Caribbean potato curry recipe - delicious vegan slow cooker curry packed with healthy vegetables and kidney beans for an extra boost of protein.
Who doesn't love some potatoes, thrown into a pot with some vegetables? I'm talking about healthy root based vegetables along with some kidney beans (or peas as we call them) and a host of spices to boot. Well that's what I'm bringing to you, an island inspired gluten free, vegan potato curry that's filling and wholesome.
In my humble opinion, dishes with potato make some of the best tasting comfort food. I like potato based meals because they are incredibly filling, especially if they are made with sweet potatoes. Yes, definitely filling to the point of my tummy bursting and equally as tasty might I add.
Potato curry with peas and more..........
The plan was to initially make the dish with potatoes and a small serving of vegetables. Then my creative juices began to flow, next thing you know I'm adding , cho cho (a small pear shaped root vegetable) known as chayote/christophene like in this recipe, bell peppers and kidney beans to the party with a boat load of warm spices resulting in a sweet curry.
It all seems like a tall order but...... there's nothing more healthy and wholesome food in a pan/pot. This is the type of Caribbean potato curry that you can make in bulk or even serve at a dinner party. Your guests would be amazed by the taste and bold flavours.
Ingredients you will need
- Jamaican curry powder (click link for the recipe in full)
- 1 can of kidney beans (can use dried beans, see below)
- Sweet potatoes
- Cho cho
- Bell peppers
- Lime
- Garlic
- Onion
- Scallion
- Ginger
- All spice (pimento)
- Coconut milk
- Thyme
- Bay leaves
- Pink salt
Preparation of potato curry for the slow cooker - tips
When using my slow cooker as a general rule of thumb I ALWAYS saute my base notes - onion, garlic etc.. on the stove. Although not everyone does this, having tried omitting this step. I can quite confidently tell you that, cooking your vegetables before adding them to your crock pot is well worth those the extra hassle in terms of taste.
Overnight prep - You can always do this overnight if you are pushed for time and simply drop the pre-cooked ingredients into the slow cooker the next time.
How to make potato curry slow cooker style
Peel the potatoes - start by peeling the potatoes then placing them in a bowl of water to stop them from discolouring.
Kidney beans - For this recipe I used cooked kidney beans as they are much quicker to work with. Purchase a can, that should be enough just make sure it's not in salted water.
**If you want to use dried beans then I suggest soaking them overnight, discarding the water and par boiling them for 10 minutes before adding to the slow cooker. This is a very important step that will remove lectins which are high in kidney beans**
Saute the base ingredients and curry - Like most slow cooker recipes, impart that flavour by sauteing the aromatics - onion, scallion and garlic first of all. Then add your curry, cinnamon stick, ginger and all spices.
Bell peppers - Once spices have been stirred into the pan I like to add the thyme and bell peppers next and coat them in the spices.
Coconut milk and lime - This is the time to add your liquid as the peppers soften.
Remaining ingredients - The bay leaves and lime along with the cho cho, kidney beans and sweet potatoes are added last. The potatoes, beans and cho cho don't not take very long to cook and soften quite quickly so I like to add them at the end prior to simmering.
Is there an alternative to cho cho and if I cannot find it?
Yes, use zucchini if you cannot obtain any cho cho. They from a similar family so the results would be the same.
Caribbean potato curry with coconut milk - is there an alternative?
Of course I know not everyone wants to use coconut milk because they may not like the taste. Alternatively, if might be to do with dietary reasons so
- Vegetable stock
- Light/low fat coconut milk (for more calorie control)
More vegan curry recipes you might like
Poudre de colombo (colombo powder)
Caribbean potato curry (using steps)
Start with sauteing the onion, garlic, ginger, scallion with the cinnamon stick. Then add the spices - curry powder and allspice, black pepper and stir.
Fold in the bell peppers along with the thyme and stir together.
Add the bay leaves, coconut milk and lime and stir.
Add the cho cho (chayote), kidney beans, ans sweet potatoes to the pan before finally adding everything to the slow cooker to slow for 4 hours on high heat.

Caribbean potato curry
Ingredients
- 1 large sized sweet potato chopped and peeled (or 2 medium)
- 1 can of kidney beans drained
- 1 cho cho peeled and chopped, or use 1 zucchini
- 2 bell peppers chopped
- 1 can of coconut milk + ⅓ cup of water
- 2 tablespoon of curry powder see notes for recipe
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 4 garlic cloves chopped
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 scallion chopped
- ½ teaspoon of all spice
- 1 thumb sized ginger minced
- 2 bay leaves
- 5 sprigs of thyme
- Juice of a lime
- pink salt to taste
- 2 tablespoon of coconut oil
Instructions
- Start by melting the coconut oil on medium heat then proceed to saute the onion, garlic, scallion along with the cinnamon stick until soft.
- Then add the curry, ginger and all spice, black pepper and stir until fragrant.
- Add the bell peppers, thyme and cook until they begin to turn soft and combine with the spices.
- Add the coconut milk, water, juice of lime, bay leaves and stir together.
- Finally add the cho cho, kidney beans and sweet potatoes and give a final stir before transferring the contents to your slow cooker. Push the kidney beans towards the bottom so they don't become to dry from the heat as they slowly cook.
- Switch the slow cooker, select high and cook for 4 hours with the lid on.
- Season with pink salt according to taste prior to serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Roy
Brill recipe, need some bread to soak up the delicious sauce!
Charla
Aww I am humbled, you are most welcome Roy!
Atlanta
I cooked this dish for my mum's birthday. She loved it. I didn't expect the dish to be so tasty and the recipe was easy to follow. Would definitely make this again. Thank you.
Charla
Thank you so much. I'm so happy your mother enjoyed it!!