A Malawian Curry for the latest Slow Cooker Session in Burton

Our third slow cooker session in Burton took place in early September back at Trent and Dove's 181 Community Cafe in Winshill. This session was based around a mild curry dish incorporating True Origin's Malawian Kilombero Rice. We were delighted to be joined by Howard, a Malawian Kilombero rice farmer, who was visiting as part of his Fairtrade Fortnight tour.

Our slow cooker sessions provide practical cooking skills alongside tasting the dish being prepared. participants prepare their food to take home and cook that night/next day. We prepare the recipe in advance, so everyone gets to taste the dishes, and members attending get to take home all the ingredients needed to cook the dish at home, which is provided by Central Co-op, and if they don't have a slow cooker, Trent and Dove Housing kindly donate one to them.

We had 11 members of the community take part in the session, with 3 attendees returning after taking part in July's Bolognese slow cooker session.

We started by explaining the recipe, why it was chosen, and how the base curry sauce can be expanded into many more dishes that suit their family and taste. The ingredients used were; Onion, Pepper, Tomatoes, Garlic, Curry Powder, Ginger Potatoes, and Coriander. we added chicken to one and pulses to another as to show the difference between a meat dish and vegetarian dish.

The session started by teaching members to chop their onions, peppers, and garlic through an easy straightforward process while explaining that it doesn’t matter how they are chopped, and not to worry about the process. once the fresh ingredients are ready they are placed in a container to keep cool and ready to take home with them.

Once all the ingredients were chopped we were delighted that Howard gave a lovely talk on his rice farm, how the Central Co-op Malawian project has support him and many of his friends and family by stocking the Kilombero Rice.

After Howards talk we had the chance to taste the curry and Kilombero rice.

An amazing turn out of community members who wanted to learn how to cook simply but effective nutritious healthy meals.

Two things stood out from this class was that a returning member, who was struggling to cook before they came to the first session told me that after that session, they were excited to come to this one and learn different recipes. And a new participant, who was nervous at the start, who really enjoyed the session, gained confidence, and said they were going home to cook this tonight for a family meal the following day, and how excited she was to be able to cook a meal for her family.

Brandon Hanson-Stringer, Trent and Dove's Warm Spaces Project Co-ordinator said "The session was to show how to make a mild curry with slow cookers, all the people who attended really enjoyed themselves and some of them really did learn a lot. The rice that went with the curry was rice that you can buy in the Central Co-op, and it comes from Malawi in East Africa. We had the pleasure of having Howard with us yesterday, who I believe owns the very farm in Malawi that the rice comes from. He gave a bit of a speech to the group and explained where his rice comes from, a bit about his family and friends that work on the farm. It was just brilliant that you could put a face to the rice that you can see on the shelf in the shops."

We will be holding three more slow cooker sessions in Burton during October, November, and December.