Creamy Dal

From The Gourmet Vegetarian Slow Cooker, Lynn Alley, Ten Speed Press, 2010.

I placed a cup of lentils in the slow cooker and added to them one cup of coconut water (from soaking desiccated coconut) and two cups of plain water. The recipe called for 4–5 cups of water but I preferred a thicker dal. This was left to cook for five hours.

When the dal was about ready I placed a chopped onion (much more than in the recipe but I felt it needed a stronger presence of onion) in a frying pan and sautéed it in oil until soft. I then added a large pinch of cumin seeds, an equal amount of yellow mustard seeds, a chopped red chilli and a little grated fresh ginger. These were cooked for about five minutes. A chopped tomato then went into the pan for a minute or two and the contents of the pan went into the lentils in the cooker. The dal was now seasoned with salt and pepper and a pinch of curry powder added.

The recipe now called for the addition of cream to the mixture. I decided against this but used instead about two tablespoons of yoghurt. This was stirred in and allowed to heat through and it was ready to serve with potato roti and a coconut and mint chutney.

This was a pleasant dal, well flavoured with a warming touch from the chilli. I thought the yoghurt was a better addition than cream as it was now quite rich. The recipe had not nominated what type of lentil to use and I had chosen brown lentils. I think that next time I would try it with red lentils and less cooking time as they break up so readily and make a smoother dal.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Lebanese Eggplant Stew

From The Gourmet Vegetarian Slow Cooker, Lynn Alley, Ten Speed Press, 2010.

The eggplant stew seemed to be somewhat like a spicy ratatouille. 

In a mortar and pestle I pounded ½ teaspoon each of black peppercorns, allspice berries and red chilli flakes, and a small piece of cinnamon stick. This was a little more chilli flakes than was called for but I like my chilli.

An eggplant cut into cubes, a zucchini cut into pieces, a green capsicum sliced, 3 tomatoes cut into large pieces, and an onion cut into segments were added to the slow cooker. Three chopped garlic cloves were added together with the ground spices. It was then cooked on low for about 4 hours.

When it was time to serve the stew some olive oil was added together with salt to taste.

The spices, especially the allspice, had darkened the brightly coloured vegetables so that it took on an almost meaty hue. The juices from the vegetables had blended making a rich and spicy brew. While the stew was rather like a ratatouille in its making it turned out to be quite a different dish altogether.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Greek Style Fava Beans and Tomatoes

From The Gourmet Vegetarian Slow Cooker, Lynn Alley, Ten Speed Press, 2010.

There was a whole heap of dried fava beans in the pantry so this recipe was an opportunity to use some of them up. To date I have not had over much success with the items I have made from this cookbook. I have two cookery books dealing with meals made in the slow cooker. One has recipes that succeed quite well and seem to have been designed with the slow cooker in mind; the other seems to have meals that largely are not necessarily designed for this style of cooking. This recipe comes from the latter book.

It was simply a matter of placing the broad beans in the cooker with sufficient water and then cooking them for 6 to 8 hours. The beans in the pantry were ones that had the tough outer skin still on them so I had previously soaked them overnight and then picked off the skins before adding the beans to the cooker.

When the beans were close to cooked, an onion was fried in a pan for a few minutes. Then a couple of chopped tomatoes, a bay leaf and some thyme were added and cooked for a little longer. The beans were then drained and added to the mixture in the pan. A garlic clove was squeezed through a garlic press into the mixture. A little more olive oil was added together with some lemon juice. It was then seasoned to taste and it was ready.

By the time it was ready the beans had broken down to become almost a puree. Possibly this was the result of my soaking them overnight. The recipe states that this would make a nice meal with a fresh salad and a crusty bread. The way mine had broken down it felt more as though it should be served as a dip for an appetiser. It tasted fine though.

Taste: ✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

French Alpine Cheese, Tomato and Onion Soup

French Alpine Cheese, Tomato and Onion Soup

from The Gourmet Vegetarian Slow Cooker, Lynn Alley, Ten Speed Press, 2010.

I’ll always give a soup recipe a try as soups are a favourite meal for me so, despite the fact that I’m uncertain about the benefits of the slow cooker for some vegetable dishes, I got stuck into this one.

First the onions had to be fried until brown. It was then only a matter of tossing the ingredients (onions, tomatoes, wine and water) into the cooker, turning it on and coming back 6–8 hours later. Very easy.

To serve you just add a slice of bread to the bowl and drop diced Gruyère cheese on it. Then pour the soup over.

I found that the Gruyère did not go well with the soup. Its strong flavour was somewhat overpowering. Personally I think I would go with a simple mix of grated Parmesan and mozzarella.

I wonder whether this was really a recipe for a slow cooker. I do find that some of the recipes in this book seem to be added just for the sake of filling the book. It would have been just as easy to fry the onions in a saucepan and then drop in the other ingredients. An hour would then be ample time to cook it. I am not convinced that the extra time really added anything to the flavour of the soup.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔ 

A Lasagne made with polenta

Polenta Lasagne with Tomato-Mushroom Sauce

from The Gourmet Vegetarian Slow Cooker, Lynn Alley, Ten Speed Press, 2010.

I still have some indecision over whether vegetarian dishes really need to be made in a slow cooker. With dried pulses I can readily accept the slow cook but with other types of food I am not so sure. Nevertheless I will try more before I finally make up my mind.

Firstly the sauce was made. Now this was predominantly tomatoes, dried porcini mushrooms with onions and garlic. This was slow cooked for 6 hours.

The polenta also was to be cooked in a slow cooker for 6 hours. I have one cooker and could see no reason to cook the polenta in this manner so gave it a normal cook in a saucepan that only took me some 30 minutes.

There were two other mixes to make before the lasagne was to be combined. There was a mozzarella, parsley and basil mix with a few other flavourings. A ricotta and garlic mixture was also required.

The recipe then required that the lasagne be put together in a slow cooker and cooked for another 2 hours. I balked at this and made it in a casserole and placed it in the oven.

The base of the lasagne was polenta. The sauce went over this, then the mozzarella mixture to be topped with spoonfuls of ricotta. Over this went another polenta layer. I added another layer of sauce on top though it was not called for. Parmesan cheese was grated over this.

The result was a rather soft lasagne that was difficult to plate as it tended to fall apart. Whether this was the result of the faster cooking in the oven as opposed to the slow cooker I cannot be sure. My feeling is that either way it would have been somewhat sloppy.

It was tasty, though, and a pleasant variation on the usual lasagne. Would I make it again? No.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔

Phil's Omelette with Soy-Braised Potatoes

Phil’s Omelette

from  Mrs Harvey’s Sister-in-Law and other tasty dishes, Margaret Dunn, Murdoch Books, 2008.

I keep returning to this book because I find the recipes not only well worth trying but I am entertained by the gossipy stories that accompany them. They are family type stories that give bits of information or background to where the recipes came from or who supplied them. It all gives a nice sense of history that brings back memories of my own grandmother’s cooking.

Phil’s Omelette gets its name from a boyfriend of the author even though she explains that she is sure that he never ever cooked it. It’s a little different from the usual omelette recipe so I thought I would give it a try.

This omelette has a slice of white bread included in it. It is soaked in milk and then mashed before it is added to the egg yolks, and then finally the beaten egg whites. I omitted the Worcester sauce as it does have anchovies in it and is a no-no for vegetarians.

The result was a very light, fluffy omelette cooked in a small size like large pikelets. They were a little difficult to turn in the pan because they were so light and tended to buckle a bit as you tried to slide the slice under them. Nevertheless, a welcome change to the usual omelette.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

Soy-Braised Potatoes

from The Gourmet Vegetarian Slow Cooker, Lynn Alley, Ten Speed Press, 2010.

Wanting something to go with Phil’s Omelette I settled on soy-braised potatoes. It was odd to cook them in a slow cooker but it did mean I could put them on and forget them for some time and give all my attention to the omelette when I was ready to make it.

They were an easy cook, not a flavour I felt went particularly well with potatoes, but certainly worth the try.

Taste: ✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

My Favourite Chilli

My Favourite Chilli

from The Gourmet Vegetarian Slow Cooker, Lynn Alley, Ten Speed Press, 2010.

After some hesitation over the idea of slow cooking vegetarian meals—especially gourmet—I made a dish of curried chickpeas with ginger and coriander. It turned out to be quite flavoursome and great to be able to put a meal on cooking before I left home for work and then return to find, with just a few small additions, everything was ready. So I thought it was worthwhile giving this book another try.

I chose a bean-based recipe; I am not quite ready to use the slow cooker for just vegetables. I have a suspicion that they will overcook. I’m waiting until I have more experience with the cooker before I try them.

It was a matter of cooking the beans and spices for 6 hours to begin with. Then some more ingredients are added to cook for a further 2 hours. One of these was cocoa which had me wondering a little though I was aware that Mexican cooking sometimes used chocolate. Half an hour before the time was up some more ingredients were added, basically to warm through and cook slightly so they still retain a certain amount of crispness.

I had a few tastes and added seasonings to suit my palate and, though I had some doubt at the first few tastes, it was a very satisfying chilli. It may not classify as ‘my favourite chilli’ for me but it was eminently edible.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Curried Chickpeas with Fresh Ginger and Coriander

Curried Chickpeas with Fresh Ginger and Coriander

from The Gourmet Vegetarian Slow Cooker, Lynn Alley, Ten Speed Press, 2010.

For vegetarian food to be slow cooked seems quite odd. Vegetables don’t need to be cooked for a long time whether it’s slowly or not. Of course, there’s always dry beans. They can do with a good slow cook.

But then, to add ‘gourmet’ to the slow cooked gave me a bit of a laugh. I just couldn’t imagine a gourmet meal coming out of a slow-cooker. So I had to give it a go to see just what the cookery book recipes were like, especially since the cover also has the line ‘Simple and Sophisticated Meals from Around the World’. Just a bit of advertising blurb, I know, but here we have on one page ‘gourmet’, ‘simple’ and  ‘sophisticated’ teamed with ‘slow cooker’. Interesting.

The book is arranged in sections according to the area the recipes come from: India, Mexico and the Southwest, Asia, Italy, France, Greece and The Middle East. It is an American publication and so the Southwest is presumably the south west of the US.

I wanted something to go with potato croquettes so chose to cook the curried chickpeas. The recipe was very simple: add the chickpeas and water to the cooker and cook. Later in the process fried onions and spices are added. And later lemon juice and seasonings. No problems at all in this.

And it turned out to be very tasty. Not gourmet certainly, nor sophisticated, but certainly simple to make. I’d certainly make it again.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔