This slow cooker beef curry is super easy and ideal for quickly putting together the night before it's needed. Ten minutes of chopping and browning first thing, then the slow cooker does the rest while you're sleeping! By the time you wake up, the beef has gone completely soft, the sauce has thickened on its own and the house smells beautifully aromatic. Mild enough that the toddlers get the same bowl as us, which is always the goal.

Cooking Time

Prep: 10 mins

Cook: 8 hours on low (4-5 hours on high)

Equipment needed

1x slow cooker

1x deep frying pan

Ingredients (2 adults & 2 kids)

Drizzle of olive oil

500g braising steak cut into roughly 2cm chunks

1x onion finely chopped

3x garlic cloves crushed

1x inch of fresh ginger grated

1x teaspoon of cumin 

1x teaspoon of garam masala

1x teaspoon mild curry powder

400g tinned tomatoes

1x low salt beef stock cube

150g basmati rice

100g frozen peas

1x tablespoon of natural yogurt

Method

1. Heat the olive oil in the frying pan and cook the onion for 5 minutes until soft and translucent.
2. Turn the heat up, add the braising steak and brown it all over for about 5 minutes. You're not cooking it through, just getting some colour on the outside for flavour.
3. Add the grated garlic and ginger with the garam masala and cumin. Stir for 1 minute until it smells fragrant.
4. Tip the whole lot into the slow cooker. Add the tinned tomatoes and crumble in the stock cube. Give it a good stir, put the lid on and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4-5 hours.
5. About 15 minutes before serving, cook the basmati rice as per pack instructions, adding the frozen peas for the final 3 minutes.
6. Stir the yoghurt through the curry just before serving, off the heat so it doesn't split. Spoon over the pea rice.
   

Our tips

Use a low salt stock cube: a standard beef cube can carry over a gram of salt and toddlers under 3 should be having less than 2g a day in total. Low salt cubes are in most supermarkets now, or leave it out entirely and let the beef and tomatoes do the work.

Cut the beef bigger than you think: braising steak shrinks a lot over 8 hours, and chunkier pieces hold their shape better for little hands than small ones that fall apart. Want it hotter for the grown-ups: serve the toddler portions first, then stir chilli flakes or a spoonful of mango chutney through what's left in the pot.

Leftovers freeze brilliantly: portion it up before you add the yoghurt and it'll keep for 3 months. It's genuinely better on day two.