Just when I bought a little book on ang moh slow cooker recipes,
you put up this thread! Such good timing! BTW, for
those who aren't aware, the ang moh's call the crock pot a 'slow
cooker', so unimaginative, right? 
Anyways, I don't have a crock pot here, but when I did have a
small one, I cooked a few dishes on it :
- Porridge. The crock pot can cook really really lovely
porridge. I remember when I was ill and depressed, mom came
over to cheer me up and cooked a lovely porridge for me. She
bought pork and cubed them (don't get the lean ones... a little bit
of fat is tastier and won't kill you and if there bone-in ribs,
even better! 
), and threw it into the crock pot (after washing and
scalding with hot water) with some brown rice, lots of water, and
vegetables like carrots, potatoes, and corn, and left it to cook
for a few hours. Add salt, sesame oil, fried shallots (yew
chang), pepper and spring onions to taste. Oh my gosh... it
was lovely!! 
Full of mom's love! 
- Teriyaki Chicken Stew. This one I anyhow humtum and
turned out quite nice. Let's see... I used chicken, skin on
for a few fillets, skin off for others to balance it out. I
also threw in sliced Bombay Onions, garlic, finely minced ginger,
hmm... can't remember what else I added, but first, do a quick
stir-fry in a wok first, then throw the seared ingredients into the
crock pot, add chicken stock to almost cover the ingredients,
measure out some mirin, dark soya sauce (I used the premium dark
soya sauce made from dates that's available from NTUC, sadly, not
available here 
), a little light soya sauce, sugar, stir to mix,
leave to cook in medium heat for about 1.5 hrs or so, depending on
the wattage of your cooker. Stir now and then and taste to
see if the sauce is alright. I do remember having to add a
few spoonfuls of cornflour into the stew to thicken it a bit.
Don't just sprinkle the cornflour in straight... always mix the
cornflour in cold water first to make sure there are no lumps and
to ensure a smooth, thick sauce.
I think you can cook a wide variety of soups and/or dessert
soups with your slow cooker too, which I did. The sky's the
limit, really!
- Chicken + Ginseng Roots + Ma Ling Canned Button Mushrooms,
drained;
- Pork Ribs + Black Beans + a small root of ginger scrubbed
clean + dried cuttlefish (for a stronger body and full-flavoured
soup, grill the cuttlefish first);
- Potato + Carrots + Sweet Corn + Dried Scallops + Dried
Anchovies (rinsed to remove excess salt, and try to get the
pre-peeled ones where the yucky black intestines have been removed
for you); and
- erm... I can't recall right now what else I cooked in it.
Basically, with soups, same principle, high heat first, bring to
the boil, then leave to simmer, skimming scum off the surface now
and then.
With meat, some folks like to scald pork in hot water first
using a large sieve or colander, then quickly run cold water on
them to stop them from cooking, before throwing it into a
pot. I learnt that this is to 'clean' the meat with the heat
(scientifically not quite rational but oh well...) but most
importantly, it's to provide a natural 'seal' in the meat so as the
rest of the meat cooks slowly, flavour is retained.
I'm not so sure that actually makes any difference because I've
cooked soup where I was lazy and just dumped everything in from the
start and the meat turned out tender too.
I'd love to go get a mini crock pot soon and make Meatballs from
scratch. I've had a craving for the lovely meatballs a
stall in my Secondary School canteen served as snack ever since I
left the school! 
The auntie sold the meatballs on a toothpick
smothered with a sweet-sour sauce. We used to buy a few on a
small plate and munch on it whilst sitting not too ladylike because
it was an all-girls' school mah! 
Wah.. thanks, Rhonda - I think I'll try the teriyaki chicken
recipe soon.. I love crockpot recipes coz they're foolproof for ppl
like me! BTW I'm going back to Singapore soon... do you
have any crockpot recipe books you can recommend?
