Thermal Cooker Recipes


My Blog post about how my fascination with thermal cooking began and about MY cooker, can be found here: http://everybodhappy.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/new-page-thermal-cooker-recipes.html





"Roast" lamb shanks and "baked" spuds. (One pot meal in the thermal cooker!) 

You will need: 
2 oven bags and large thermal cooker (to fit the shanks in!),
2 spuds, 
Cheese, 
Bacon,
Sour cream,
Butter,
Garlic,
Italian dressing,
2 lamb shanks,
Coleslaw.



Brown the bacon and chuck it into a regular sized oven bag with the cheese, spuds, some garlic and butter, suck out the air and tie a knot in the top.
Brown the shanks (if you can, they are pretty long), add some garlic (and optional anchovies/rosemary YUM!) and put them in the large oven bag with some Italian dressing and the bits from the pan, suck air out and knot the bag.
Rinse the pot and fill with water.
Add bags to the water.
Boil for about 1/2 an hr and leave in cooker to cook for a few hours (5-8hrs should be good!).
Remove from pot/bags, top spuds with coleslaw and sour cream.





BEEF BALI BELLY CURRY
Today is cold and miserable. Good day for a simple curry! (AND I want to have a go at doing rice in the thermal cooker ).


Dad makes a complicated version, cooking a million different spices, he was shattered when I made up this very simple version which tastes almost the same! Hehe!

Oil to brown meat,
Meat (today it is gravy beef, you could use any red meat),
2 onions,
Small pack of liquid stock (today it is beef),
Small tin of coconut cream (if using an oven or slow cooker, use a larger tin of coconut milk and reduce juices at the end),
3 tsp of Keens curry powder (or how you like it),

2C rice (to serve with curry).

Brown beef and onions in oil.
Chuck everything else in (except rice) and stir.
Cook for 10-15 mins and put in the cooker.

Since it didn't fill up my cooker much, I added 3 cups of hot water to the top pot, in preparation for the rice and to add more heat to the cooker.

It looks somewhat runny now, I may have to thicken with a little corn flour at the end, we will see!

I serve with rice, plain yoghurt and sweet chili sauce.

According to my book, cooking the rice is as simple as adding 2c rice to 3c hot water and boiling for 2 mins while stirring, add to the cooker for 1/2hr before serving. I've never done it so the results should be interesting!


Pretty tasty! The rice worked out well but there was WAY too much sauce. I would use a little pack of stock concentrate next time, instead of the liquid stock.


FRUIT AND NUT LOAF

I had some 'stale' cashews and a bit of dried fruit in the cupboard. I've never done a cake in the thermal cooker and I bought the mess tin (an optional extra) especially for doing cakes, so I thought it was time I had a go at it.

You'll need:
Pot, trivet and mess tin (sprayed with cooking oil and a circle of baking paper in the bottom, spray the lid too!)

Ingredients:
1 egg
2c SR flour
1tsp bi carb
1/2c golden syrup
3/4c boiling water
2tsp mixed spice
1tbsp butter or marg
About 2c of nuts and dried fruit (I think I used a bit more)

Mix the hot water, syrup, butter and bi carb together, cool.
Mix flour spices and fruit/nuts in a bowl.
Add a whipped egg to the cool syrup mix.
Add to the flour/fruit and stir it up.
Put it in the tin.
Put the tin, on the trivet, in the big pot and fill about 1/2 way up the sides of the tin with hot water. (I overfilled, mine might be a soggy mess!) Boil about 15mins.
Put pot in the cooker for at least 45mins.

The cake isn't going to dry out in the cooker so you could probably leave it overnight or for HOURS.

Serve with butter (good for the tea drinkers at happy hour  )


*If you don't have the mess tin, you can cook this in the thermal cooker in some empty (clean) cans with tin foil tied over the top. 
This is the way I usually make this type of recipe at home... then steam them for an hour!
If it works out, it could be my new favourite method (energy saving!  )

These loaves can also be frozen for later use... just wrap them up tightly when you do it, so they don't get freezer burn.


This loaf wasn't cooked in the middle when I opened it the first time. I popped it back on to boil for a few minutes and then back in the cooker for an hour. After a second 'bake', it is ready and it is GOOD. Next cakes/loaves I do, I will put a passionfruit tin in the middle of my mess tin so the cakes become ring cakes and cook all of the way through without having to boil them up again.  







You've gotta be yolking me! 


Just tried poached eggs in the thermal cooker... Perfect!

2 eggs in silicone patty pans, pour boiling water about 3/4 of the way up the sides, 
leave in the cooker for 10-20 mins (depending on if you like hard or gooey).

Too easy... Especially if you have leftover boiled water in the kettle, from the morning brew!




Corned Silverside Beef in the Thermal Cooker 

Super simple. 


This is almost exactly like cooking it the normal way but the thermal cooker makes it sooooo tender and uses heaps less energy.

Approx 1kg squarish corned silverside (the shape helps it cook through properly),
New baby spuds,
Mixed frozen veg (this is all we've got in the fridge today!)

Put the beef in the big pot, cover with water and boil for about 20-30mins (depends on size).
In the small pot, boil veg for about 10mins.
Put it all in the cooker and wait about 5hrs (longer if you wish).

Just about everyone knows this recipe and some like to spice up the beef water with orange etc. but I like it plain and served up with pickles!
Perfect for a coooold day like today.



Korma Curry (from a jar) and Cauliflower Rice

800g lean lamb steaks cut into small cubes,
2 onions cut into 1/2 rings,
A large jar of your favourite korma mix,
A sweet potato or two, cut into cubes,
Add water or stock if the mix is too gluggy and doesn't cover the ingredients.
Cook on the stove for 15-20mins, transfer to the pot and leave it for min 5 hours.

This is a korma from a jar (can't be bothered making it from scratch ) but I'm adding some sweet potato and serving it with no fat plain yoghurt and cauliflower rice (because carbs are not my friend).
To make the cauliflower rice, blitz your cauli in a food processor until it is chopped into rice sized bits. Cook it in water for a few minutes until it is tender, drain and use it like rice.
I guess you could cook it in the top pot of the thermal cooker but you don't want it to go smooshy.
Serves 4 big meals 
I love this curry! Delicious with chili too. Serve it up with no fat natural yoghurt.

Diet Stew
Brown 800g of gravy beef and 3 chopped onions in the big pot with a dash of olive oil. 
Add a big spoon of garlic (I did about a tablespoon or more!)
Add some garam masala and hot cayenne spices to taste.
Add a chopped stick of celery, 2 parsnips chopped and a chopped carrot. (I also chucked in 1/2 a can of beans from the fridge... optional I suppose  )
Add some tomato paste, 1/2 cup passata and some chicken stock.
Cook for about 10-15mins then put it in the pot for 5+ hours.
Serves 4.

Use some hot cayenne or paprika... or even Tobasco sauce to give it a nice kick. 

CSIRO Diet Inspired Zingy Lemony Beef Stew
800g cubed gravy beef or Osso or any beef really!
1 chopped onion

Garlic to taste
2 chopped carrots 
2 chopped stalks of celery
1 tin tomatoes (crushed)
2C stock
1 sprig of rosemary (I chucked in basil and chili too)
1C white wine (I'd go a bit less next time)
Worcestershire sauce
Parsley (I did about 3 TBSP but would do a bit less next time)
Zest from a lemon
Oil (just a little)
2tsp of cornflour for thickening (save until you get it out of the thermal cooker... I reheated after cooking time, so I could thicken it) I also put the lemon zest in at this time.
This ends up a bit like a soup with lumps. 

Sear beef, onion and herbs.
Add everything else.
Cook on the stove for 20mins and pop in the cooker. 
Leave for 5hrs+ (depending on how tough your beef is!)
Take it out and reheat for thickening and adding zest.
Serves 4.
This is a strange lemony flavour. Don't add the zest if you're not feeling radical.


Dutch Pea and Ham Soup 'Snert'
(Image from the website)

I basically followed this recipe but substituted more celery and some turnip for the celeriac (couldn't get one) and smoked pork neck for the Dutch streaky bacon. 
I also used pork medallions instead of the pork chop and three smoked pork soup bones instead of the hock because I didn't want to pick apart a lot of meat from bones. 
I sat the rookwurst on the top of the boiling soup (boiled for about 1/2hr) to heat it through, then, when I opened the pot, I shredded the meat, removed the soup bones, cut up the sausage and stirred it all which basically pureed the veggies. 
It is thick and smokey and tasty. Quite expensive for all of the ingredients though. 

Dream Pot 'Apple Dream Cake'


Dream Pot shared this recipe on their Facebook Page for Mothers' Day 2014. Full credit to them but my photo. Here is the link to their page so you can check it out: https://www.facebook.com/DreamPotCooker?ref=ts&fref=ts
Apple Cream Dream Cake
(A delicious cake for morning tea with a texture of a Tea Cake)
Boiling time on stove: 20 minutes
Cooking time in the DreamPot: 1 hour
Cook in the: ✓ 5 Litre DreamPot ✓ 6 Litre DreamPot
Ingredients:
2 large eggs at room temperature
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup caster sugar
185 Grams (7 ounces) SR Flour
Pouring cream
1 tin of Pie Apples
Whipped cream
Icing sugar
Method:
1. Put 2 litres boiling water into large 5 Litre inner pot, or pour 3 litres of boiling water into the large 6 litre inner pot. Place small inner pot, coated well with cooking spray, over the boiling water. Boil on the stove as a double saucepan, to preheat while the cake is being mixed. You will note that the steam will be visible between the two inner pots. Keep it boiling well.
2. Break the eggs into a 250 ml cup. Fill with cream to make up to 250ml in quantity. Pour into a basin. Add salt and sugar. Beat well with a whisk for 5 minutes.
3. Add the SR flour. Fold into the mixture until all combined, mixing with a spoon.
4. Pour the cake mixture into the small inner pot and smooth the top. Cover with the stainless steel lid and boil as a double saucepan for 20 minutes.
5. Transfer into the DreamPot for the minimum cooking time.
6. Remove from the DreamPot and allow to cool prior to tipping out onto a cooling rack.
7. Once cooled completely, cut the cake carefully in half, horizontally, with a long sharp knife.
8. Place a layer of apples over the bottom half, and cover with a generous layer of whipped cream. Place the top half of the cake over the cream.
9. Sprinkle with sifted icing sugar prior to serving.



2 comments:

  1. Yummm, I will give your lamb shanks a go, Imogen...maybe my hubby would appreciate the nut loaf too. I have a few recipes you might like to try out too. Maybe we can continue to 'swap' recipes via our blogs. Here's a link to the spicy plum lamb shanks. http://robbiebago.blogspot.com.au/2013/06/spicy-plum-lamb-shanks-recipe.html

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    Replies
    1. Yes! I've been taking some sneeky peeks at your recipes and I think we will have to get together and write a book ;)

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