Souvlaki

My recipe for super simple souvlaki – which may or may not be super authentic, but is easy and massively tasty.

Ingredients for the marinade

• 500g diced lamb/beef
• 1 tsp all-spice
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 large sprig rosemary, chopped

Directions

1. Combine and marinate for a few hours.
2. Barbecue on skewers.
3. Serve meat on flatbread with hummus and tabouleh.

Goulash

 

This one’s for the Hungarian Grand Prix… goulash!

Ingredients

• 500g chuck steak
• 2 onions, sliced in half rings
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 green capsicum, diced
• 1tbsp smoked paprika
• 1L beef stock
• 1 tbsp dried marjoram
• 1/2 tbsp caraway seeds
• red wine vinegar
• 2 tomatoes, diced
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 potatoes, diced peeled
• ~150g risoni
• 1 tbsp sour cream

Directions

1. Fry onions, capsicum and garlic in some oil until soft.
2. Add beef and brown.
3. Add paprika and a quarter of the stock.  Reduce.
4. Add marjoram, caraway, tomatoes, paste, glug of vinegar, salt and pepper.
5. Cover with stock, lid and cook in low oven for 2hrs.
6. Add remaining stock, risoni and potatoes (can be pre-cooked in microwave to save time).  Simmer until risoni/potatoes soft.
7. Stir in sour cream.

Super Easy Pork Knuckle / Schweinshaxe

Chop 3 cloves of garlic, mix with oil in a small bowl.

Score the skin of the pork knuckle and rub with garlic/oil mix.  Liberally dust with salt.

Place in baking tray with 2cm of boiling water.  Cook in oven at 180C for 2hrs, topping up the water when necessary.

Re-wet knuckle with juices before draining water.  Coat knuckle with salt again.  Turn oven up to highest setting and crisp the skin right up.

Shahi Chicken Korma

Tonight was curry fest.  Everything you see on the table was made from scratch – from the 3 curries, to the bread, to the beer.  All was very tasty – so I thought I should share one of the recipes.  This one is for Shahi Chicken Korma (seen below in the orange pot)…

Ingredients

• 500 gm chicken, thigh
• 1 big onion, pureed
• 1 big tomato ( diced)
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tsp ginger
• 1 tsp garlic
• 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 tbsp dry fenugreek leaves
• 1/4 cup yoghurt
• pinch of asafoetida
• 3 tsp oil
• salt to taste

For Chicken marinade :

•  1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp red chili powder
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 1/2 tsp cumin powder
• 1 tbsp desiccated coconut
• 1 tsp lime juice
• 1/4 cup yoghurt

Directions

1. Combine all marinade ingredients into bowl. Let the chicken pieces marinate for about 1 hour.
2. Heat oil. Fry onion puree until moisture is gone and starting to golden.
3. Add pinch of asafoetida and caraway seeds, saute for a few minutes.  Add marinated chicken and salt to taste.  Mix well, cook for 2 to 3 minutes.
4. Add tomato and tomato paste and let chicken cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes. Keep stirring frequently.
5. Add fenugreek leaves and yoghurt. Let gravy simmer on low heat.

 

Smokin’

Another blast-from-the-past write up…

My love of jerky led to the next generation of meat curing devices – the smoker.

This device is made from:

• a teracotta plant pot
• a plant pot base (as a lid)
• the element out of an old stove
• one of the controls off an old stove
• an old electrical cord
• a cake rack
• an old frying pan

Wire up the power cord, stove control and element.  The element sits in the bottom of the plant pot with the wires coming out of the hole in the bottom.

Remove the handle off your old frying pan (its diameter has to be small enough to fit in your pot!).  Soak your smoking chips (available at the hardware store) in the pan for 10 or so minutes.  Dry chips burn, but wet ones smoulder better.  Drain the water off and place the pan and chips in the pot on top of the stove element.

Cut the cake rack so that it fits inside the pot.  Hang it from the rim of the pot using some copper hooks made out of solid core power cable.  Bung your goods for smoking on the rack.

Throw the lid on.  I monitor my temperatures using a thermocouple connected to a multimeter.  Adjusting the stove control is an effective way to control the temperature of the smoker.  You can either hot-smoke or cold-smoke using this device.

Here are some liverwurst I smoked for a friend…