Pakistani "Old Clothes" Beef Curry (Nihan)

This was edible, but not what it could/should have been.

Singla advises making a half recipe in a 3-1/2-qt slow cooking, so I did. I had slightly more than half the meat. I used close to all the spices, though, which I frequently do with this kind of thing. My beef was in chunks (sold for bourguignon), rather than a whole bit of brisket. A whole recipe would easily have fit in my slow cooker, and I expect a 2# piece of beef would have also. There's no particular reason to cook it as one piece rather than in chunks.

The beef was not falling apart like old clothes after 9 hours. It was done, but would need quite a bit longer to get to the falling apart part. (My slow cooker is one of the original ones, so might cook slower than modern-day ones.)

The flavor seemed to be dominated by the ground fennel. I wonder if the two tablespoons should be whole seeds or if it should only be one tablespoon?

The sliced onions were added raw to the crock; as a result there were still a bit crunchy after 9 hours cooking. I think it would be better to sauté them first (as she has you do for other recipes).

N.B.: The alternate name given for this dish in my book is Nihari, rather than Nihan.