My first question on here, so please go easy on me.
I have recently got a slow cooker and have been very pleased with the results, but that was using ready-made sachets of cooking mixes.
I am now trying to cook things properly from scratch but I think I'm missing something important.
This is the recipe I have used for chicken curry:-
- 4 chicken thighs
- 3 garlic cloves
- 2 large onions
- 1 green pepper
- 1 red pepper
- handful chopped spinach
- 100g mushrooms
- 400g tin chopped tomatoes
- 250ml chicken stock
- 3 heaped tsp of curry spice
I put everything in the slow cooker, give it a good stir, and then leave it to cook. It tastes nice, but the sauce is very watery.
I have used the same recipe in a pan and the sauce thickens after I simmer it for about 20 mins.
Do I need to change the recipe to use the slow cooker? Or am I doing something fundamentally wrong?
Best Answer
A slow cooker needs a lot less water for the same recipe than something you simmer in a pan for 20 minutes. The sauce thickens in the pan because a lot of the water evaporates.
In this case, most your water is in the chicken stock. To get all of the flavor, but less moisture, drastically reduce, or even eliminate the stock. You've got plenty of water without it. Use a tsp of chicken base to keep the flavor without the water (recommended: Better Than Bouillon).
That alone will probably solve your problem. If it doesn't, come back to this question and edit it to tell us what you tried and any problems that remain, or ask a new question if the problem is different.
Welcome to Seasoned Advice.