slow cooked chicken dhansak

Last night i enjoyed leftovers of chicken dhansak and rice that i cooked at the weekend. And it was pretty good. This classic curry is my all-time favourite indian restaurant dish and my test of a good curry house. I've had various attempts at recreating it in the past, none very successful, but this has been the best so far. Not sure whether the secret was in the actual recipe or the fact that i cooked it in a slow cooker but the lentils had melted beautifully into the sauce, and the chicken was tender and tasty. It had the right amount of spiciness (sometimes they are a little too hot to handle in the restaurants, depending on how generous they've been with the green chilli...). Give it a try and see what you think, and you don't need to use a slow cooker, just seal the chicken in the pan before cooking the onion and spices, double the amount of stock (and more if it needs it during the simmering time) and cook on a slow simmer for as long as you can, stirring often.

Recipe taken from Slow Cooking Curry & Spice Dishes by Carolyn Humphries and feeds 4...

Chicken and red lentil curry with tomatoes

• 2 large potatoes, cut into walnut size chunks
• 4-6 skinless chicken breasts, cubed
• 175g/1 cup red lentils
• 15ml/1 tbsp groundnut oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 large garlic clove, crushed
• 1 fat green chilli, chopped (and seeded if preferred)
• 1/2 tsp hot chilli powder
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves (i used 2 whole cloves)
• 2 tsp garam masala
• 750ml/3 cups boiling chicken stock
• 30ml/2 tbsp malt vinegar
• 4 tomatoes, chopped
• 1 tsp demerara sugar
• salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp chopped gresh corainder
• Rice and/or naan bread to serve

Put the potatoes, chicken and lentils in the slowcooker/crock pot and stir well to mix together.

Heat the oil in a pan, add the onion and garlic and fry, stirring, for a minute. Stir in the chilli and dried spices and cook, stirring, for a further minute.

Add all the remaining ingredients* except the coriander, seasoning well. Bring back to the boil and pour into the pot with the chicken and lentil mixture. Stir, cover with lid and cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours until everything is tender.

Check for seasoning. The sauce should be thick but not stodgy, so thin it if necessary with a little boiling water. Serve garnished with the coriander with rice and naan

* I reserved some of the tomatoes which i added to the pot 10 minutes before the end.

leon's (not very) kashmiri rogan josh

When i was first given this book for Christmas, this is the dish i couldn't wait to make, and it didn't disappoint. It's worth getting organised and marinating the lamb the night before. I didn't, so can only imagine just how good this dish would have been if i had been a bit more organised!

Serves 6 (generously)

200ml natural yoghurt

1 heaped tsp dried chilli flakes (or chilli powder)

1 fat thumb-sized piece of root ginger, grated

1/2 tsp turmeric

4 cardamom pods

3 bay leaves

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1kg diced lamb or mutton

4 tbsps groundnut or sunflower oil

1.5 tsps mustard seeds

1 medium spanish onion, chopped

100g ground almonds

400-500ml chicken stock

500g pumpkin or butternut squash, diced

150g frozen peas (I didn't add these)

1 green pepper, diced

4 vine-ripened tomatoes, cut into wedges

a big handful of coriander

salt and pepper

Put the yoghurt, chilli, ginger, turmeric, cardamom, bay leaves and cinnamon into a bowl. Add the meat and move it around to make sure it's well coated and leave to marinate overnight (or for as long as you can).

Next day, heat the oil over a medium heat in a large heavy-based pan and fry mustard seeds until they begin to pop.

Add the chopped onion and stir for a couple of minutes, then tip in the meat with its marinade and gently cook on all sides for 5-10 mins. Next, add the ground almonds and stir well.

Pour in enough stock to just cover the meat, season with salt and lots of black pepper and bring to a slow simmer. Leave simmering with the lid on for 1 hour 30 minutes, stirring regularly to prevent the almonds sticking to the bottom of the pan. After this time, the lamb should be softening nicely (might need longer if you use mutton).

Then add the diced pumpkin and green pepper and push under the surface of the liquid (adding more stock if required).

Let it bubble away for 20-30 mins longer with the lid off, stirring frequently, until the pumpkin is just beginning to lose its shape and the lamb is nice and tender.

Turn off the heat, add the tomatoes and peas and stir so they are all submerged, then put the lid back on and leave for 10 mins to allow them to soften up.

Check the seasoning, give a good last stir to smash up the tomatoes a bit and serve with rice, yoghurt and a handful of coriander on top.

My friend enjoyed it (and took the photo for me!)