Slow cooker Dal Makhani

This recipe satisfied two wishes for me. One was to make more desi food in the slow cooker and the second was to make more vegetarian food in the slow cooker. Since dal makhani is slow cooked to begin with, the transition to the slow cooker seems like the natural evolution. For this recipe I looked at this, this and this for inspiration. I'm not sure if the kashmiri red chillis actually do anything, but I have them and I like using them. The one criticism I had of my finished daal was that it didn't have a smokey flavour. If I do this again I will add a dash of smoked paprika to add this. This is reflected in the recipe below.

Ingredients

First Step:

• 1.5 cups whole black urad daal
• 3 tbsp channa dal
• 3 tbsp ghee 
• 2.5 tsp ginger garlic paste
• 2 tsp salt
• 6 cups water
• 2 whole Kashmiri red chillis

Second Step:

• 2 cans red kidney beans
• 1 can pureed tomatoes
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg powder
• 3/4 tsp garam masala
• 1.5 tsp roasted cumin powder
• 2.5 tbsp kasuri methi 
• 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
• 1 tsp kashmiri red chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp amchoor powder 
• 3-4 tbsp butter
• 1/2 tsp black salt 
• 1.5 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp garlic powder

Before serving:

• 1 cup cream
• cilantro- fresh or frozen

Instructions

1. Wash the daals and add them to the slow cooker with all the ingredients in step 1. 
2. Cook on low overnight. For me this amounted to about 9 hours.
3. Mash the daal a bit with the back of the spoon and then add all the ingredients in step 2.
4. Cook on low for a further 4-6 hours.
5. The dal is now ready. I usually add the cream right before I serve.

Japanese Chinese-style fried chicken

This recipe is from Buzzfeed Japan's video, on youtube here. It is fantastically good and unlike a lot of their other yummy recipes does not involve deep frying. I've written it down so that I don't have to go to their video and play and pause it repeatedly every single time I want to make this! I only have access to bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs so I learned how to debone them from here.

Ingredients

Chicken Marinade:

• 8 Skin-on, boneless chicken thighs
• 4 tsp Minced ginger
• 4 tsp Minced Garlic
• 3 tsp salt
• 8 tbsp rice wine vinegar or Sake

Sauce:

• 8 tbsp light soy sauce
• 8 tbsp vinegar (I've used everything from rice wine to apple cider)
• 4 tbsp sesame oil
• 4 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp minced ginger
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 4-5 scallions, finely diced
• 2-3 red peppers finely sliced

Potato flour
Frying oil

Method

1. Debone the chicken and cut off excess skin and fat. Cut small gashes through the skin and meat.
2. Marinate the chicken with the other ingredients under marinade for ~30 minutes. I marinate covered in the fridge if its going to be longer
3. Mix the ingredients under sauce together to make the sauce
4. Coat the chicken thighs in potato flour. 
5. Add a couple of table spoons oil to a frying pan and heat.
6.  Fry the thighs on medium heat, first skin side down for 5-7 minutes and then flip for 5-7 minutes.
7. Cut into slices and serve on rice with the sauce on the side or on top.

Curry chicken salad

This is one of the yummiest non-salad salad recipes I know. It makes a good, cool albeit filling lunch on hot days. This recipe is variously inspired by this, this and a Waldorf Salad. We don't add celery to our salad since one of us is a celery supertaster but celery is perfect in this if you aren't similarly hindered. Most recipes I've seen online use chicken breast that they cook but I've always used rotisserie chicken-- its just way more convenient. The grapes can be replaced by apples and its still delish.

Ingredients

• 250 g seedless grapes
• 1 cucumber
• 1-2 tomatoes
• 1/2-1 red onion
• 1-2 limes, juiced
• 1, 1 kg Rotisserie chicken
• 2 handfulls walnuts
• 1 jar Hellmans Mayonaise (this is to taste) 
• Ginger powder (optional)
• Curry Powder
• Pepper

Method

1. Dice the cucumber, tomatoes and onion finely and add to a large bowl
2. Quarter the grapes and add to the bowl
3. Toast, cool and chop the walnuts and add to the mixing bowl
4. Remove the chicken meat from the bones (skin is up to taste, we usually remove) , chop and add to the bowl
5. Add lime juice, half the mayo, a half tsp curry power, a pinch or two ginger powder and pepper and mix all the ingredients together
6. Adjust seasonings according to taste. Add extra mayo if need be. The texture should be smooth and creamy. You can, of course, use low fat mayo, but really, you only live once. 

Sausage and Bean stew

This recipe is a variation of this recipe. We used Salsiccia sausages and stora vita bönor, which we substituted for lima beans. I don't know if these are the same or different.

Ingredients:

• Cooking oil
• 900g-1kg Raw salsiccia sausage
• 1 pack bacon
• 4 onions, sliced
• 6 garlic cloves, sliced
• 2 tsp hot chilli powder or smoked paprika
• 2, 400g crushed canned tomatoes
• 300ml chicken stock
• 4 tbsp tomato purée
• 3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 4 tbsp dark brown muscovado sugar
• 3 tsp dried mixed herbs
• 2 bay leaves
• 3–4 tsp frozen thyme
• 200ml water
• 3, 400g big white bean cans
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Cook the sausages for 10 minutes on medium high heat until brown on all sides and set aside.
2. Fry the bacon pieces in the frying pan until they begin to brown
3. Place the onions in the frying pan and fry over a medium heat for until they start to soften.
4. Add the garlic and cook for 2–3 minutes more until the onions turn pale golden-brown.
5. Sprinkle over the chilli powder or smoked paprika and cook together for a few more minutes.
6. Stir in the tomatoes, chicken stock, tomato purée, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar and herbs.
7. Pour over the water and bring to a simmer.
8. Use a pair of kitchen scissors to cut the sausages into thick discs and add the sliced sausages and bacon to the stew. Let it cook on low heat for 20 minutes.
9. Drain the beans and rinse. Stir the beans into the casserole, and continue to cook for 10 more minutes or on very low heat until the sauce is thick. 
10. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper

Karnataka-style slow cooker pork curry

This recipe is inspired by this recipe. I wanted a genuine, spicy indian pork curry that I could make in the slow cooker. This recipe worked really well! I've made it twice now, once with picnic bog and once with Karre and the karre worked much better. These are both swedish cuts of pork. If you're in the states, boston butt or any pork shoulder cut with adequate fat that works in the slow cooker should work. My variation uses only one pan for the initial step.

Ingredients:

Spice Blend:

• 3 teaspoons cumin seeds
• 3 teaspoons coriander seeds (or two teaspoons coriander powder)
• 6 cloves
• 2" cinnamon stick
• 2 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 20 black peppercorns
• 2tsp brown mustard seeds

Curry: 

• 2" peeled and roughly chopped root ginger
• 10 garlic cloves
• 2 tomatoes, quartered
• cooking oil
• 1 tsp brown mustard seeds
• 2 sprigs curry leaves
• 4 onions, finely chopped
• 3 green chillies, stalks removed, pierced with a knife
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 2 dried red chillis
• salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon kashmiri chilli powder, (optional)
• 1-1.5kg pork shoulder, cut into cubes, with some fat
• 0.5 cup vinegar (I've used both apple cider and white, no real preference)
• 1 can coconut milk

Method:

1. Cut the pork into large chunks and salt and pepper the meat.
2. Fry the pork chunks for about 6-7 minutes on each side on medium heat
3. Turn off the heat. In the remaining hot oil, add all the spices under spice blend. After about 5 minutes, scrape the spices into the spice blender and blend. Add vinegar to make the spice blend liquid.
4. Turn the heat back on. Add mustard seeds to the hot oil and when it sputters, add dried red chillis and then the curry leaves. Fry for a few minutes
5. Add the onions and fry until well browned. 
6. Now add in the kashmiri red chilli powder and fry for a minute or two and then add in the spice mix. 
7. In the spice blender throw in the ginger, tomatoes, garlic and red chillis and blend
8. Toss the blended mix into the curry as well
9. Fry this on medium-high heat until the mix begins to thicken and release oil
10. Add this masala and the pork pieces to the slow cooker 
11. Cook on high for 3-4 hours. Test at 2 hours for doneness. 
12. When done, add the can of coconut milk and let the curry cook in the slow cooker without a lid for about 30 minutes.