I've fallen off the bandwagon SO many times, I've lost count! However, I found it funny, in a non-haha way (or maybe in a haha way..), that of all days where I would peruse through my old blog posts, today would be the anniversary of when I decided to start eating healthy. I always thought my healthy eating started in May, when I started logging with myfitnesspal.com, what a surprise!
To celebrate, I prelogged part of my meals (something I've been struggling with over the last few months), I also got my butt in gear and cleaned the slow cooker, so that I could make yummy Thai Curry (a tad on the bland side, now that I taste it.. as the bf puts it "it's white ppl Thai curry", we had to tweak it a little).
The recipe I followed (kinda sorta), is found here: http://www.foodnetwork.ca/everyday-cooking/blog/slow-cooker-thai-red-curry-soup/
I tweaked the recipe and used what I had on hand, so it could be the cause of it not having enough of a pronounced taste! If anyone tries the original recipe as well as this one, let me know what you think in the comments!
Thai Yellow Curry Chicken Soup
1 can coconut milk
1 cup chicken broth
3 tbsp yellow Thai curry paste
2 tbsp palm sugar
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 small onions
3 garlic cloves, minced
2-inch piece of ginger, minced
1 small package of whole mushrooms
2 carrots, sliced
2 boneless, skinless chicken boobs
2 lemongrass stems
2 Thai peppers - whole
4 red potatoes, diced and boiled*
Mix coconut milk, chicken broth, curry paste, sugar, and soy sauce directly in the slow cooker. Then add all other ingredients. The original recipe calls for 2hrs on high, or 4hrs on low. However, I did some research yesterday in regards to cooking chicken in a slow cooker. I wasn't sure if it would be better to slightly cook the chicken first, as is the case with beef.
I found a reddit post on the subject.
This is what a user (DoubleDroz), mentioned on the subject: Here's what America's Test Kitchen has to say: Cooking times for Chicken - We found that the only way to cook chicken in a slow cooker is on the low setting, which takes longer to get to the maximum heat level and allows the chicken time to gradually cook through without overcooking. Different cuts also require different cooking times to keep from overcooking.
- Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts: 2 to 3 hours on Low
- Bone-in Chicken Breasts: 3 to 4 hours on Low
- Chicken Thighs: 4 to 5 hours on Low4
- Drumsticks and Wings: 3 to 4 hours on Low
- Ground Chicken: 2 to 3 hours on Low
https://amp.reddit.com/r/slowcooking/comments/3ku8jo/how_long_should_i_cook_my_chicken_thighs_in_my/
I was reading different websites as well, and found out that chicken used in a slow cooker should never be frozen, as it doesn't get hot fast enough, so while thawing can get some lovely bacteria as well. I can do without bacteria and getting sick! Thankfully my chicken was fresh, but I will have to make note of it somewhere visible so as to avoid getting sick.
Some reasons why I think the Thai curry may have turned out kind of bland:
- I used lite soy sauce, less salt... sacrilège! I know! I can't wait for it to finish, so I can get something better! It's what the bf bought years ago, if there's one thing I miss from my days gone past, it was the different types of soy sauce I kept!
- for the garlic, two were minced, the third one was smashed and plopped in, bf didn't want too much garlic
- not sure if the ginger was actually minced or just thrown in, bf took over towards the end
- mushrooms were thrown in, uncut - could be why some flavour was missing, mushrooms add a lot of water, I didn't season accordingly
* (potatoes were added after 4hrs cooking on low, also after shredding the chicken, I boiled them before putting them in as the last time we tried making stew in the slow cooker and just popped potatoes in as the recipe suggested, they remained raw! Much faster to boil them, then add them in afterwards!
More tweaking was done after 4hrs. I added 3 more tbsp of curry paste, basically used the whole jar! (It was a tiny jar, but still! All gone!)
We added sea salt, ground peppercorn, another lemongrass stalk and the boiled potatoes. Set the timer for another 4hrs, 1 of which has already passed. It's more flavourful, the chicken is still quite tender, the tastes are melding together nicely, potatoes were a great addition...aaand the carrots are still raw >.> albeit a tab more cooked, but not much. I think after another hour it ought to be ok.
Anyone have a trick for potatoes and carrots in the slow cooker? The carrots were still raw after 4hrs on low, I've added more cooking time. It's still doing its thing, so I'll modify overall cooking time when it's all said and done.
Eight hours later, the carrots are still not fully cooked, I gave up on them lol but at least they're mostly cooked, with a little crunch! Unfortunately, the chicken became a wee bit dry after 8hrs, up to 6hrs it was still very juicy. Lesson learned! I think I'll be boiling the carrots before adding them to the crock pot!
