Archive for the ‘Beef’ Category

« Older Entries

Chinese Stuffed Cabbage

Tuesday, January 25th, 2011

Savoy Cabbage in sunshine 

8 large cabbage leaves
4 oz minced chicken, pork or beef (or cooked puy lentils)
2 finely chopped spring onions
1 chilli (optional)
3 tbsp cooked rice
1 minced clove garlic
1 tsp grated ginger
2 tsp soy sauce (dark)
4 cocktail sticks

Veg or chicken stock to simmer

Bring a pan of salted water to boil and cook the cabbage leaves for 3 minutes.  Drain and flatten on a board and cut out the stem in a triangle shape.

Mix the rest of the ingredients together.  You can now either make eight small rolls, or 4 big ones.  For the big ones, simply overlap two leaves, place a quarter of the filling in the centre, then rollup and fasten with a stick.

Simmer the parcels in chicken or veg stock for 40 minutes until cooked through.  To serve, remove the sticks and  place the parcels in a bowl with a ladle of the cooking stock.

Posted in Beef, Cabbage, Chicken, Chilli, Garlic, Ginger, Pork, Puy lentils, Recipe, Rice, Soy sauce | No Comments »

Barley, grape & sirloin salad

Monday, July 5th, 2010

Grapes

This is the way I cook this fantastic salad from the Moro cookbook.  Perfect for summer evenings.

2 cups pearl barley
1 beef stock cube
olive oil
500g 2.5cm thick sirloin steak
350g white seedless grapes
1 bunch flat leaved parsley

Marinade
1/2 small onion
1 tbsp wine vinegar
1 tsp sumac
1 tsp ground corriander

Dressing
1 small garlic clove
1 tbsp wine vinegar
4 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp sumac
pinch allspice
pinch ground coriander

Mix the marinade and rub over the steak – leave for an hour or more if you have time.

Simmer barley and stock cube in a litre of water for 45 mins until tender, then drain and leave to cool.  Blend the dressing ingredients and cover.  Rinse the parsley and pick off all the leaves, discard the stems or use for soup.  Wash and halve the grapes.

Heat a barbeque or grill pan until smoking.  Rub a little oil on both sides of the steak, then place in the pan and sear each side for 30 secs each.  Remove, sprinkle on a little salt and leave to rest for a minute.

Mix the barley, grapes and parsley leaves in a bowl, and mix in the dressing well.  Check for seasoning and adjust as necessary.  Cut the steak into thin slices across the grain and mix half in with the salad, and lay the other half on top.  Serve immediately.

Posted in Beef, Grapes, Onion, Organic Box, Parsley, Pearl Barley, Recipe, Steak, Sumac | No Comments »

Lamb, Squash & Coconut Jungle Stew

Monday, December 7th, 2009

Kuri Squash

1 Kuri Squash
1 Onion
400g diced stewing lamb (or beef)
2 stock cubes (lamb or beef)
3 tbsp hot water
1 tin coconut milk
1 star anise
2 pieces fresh or dried galangal or ginger
soy sauce to taste
(1 small chilli if you like it spicy)

Heat the oven to 180 degrees.  Peel and chop the onion.  Peel and chop the squash into largish pieces, discarding the seeds.  Disolve the stock in the hot water.  Mix all the ingredients apart from the soy in a large casserole dish with a lid.

Bake in the oven for around 1 1/2 to 2 hours, stirring every half an hour or so.  The squash will fall apart to create a thick rich gravy and the meat should be completely tender (when you check it, take a piece out and leave for a couple of minutes to rest before tasting).  Add soy to taste and serve in bowls with basmati or thai fragrant rice.

This is a rich and fragrant stew with a good gravy.  The star anise and coconut flavours wafting from the oven while it cooks ensure that everyone is starving by the time it emerges.  I made this tonight (without the chilli) and the toddler had triple helpings.  Definitely worth the grappling with a raw Kuri.

Posted in Beef, Chilli, Coconut milk, Galangal, Ginger, Kuri Squash, Lamb, Onion, Organic Box, Star anise, Toddler, Weaning | No Comments »

Beef, leek & lentil soup

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

Freshly Cut Leek

2 leeks
1 punnet cherry tomatoes
1 tsp olive oil
1 cup Urid dal (the split white lentils)
2 beef stock cubes (I use Kallo stock cubes)
1 ltr boiling water
1 tbsp dark soy sauce (to taste)

Cut off the tough bit of the leeks, then half longways and shred.  Rinse any grit out.  Rinse the tomatoes and cut in half (if you use bigger tomatoes, cut to the same sort of size; size is very important for the final texture).  In a large pan, gently heat the oil and add the leeks.  When they start to sizzle, add the tomatoes, dal, stock cubes and water.

Leave to simmer for an hour or so.  Check occasionally that there is enough water covering everything.  If not, add more.  Taste to see how done the lentils are.  Add the soy sauce if you think it could be a little more salty.  Leave to simmer for another half an hour if you can wait that long!  It should be thick, but there should be enough liquid to make it soupy.  The lentils will retain some bite without being hard.

This soup is amazingly delicious and needs to be served chunky, not blended.  The small hits of tomato in the salty, beefy broth teemed with the creamy lentils makes a truly wonderful combination; great to take to work as a cheap and warming winter lunch.  I made up this soup as the white lentils I had bought for making masala dosa were nearing their use-by date and I happened to have some leeks and tomatoes in the fridge.  I now buy them specifically for this as it is so good.

NB I get these lentils from our local shop over the road which has Indian ingredients, but you can get them in the ‘world’ section of supermarkets.  The packets look like this.

Posted in Beef, Beef stock, Leek, Lentil, Recipe, Soup, Tomato, Urid dal | 1 Comment »

« Older Entries