My slow cooker beef stew is very liquidy ...

[sheeplikessleep]

I overestimated amount of stock I needed.
What can I add to it to thicken it up a bit? I have lentils and yellow split peas in cupboard. Do I put these in towards end of cooking time?

Any suggestions gratefully received - thanks!

mix some flour with a little bit of water into a paste and add that.

Cornflour or arrowroot or jst plain flour will do the trick.

Lentils will work too (it's what I tend to use) or as said, cornflour and water.

I put in 2 tins of cornd beef really really yummy and thickens it too!

crikey, a consensus - thank you. i did add some flour before frying off the beef, but i might add some more.
i was thinking a pulse in it might be quite nice, but i haven't done lentils in slow cooker before.

just leave the top off and let it reduce.

pearl barley aslong as you cook it for over an hour.

Leave the lid off as well as cornflour trick (I tend to use sme of the stew liquid rather than water though).

ooh, now i have too many ideas
serenity - at what stage do you add lentils in? does it matter if they're on low for 6 hours? or should they be cooked near the end (like beans)?

Tomato puree also helps thicken up sauces....

mumsnet is fab - thank you everyone for posting. not sure what i'll do yet, i might try the extra flour and lid off and if that doesn't reduce it enough, add in some lentils (bit more fibre in too!)
cheers

When I remember but tbh I've only done it in a oven casserole (so, low for 2/3 hours rather than the 6+ hours for a slow cooker) The casserole cooking atm, has had them in from the beginning, but I've bunged them in 1/2 hour from the end before.

I'd be inclined to put them in for the last hour or so rather than put them in at the beginning. They might disintegrate over such a long cooking period.

I'd be wary of leaving the lid off. I thought a slow cooker worked because the lid forms a seal which raises the pressure, which then enables it to be cooked at a lower temperature? That's why they tend to end up with more liquid than other methods, there's nowhere for it to evaporate to. My slow cooker is very old though, newer ones might use different methods.

Remove some of the extra liquid with a large spoon and put to one side to use as stock for soup / gravy etc.

Thicken the remaining liquid by putting a heaped dessertspoonful of plain flour in a small bowl. Add some of the cooking liquid and stir until you have a thick paste then add this to your stew. If you add the flour straight to the stew it could end up lumpy!

Thanks for posting - I ended up putting some pearly barley in and towards the end, had to add a bit more stock, as it had absorbed it all - typical! It was very tasty last night though