Bethlehem Beans - slow cooker recipe

Sometimes you adapt a favourite recipe for the slow cooker and it works beautifully, first time,

This wasn't one of those times.

Frankly I should have seen it coming. I know rice takes about 3 hours in the slow cooker and dried beans generally take 8 so why I thought they would be ready at the same time, I don't know. I think it was holiday brain. (yes, talking of holidays, the Bouef Bourgignon recipe is coming by the way and it's a good un!).

Anyway, I've given 2 methods so that you can make this otherwise wonderful mix of flavours without the very mushy rice porridge effect which we were left with. The recipe, by the way, apparently came from Bethlehem but I found the stove top version on the awesome site Allrecipes.com

Ingredients for 6 portions:

1 clove garlic, chopped
1 cup uncooked rice
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cayenne
1 L/quart chicken stock
500-750 g turkey mince/ground turkey
2 tins chickpeas/garbanzo beans
2 tins black beans (see method below for dried beans)
1 large bunch coriander/cilantro, chopped
1 large bunch parsley, chopped.
salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Brown the turkey, add the spices to the meat and then place with the rest of the ingredients up to the black beans into the slow cooker. Cook for 3 hours on High Check for seasoning and add coriander , parsley, salt and pepper.

If you want to use dried beans, cook for 8 hours on High but only add the rice 3 hours before the end.

Verdict:

The texture the way we made it was stodgy but we still loved the flavours and it would be fine the way I've suggested above. I love Middle Eastern cooking and this had all my favourite flavours in it with the fresh herbs adding a real zing to it, It's also really healthy and makes a ton of food,