Sunday, June 20, 2010

Slow cook saviour.

It's possible that I've been living under a rock, because I've only just discovered the true nature of the slow cooker.

In my mind, the slow cooker, by its very name, suggested a long, laborious process of preparing a meal. I've always been more of a cook it fast and get it on the table quick kind of person. This became even more necessary when I had my daughter, who was not the easiest of babies to say the least.

So when a friend of mine told me that she didn't have to worry about making dinner that night because she had the slow cooker on I was a little confused. Did she have a personal chef? When she explained how this amazing appliance worked, that all you had to do was throw all of the uncooked ingredients in, switch it on and leave it until dinner time and bing! dinner's done, I was in awe.

I had to get my hands on one. And so I did. For just $50 - 30%-off sale at Myer - I now have my very own 5L slow cooker.

I've made one very memorable meal of chicken stew and it was all taken care of by 11 am. In the bliss that follows making such an excellent, time-saving, sanity-saving discovery I told another friend about the slow-cooker's greatness - to which she replied, 'yeah, I use mine all the time'!

As always when your focus is drawn to something you're not usually aware of, I've been spotting slow cookers everywhere! Slow cooker recipe books jump out from the supermarket shelf, and just the other day I saw an ad for a book by newsreader Juanita Phillips called 'A Slow Cooker Saved My Life: How to Have It All, Do It All, and Keep It All Together - a guide to juggling the work/life/children balance as much as it is a recipe book.

It's slow-cooker pandemonium.

Here's the next great recipe I'm going to throw at my slow-cooker.

Butter Chicken by Lisa Kremer at www.themealplanner.blogspot.com


Serves 4

4-6 boneless chicken thighs cut into bite-sized pieces
1 onion diced
3 cloves garlic minced
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp oil

Stir fry chicken, onion and garlic in frying pan on medium heat until the chicken has some color and the onion is translucent. Then pour entire contents of pan into crock pot. Then add:

15 green cardamom pods (can be strung together with needle and thread - I always do it this way, and then a friend informed me putting it in some cheesecloth would be easier...good thinkin')
2 tsp curry powder
1 tbsp curry paste (like Patak’s mild curry paste**)
1 tsp cayenne powder (optional) It’s really hot if you add this
2 tsp tandoori masala*
1 tsp garam masala*
1 can coconut milk
1 cup plain yogurt
1 5.5 fl oz can of tomato paste
Salt to taste

Mix gently and cook on high heat 4-6 hours or low heat 6-8 hours.

Serve with basmati rice and warm naan bread.


Enjoy! :)

1 comment:

  1. This sounds delicious. I am always on the lookout for new recipes and I love to use my slow cooker. I am going to have to see if I have all the ingredients for this laying around, probably not, but definitely one to file away for future use.

    Visiting you from MBC.

    Kathleen
    http://www.lifewith4boys.com

    ReplyDelete