This recipe was inspired by a post by my friend Aaron.  He posted a great comment on his Facebook page, which said:

“So…dopiaza curry…..omfg, everything in it is Sooooooo tender”.

I had never heard of Dopiaza Curry, so I decided to look it up.  You would Dopiaza would be Italian, but Italians don’t make curries.  Neither do Indians.  A curry is a British thing.  Regardless of where this dish originated, it was worth looking in to.  Wow.  A simple dish that is based off of onions.  Lots of flavor.  I’m going to do this dish a bit differently and make it in my slow cooker.  Mostly because it’s too hot to cook anything on the stove.  I will do the spices on the stove, but the rest will be in the slow cooker.  I’m adapting a recipe from Genius Kitchen for this.  When I did the stats for this recipe, they weren’t too bad.  Typically curries, if they are not made with a creamy base, are pretty healthy.  This one is no exception.  Here are the original stats:

• 329 Calories
• 15g Fat
• 55mg Cholesterol
• 551mg Sodium
• 898mg Potassium
• 27g Carbohydrates
• 26g Protein
• 36% Vitamin A
• 36% Vitamin C
• 7% Calcium
• 10% Iron

This one is easy to adapt.  Lowering the sodium is easy and increasing the vitamin content will be easy too.  Here’s what I changed:

• I deleted the extra salt to lower the sodium content.
• I deleted the tomatoes and replaced with red bell pepper and pumpkin puree.
• I added a carrot to increase the vitamin A along with the pumpkin.
• I increased the servings from 4 to 5 to lower the calories.
• I added 1/4 cup dry lentils to increase the protein.
• I deleted the vegetable oil to reduce the calories.

See, a few tweaks.  I think the pumpkin will lend a unique taste.  I was right.  It tasted fantastic.  Here are the final stats:

• 242 Calories
• 4g Fat
• 44mg Cholesterol
• 222mg Sodium
• 869mg Potassium
• 33g Carbohydrates
• 24g Protein
• 140% Vitamin A
• 181% Vitamin C
• 7% Calcium
• 16% Iron

Here is the final recipe:

Chicken Dopiaza

Serves 5

• 1 lb chicken breast , cubed
• 1 lb onions , halved
• cooking spray
• 3 bay leaves
• 8 green cardamom pods
• 4 cloves
• 3 dried red chilies
• 8 black peppercorns
• 3 garlic cloves , crushed
• 1 inch ginger , chopped
• 2 onions , chopped
• 1 teaspoon coriander powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin powder
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 cup water
• 6 oz red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 15oz can pumpkin puree
• 1/4 cup dry brown lentils

1. Add the 1 pound of onions to the bottom of a large slow cooker.
2. Spray a skillet with cooking spray and add the bay leaves, cardamom, peppercorns and dry chili.  Saute until the spices start to crackle.  Cool and add to a mortar and pestle.  Grind into a powder.
3. Add the 2 chopped onions along with the coriander, cumin, turmeric, garlic, ginger and chili powder.  Saute until the onions are soft.  Add to the slow cooker.
4. Add the powdered cooked spices, water, red bell pepper, pumpkin puree and lentils and stir.
5. Add the chicken and stir.
6. Cook on low for 4 to 5 hours or high for 2 to 3 hours.
7. Serve over rice.