Have you ever seen anyone walk face first into a closed glass patio door? Well my relatives have (yup!) and the utter look of shock on said victims face (me!), is probably as close as I can get to explaining the way we felt as we stepped off the flight back in Seattle. Having enjoyed a week of sheer sunny bliss in Puerto Vallarta, sprawled out like starfish on our cabana by day and gorging on Mexican food and Margaritas by night, the cold, wet and grey skies of Seattle were a less than desirable welcome home.

Not wanting to brave the cold and rain – what’s the point in venturing out if you have to cover up your fabulous tan anyway? –  we agreed that we would not be leaving the comforting confines of our home that day. Just five minutes later however, we realised that we would need some kind of sustenance during the day.

Stood in front of our open kitchen cupboards, scratching our heads in bewilderment, both determined to be the first to come up with a clever solution. My husband excitedly broke the silence “why don’t we use the canned pumpkin as a base for a curry sauce and throw it in the slow cooker?” – darn it! His idea was not only the first to the post, but obviously the closest to genius either of us were ever going to get with our vacation numbed brains.

In fact, Einstein himself would be proud of our resulting Spicy Pumpkin Crock Pot Curry. The sauce is really the headliner of this story. Using canned pumpkin as the base for the sauce is impossibly healthy and the addition of the coconut milk creates the creamiest and most delicious-iest (is that a word, because it should be?) curry sauce we have ever eaten. Using lite coconut milk also helps to keep this curry within the domains of “healthy” and the limitations of my post-holiday “diet” – which starts immediately, or at least after we’ve finished that open packet of biscuits, or perhaps first thing in the morning…

Simply add some fragrant spice, a splash of fresh lime, and a handful of fresh coriander and you’ll have arrived at your destination, the pearly gates of curry heaven. We poured our sauce over chicken, potato, aubergine and other veg, which tasted fantastic, but this curry would taste equally great as a vegetarian curry, or any other mixture. Use with beef, with added pieces of pumpkin, or even as an eggplant curry – the eggplant was definitely our fave element!

This really is an effortless dish, leaving all the hard work to Mr Crock Pot. Simply prep and chop your choice of protein and/or vegetables and place them in the slow cooker, reserving a few coriander/cilantro leaves for the garnish.

Followers in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, or Spain can now buy our favourite kitchen tools and gadgets at the Arugula & Rocket Store on Amazon. Readers in the USA can visit the Tovolo website.