I know it’s Brisbane, in sunny Queensland and all my southern friends just roll their eyes at me but it’s getting really chilly here. Sometimes during the day if you stand in the sun you could be quite comfortable in summer clothes but when the sun goes down or when the wind picks up, it’s cold, really cold and definitely slow-cooker cold.

To me, in winter there is nothing better than a warming slow-cooked meal of something hearty like stew or curry, ooh or Mexican, actually I like a good roast chicken to. Ok sorry I digress – the point is warm food is good in winter (but I’m also a weirdo who likes it in summer too).

Shredded beef curry in the slow cooker came about as a bit of an adaptation of slow cooked indian beef curry. I was actually going to make that exact curry. I went to the freezer and only had a chunk of meat, so then it turned into shredded beef.

I went to the fridge and had put the butter chicken paste back in the fridge empty (must have been in the newborn haze) so it was korma only. It’s a little bit on the spicy side (but I have no spice tolerance so it’s probably mild to most) so if you like your curry milder feel free to use whichever curry sauce you like. It would also be really yummy wrapped in puff pastry to make little curry puffs.

I fully intended to add some sweet potato chunks but totally forgot – they’d be nice too to up the vege content and stretch the meal a bit further. If you want to add them I’d do it at about the 7 hour mark. Enjoy!

So what about you? What’s your favourite winter warmer?

Shredded beef curry in the slow cooker

Yield: 6

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 9 hours

Total Time: 9 hours 30 minutes

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Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 tbsp korma curry paste
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1kg chunk of chuck, blade or brisket beef
• 1 tin crushed tomatoes
• 1/2 tin coconut milk (don't shake the tin just scoop the white rich part off the top when you open it - can also refrigerate for 30 minutes to help separate the layers)
• 1 tbsp honey
• 4 tsp lemon juice
• salt
• 100g baby spinach leaves

Instructions

1. In a large fry pan, heat the oil then sautee the onion and garlic together until soft.
2. Add the korma paste and cinnamon and cook, stirring, until fragrant.
3. Add the meat to the pan and cook just enough to seal each side.
4. Transfer it all to the slow cooker and add the rest of the ingredients (except the salt).
5. Cook on low for 8 hours.
6. Take the meat out and shred it then return it to the cooker then stir through the spinach leaves.
7. Taste and season with salt and pepper then cook on high with the lid off for another hour or until the sauce thickens.
8. Serve with rice and veges