Crockpot Curry Concoction

Or, perhaps more accurately, experiment.  It's not a total experiment, because I did base it on another recipe, but I will have to wait until tonight to judge.  I like to try to do at least one crockpot meal every week or two, because it just makes dinner a cinch (and provides leftovers).  So, last night, after I had my dinner of split chicken breasts roasting in the oven, and my CSA cucumber and tomato salad prepared and chilling, I chopped the veggies (all from CSA except sweet potatoes and organic carrots), mixed the spices and pulled out the other ingredients so that I could throw this together this morning.  It's sort of premature to post a recipe I haven't even tried, but honestly, even if it doesn't taste that good, the curry aroma is worth it.  I can still smell it on my hands and I don't even think I touched any of the spices.  So, if you happen to work in my office and walk by me sniffing my hands with a happy, closed eye grin on my face, you know why.  :)

(On an unrelated note, my pickles were delicious and I have a boatload of cucumbers, so once I get more jars, I will be making more pickles and will take notes on the recipe.  I just threw it together last time, so I don't know how much of what I put in them.  But, man, they're good if I do say so myself!)

Crockpot Beef Curry Concoction
-1.5 lb grass fed beef chuck roast
-2 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into ~3/4" chunks
-1 c baby carrots
-1 green bell pepper, cored and diced
-1 small and 4 very small onions, diced
-1 jalapeno, seeded and diced
-~1/2" piece of fresh ginger, sliced
-2 cloves garlic, sliced
-1 tbsp coconut oil
-2 tbsp curry powder (I was almost out of curry, so I used the rest which was about 3/4 tbsp and probably closer to 1.5 tbsp garam masala... you could also use curry paste and maybe omit the other spices below)
-1 tsp chili powder
-1 tsp cumin
-1 can coconut milk
-2 tbsp coconut aminos (soy sauce alternative)
-1 tbsp fish sauce
-1-2 tbsp apple cider or apple juice or something fruity w/ a little acid

I chopped all veggies the night before and squeezed the juice of half a lemon over them since I had it sitting around.  I don't know why, I just did.  Covered the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerated overnight.  I mixed the spices in a small bowl, covered and set on the counter with the other ingredients that didn't need chilling.  This morning, I put the meat and veggies in the crockpot and seasoned with salt and pepper.  I melted the coconut oil in a small saucepan on the stove, added the spices to create a paste and release some flavor, then added the rest of the wet ingredients and mixed well.  I didn't let this cook for any amount of time, because I needed to get to work, but I just wanted everything to meld together.  Poured it over the  meat and veggies in the crockpot, set it for low and let it do its thing.  I hope it tastes good!  I will taste it when I get home and add more spices, as needed.  And update the blog accordingly.

Update: the "stew" was good.  It was really more like a curry stew than a traditional curry, but for 10 minutes of prep work, I'll take it.  Matt made rice for his, and in a moment of weakness, I added about 1/8 to 1/4 cup to mine.  Have I mentioned that I've been "falling off the wagon" too much lately?  Yeah, about to institute a 30-day hardcore paleo lockdown on myself.  But, that's another post for another day.