Here is a recipe Ben & I love. Our friend Barbara Lougee made it for us a while back. The recipe is from a Thai, Indian, & Vietnamese Slow Cooker cookbook. I made it last week for my AZ family and they said they liked it too. (It is fairly mild – you could add more curry, green Chile peppers, or jalapenos for some extra spice.)
1TB Oil
3 TB Thai green curry paste
2 Long green Chile peppers, finely chopped (can substitute long red cayenne chile peppers or 1 small can green Chile peppers)
6 Wild lime leaves (Kaffir lime leaves – leaves of small Asian lime – fresh or frozen. Or substitute 1 TB finely grated lime zest (basically grate the peeling of one lime)
1 TB Soft palm sugar (aka jiggery, or substitute with raw cane sugar such as Mexican piloncillo or dark brown sugar)
8 oz Pea (Thai baby) eggplant, cut into bite-sized cubes (I replace with more green beans or squash because Ben is allergic to eggplant)
1 c Chicken broth
1.5 lbs Skinless boneless chicken thighs – cut into 1-inch cubes
1 Can Coconut milk
2 TB Fish sauce, such as nam pla (Chelsey says soy sauce can substitute for fish sauce)
1 c Sliced green beans (can be frozen)
1/2 c Canned bamboo shoots
Large handful of Thai sweet basil leaves (or handful normal basil leaves and a handful mint leaves)
Large handful of cilantro leaves
Juice of 1 lime (use the same one you grated for lime zest)
*Serve with Jasimine rice —or cook white rice and quinoa together (quinoa is really healthy and is the grain with the most protein) (i.e. ½ cup quinoa, ½ cup white rice, 2 cups water…boil, turn down heat and let simmer)
1) In a large skillet or wok, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add curry paste and Chile peppers and stir-fry for 3 minutes. Add lime leaves/lime zest, sugar and eggplant (I omit eggplant) and stir-fry for 1 minutes. Stir in chicken broth, scraping up brown bits from bottom of pan.
2) Transfer to slow cooker stoneware. Stir in chicken, coconut milk, fish sauce, green beans, and bamboo shoots. Cover and cook on low for 5 hours or on High for 2 1/2 hours. Stir in basil, mint, cilantro and lime juice and serve immediately.
*If you don’t like well-cooked green beans, use sliced frozen (unthawed) beans and add towards the end. Add the chicken to the pan in Step 1 and stir fry for 2 minutes before adding the broth, to ensure that it cooks properly within the time frame since the beans will cool the mixture.