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This is my list for keeping track of the recipes I try out from my slow cooker Christmas present recipe books. We'll see how long I can keep this up next year once I'm not on holiday!
BBC goodfood "Slow Cooker Favourites"
NB: This book is a little annoying because quite a few of the recipes only seem to involve the slow cooker as an afterthought and suggest a considerable amount of prep either prior to, or after, putting the ingredients in the slow cooker. I plan to largely ignore such instructions so my versions of these are going to be modified.
Recipes tried:
Miss South "Slow Cooked"
Miss South takes the view that most prep is unnecessary apart from caramelising onions or garlic. She is also very keen on using the cheapest ingredients, especially meat, because everything gets tender in the slow cooker, and takes the trouble to describe where it should be possible to obtain those ingredients. She's fortunate enough to live in London where she can easily acquire unusual ingredients, herbs, and spices, but recognises that not everyone does and suggests alternatives. I like this positioning.
Recipes tried:
BBC goodfood "Slow Cooker Favourites"
NB: This book is a little annoying because quite a few of the recipes only seem to involve the slow cooker as an afterthought and suggest a considerable amount of prep either prior to, or after, putting the ingredients in the slow cooker. I plan to largely ignore such instructions so my versions of these are going to be modified.
Recipes tried:
- Better-than-baked beans, p. 10. Made on 26 December 2021. This called for cooking most of the short ingredient list in a pan on the hob before putting it in the slow cooker, which I found ridiculous, so I just browned the onions and bacon and dumped everything else in straight from the can/chopping board. Made it with butter beans, ate it for breakfast with fresh bread. It was great. Next time I will crumble in the stock cube instead of dissolving it in 200 mL of water, to make the sauce thicker.
- Herby bean-sausage stew, p. 22. Made on 08 January 2022. This was a very simple recipe so I added some stuff to it, including a crumbled stock cube, garlic granules, thyme, salt and pepper (!!), and a splash of Worcestershire sauce. I suspect it would have been quite bland otherwise as the only herbs were basil and oregano. It was pretty tasty. Humuhumu ate one of the chipolatas as well, which I count as a win because normally she won't touch anything that's been in homemade tomato sauce.
- Goulash in a dash, p. 112. Made on 10 January 2022, 08 February 2022 and 04 March 2022. This was awesome. The first time, I had no potatoes and a larger quantity of stewing beef than the recipe called for, so while I mostly followed the ingredient list, I deviated on quantities. I also added caraway seeds, chilli powder and a spoonful of corn flour on the advice of a different recipe. Served with couscous. Keiki yummed it up, as did the adults.
- Big batch bolognese, p. 80. Made on 13 January 2022 and 26 March 2022. Left out the bacon, mushrooms and glass of red wine (dry January), and two-thirds'd the recipe because of the amount of mince we had to hand. It was really good, we ate it over rice rather than pasta.
- One-pan chicken couscous, p. 46. Made on 23 January 2022. I tripled this recipe because I had 700g of chicken. This meant using 3 tablespoons of smoked harissa paste, which felt like a lot and as turned out, was. It was very spicy and even the bloke needed to add buttermilk to it when eating it. I didn't add the couscous directly to the slow cooker as the children would never have eaten that if I did. Very tasty though, will make this again. Possibly with a little less harissa paste, and a tub of natural yoghurt for serving, so we don't have to use the buttermilk that we normally keep on hand for soda bread.
- Spiced carrot & lentil soup, p. 26.
- Mexican chicken stew, p. 48.
- Five-a-day tagine, p. 144.
Miss South "Slow Cooked"
Miss South takes the view that most prep is unnecessary apart from caramelising onions or garlic. She is also very keen on using the cheapest ingredients, especially meat, because everything gets tender in the slow cooker, and takes the trouble to describe where it should be possible to obtain those ingredients. She's fortunate enough to live in London where she can easily acquire unusual ingredients, herbs, and spices, but recognises that not everyone does and suggests alternatives. I like this positioning.
Recipes tried:
- Macaroni Cheese, p.107. Made on 27 December 2021, 15 January 2022, 29 January 2022. This was really good. Even Humuhumu liked it without dumping an inordinate quantity of ketchup on it, and it involves mustard powder and white pepper. She asked me what was in it and I told her I had made it "as simply as possible". (Muahaha) It calls for evaporated milk, which I didn't have, so I substituted double cream that was left over from making Christmas trifle and that was fine. I also love that it didn't require doing anything to the 500g of dried macaroni other than coating it in corn flour prior to putting it in the slow cooker. The crunchy bits at the bottom of the cooker went down well with Keiki and me. I may butter the slow cooker next time as it did require some elbow grease to remove.
- Tarka Dal, p 102. Made on 03 January 2022, January 2023. This is AWESOME (capslock fully merited). I doubled the recipe apart from the caramelised onions (I used 2 instead of 4), and I didn't have fenugreek seeds so I used ground fenugreek and didn't double the amount of that either. It was absolutely delicious and I will make this regularly. Additional: I'm finding that I don't seem to have to cook things for nearly as long as Miss South recommends. She said to put the slow cooker on high for 8 hours. I put mine on low for 5.5 hours and that was plenty. I turned it off and let it sit (another 2 hours) until dinner time, and it was just the right temperature for eating with fresh basmati rice and steamed mangetout. Perhaps I have an overpowered slow cooker?
- Spiced Carrot and Parsnip Soup p. 151. Made on 16 January 2022. I'm not very enamoured of this. It is quite a healthy recipe. Possibly too healthy. It needed a lot of salt to make it palatable (to me, anyway), and I ended up dumping in the leftover sauce from making chicken adobo, which gave it chicken fat, soy sauce, and sesame oil, all of which helped. It was a little weird, ultimately, as the adobo flavours didn't quite match the Indian spices from the recipe, but at least I enjoyed eating it. I won't make this again.
- Saag Aloo, p. 180. Made on 22 January 2022, 07 February 2022, 04 June 2022, 21 October 2022, 20 December 2022. This was so easy, I actually bothered to caramelise the onions, just because I like caramelised onions. The recipe didn't call for this. I didn't add the grated coconut because I didn't have any (!) but I did add a leftover half of an avocado. It's super tasty, but this is the second of Miss South's recipes that would benefit from a good deal more salt. I didn't add it to the pot directly this time but sprinkled it on top in the form of adjika spice mix.
- French onion soup, p. 142.
- Cuban style black beans, p. 88.
- My usual chilli. Made on 04 January, 27 February, 2 May, 5 June 2022, 28 October, 19 November, 3 December 2022, 5 February 2023, 11 February 2023.This consists of browning a 500g packet of mince (either beef or vegetarian depending on what I have to hand) in a pan on the hob, then dumping it into the slow cooker with the following. I use a teaspoon to scoop out the spices from their jars but I would hesitate to be accurate about the actual quantities.
- 1 tin chopped tomatoes (400g)
- several squeezes of tomato paste
- 1 tin kidney beans, drained (400g)
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 spoonful dark muscovado sugar
- 2 stock cubes
- dried oregano
- herbes de provence
- ground cumin
- ground coriander
- ground cinnamon
- chilli powder (chipotle or hot)
- smoked paprika
- bay leaf
- pepper & salt
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I can put a few on my birthday list. :D
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H
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a frijol negro in trade for your tarka dal
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Re: a frijol negro in trade for your tarka dal
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Re: a frijol negro in trade for your tarka dal
I see from your chili recipe we take similar approaches to measuring our herbs and spices these days. I’d been wondering whether to provide a list of them and general guidelines or to stop myself as I dispense each next time I prepare a batch and measure. With your confidence in the kitchen I suspect either should work well.
Two things: What do you usually do for chicken or vegetable broth or stock? Are pastes like better than bouillon readily available or do you prefer to make your own? Also, is light coconut milk in quart or liter-sized ultra-pasteurized boxes readily available, or is canned or frozen coconut milk easier to come by at your favorite market(s)?
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Re: a frijol negro in trade for your tarka dal
The recipe below handles the different scenarios that occasionally come up for me on the stock and/or coconut milk front. Because my approach to measuring is similar to yours I put “teaspoon” in quotes, meaning to just use a regular small spoon, reasonably-rounded. I’m sure you’ll want to tweak things after you make your first batch.
A note on liquid: A lot here will depend on how soupy you like your beans. With the instant pot there is very little evaporation and we favor a soup that is on the thicker side. I find that six cups of liquid total (coconut milk plus chicken or vegetable stock or broth- or water if using a concentrated stock base- to make up the difference) works well, but you’ll want more liquid- maybe seven cups- if you prefer a thinner final product or expect more evaporation. I usually use either a 32 oz carton of light coconut milk or a single can of regular coconut milk if that isn’t available.
I’ve also found some brands of coconut milk can tend to be less homogeneous and form tiny fat globules in soups, which make the soup look less attractive and can alter the mouthfeel. I’ve had the best luck with the organic full-fat coconut milks available hereabouts or the light coconut milk that comes in a carton.
Ingredients:
14-16 ounces black beans (dry)
32 oz carton light coconut milk or 1 can full fat coconut milk
Chicken and/or Vegetable stock or water if using a stock base (see note on liquid above)
1 - 2 ounces green curry paste
1 medium or large white onion, medium dice
1 medium bell pepper (yellow, orange or red), medium dice
6 cloves garlic, finely diced
Olive oil for sautéing
If using water rather than stock, 6 teaspoons better than bouillon (I use 3 tsp roasted chicken and 3 tsp roasted vegetable but one or the other will work)
1 “teaspoon” smoked paprika (I like Chiquilín)
1 to 1-1/2 “teaspoons” Herbs de Provence
1 “teaspoon” ground cumin
1 bay leaf
1/8 “teaspoon” oregano (optional)
1/4 “teaspoon” ground coriander
1/8 “teaspoon” lime crystals (e.g., True Lime) or the juice of a small lime (optional)
Salt (if using a salted stock base there may not be a need for added salt) and black pepper to taste
I always soak black beans overnight, but that may not be necessary when slow-cooking.
Sauté the onions and peppers until the onions are translucent, then add the garlic and sauté for another 30 seconds to a minute. Add the curry paste to the sauté and stir until distributed, then add all the herbs and spices, followed by the coconut milk and stock, and finally the drained pre-soaked beans. Give it one more good stir, then cook until the beans are tender (I usually cook at high pressure in the instant pot for 55 minutes then allow a natural release, but I imagine the timing will be similar to that for other medium-sized beans in a slow cooker).
After the beans are soft, use the back of a ladle to crush some of them against the bottom and sides of the pot or give the batch a few short pulses with an immersion blender to break up some of the beans and thicken the liquid. Season with salt and pepper to taste, if needed, and add lime crystals or lime juice (optional).
A thinner version of the soup works well on its own as a soup dish, while a thicker version is nicest served over rice the way that Cubans normally have it. … with a side of fried ripe plantains all the better (I find the air fryer works well for a healthier version- I just spray the sliced plantains with an oil that can stand higher temps prior to cooking).
I look forward to hearing how it goes!
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