Slow and Spicy

Anyone who might be reading my blog with anything approaching interest and/or regularity will have realised by now that I love and rely quite heavily on my slow-cooker and have done for a long time.  It never ceases to surprise me with some of the lovely things that can so easily be made and I never seem to stop recommending to people that they should get themselves a slow-cooker, pronto!

This morning I threw this little number together.  The really great thing about using a slow-cooker (apart from the food, natch) is that nearly all of it is that lovely throw-it-together sort of cooking; no stress, no fuss. A 'proper' recipe is a bit difficult to give (hence why I haven't written about it before), because every time I make this sort of curry in the sainted machine I use just what we have in the house, vegetable-wise.  In other words I don't shop specifically for it.  So I've finally decided just to give you tonight's interpretation; what follows is just one version of an ever-changing favourite.

Slow Vegetable Curry

I should probably note here that I used frozen cauliflower today. I usually put some frozen veg in these curries, but no more than one sort, generally.

1 tbsp fat (oil, butter, ghee, whatevs)
2 onions, halved and sliced
3 tbsp curry powder, or to taste (I used Steenberg's Tikka Masala, choose your favorite)
2 carrots, chopped 
2 sticks celery, chopped
150g-ish mushrooms, quartered
200g-ish cauliflower, in small florets
 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
 can chopped tomatoes
80g creamed coconut, chopped and dissolved in 200ml boiling water

Soften the onion in the fat.  I have to say that I always pre-soften onions for slow-cooker dishes in the popty ping (Welsh slang for microwave),  which is actually one of the very few times I use it.  Stir the curry powder into the onions.  Put these, and all the other prepared vegetables, into the slow cooker.  Mix really well, then pour over the creamed coconut liquid and pop the lid on the cooker.  Cook on LOW all day, or HIGH if you start it at lunchtime.  Serve with rice or bread if you like (my hubby and children do), or just eat a bowl of it on its own, which is what I do.

Cath xx