i got a slow cooker this morning

[ThatVikRinA22]

please tell me how to use it!

• ive no idea how to use them, what to do in them at all. Up until recently i have regarded them with suspicion....low heat + long time = bacteria soup in my book but i have been convinced by my friend who has bought me one for the princely sum of 12 quid this morning in Tesco!

so please help me become a culinary whiz with a slow cooker and post your slow cooker recipes!

thank you!

I'm a recent convert to the slow cooker and one of my successes is this curry. I've done it with lamb and chicken and its gorgeous.

Chicken korma : Serves 4

Ingredients

2 onions, quartered
3 garlic cloves
4cm (1 1/2inch) fresh root ginger, peeled
1 large chilli, seeds discarded
8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
25g butter
1 teaspoon cumin seeds, crushed
1 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed
4 cardamom pods, crushed
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
300ml (1/2 pint) chicken stock
1 tablespoon sugar
75ml double cream
2 tablespoon ground almonds or cashews
pinch salt

1. Blend the onions, garlic, ginger and chilli in a blender

1. Cut each thigh into 4 pieces, heat the oil in a large frying pan and add the chicken. Cook over a high heat until evenly browned. Remove from pan and place in slow cooker.

1. Add the butter to the pan and when melted add the onion mixture. Cook over moderate heat for 3 minutes. Add all the spices and cook for a further minute.

1. Mix in chicken stock, sugar and salt. Bring to the boil and then transfer to slow cooker pouring over chicken.

1. Cover and cook for 5 - 7 hours on Low (or 3 hours on high).

1. Add the cream and ground nuts.

Its even better if left until the next day.

well, im using it for the first time today - doing the chick pea/chorizo chicken one - thank you mulledfish!

just one question though that i am still very confused by

my model says low warms food up
high cooks
warm keeps food warm

it says i should always cook on high.

i started the casserole off on low this morning at 10, when i got in at 13.30 it looked like it wasnt doing much at all so i turned it up to high

high made it bubble slightly. its been on high all day from 13.30 to now - lots of liquid and no sign of drying out.

im confused because so many people say to cook on the low setting....
do you do this even if the recommendations in the manual say to cook on high?

I've never actually bothered reading my SC manuals...

Do what ever yours says. Mine is a crock pot and you can cook on low or high.

thanks!

vicar - depends on how long you are cooking food for. say it was 8 hours - you would probably do on low, but for the time you are talking - say 6 hours- you would do on high. though i think it probably varies with different cookers and it would also depend on meat and how big the cut was.

you have to change your mindset slightly with this sort of cooking and think long term

well. ive just bunged some mince and onions in it with a dribble of water, some w'shire sauce, mustard and half an oxo.

its on high....ill see how it fares.

mince and potato for tea! this is great when your on a diet...no fat!

How was the chicken the other day?

I have a beef and Guiness stew on low at the moment. We'll have it with crusty bread and proper butter

I made curried vegetable soup in mine overnight last night and it was yummy

Just got back from hell tge supermarket and got some chicken drumsticks and pork steaks to do some amazing slowcooking with. I'm quite excited

I'm gagging to try a roast chicken in mine but I just haven't dared yet.

However the orange and honey chicken just about has me sold on the idea.

I make quorn spaghetti bolognese in mine and it is way better than oven or hob. I did worry that the quorn would disintegrate but it actually improves the texture.

im doing a whole chicken in mine tomorrow - ill let you know how it turns out!

i did mince in mine today - was yummy! i like this slow cooking lark! still not quite sure how you would do a spag bol in it though?

i usually do onion, garlic, mince, spag bol mix, tin toms, mushrooms and red pepper in mine, with italian seasoning - would i just whack all that in a slow cooker and let it do its stuff?

yep- exactly that. Although if you do like a runnier sauce then do add some extra liquid.

Oh cheers! That would give me the boot up my arse to actually try it next week.

Pinner35, your Korma recipe looks good, I will have to try it.

That lemon chicken recipe I posted makes a lot of sauce. My son said it smells like Chinese food when I make it. I did it with chicken pieces and cut up lemons, it wasn't as messy looking, but didn't have as good of a flavour as a whole chicken.

Making chili on Monday in it.

Vicar. That exactly what I did. I used less liquid than I would normally it was really nice but I think I prefer my normal version cause I like lots of reduced tommy sauce.

Made carrot soup last night, dh is on a diet ish so made a batch for his normal snack attck time of just getting home. Is very nice. Just chucked in loads of chopped carrots, onion, garlic, chilli, corrianda seeds and a litre of veg stock. Put on high for about 4 hours then blended.

Need a pork steak idea if anyone has any?

There's a yummy pork sc recipe in MM recipes - with cider & onion I think, went down well with everyone.

pork - tin baked beans, sliced onion, thyme, garlic clove, slug of white wine, couple dollops of tom sauce, stock cube. you can substitute pork for chicken

i posted a pork chop/loin recipe above - works freat with pork steaks as well even cheap nasty frozen ones from farmfoods :)

htf does anyone lift a whole chicken out of a slow cooker?

i was sceptical tbh when i put it in, 2 hours past and it still looked very very uncooked....

but by 5pm it was falling to bits. the problem came when trying to get it out! it disintegrated!

was very nice though....i did carrots and leeks with it in the pot and it was lovely. served it with mash and used all the lovely juices for a smashing gravy! I do like a crispy skin though and this obviously didnt have a crispy skin, but it saved me as im on a diet!

tomorrow - sausages!

I bought one last week and so far we've had the best beef madras we've ever had out of it and we've just finished a beef casserole with dumplings. My DS, nearly 4 was saying before he tried the casserole that 'he hated that,'. However 2 mouthfuls in and he was proclaiming it was delicious.
Can't wait to try my next recipe, something with chicken I think.

I brought one b4 Xmas and I love it!
Tomorrow I'm going to cook chicken curry in it..
One of my fav receipes Is chicken with dumplings and it's so easy - 4 chicken breasts, chopped onions, veg of your choice (I chose carrots and peas) and gravy (about 1 pint).... Cook on low for 4 hours then chuck in dumplings and turn up high for an hour

Well in the end I opted for pork with mushroom soup and cooked it on high for about 4 hours then took the kid off for a bit whist I did the veg to thicken up a bit and it was fab . Even better tge soup was half price at 37p only used half tge pack of pork so a couple of quid. Very cheap and very yummy sauce! Oh I did slice a few mushroom in there too.

glad you enjoyed bloomin. tis one of my all time faves :)