Another damn fine slow cooker recipe from Teh Internets. I did want to make something tasty, but I admit my main goal in making Unbeef Stew was to take a better photograph than all the other horrible looking ones on the recipe page. Stew is not the most photogenic thing in the world.

I didn’t stray too far from the recipe this time — just added a little less cornstarch, threw in some red wine and honey, and bought some good quality Asian Grocery “dried” tofu (you’ll still find this in the fridge section, it’s just a lot firmer than regular tofu) instead of bothering with the freezing and liquid draining malarkey. Also, I didn’t peel my potatoes or seed my tomato. I’m such a rebel.

Banana Curry, slightly altered from Flip Shelton’s wonderful yet sadly out-of-print cookbook, Green. This version serves 4-5, or 2 plus tomorrows lunch.

Sauté 2 onions and a small jar of red curry paste in a few tablespoons of oil. Add 4 roughly chopped bananas, 500g of diced firm tofu, a cup of frozen peas and half a cup of vegetable stock. Simmer for around 10 minutes, until everything is cooked through. Roll 2 limes on a benchtop under your palm to soften them up as much as possible. Cut them in half, then use a citrus reamer (heh) to extract every last drop of juice and stir it through the curry, followed by a small tin of coconut cream. Season to taste, serve with rice and top with tasty fresh basil. I got mine from the amazing Stacking Theory garden because I am a lucky duck. Particularly good on 43ºC days. Sheesh.

My parents gave us a slow cooker for Christmas. The first thing I made in it was a cauliflower soup, slightly altered from the version I made up for the stove* a while back. It worked out quite well.

The second thing I made was an Italian Not-Dog spaghetti.

It did not work out so well.

I’d found the recipe on the internet and apparently failed to look at the star rating. It had 2/10. It’s now 1.5/10. It was possibly the worst thing I’ve ever cooked.

I was determined for the crockpot to succeed though, and have since found a bunch of vegan recipes for stews and whatnot that look entirely promising. The one pictured above was last nights meal, Mushroom Stew. I added a bunch of enoki mushrooms to the mix, used two tablespoons of cornstarch in place of the tapioca, then tested it halfway through and added a good pinch of salt, some red wine, Nuttelex margarine and honey. I don’t do well with such straightedge recipes — things NEED salt, damnit, it is not evil and works to enhance the flavours of the other ingredients.

Anyway, it was quite delicious. Will make again.

*Cauliflower soup: sauté an onion, some garlic, chilli and ginger. Add cauliflower pieces, a cup or so of red lentils and one or two diced potatoes. Add good amounts of red and yellow spices (paprika, cinnamon, nutmeg, curry powder, mustard seeds, garam masala, cloves, turmeric, etc.) and about 10 cups of vegetable stock. Perhaps some beer, perhaps some nutritional yeast flakes or some sharp shaved cheese. Definitely some sweet chilli sauce and a tomato puree of some kind. Freshly crushed salt and pepper, obviously. Cook for a while. Better the next day.)