Slow Cooker Curried Vegetable Stew

We're an open-minded bunch, right? So we won't hold it against this recipe, will we, that it's called "curried"? A curry, after all, is just a spice mix and we all know what the right mix of spices does to foods, vegetables and meats alike, right?
A vegetable stew strikes such the right note for January, for any month really, but especially a month when it feels so good to return to what's fresh and what's healthy and what's, you know, every-day delicious versus sugar-and-butter laden holiday-delicious.
So please, if there's anyone in the kitchen who's prone to say, "I don't like curry" then please, just think of this as a "Spiced Vegetable Stew". I'm willing to bet, you'll love it.

Real Food, Fresh & Flexible. Not just vegan, Vegan Done Real. Great for Meal Prep. Low Cal. Weight Watchers Friendly. Naturally Gluten Free. Paleo. Primal. All that Good Stuff!

~ Skip Straight to the Recipe ~

Fruit's Easy. Vegetables? Not So Much.

Fresh fruits, they’re just soooo uncomplicated? Bite into an apple; peel a banana; pull a few grapes off a cluster; open mouth, insert berry or cherry. From impulse to input, only seconds pass.

But fresh vegetables, they’re harder! The exception is baby carrots which aren’t young, tender carrots at all, just bullets of carrot flesh carved from huge, honkin’ carrots that compensate for taste with convenience: no washing, no cutting, no waste, as easy as jelly beans.

But most fresh vegetables call for some slice-slice-chop-chop knife work, trimming, peeling, dicing, chopping or mincing. Nothing hard, mind you. Not even so time-consuming. We spend 23 minutes a visit on Facebook and untold hours staring at screens small and large. Surely we can carve out time for cooking healthy, vegetable-centric meals?

Ah heavens, regular readers, so sorry. I know you’re with me on this, I’ll get off my soapbox!

Tools of the Vegetable Trade: Sharp Knives

So instead, let’s talk knives and how we take care of them.

My favorite knives are circa early 1980s, Chicago Cutlery utility knives with that came in a set, the walnut handles now much faded. Last fall, a blade snapped in half – just like that, no warning. I harbor no complaints, however. That knife broke after thirty years of knife “abuse”: infrequent sharpening and daily dishwasher cleaning.

(I’d buy an identical knife in a heartbeat but unfortunately Amazon reviews from other long-time users indicate a dramatic drop in quality and longevity. It’s the China Effect, no doubt, low labor costs which force other manufacturers to sacrifice quality to compete on cost. But there I go again, another soapbox.)

That’s right, no babying knives around here! If a knife loses its blade every week or even every month, off it goes. If a knife can’t handle the dishwasher, it’s gone. What’s the state of your knives, are they coddled and caressed? Yes I know live with a cook like that.

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SLOW COOKER CURRIED VEGETABLE STEW

Hands-on time: 40 minutes
Time to table: 3-1/2 hours on high, 7 hours on low
Makes 11 cups

STOVETOP VEGETABLE MIX
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 onions, cut in large pieces
• 2 pounds vegetables (see TIPS for vegetable suggestions), cut in large pieces

• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme or Italian seasoning
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 28 ounces canned diced tomatoes
• 15 ounces canned beans (black beans, chickpeas, etc.), rinsed and drained

SLOW COOKER
• 1 large butternut squash, peeled and diced (How to Cut, Peel & Cube a Butternut Squash and Keep All Ten Fingers)
• 1 cinnamon stick
• Stovetop Vegetable Mix

TO FINISH (don’t skip!)
• 1 tablespoon honey (agave for vegan)
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice or lime juice
• 1 teaspoon Tabasco or hot sauce or sirarcha
• Chopped fresh parsley or cilantro

START on the STOVETOP In a Dutch oven or very large and deep skillet, heat oil on medium high until shimmery. Add onions and other vegetables as they’re prepped, stirring to coat with fat with each new addition, turning down the heat to keep up with the prep pace, you’ll want to aim for “golden” colored vegetables not “browned” vegetables.

Stir in the garlic and ginger and cook for 1 – 2 minutes. Add the spices and cook for 1 – 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and beans. Bring to a boil and let simmer for about 5 minutes.

MOVE to a SLOW COOKER Arrange butternut squash pieces on the bottom of the slow cooker. Add the cinnamon stick and pour vegetable mix over top. Cook on high for about 3 hours or on low for about 6 hours. PET PEEVE: Slow cookers vary so much in performance so the first time you make this, watch your time and temperature to get it right for your specific cooker.

TO FINISH Just before serving, pull out the cinnamon stick. Mix the honey, lemon juice and Tabasco in a small bowl, then stir into slow cooker. To serve, serve as a side dish or a vegan main dish, sprinkled with fresh parsley or cilantro.

VEGETABLE CHOICES Aim for 4 to 6 kinds of vegetables, varying color and shape and kind of vegetable. Use all fresh vegetables or half fresh vegetables and half good canned or frozen vegetables. Good fresh vegetables include bell peppers (red for color, green for price), turnips, fennel, rutabaga, sweet potatoes (peeled), potatoes (skins on), turnips, parsnips, zucchini, bok choy, kohlrabi, cabbage. Be careful with broccoli and Brussels sprout unless you’re able to eat a large batch within a day or so. The stew that’s pictured included celery, turnips, carrots, green beans and sweet potatoes, it was wonderful! I love vegetable stews with just a touch of creaminess stirred into the bowl, a spoonful of Greek yogurt adds nice “tang” but a splash of cream makes for something almost ethereal!

NUTRITION INFORMATION Per Cup: 153 Calories; 3g Tot Fat; 0g Sat Fat; 0mg Cholesterol; 488mg Sodium; 30g Carb; 7g Fiber; 9g Sugar; 5g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS WW Old Points 3 & PointsPlus 4 & SmartPoints 5 & Freestyle 2 & myWW green 3 & blue 2 & purple 1 CALORIE COUNTERS 100-Calorie Serving = 2/3 cup

Adapted from Cooking Slow: Recipes for Slowing Down and Cooking More by Andrew Schloss. (Sad! He had a cool blog, Schloss Cooks, with "inspired riffs" on published recipes, it was an excellent companion but is no longer live.) Cooking Slow is my favorite cookbook from 2013, purchased late in the year so this is the first recipe I’ve shared. The premise is slow cooking – allowing time to let flavors develop, mostly with long hours in the oven rather than the notorious unpredictability and sameness of a slow cooker. (Oh, man. One MORE soapbox.) Funny, though, that the first recipe I share actually uses a slow cooker! That said, it also starts with time on the stovetop, one of the tricks to developing flavor for dishes that finish in the slow cooker. More later, I l-o-v-e this cookbook! DISCLOSURE My Disclosure Promise

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Seasonal Cooking: This Same Week, Across the Years

Low-Fat Vegetable Soup Quick Cauliflower Soup or Quick Broccoli Soup Two-Way Lentil Skillet Morning Oatmeal: How & Why to Cook Oatmeal Every Day Sugar-Free Chai Tea How to Lose Weight with Weight Watchers Quick 'n' Easy Raw Salad How to Make Homemade Vegetable Soup Why I Switched from Weight Watchers to Medifast Slow Cooker Curried Vegetable Stew DIY Power Balls

This Week, Elsewhere

~ Rustic Tomato Basil Soup ~
~ more Recent Recipes ~
A Veggie Venture

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Jazzing Up Winter: More Vegetable Main Dishes for Cold Weather

(hover with a mouse for a description; otherwise click a photo to view the recipe)

~ more Vegetarian & Vegan recipes ~

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Shop Your Pantry First

(helping home cooks save money on groceries)

~ turnip recipes ~
~ carrot recipes ~
~ green bean recipes ~
~ sweet potato recipes ~
~ winter squash recipes ~

~ All Recipes, By Ingredient ~
~ How to Save Money on Groceries ~

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Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. Quick Suppers are Kitchen Parade favorites and feature recipes easy on the budget, the clock, the waistline and the dishwasher. Do you have a favorite recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail via recipes@kitchen-parade.com. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. If you make this recipe, I'd love to know your results! Just leave a comment below.

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