What I have noticed when I use the slow cooker to cook a tomato based curry is that the flavour of the tomatoes seems to become more prominent than anything else, yet if I were to simmer the same thing on the hob or place it in the oven then the aroma of the spices is more prominent. Has anyone else noticed this? Cooking korma or stews etc in the slow cooker is fine. It just seems to be curries with a tomato base. The slow cooker I am using has low, medium and high settings and I normally put it on medium.

Sid

It is possible, but haven't heard about it. I don't eat any more, so can't check it out and my husband won't recognise the difference, other that it is 'nice' or not 'nice!

You don't eat any more?? Now I am confused... :o/

Ha, ha, ha! I meant I do not eat meat any more!

Phew!! I started thinking that Mamta of Mamta's kitchen had become a breatharian.

Sid

The tomato is a watery beast, and breaks down to form the glutamate moiety, which is a flavour enhancer. Also, at pressures around 15psi, the temperature of the contents of the pressure cooker is around 121C, so many reactions occur 4 times faster than at 100C. And the pressure cooker being a closed vessel, flavour chemicals are not lost to the atmosphere.

sorry Sd, I had in my mind about pressure cookers, not slow cookers.

Slow cookers obviously (?) cook at a lower tempeature, but for much longer, so longer for tomatoes to break down and form new flavours.

You may find sealing the edge of the slow cooker with bread dough or pastry helps keep in the flavour of spices better.

Thanks, Lapis. I get really good results when I make curry in the pressure cooker.