Slow Cooked: 200 exciting, new recipes for your slow cooker (31 page)

1 tablespoon tamarind syrup (see
here
)

1 × 400g tin chopped tomatoes

200ml water

1 teaspoon Garam Masala (
here
)

200g fresh, frozen and thawed or tinned spinach

salt and pepper

Many people insist you don’t need to salt modern-day aubergines to remove the bitterness as they are bred to be milder. I don’t know if it’s the slow cooker or me generally, but I have found them unpleasantly bitter without it, so I recommend you do so.

Peel the aubergine and cut into 3cm cubes. Put in a colander and scatter with about a tablespoon of sea salt. Cover the top of the colander with clingfilm and allow the aubergine to drain for 30 minutes. Rinse the salt off once the aubergine has developed moisture on its surface. The salting removes the bitterness in the aubergines, but you don’t want to replace it with saltiness. You can do this stage the night before to save time. The aubergine will discolour a little overnight, but it doesn’t affect the taste and it isn’t noticeable after slow cooking it. Let the aubergine dry slightly.

Toast the fennel, fenugreek, mustard, coriander and cumin seeds along with the curry leaves in a dry frying pan until they smell aromatic and the mustard seeds are just starting to pop. Remove from the heat immediately. Crush the seeds lightly using a pestle and mortar to release the flavours.

Put the aubergine in the slow-cooker crock along with the toasted spices. Blend the garlic, onion and ginger using a hand blender or the pestle and mortar, adding the tamarind syrup as well to make a purée. Stir this through the aubergine and add the chopped tomatoes.

Season well and add the water. Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook the curry on low for 8–9 hours until the aubergine is soft and glossy. About 30 minutes before you are ready to eat, break the aubergine up slightly with a spatula to make it a bit smoother. Stir the garam masala and the spinach into the curry and replace the lid to allow it to warm through.

Serve with rice or naan breads for a very simple and tasty slow-cooked curry.

My love of potatoes is well known. I have never met a spud I didn’t like and one of the best things about them is their versatility. Equally comfortable as a main meal or a side dish, these spiced potatoes are a particular favourite of mine when I want something simple but tasty. I like them with a little bit of red chilli chopped over the top and some yoghurt on the side. Leave the skins on the spuds for extra bite and tuck in!

SERVES 2 AS A MAIN MEAL OR 4 AS A SIDE DISH

750g potatoes

1 onion, finely chopped

3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

5cm piece of fresh ginger, finely chopped

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 teaspoon coriander seeds

1 dried chilli

1 teaspoon onion seeds

½ teaspoon ground turmeric

1 tablespoon ghee (see
here
)

3–4 curry leaves

1 × 400g tin plum tomatoes

200ml water

1 heaped teaspoon Garam Masala (see
here
)

1 red chilli, chopped (optional)

Chop the potatoes into 3cm cubes and place in the slow-cooker crock along with the onion, garlic and ginger.

Put the cumin, mustard, coriander and onion seeds in a dry frying pan along with the whole dried chilli and toast for 1–2 minutes until they are all very aromatic. Don’t let them burn or they will become bitter. Take off the heat immediately and grind roughly using a hand blender or pestle and mortar.

Add the toasted and ground spices to the crock along with the turmeric, ghee and curry leaves. Roughly break up the plum tomatoes with a knife or your hands and add in along with any juice. Pour 200ml water over it all.

Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook the potatoes on low for 8 hours. About 30 minutes before you are ready to serve, sprinkle the garam masala over it all. I often make some strained yoghurt (see
here
) at this point and then serve the potatoes with that and the chopped red chilli to both soothe me and fire me up at the same time.

When I first moved to London, I had very little money and shared a tiny kitchen with seven other people. We had one small freezer and everyone was allowed one item each. Mine was always frozen spinach because it was so much more versatile than peas.

These days I don’t really buy the stuff having overdosed on it for over three or so years, but I cannot cope with the price of the fresh leaves in supermarkets. Pillow-sized packets steam down to nothing and leave you hungry. Luckily the tinned version is fantastic and suits slow cooking beautifully.

I make this tasty saag aloo with tinned or frozen spinach and potatoes. You could add in any spring greens or even beetroot tops. I’ve also made it with a bit of leftover swede or a sweet potato. It’s delicious and a great use of store-cupboard staples.

SERVES 4

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

1 onion, diced

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 teaspoon ground ginger

5 curry leaves

50g creamed coconut

2 × 400g tins chopped spinach, drained, or 800g frozen and thawed spinach

6 potatoes, peeled and cut into 1cm cubes

250ml water

1 teaspoon Garam Masala (see
here
)

dollop of plain yoghurt, to serve

handful of fresh coriander, to serve

Lightly toast the mustard seeds in the vegetable oil until they start to pop. This adds lots of flavour to the dish. Remove them from the heat as soon as the popping starts. Add them to the slow-cooker crock.

Add the onion, garlic, ginger and curry leaves to the slow cooker and stir well. Grate the creamed coconut over them. Tip in the spinach and the potatoes and then pour the water in. Stir and put the lid on the slow cooker and cook for 6–7 hours on low or 3–4 hours on high. Sprinkle the garam masala over it all about 20 minutes before you are ready to eat.

Serve with a big dollop of plain yoghurt and some chopped fresh coriander. I particularly enjoy this with some spiced rice.

A friend made me this curry a while back and I fell madly in love with its charms, but getting the scribbled recipe home, I decided to double the tomatoes and add just a hint of sweetness from caraway seeds to give it a fresh summery flavour all year round. It’s amazing served as it is or it loves some flaky white fish or plump prawns cooked in it for about 15 minutes at the end when you spy a bargain in the freezer aisle.

It’s also a good way to use up a tomato glut in the summer. I make a batch of the spices and keep them in a jar until needed, making this even easier.

SERVES 2–4 COMFORTABLY

1 tablespoon cumin seeds

1 tablespoon coriander seeds

1 teaspoon black mustard seeds

1 teaspoon caraway seeds

1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds

1 teaspoon onion seeds

½ teaspoon ground turmeric

½ teaspoon ground cloves

4 cardamom pods, seeds scraped out

1 × 400g tin chopped tomatoes

300g cherry tomatoes

1 teaspoon sugar

6 curry leaves

1 × 400ml tin coconut milk

1 tablespoon tamarind syrup (see
here
)

2 star anise

salt and pepper

This is about the easiest curry ever. Measure all your spices, except the curry leaves and star anise into the slow-cooker crock and add the chopped tomatoes. Stir it all well so it is evenly combined.

Toss the whole cherry tomatoes in and sprinkle the sugar and curry leaves in. Pour the coconut milk over it all and add in the tamarind syrup with about a tablespoon of water. Drop the star anise in and season well. Tomatoes love salt.

Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook on low for 8–9 hours. The cherry tomatoes will burst into the chopped tomatoes and it will all cook down into something extraordinarily full of flavour. Serve with rice or a healthy dollop of Tarka Dal from
here
and be reminded that sometimes simple is best.

I adore making preserves. Few things please me more than an afternoon pottering round my kitchen, peeling, chopping and simmering things to be put in jars using a jam funnel. The only thing better is sitting on the sofa with a good book while things simmer and preserve, which is what happens when you make them in the slow cooker.

If you’ve ever wanted to do your own yoghurt or try making lime pickle just the heat you like or give home-made jam or curds for Christmas, then the slow cooker will allow you to do it without all the standing over a hot pan the traditional way entails. I had so much fun creating jams, chutneys and preserves in mine I ran out of people to give them all to. But luckily everyone loves homemade condiments.

Get yourself a good jam funnel, source a supply of glass jars and be amazed at what you can create in the slow cooker with a minimum of fuss. I might have to join the WI to keep up with my desire to experiment with foraged autumnal goodies and garden gluts at this rate.

To make all the goodies in this chapter, you will need sturdy glass jars with well-fitting lids or cellophane circles. You’ll need to sterilise the jars before you fill them to ensure your preserves last well and safely. There are multiple ways to do this to suit each kitchen. Do not eat preserves that have not been stored this way.

By oven:
This is a good way to do large batches of jars at once. Preheat the oven to 140°C or Gas Mark 1. Wash the jars in hot soapy water and dry well. Place them in a deep roasting tin just far enough apart that they aren’t touching each other. If you are using rubber-sealed preserving jars like Kilner jars, remove the rubber first or it may perish.

Heat the oven for 25 minutes. Lift the whole tin out with the jars in it and without touching the jars, fill them with the piping hot preserves and seal with clean lids you’ve boiled for 10 minutes, rubber seals or cellophane circles.

By microwave:
This is a great way to sterilise just a few jars very quickly. It is not suitable for metal-rimmed jars. Wash the jars in hot soapy water and dry slightly. Put each slightly wet jar into the microwave one at a time and heat for 30 seconds on full heat. Remove carefully with oven gloves, making sure you don’t touch the rim or inside of the jar. Fill with the hot preserves and seal with clean lids you’ve boiled for 10 minutes or cellophane circles.

By boiling water:
This is a good way to sterilise jars if you don’t want to turn the oven on in summer weather. I particularly like it for rubber-sealed Kilner jars. Remove the rubber seals or lids from the jars and put them in a small pan of cold water. Put the glass jars in a large pan of cold water. Bring both pans to the boil and boil them for 10 minutes. Lift each jar and lid or rubber seal out of the boiling water with clean tongs and fill with the hot preserves. Seal with the lids, rubber seals or cellophane circles.

By dishwasher:
Remove any rubber seals or lids from the jars and lay them out in one layer on the upper or cutlery racks of the dishwasher. Stack the clean jars into the dishwasher and turn on the hottest cycle without any detergent or cleaning products. Don’t open the dishwasher until you are ready to fill the jars with preserves. Don’t touch the rim or inside of the jar. Fill with hot preserves and seal with the lids, rubber seals or cellophane circles.

Notes:
Never fill a hot sterilised jar with cold preserves as this may cause the glass to shatter; preserves should also be hot when the hot jars are filled to prevent any bacteria growth. Never take them out of your sterilising method before they are needed. Allowing them to cool first undoes the act of sterilising them. I always sterilise more jars than needed just in case I’ve misjudged my amounts. Fill the jars to the very top to prevent anything awful from growing in there while you are storing it; allow the jars to settle for 15 minutes before sealing. Store your preserves in a cool, dark place until opened and then store in the fridge and eat within 10 days.