As January is slow cooker month, we’re sharing some tasty slow cooker recipes which were created for FareShare Greater Manchester by the Manchester United Foundation‘s chefs. Slow cookers are a great way to produce low-cost tasty meals using left overs and are very cheap to run.

This week’s cauliflower chickpea curry recipe will also come in handy for anyone participating in Veganuary!

Cauliflower & Chickpea Curry with Cauliflower Bhajis

Serves 4 portions

Cooking time: 4-4 ½ hours on a high heat

A small amount of frying is required for this dish before it goes into the slow cooker.

Ingredients for the curry:

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 large onion (diced)
• 2 large carrots (diced)
• 1 large potato (chopped)
• 1 large cauliflower (washed and cut into medium florets, save the stalk and leaves)
• 2 tbsp of curry powder (hot)
• 1 fresh chilli (thinly sliced)
• Small bunch of coriander (roughly chopped)
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 inch fresh ginger (peeled & minced). Alternatively, you could use 1 level tsp of ground ginger
• 1 tin coconut milk (400ml)
• 400ml water
• 1 vegetable stock cube
• 1 tin chickpeas (400g drained)
• Pinch of salt
• Pinch of white pepper

Method:

• Heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil in a frying pan on a medium heat.
• Fry the cauliflower florets until light, golden brown in colour. Remove from the heat and place in the slow cooker.
• Heat the remaining oil and fry the diced onion, carrot & potato for 1 minute. Add the garlic, chilli and curry powder and cook for a further 1 – 2 minutes. This will start to fill your kitchen with a lovely fragrance!
• Transfer the contents of the frying pan into the slow cooker and add the coconut milk and chickpeas along with the stock cube and water. Mix well and cook on a high heat for 4.5 hours.
• Once the time has passed, stir well and taste. Add a pinch of salt and pepper to season if required. Sprinkle in the chopped coriander.
• Serve with boiled or microwave rice and naan/flatbread.

Bhajis (made from the cauliflower trimmings)

Ingredients:

• Cauliflower trimmings
• 1 small onion (thinly sliced)
• 1 tbsp gram flour
• 1 tsp curry powder
• A splash of water (just enough to bring it all together – sticky, not wet)
• Pinch of salt
• Pinch of pepper
• Vegetable oil for frying

Method:

• Mix all the dry ingredients together and add just enough water to bind it all together to form a sticky batter mix.
• Shallow fry in the frying pan for 2-3 minutes on each side until crispy.

This slow cooker chickpea curry recipe contains ALLERGENS. Please check all ingredients lists carefully if you need to avoid allergens in your food, including all food labels.