In my slow cooker today...

TrixieB

Yesterday I made beef stew and dumplings, served 2 of us last night and got another 5 portions for the freezer

Today I'm making something I saw on the trailer for 4 Ingredients - sweet potatoes, couple tins of chickpeas, curry paste of choice and coconut milk. I'm salivating just typing it up!

Sublime_2

I always presumed I needed to cover the veg with liquid, is this right? Should I use some flour or something to thicken it up?

Pauls, I always use a couple of tablespoons flour mixed in at the beginning. Any flour will do, but I have recntly started using cornflour as per other posters with excellent results.

There's never too little liquid but occasionally too much.

Too true, nothing worse than a few lumps of stew swimming in liquid, unless making soup.

momof2girls

steak and kidney in a thick gravey for a pie or two later...

Twinny99

Dobie wrote: »

With pleasure, although I'm afraid I don't do quantities because it depends on what I happen to have in & it's a bit of a cheat because I love Pataks Balti paste so I use that too. I've never found a spice mixture that tastes as good to me.

I fry off some sliced onion, chopped celery & crushed garlic & let it soften. Add this to the slow cooker with whatever veggies you have, this weekend I used, cauliflower florets, quartered mushrooms, baby corn, sweet potato diced really small & sliced courgettes. Basically I just keep adding veg until the slow cooker is about 3/4 full.

Then chuck in a couple of tins of drained chickpeas (or soaked & boiled dried ones), a couple of tins of chopped tomatoes, half a jar of Pataks Balti paste & stir it up. It'll seem quite dry but it'll produce lots of sauce as it cooks. I find veggies take ages in the slow cooker so I usually leave it for 7 - 8 hours.

The sweet potato is a fairly new addition, I've found it 'melts' into the sauce, thickens it & gives it a lovely hint of sweetness. I often put potatoes in there too, either baby new or larger ones diced. I'll boil these for 5 minutes before adding them as they take ages.

I cooked a gammon joint in it today. I knew I would be later home from work than usual & the smell when I walked in tonight was heavenly. All it needed to complete dinner was some steamed new potatoes & veg. Simples!!

Thanks so much Dobie......

I want to get a slow cooker but fear that flatmate might just chuck me out if I buy one more thing that I dont use.....I think the juicer that I faithfully promised I would use EVERY day which now lies in a dusty cupboard somewhere was the straw that broke the camels back....:o I dont know how to convince her it would be worthwhile...firstly she doesn't like the idea of something being left on 'cooking' whilst we are both at work and secondly she said 'it will just be variations of cassarole every night' *sigh* I think I've got my work cut out :rolleyes:

Katie-Kat-Kins

I'm experiementing today, spanish chicken from my slow cooker cook book!

Fingers crossed it is ok....... capsicums are a sort of pepper/chilli aren't they??? I couldn't find any so have substituted two for one small chilli, might not be the right effect but we like spicy food so shouldn't be a problem.

The best thing is this recepie is using up some booze someone brought round for a party that isn't getting used up as no one likes it! Yay!

RachelW1987

Hi guys

I was wondering if some one could recommend a good slow cooker, i'm looking into getting one as all of your meals are making my mouth water.

Which is best for economy??

Sui_Generis

RachelW1987 wrote: »

Hi guys

I was wondering if some one could recommend a good slow cooker, i'm looking into getting one as all of your meals are making my mouth water.

Which is best for economy??

My Argos one was less than £10, there's a similar one in Tesco Extra stores for less ISTR.

RachelW1987

Sui_Generis wrote: »

My Argos one was less than £10, there's a similar one in Tesco Extra stores for less ISTR.

Thanks for the tip :beer:

HH62

If anyone's around to help me make my first SC Chilli I'd be grateful for any tips please. I've done a search but not found an actual method for chilli or for Spag Bol, which I'll be doing tomorrow.

Sui_Generis

HH62 wrote: »

If anyone's around to help me make my first SC Chilli I'd be grateful for any tips please. I've done a search but not found an actual method for chilli or for Spag Bol, which I'll be doing tomorrow.

Its pretty much as you'd make it ordinarily, some prefer to fry the onions first but it doesn't make much difference. There's no need to brown mince or anything you might want to add a little more of herbs etc as they don't move around with simmering as on a hob.

I'd say as a general rule place veg in the bottom and add the rest. Don't be tempted to keep looking at it and lifting the lid, just let it cook. Though you may want to stir it when its halfway through. Also don't panic if nothing happens for the first hour, that's normal.