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Craft and Cooking (Recipes)
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In praise of the slow cooker.
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I order things fresh from raanthai and keep the ginger, galangal and things like lime leaves and chillies in the freezer. Lemon grass too.
I grew lime and lemon grass in my garden. I also had mossies and snakes...
There's good eating on a snake.Allegedly.
I'd try it. Dunno if I'd cook one myself but I'd definitely taste if offered.
Patti (Fluffy) wrote: "I'd try it. Dunno if I'd cook one myself but I'd definitely taste if offered."It tastes like chicken! :)
Dymphna wrote: "Beef rendang...."My mother taught me to cook these dishes. She was brought up in Burma in the 1920s and 30s and learned to cook from their own cook at home.
One of the great tricks for cooking this and the North Indian equivalent, is a rendering process (which sort of rules out a slow cooker).
To get the spiced sauce really rich, it must be cooked without a cover and you keep adding liquid in small quantities every time it threatens to dry out. In the Indian version you add tamarind water. The theory is that the dish starts by boiling and then slowly turns to frying as it dries out.
That way, the sauce gets thicker and thicker and richer and richer till it is incredibly powerful. In Burma, the dry, oily result is much stronger than the rather weaker western versions we see in this country.
In the north Indian version, the dry beef curry is served with steamed basmati rice, wetted with Pepper water (which you can also drink). I used to love rice and pepper water as a child.
Slow cooked curries are always nice. We have membership of a local spa/gym, so it's nice to set up something in the slow cooker, go off for a swim and a bit of a steam and come back to dinner almost ready. The slow cooker is part of our Christmas tradition too - after opening presents we slow cook a guinea fowl in whisky or sherry whilst we go out for a walk to feed the birds in Sherwood Forest, then we come back and put on the vegetables. When the weather's nice it makes for a perfect Christmas Day.
I've just stumbled across this thread. I'm going to be living on my own from this weekend and I quite often get stuck in work so I'm too late getting home to want to cook. Would you recommend getting a slow cooker? Would it be worth it? And can I put something in in the morning and set it so it will be cooked 10 hours later and not burnt?
Oh yes Claire!!Get one!!
You can do exactly that!
You can pre-prepare the veg on the weekend or whenever you have extra time and just bung it in before you leave for work. Get the seasoning packets/envelope things from the supermarket. Dead cheap if you buy them on offer.
Thanks Patti, do you mean pre-chop the veg and keep in the fridge? I think when I've got over the cost of furnishing a house, I'll buy one :)
Yes, pre wash and chop. You could buy the veg already ready to use but it doesn't make sense as its so expensive.As you're on your own you'd probably only have to cook with it a coupl three times a week, as long as you don't mind eating the same thing a couple nights in a row.
I'd buy one ASAP.
Tell your friends you want one as a housewarming gift. They're not very expensive.
Brilliant, do you have to precook meat to go in it? Sorry, lots of questions!!
I'm going to be in a lot for the next few weeks while writing up so maybe a present to myself for finishing my course.... hmmm :)
I don't pre-cook the meat. You can brown it if you like but I don't bother. I don't think it adds anything to the flavour, personally.Except mince of course. If you're using mince, you must cook it until all the pink is gone.
It's great for chilli and bolognaise and stews and soups and and and.
Great :) thank you, I'll add it to my shopping list and let you know how I get on when I have one
Great!Be sure to look through all the recipes in here.
I put my slow cooker on for the 2nd time today :o)I'm making rustic chicken this time. Nom, nom, nom.
Still got a load left over from yesterday but I was too excited to wait. These 2 dishes should do me for the rest of the week.
I love my slow cooker. My rustic chicken was lovely with a huge side of coleslaw
My slow cooker has been ordered :) And it matches my kettle and toaster :D
Yay Claire!Mine had quite a workout over the weekend. I did a big pot of chilli overnight on Friday then chicken overnight on Saturday then simmered the chicken carcass all day yesterday and today for stock.
My freezer is nice n full again. Thank goodness cuz we pretty lived much on toast and pasta last week.
I made a yummy beef stew in my slow cooker on Sunday
we have a slow cooker but i dont like casserole so im put off by the idea of using it
My slow cooker is here and I can't wait to try it on Sunday. I'm going to try a sausage casserole, the same one I make in the oven as it's very much a 'stick everything in a pot and cook it' recipe. The one thing I'm a bit wary about is having enough liquid. Do slow cookers generally need more liquid than in the oven or about the same?
I am on my second slow cooker, and even though I downloaded just about every slow cooker recipe book when they came free on Amazon, I never use them - I bung it all in and hope. I never brown the meat off - life is too short at 6.00 am to start browning off meat for the evening meal. The only thing I found that you simply cannot cook in a slow cooker is liver - it goes too crumbly and messy!Claire - you don't need a lot of liquid at all - if you look at recipes I think they say some amount of stock that seems stupidly insufficient - but it really will be enough. I use guesswork :D
Just seen this slow cooker recipe book, it's free at the moment.http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00AVAK3F6...
Thanks Elaine, I'm going to use the trial and error method on Sunday. I've heard lots of things about meat and browning or not, would anybody here bother browning sausages? I don't normally for a casserole but... :)
I have some pieces of chicken (or might possibly be turkey) that I've taken out of the freezer, & a packet of mix to make chicken in red wine. The recipe uses chicken (obviously) mushrooms, shallots (I will use red onions) and bacon. I'm also going to add some baby sweetcorn & was wondering what else I can add. Then separate it into about four portions and freeze it.
I won a chicken in the beer raffle last night. Been some time since I've taken a bird home at the end of a night out. Roast tomorrow then slow cooker....
I love my slow cooker, got chicken casserole bubbling away in there now :-)
I've got ribs in a red chilli and blossom honey sauce in mine at the mo.It's so easy on a saturday,i stick dinner in,go to football,come home and it's done.
I don't like handling raw meat so slow cooker is ideal lol
Slow cookers are a great invention. Must have been invented by a man.
Simon (Highwayman) wrote: "Slow cookers are a great invention. Must have been invented by a man."You spout shite sometimes.
you know i totally had to google that.apparently it was a man inspired by his grandmother.
Well my slow cooker's first outing was almost brilliant, I just added a bit too much liquid and not enough seasoning so it was a little bit bland. Definitely looking forward to using it again :)
Pork, sage and apple casserole bubbling away.The smell is torturing us.
Time to resurrect this thread, I reckon!We bought a load of beef yesterday. Had the guy mince 2/3 of it.
Got it home and had to decide what sort of food to transform it into.
I browned the mince, added onion and garlic and divided it into portions for spag bol, chilli and cottage pie. The rest I trimmed for steak n ale casserole. I bunged the casserole into the oven (2 meals), the chilli into the slow cooker (3 meals), the spag bol sauce will go into the slow cooker today when the chilli is done and ready for the freezer. (2 meals) I've frozen the rest of the seasoned mince and will do the cottage pie when required. (2 meals).
So, 18 servings of healthy, home cooked food using about £10 worth of beef.
Rather chuffed, I am.
I absolutely adore my slow cooker! My favourite thing I do is a teriyaki chicken!! It is seriously delicious!!Here’s what you will need:
125ml soy sauce
150g honey
60 ml rice wine vinegar
1/2 chopped onion
2 garlic cloves
Pepper
1 tsp ground ginger
4 chicken breasts
3 tbsp cornflour
60ml water
Spring onions and sesame seeds to serve
Here’s how you make it:
1) Mix the soy sauce, honey, rice wine vinegar, onion, garlic, pepper and ground ginger together in a small bowl and set aside.
2) Oil the slow cooker and add the chicken breasts. Pour the sauce over the chicken, cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours.
3) Remove and drain the chicken and set aside in a large bowl. Shred thoroughly with two forks.
4) Transfer the leftover sauce into a saucepan and add water mixed with the cornflour. Reduce over a medium heat until thick.
5) Add the chicken to the sauce and mix thoroughly. Serve over a bed of rice with spring onions and sesame
I had all of those on the island and had to give them to friends. :(