Slow-Cooker Curry Experiment

The end result was bright orange and delicious

Because of my mission to empty and defrost the freezer, I haven't been cooking and freezing anything lately. Meals have been whatever I can get together quickly; risotto a couple of nights, sausages and salad in burger buns on others, until I have reached the point where my freezer now contains three almost-finished Quorn packets of various types, some broccoli, some bread and the last two pieces of spinach quiche. The trouble is that with term in full swing once more and my new schedule involving very early mornings but not much earlier nights, I'm not managing to cook dinner before I fall asleep. Last night I found myself eating a Graze box as my evening meal, after a lunch of salad leaves between mayonnaise-smeared bread, and I decided it was time to get sorted.


I'm out at work tonight, and the original plan was to go to a friend's house for dinner. I decided earlier that I was just too tired to be good company so we've rescheduled and I've thrown most of the vegetable content of my fridge into my slow cooker, along with 200g of red lentils and some curry paste, to cook itself until I get back. I have no idea whether the end result will be delicious, edible, or disgusting, but at least it will be hot and full of nutrients. I'll keep you posted.

Update: the curry went well! I am still not sure I'm a big fan of the texture of lentils, but they definitely added much-needed body to the curry. I served it with a side of wilted spinach leaves, and shared with a friend who has been buried in her disseration for the last fortnight and barely surfaced to sleep, never mind to eat proper meals. We both agreed it was nice and a good way to get lots of vegetables into a meal. The only thing I wasn't happy with was the liquid content after 5 hours in the cooker - it was still quite watery and more like a thick soup than a curry. If I had been planning on making curry soup I would have been very happy with it, and it did go nicely with some poppadums (naan would have been even better). It made a good five portions, two of which are in the freezer - ironically.