The New Indian Slow Cooker- a cookbook by Neela Paniz

  I had to try this cookbook since I love Indian food!
The rich and complex flavors of classic Indian dishes like  chicken in a creamy tomato-butter sauce can take hours to develop through such techniques as extended braising and low simmering but with the crock pot this recipe was so easy to spin out. In fact we loved the sauce so much we had it the following day on meatballs!

The newest book in Ten Speed's best-selling slow cooker series, featuring more than 60 fix-it-and-forget-it recipes for Indian favorites.  So I was excited as soon as I heard that Ten Speed Press was bringing out an Indian slow cooker book.There is so much information included in this book and I suggest that you sit down and read it all before you get started on any of the recipes( who does not read a cook book any way?)The pictures are amazing! I do so love cookbooks with pictures to make you get into a cooking mood!!


Although I did not try this recipe it sounds good! Chicken Soup with Rice, Spinach, and Tomatoes murghi shorba

One of the more popular dishes we served at the Bombay Café was murghi shorba. I wanted to offer a soup beyond lentils, so using the basic method of another popular dish, Sautéed Chicken with Green Mango Powder (page 40), I came up with an Indian version of chicken and rice soup. Like any good chicken soup, it is a wonderful comfort for those ailing with a cold—and the addition of chiles certainly clears your sinuses!

If you are looking to make a stock without the flavors of the whole spices, just leave them out. If using this method for the chicken stock required in the Mulligatawny Soup recipe on page 41, do not add the ginger, chiles, cardamom, cassia, or cloves. 
 
Stock
1 (4-to 41⁄2-pound) chicken, skinned and cut up 
(see page 21)
10 cups water
1 large yellow onion, 
cut into 6 pieces
8 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1 (2-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
3 serrano chiles, with seeds, 
cut into 3 pieces each
1 carrot, peeled and 
cut into 1-inch rounds
1 tomato, quartered
4 whole black cardamom pods
1 (2-inch) piece cassia, 
broken in half
8 cloves
8 to 10 whole black peppercorns
11⁄2 teaspoons salt


1 cup hot cooked rice
1 large tomato, seeded and diced small
10 to 12 large spinach leaves, julienned
1⁄4 cup chopped cilantro,
for garnish
1 serrano chile, minced, 
for garnish (optional) 
1 lemon, cut into 8 wedges, 
for garnish


Before prepping the ingredients, turn the slow cooker on to the high setting for 
15 minutes, until the insert is warmed through.

To make the stock, add the backbone and wing tips of the cut up chicken to the heated slow cooker along with the water, onion, garlic, ginger, chiles, carrot, tomato, cardamom, cassia, cloves, peppercorns, and salt. Turn the cooker to low and cook for 4 hours.
Add the rest of the chicken pieces, turn the cooker to high, and continue to cook for another 2 hours.

Transfer the pieces of chicken to a platter. Strain the stock and set aside in a saucepan; keep hot on the stovetop until ready to serve. Shred enough chicken to make 11⁄2 cups; reserve the rest for another use, such as Sautéed Chicken with Green Mango Powder (page 40).
Prepare 8 soup bowls with equal amounts of the rice, tomato, spinach, and shredded chicken. Pour hot stock into the bowls, garnish with cilantro, minced serrano chile, and lemon wedges, and serve.

 Note To cook chicken for Sautéed Chicken with Green Mango Powder (page 40), increase the number of chickens to two, weighing about 3 pounds each, skinned and cut into 6 pieces each. Reserve the resulting stock for another use.

Neela Paniz

NEELA PANIZ grew up in Bombay, India. After moving to the US, Paniz opened Chutney's Indian take-out and the hugely successful Bombay Cafe in Los Angeles, and a contemporary Indian restaurant, Neela's, in Napa. She is also the author of The Bombay Cafe, which put her on the national map as one of the leading voices of contemporary Indian cuisine. Since selling her restaurants, Paniz has appeared as the winning contestant onChopped, taught cooking classes, provided recipes for many magazine articles, and been a presenter at The Culinary Institute of America.

This book will make a lovely gift for my sister in a few weeks!

 "I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review."