This flavoursome vegetarian dish is made with the new Very Lazy slow cooking paste pots for an easy weekend (or busy weekday!) meal. Jazz it up with some quick homemade cumin-spiked flatbreads and turmeric yoghurt for a complete meal. In collaboration with Very Lazy.
Slow Cooker Harissa Butternut Stew
I do love to cook. I love pottering about the kitchen at my leisure preparing ingredients and creating aromas that waft throughout the house. Fresh bread. Spices. Cake.
Novelist Richard Llewelyn described it best in How Green Was My Valley,
Indeed, if happiness has a smell, I know it well, for our kitchen always had it faintly, but in those days it was all over the house.
You know what though, sometimes I just want to be lazy. Sometimes there’s just not enough time in the day for all that chopping, simmering, stirring and roasting. Sometimes I just want to plonk a bunch of ingredients in a slow cooker, have someone else do all the thinking about the flavourings, and then come back to a delicious meal.
Enter: the Very Lazy slow cooking paste pot range.
Very Lazy Slow Cooking Paste Pots
Very Lazy believe that home cooking should be an adventure – an exciting, full flavoured exploration of the wonderful variety of foods from all over the world.
Sometimes though, chopping and preparation can be time-consuming and messy and so Very Lazy peels, chops, slices and dices the very best ingredients, then captures them in all their tasty glory – in handy jars, tubes and now slow cooking paste pots.
There are four different flavours in their new slow cooking paste pots available exclusively from Tesco: Harissa Lamb Tagine, Aromatic Thai Chicken Curry, Chicken & Chorizo Stew and Sausage and Lentil Casserole.
Each box contains three slow cooking paste pots and two easy recipes – one meaty and one vegetarian. The ingredients in the pots are suitable for vegetarians and retail for £2 per pack.
I’ve taken their Harissa Lamb Tagine slow cooking paste pot and followed their instructions to make the vegetarian butternut squash stew. To jazz it up, I’ve served it with some couscous, cumin-spiked flatbreads and a dollop of cooling turmeric yoghurt.
Ingredients for this Slow Cooker Harissa Butternut Stew
- a large butternut squash, peeled and cut into one-inch size pieces
- one large or two small red onions, diced
- a handful of dried apricots
- a 400-gram tin of chickpeas
- a 400-gram tin of chopped tomatoes (I used cherry tomatoes in juice)
- a little splash of water
- a Very Lazy Harissa Lamb Tagine Slow Cooking Paste Pot
- fresh coriander leaves, to serve
How to Make This Slow Cooker Harissa Butternut Stew – Step by Step Instructions
- Peel and chop your butternut squash. Dice the onion and rinse and drain the chickpeas.
- Pop all the vegetables and the apricots into a slow cooker.
- Add the contents of one Very Lazy Harissa Lamb Tangine Slow Cooking Paste Pot along with 50 ml of water.
- Stir well to mix.
- Slow cook on low for 8-10 hours.
- Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and serve!
You can see, from the above video, how easy it is to prepare this flavoursome dish. There’s very little prep other than chopping a butternut squash and an onion, and both of these could be done the day before.
In fact, you could put everything in the slow cooker pot the night before except for the paste pot and the water, keeping the ingredients in the slow cooker bowl in the fridge. The next morning before you head to work, add the contents of the paste pot, a little water and switch on the slow cooker.
Dinner will be ready when you get home!
No slow cooker? Each box also comes with slow cooked oven variations.
You can find more recipe inspiration on the Very Lazy website, and don’t forget to keep up with Lazy news by following them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Which one of their four slow cooking paste pots would you try first? What would you make with them? Let me know in the comments!
Harissa Butternut Stew with Quick Flatbreads & Turmeric Yogurt
Ingredients
for the harissa butternut stew
- 1.2 kg butternut squash diced
- 1 red onion diced
- 400 grams tinned chickpeas
- 10 dried apricots
- 400 grams tinned tomatoes I used cherry tomatoes
- 1 Very Lazy Harissa Lamb Tagine Paste Pot
- 50 ml water
- 1 tbsp fresh coriander to garnish
For the cumin-spiked flatbreads
- 300 grams strong bread flour
- 0.5 tsp salt
- 1.5 tsp whole cumin seeds toasted
- 50 grams butter
- 175 ml full fat milk
- 4 tsp sunflower oil to cook
for the turmeric yogurt
- 200 grams plain natural yogurt
- 0.5 tsp ground turmeric
Instructions
for the harissa butternut stew
- Place the butternut squash, red onion, chickpeas, apricots, tomatoes, Very Lazy paste pot and water into a slow cooker. Stir to mix together.
- Place the lid on the slow cooker, turn to low and cook for 8-10 hours.
- Remove lid, add coriander and serve.
for the cumin-spiked flatbreads
- Place the flour, salt and toasted cumin seeds in a large bowl. Stir.
- Melt butter and mix together with the milk.
- Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and stir well until it forms a soft dough.
- Knead for about two minutes until smooth and stretchy. Wrap in clingfilm and leave the dough at room temperature for about a half an hour.
- Divide the dough into four even pieces.
- Roll each piece into a rough, flat circle about 3 mm thick.
- Heat a teaspoonful of sunflower oil in a hot pan and cook the flatbread on each side for around a minute, flipping it over when it starts to brown and bubble.
for the tumeric yoghurt
- Stir the ground turmeric into the yoghurt and serve!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Just add lamb, onion, chopped tomatoes, chickpeas and apricots to your slow cooker and 8 hours of time.....Enjoy with couscous and an artistically placed bit of coriander. Simply add sausages (veggie ones if you like!), chopped tomatoes, lentils & a chopped onion into your slow cooker for the perfect winter warmer. Inspired by an authentic "Panang" curry with a light tasty sauce flavoured with Garlic, Lemongrass and Chilli. Slow cook chicken, onion, red pepper and chorizo, butter beans & chopped tomatoes with our tasty paste. Then stir in crème fraiche for richness just before you serve.Very Lazy Slow Cooking Paste Pots Range
Harissa Lamb Tagine
Sausage & Lentil Casserole
Very Lazy Aromatic Thai Curry
Chicken & Chorizo Stew
Mum of three, daydream adventurer, OU Life Sciences graduate, occasional crafter, ex-pat Canadian & quite possibly Britain's most northerly food blogger.
Michael Simmons says
I just made this a few days ago and it was AMAZING! Thanks for sharing the recipe, Elizabeth! It was my first time trying Turmeric Yoghurt – I’m kind of obsessed now.
Michael Simmons recently posted…Microwave Butternut Squash
Laura Dove says
Oh this sounds lovely!! We are trying to eat one vegetarian meal a week and build it up so this is one to try!
nichola - Globalmouse says
Oooh this looks so good. I absolutely love harissa and butternut squash is one of my favourites too so this is right up my street. Yummy!
Bella and Dawn at Dear Mummy Blog says
These paste pots sound amazing! What a great idea and we love being lazy and leaving something in a slow cooker!
Sarah | Boo Roo and Tigger Too says
I really need to utilise my slow cooker more, this might just be the recipe to get me back on the wagon
Super Busy Mum says
This looks INCREDIBLE, thanks so much for the recipe. I’ll have to give this one a go, for sure.
Rachael says
Holy smokes, this looks amazing. We are completely stuck in a vegetarian meal plan rut at the moment. This looks a lovely one to try out on the family at the weekend, thanks for another fab recipe.
Olivia Jade says
Lovely recipe, I often see the Lazy products in the supermarket and get tempted to try them. I want to try Lazy Chopped garlic! x
Kara says
This looks delicious, my slow cooker is unloved at the moment – I need to break it out of hibernation