Slow-cooker Lamb Curry

I fancied a curry, but needed something I could pop in the slow cooker all day whilst doing other things. So I adapted a recipe for Seyal Gosht from "50 Great Curries of India" by Camellia Panjabi - by simply throwing everything together and slow cooking.

It turned out deliciously spicy, and was really easy to prepare. I will definitely be making this again!

Lamb and Lentil Ragu

A delicious stew of lamb, lentils, and root vegetables cooked with tomatoes, red wine and herbs.

This goes well over pasta or polenta, and cooks fast enough in the pressure cooker to be doable on a week-night evening after work. 

If you don't have a pressure cooker, you can just dump all the ingredients in a slow cooker and let it cook for 8 hours.

Since this recipe makes enough for about 4-6 servings, I generally serve one third on the day, and divide the rest between tubs to freeze and eat later.

Tomato 'Instant' Kimchi sort of thing

The tomato plants in the greenhouse are still fruiting, and there are tomatoes aplenty in need of using up. More tomato recipes are urgently needed!

Inspired by the 'instant' emergency cucmber Kimchi recipe in Our Korean Kitchen, I went searching to see if Tomato Kimchi was a thing. And it was - I found Park Shin Hye's Tomato Kimchi.

I didn't have any Gochugaru (chilli pepper powder) , but I did have some Gochujang (sweetened fermented chilli pepper paste). So I substituted gochujang for the gochugaru and sugar. I also added some chopped fresh basil as I was out of chives. It seems to work, even if it's not authentic.

Bolognese Sauce in the Pressure Cooker

A weekday night mainstay. Pasta with Bolognese sauce.

Cooked in the pressure cooker, it is easy to quickly put together a big batch of the sauce, which can then be portioned out into tubs and frozen.

Minced beef is the traditional meat used, but minced pork also makes a good sauce.

Spicy Red Tomato, Pepper and Squash Chutney

The last of the tomato and pepper plants in the greenhouse are fading now that the days are getting shorter. So we've picked what was left, ripe or no.

Time for another batch of chutney.

I've been looking at recipes for indian tomato pickles, and so whilst this recipe is based on the Red Tomato Chutney from Home Preservation of Fruits and Vegetables, I have completely changed the spices used, and substituted peppers and squash for some of the tomatoes.

Paprika Turkey in the Pressure Cooker

A weekday pressure-cooked stew of diced turkey thigh and potatoes in a rich tomato, paprika and soured cream sauce. All it needs is some green vegetables to accompany it.

Fish Provencal

Another quick evening meal from frozen white fish fillets.

This time we're aiming for the flavours of Provence - tomatoes, olives, courgettes, aubergines, peppers, garlic and herbs.

Slow-cooked Turkey Drumsticks

Here they are. A pair of shrinkwrapped turkey drumsticks. Yet another cheap cut for which the supermarkets insist on giving inappropriate roasting instructions on the label.

Guess what - this is another slow-cooking joint! This time you will need a large oval slow-cooker.

When choosing which model of oval slow cooker to buy, I went to my local huge Tesco's and took a shrinkwrapped turkey drumstick from the meat section over to the homewares section and tried it for size in the bowls of the models they had on display. Turns out some of the models of oval slow cooker on sale are too small for turkey drumsticks.

Pressure Cooker Chilli con Carne

In the interests of completeness, here is my basic chilli recipe that I've been cooking on a regular basis for a very long time now. The presssure cooker shortens what would be a long slow simmer to a few minutes, making this doable for a work day evening meal without keeping everyone starving til after 8pm!

Achaari Murg

To eat with the raita, an easy chicken curry.