The Perfect Pantry®

Slow cooker Sindhi beef curry recipe

Though I love to try new dishes at Indian restaurants, I'd always been a bit intimidated about tackling those same recipes at home. I didn't have many of the unfamiliar spices and ingredients in my pantry, didn't even know where to buy them, and I froze in fear at the number of steps of preparation many recipes required. Then, a $19 slow cooker came into my life, and with it, a couple of cookbooks that made cooking Indian food fast and easy and not at all scary. My husband Ted and I loved this recipe for Sindhi beef curry adapted slightly from 150 Best Indian, Thai, Vietnamese & More Slow Cooker Recipes, a must-have book for slow-cooker cooks who love Asian food. Unfamiliar as I am with regional Indian cuisines, I researched the origin of this dish, and learned that it is from the Sindhi people who come from the area of west India that is now, geographically, in Pakistan. It's a simple tomato-based curry that's perfect over rice. Make it ahead, if you can; like all stews, it's even better the second day.

Recipe for slow cooker quinoa with zucchini, mushrooms and chicken sausage

All summer I practiced with my slow cookers, adapting recipes from cookbooks and blogs, modifying some of my own stove top and oven favorites to the low-and-slow cooking style of these wonderful little machines. I knew the day would come when I would give zucchini a try, yet I feared turning it to complete and utter mush with hours of cooking. The solution? Add it at the end, so it stays firm and flavorful. This quinoa with zucchini, mushrooms and chicken sausage, a satisfying one-pot meal, requires just five minutes of prep, and delivers big flavor, with no mush. Practice makes perfect.

Recipe for slow cooker Middle Eastern garlic chicken

Shish taouk -- Middle Eastern garlic chicken on skewers -- launched my food writing career more than twenty years ago, and it's still one of my all-time favorite dishes to cook on the grill. Except this summer, when it's been so hot and humid, I haven't wanted to stand outside next to a blazing hot grill, not even for the sake of chicken. Once again, the slow cooker has come to the rescue, producing this very good adaptation of garlic chicken in a shredded form suitable for stuffing into pitas, tortillas or lavash wraps. The kitchen stays cool, and my husband Ted and I can get our garlic chicken fix even in the warmest weather. I use boneless, skinless chicken breasts; chicken thighs will work equally well. Serve with chopped lettuce and tomato, add some cucumber if you like, and top it all, as we do, with your favorite buttermilk ranch dressing.

Recipe for slow cooker Thai red curry turkey

When the weather gets hot hot hot, I can't bear the thought of turning on the large stove in my small kitchen. So, this summer I'm committed to using my slow cookers more often, and trying to adapt some of my favorite stovetop and oven recipes. It's no secret that I adore Thai red curry anything, and I realized I had all of the ingredients for this slow cooker Thai red curry turkey in my pantry last week. To adapt my favorite stovetop recipe, I browned and drained the ground turkey before adding it to the cooker, added the fish sauce/lime juice/brown sugar flavorings at the beginning, and saved the coconut milk for the last half hour of cooking. I served it over rice (made in the rice cooker, which also keeps the kitchen cool); you can spoon the curry into lettuce or radicchio cups for a lower-carb option.