Dorowat (Ethiopian Chicken Stew)

Dorowat (Ethiopian Chicken Stew)

Although it has been a while since we last posted, I can assure you we have been cooking.  The pressure of having a very young child to take care of is taking it's toll and the blog is the one that has suffered.  Mainly we have been cooking tried and tested recipes but every now and again we have searched for something a little different.

We have used the slow-cooker quite a lot recently too as it is good to prepare food during Olivia's morning snooze, hit the button and have tea ready 8 hours later.  This recipe is an absolutely fantastic example that we found in Making the Most of Your Slow Cooker. 

We changed things only very slightly so this is basically the recipe as stated in the book:

Vegetable Oil
3 Medium Onions (chopped)
3 Garlic Cloves (chopped)
1 tsp Minced Ginger
200 ml Vegetable Stock
250 ml Passata
3 Hard Boiled Eggs
6 Skinless Boneless Chicken Thighs
Salt and Pepper

Spice Mix (crushed and mixed)

5 Cardamon Pods
5 Cloves
1/2 tsp Ground Turmeric
1/4 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Ground Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper

Method:

Pre-heat the slow cooker
Cook the onions over a medium heat for about 10 minutes
Add the garlic and ginger and cook for a further 2 minutes
Add the stock and passata and cook for a further 10 minutes till thickened a little
Add the spice mix and stir through and season
Transfer the sauce to the slow cooker and add the chicken thighs whole and push them down to just be submerged.
Cook on medium for 5 hours
Add the boiled eggs and cook for a further hour

We had this served with rice and flat breads and thought it was fantastic.  It had a lovely dark colour and a sweet and spicy flavour with just enough heat.  The boiled eggs was a new one on us but it seemed to work well.  In fact we enjoyed this dish so much we might do a little research into Ethiopean cuisine and see what delights we can discover.

Sausage Pot



Sausage Pot with sweet potato mash and broccoli

We have been meaning to post about this dish for a while.  It is a classic simple dish for the slow cooker and has served us (Tim anyway) well for lunches.  It is also a very economical dish unless you have to use gluten-free sausages which on this occasion we did.
This recipe is taken from the instruction booklet we got with the slow-cooker itself and this recipe was the 1st thing we tried when we got it as a present last Christmas.  The booklet is quite old-fashioned and I wouldn't be surprised to see soup for instance listed as a single ingredient.  I suppose this should be frowned upon by the cooks among us but I think it is OK sometimes to cheat a little, especially when cooking comfort food like this.

Back then Fran wasn't eating gluten-free and it was quite easy to buy 750g of sausages as the recipe suggests.  These days however it isn't that easy.  We have had some sausages in the freezer for a few weeks after buying them at Marple Food and Drink Festival.  These were gluten-free and cost about £4 for 350g so we decided we would take a chance with the consistency on this occasion and keep all the other quantities the same except there was about half the meat.  This worked OK but we now have sauce left which we will try and incorporate into another dish at a later date.

Ingredients (as it should be)

750g of Sausages which is about 12.  (We used 350g of gluten-free)
2 Leeks (finely chopped)
2 Onions (finely chopped)
400ml Beef stock (We used Knorr gluten-free)
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce (We used gluten-free)
3 Tablespoons Chutney
3 Tablespoon of Plain Flour (We used gluten-free)
Oil
Salt and Pepper

What to do

In one large pan soften the onions and leeks on a medium heat in a little oil.  At the same time begin browning the sausages in a frying pan.   You may need to do this in batches if cooking the full 750g.

Then combine the sausages and veg in the large pan.  Add flour and stir until it has soaked up all the oil. 

Then gradually add the beef stock and keep stirring.  Add the Worcestershire sauce, chutney and season a little.  Transfer everything to the slow cooker and cook on low for about 8 hours.






As you can see from the (not very appetizing) picture at the start of the post we served it as a proper meal with sweet potato mash and broccoli.  This is a great dish for the freezer though and if you use the 750g of sausages as the recipe says you would make about 6 portions.  One lesson learned from previous attempts is not to use the cheapest sausages available as they tend to fall about in the slow-cook process.  We found own-brand but not value to be just about right.  To vary the dish slightly you could even experiment with different kinds of chutney.

Coconut Beef Madras

Yesterday saw the return of the slow cooker.  There is something very pleasing and homely about coming home to the smell of something slow-cooked.  For some reason it always smells better than when done in the oven.  The added benefit of course (other than being able to use a cheaper cut of meat) is that with the money you save you can spend in the pub and return home at a time to suit you - knowing that the food won't spoil.

After a not very successful trip to start the Christmas (and a few birthdays) shopping at the Lowry Outlet, we came back with only 1 present but we did buy a new grater and yet another little cookbook.  I was particularly taken by this book as it had a flip out piece of card so it can stand up allowing you to easily read the recipe while cooking - genius. 

This recipe is taken from "Slow Cooking" by Top That! Publishing

So for our first of many slow cooked recipes we will no doubt take from this book we chose the Coconut Beef Madras.



Coconut Beef Madras

You will need:

1.5 kg Beef such as braising steak (cut into pieces)
2 tablespoons of plain flour (we use gluten-free)
2 large onions (chopped)
6 cloves of garlic (crushed)
Big chunk of ginger (3 inch, finely chopped)
3/4 a jar of madras curry paste
200 ml coconut milk
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
3 small green chillies (halved length ways)
1 teaspoon of salt
Vegetable oil

First dust the steak and brown it in batches in a hot pan with some oil.  Put meat aside as you go.

In the same pan, fry the onion, garlic and ginger and cinnamon powder - add a little water and soften for 20 minutes.  When ready - transfer the onion mix to a food processor and blitz to a paste.

Put meat and paste into the slow-cooker and add coconut milk, madras paste, cinnamon stick, chillies and salt.  Mix well and cook on low for about 8-10 hours.

Serve with steamed rice and fresh coriander








The recipe asked for 2 cinnamon sticks but as I only had 1 I used the cinnamon powder in addition.  This created a different twist to a normal madras and I think this is what caused Fran to declare it is nice but a little odd.  She assured me this was not a negative statement but merely to describe the interesting flavours she had noted.  I thought it was lovely and the recipe above would make 5 or 6 portions so is also great for the freezer or a big hungry family.

Chinese Slow-Cooked Pork

Thanks to a fantastic half-price offer at Morrisons I did something which is quite rare and bought a joint of meat.  Pork shoulder is a cut I love cooking as it tenderises so well when you have a few hours spare and at £2 something a kilo I thought I would treat Fran to something special ;)

Chinese Slow-Cooked Pork

When we are not talking about food we are generally talking about our fast-approaching little soiree to Switzerland (hence the curiously placed guide book above).   In a few weeks we will be no doubt trying to cook a cheese fondue or something but for now - back to the pork....

I can't really attribute this recipe to anyone as I looked at a few, pinched some ideas but changed quantities, missed some things out and added some others so I guess this is my own creation.  With slow-cooker recipes you don't need to be too accurate on cooking time and we find we often go to the pub until we are hungry.  In this case it added about 3 hours to the planned cooking time so we were left with a "pulled pork" type of consistency which was fantastic actually!  The sauce was very rich but the meat could take it and had we not served it with crackling then it would have been a healthy dish too.

Such a very simple dish done this way:

lkg Pork Shoulder Joint
1 teaspoon Chinese 5spice
1 teaspoon salt

Remove the fat from the pork, rub meat with the 5spice and salt and leave in fridge for 2 hours




For the cooking sauce:

1 Tablespoon Molasses
4 Tablespoons Soy Sauce (Gluten-free)
1 Tablespoon Fish Sauce
1 Teaspoon Crushed Dried Chilli
5 Spring Onions
1 Large Knob of Ginger (unpeeled and finely sliced)
6 Cloves of garlic (peeled but left whole)
600 ml of Chicken Stock (Gluten-free)
Cornflour

In a pan dissolve the molasses into the soy and fish sauce.  Add the stock and vegetables and bring to a simmer.

Put the slow-cooker to high and place the meat in the middle.  Pour over the sauce, cover and leave for 4 hours.  Turn the meat and cook on low for at least another 2 hours.

When cooked, remove the meat, cover with foil and leave to rest for 20 minutes while you prepare the sauce.

Pour the sauce from the slow-cooker into a pan through a sieve.









Turn up the heat and thicken with cornflour until at the required consistency.

Shred the meat and scatter it over stir-fried veg, then drizzle over some sauce.  We also had scratchings (done separately) but they were a bit of a disaster so we won't go there. 

We thought it tasty great.  The sauce was rich and spicy but the meat could handle it.  It was nice to have the stir-fry crunch too.  We plan to buy some more pork while it is still on offer so you may see some more slow-cooked pork ideas (or perhaps you could suggest one!?)