Slow cooker butter chicken

There’s something ineffably comforting and cosy about having the slow cooker tick away on the worktop on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

It hardly even matters what’s bubbling away inside, whether it’s a stew or a pot roast or a chilli; the heartening aspect for me is somehow linked to the lingering period of anticipation that goes hand in hand with slow cooking.

At times (and this is going to make me sound like a congenital fool) but I have often wondered as to my own slow cooker’s inability to heat up quick enough. Then I remember that it’s a slow cooker and it is I who is heating up too quickly.

Apart from the fact that slow cooking basically means healing all the ingredients into the receptacle and letting time and heat sort things out, I also find that both the anticipation and detachment from the initial prep works wonders for my eventual appetite.

“There’s damn all wrong with your appetite, Devlin. Look at the shape of you.”

Be that as it may, but if you’ve ever toiled over a dinner only to belatedly sit down and realise that you’re not enjoying the meal as much as your fellow diners, slow cooking is the answer.

I have NEVER made a meal via the slow cooker that I haven’t enjoyed to the nth degree. So long does the cooking last, it’s as if my senses forget that it had been me doing all the initial prep. Plus, as you don’t tend to lurk over the hob stirring and coaxing, those same senses aren’t as bombarded by scents and aromas as they ordinarily would be.

One of my new favourite slow cooker recipes is butter chicken.

Now, before you go thinking that butter chicken isn’t possible in a slow cooker, think again.

This recipe offers the best of rich, creamy, Indian curry but with a fraction of the effort.

Also, I am living proof that it works out perfect every time. I mean, look at the shape of me.

INGREDIENTS (SERVES FOUR)

Heaped tbsp of butter

3 garlic cloves, crushed or grated

1 tbsp of freshly grated ginger

1 small green chilli, finely chopped

3 tbsps of your curry powder of preference (I used medium heat Schwartz)

2 tbsps tomato puree (tomato ketchup also works at a pinch)

1 tbsp of sugar

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

100ml of water

8 chicken thighs, de-boned and skinless, chopped into quarters

125ml of double cream

THE PLAN

This is pretty easy going in terms of making a curry. In fact, it’s up there with the easiest I’ve ever made.

Switch your slow cooker to high and then dump in the butter, garlic, ginger, curry powder, tomato puree and sugar. After a while and when the butter melts, stir everything about to combine.

Add in the chicken, season generously with salt and pepper and once again stir everything about to combine.

Add in the water (I used hot water from the kettle to help speed things along) and again stir through, then stick the lid on and let time and heat do the heavy lifting for the next three and a half to four hours. Check a piece of chicken after three and a half hours and if it’s cooked through and soft and delicious, you can move onto the next stage.

Pour in the double cream and stir through.

As the cream is heating up, put on some rice or chips (or both) and when those are ready, the curry will be finished.

Check the seasoning in the curry and adjust if necessary.

Serve up with the rice or chips (or both) a bottle of Cobra, maybe some fresh coriander and a significantly enhanced feeling of well-being.