Wednesday 6 February 2013

Quorn Slow Cooker Beef Madras

Hello all

It has been a while, I do apologise - we are caught up in preparing to emigrate and all the chaos that goes with it. I have not forgotten my pledge to continue blogging quorn versions of classic meals though and this one, I am proud to say, is entirely my own creation!

I wanted to make a slow cooker curry, having not done so before, and I had made a beef one with some cheap and cheerful stewing steak a couple of weeks before with moderate success. I knew, however, that a) it was nowhere near hot enough for my husband and b) it would need to be tweaked as no actual 'browning' would need to go on.

I am pleased to say that having balanced the spices (the slow cooker tends to cook the heat out of chilli so I had to allow for this) and changed the method somewhat, this version actually made a very nice, hot curry - I used steak strips for my beef but you could happily turn this into a 'chicken' version using the pieces or even fillets cut into chunks. I have noticed quorn have started selling lamb strips too - so maybe give that a go!

Anyway, this is what it looked like served up over some basmati rice:


You can see that the sauce is pretty thick - which is exactly how we like our curry, but you could aim for a thinner curry by adding extra water at the relevant point.

So, this is my recipe for a beef madras, Quorn style....

Makes 5/6 portions

2 medium onions
4 garlic cloves
square inch of fresh ginger, peeled
3 fresh chillies (whole)
4tsp ground cumin
4tsp ground coriander
2tsp ground turmeric
1tsp hot chilli powder
2tsp garam masala
2 cans of chopped tomatoes

fresh plain yoghurt and fresh coriander to taste

Method:

1) In a blender blitz the onions, garlic, ginger and chillies into a paste, you want it finely chopped and you leave the seeds in the chilli for a madras level strength (tweak accordingly if you do not want so much heat).

2) Heat a frying pan until very hot and then add the paste and cook it for a few minutes until the paste smells very fragrant and is sizzling.

3) Add the cumin, ground coriander and turmeric and stir into the paste for a minute or so until you have a dryish mixture which smells amazing.

4) Tip your bag of quorn pieces/steak strips into the slow cooker and add the onion mixture, tomatoes and half a can of water (or a full can if you want a thinner sauce),the chilli powder and then mix well. Switch on to low and leave for 8 hours or put on high for 4/5 hours.

5) Stir at intervals whenever you get the chance throughout the day.

6) 30 minutes before you are ready to serve, add the garam masala and a dolllop of fresh yoghurt, stir, taste and get it to the heat/taste you want.

7) Just as you serve stir through a handful of chopped coriander.

And there you have it!

Enjoy! 


3 comments:

  1. Hiya, thanks for the recipe, I can't wait to try it!

    How could this be adapted to cook in a normal pot on the hob, as I might not always want to use a slow cooker?

    Many thanks!

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    Replies
    1. You could do it in a large pan or a wok by sweating the onions, garlic, chilli (only half as much or it will be insanely hot) and ginger til soft, adding the spices and frying for another minute then stirring in the tomatoes, this is then your base, once it is up to simmering point add your quorn and simmmer until the sauce is the desired consistency and the quorn is heated through, should be about 20-30 mins. Sorry for the delay replying!

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  2. I've cooked three of your recipes now, and I'm cooking this one tonight :) I love your recipes! I didn't know quorn could be so tasty x

    ReplyDelete