Vegetable Korma (GF, DF, Vegan)

I made this vegetable korma when Ben came to visit. It is adapted from an All Recipes recipe that I originally got from Rachel. This recipe can be made gluten free, dairy free, and vegan (or not).  I also recently made it my slow cooker and that worked out pretty well.

Ingredients:
1 small onion diced or about 4 T dried minced onion (I prefer the latter!)
1 tsp minced fresh ginger root (or powdered if you don't have fresh)
4-6 cloves garlic, crushed
2-4 potatoes, cubed
5 Tablespoons cashews, ground
1 15oz can tomato sauce
2 tsp salt
vegetables of your choice: carrots, cauliflower, peas, peppers, broccoli, etc.
1 can full fat coconut milk (or 1 cup heavy cream)
fresh cilantro for garnish
~1 cup chicken stock, optional
      2 t garam masala
      1 t turmeric
      3/4 t cinnamon
      1 t cardamom powder
      2 t cumin
      1 bay leaf
If you don't have the above spices, you can use 1 1/2 Tablespoons Curry Powder.

Method:
Depending on your time and "chefliness" you could begin by sauteeing the onions and spices together, then add in the potatoes and optional chicken stock to get the potatoes soft, or cook them in the coconut milk and tomato sauce. Once the potatoes are tender, add in the other vegetables and cook them until tender. Add it delicate vegetables such as peppers, at the end.  I often use frozen veggie foursome for convenience.

Or, you could basically throw everything in the pot and cook it together.  The potatoes really take a while to cook in that medium. I'd allow an hour to be safe. Or throw it all in a slow cooker. I cooked mine on low for about 6 hours I think? 4 hours might be sufficient.

Serve with rice or quinoa.

Enjoy!

4/24/17 : additional notes from my most recent batch:
I cooked the potatoes separately in water to make sure they were done, then added them to the pot. Consider doing the carrots this way too, especially if you are crunched for time. (I think veggies take a long time to cook in coconut milk and tomato sauce.)
I used two cans of "coconut cream" from trader Joe's and one can of tomato sauce. Same quantities of spice above.
Half a head of cauliflower (I probably could have used all), 4 or 5 carrots, 5 medium golden potatoes, 2 bags of peas.