned what a life-saver this comfort food was, I decided to finally pen it down...err I mean, type it :)
I had recently made this dish when I was down with flu and working from home. Yes, you read it right..parents work when they are down with flu. Their vacation/sick days cater to their children's schedules. 15minutes of prep time was all I could afford on a working day. I decided to share this recipe with all the iMoms out there with the hope that it will save them some relief from cooking time atleast for a day. Or who knows: maybe more than one day as my friend's child asked her if she could make it again tomorrow!
Ingredients:
Chicken thighs - 6 (bone in or boneless)
Red onions chopped - 1 small
Ginger grated (fresh) - 1 tbsp
Garlic crushed (fresh) - 2 cloves
Organic tomatoes on the vine (diced) - 2
Roasted beets (or fresh golden beets to avoid coloration of stew) - 3 (diced)
Green beans (trimmed and cut into halves) - 12
Dried bay leaf - 1
Cinnamon stick - 1 inch
Garam masala powder - 1 teaspoon
Safflower oil - 3tbsp
Salt to taste
Green chillies - chopped (optional)
Butter (optional) - for garnish
I toss all ingredients in a crockpot and topped it with water to fill upto almost half of the crockpot. The volume of water should be almost two times of the solid after being cooked. I covered the crockpot with an aluminum foil to avoid steam from escaping and put it on high for about 4 hours. By the time I finished my work, popped some pills and brought my daughter back from school, there was a hearty dinner waiting for all of us. You can serve it with rice or bread. If this sounded too simple, please try it before being skeptical. Time and again this has saved me during crunch time. I am hoping this will be a savior for many other moms too -- note, I did not say working moms only because having tried both, I know moms are working around the clock, whether outside or at home. And at the end of the day, their goal is to keep every tummy in the family happy :)
I took the leftover for lunch next day at work and when everyone stopped by and said, "That smells so good!", the Bengali in me smirked and quietly told myself "Misson accomplished" :)
