Week 38 - Portugal and Singapore

Wow, what a week for food. We had some wonderful empanadas from Portugal, with tuna as the filling. My boys enjoyed having some the next day for their packed lunches. The Singapore recipe scored highly with my husband as he loves beef and found the beef not only tender, but also tasty. So, a good week all round; even the weather was interesting as this week we had a very orange day - caused either by sand from the Sahara or just a quirky nature day!

Recipe For Beef Kway Teow

Ingredients
300 g lean filet of beef
600 g rice noodles (fresh or dry) or kway teow (if dry, blanch them till they are 95% cooked)
100 g chinese chives (optional)
500 g bean sprouts, with roots and heads removed
6 tablespoons canola oil
4 slices ginger
5 garlic cloves, minced

Beef Seasoning:
1 1/2 tablespoons soya sauce
2 teaspoons Chinese wine
1 1/2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 teaspoon cornflour
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon canola oil

Directions:
Slice beef thinly against the grain.
Mix the beef with all the seasoning ingredients except the sesame oil and canola oil.
Leave the beef to marinate for 20 minutes; then add the sesame and canola oil.
Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons of oil in a wok, stir fry the chives and bean sprouts till they are slightly limp. Set them aside.
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a wok, fry the garlic till crispy and golden.
Add rice noodles and stir fry for about 4 minutes till lightly browned.
Set the noodles aside.
Heat remaining oil in wok, add beef, remaining marinade and ginger slices.
Stir fry beef till colour changes.
Add rice noodles and bean sprouts, stir fry till everything is well coated. Serve hot.
Source: www.singaporelocalfavourites.com/2009/09/beef-kway-teow.html

Empanadas

Makes 12

Dough
8 oz Plain flour
1.5 oz marg
1 egg
4 tbls water

Filling
1 small tin of tuna
1 small tin of tomatoes (or fresh)
basil and corander
(I also put a splash of chilli jam in mine!)
onion, finely diced

Fry the onion, then add the tuna and tomatoes and simmer for 8-12 mins. Once cooked, then let it cool completely.
Make the dough by sifting the flour and then rubbing in the marg. Add a beaten egg with the water and form a stiff dough. Pop the dough in the fridge for 30mins.
Pre-heat the oven to 190C, 350F.
I divided my dough into 12 pieces and roll out. You could roll the larger piece and use a cutter. I then divided my filling into 12 bits - which equalled roughly a teaspoon. Put the filling in each circle of dough and seal with water. Place on a tray and brush with eggwash. Cook for about 25 - 30 mins.
Serve warm, but can be eaten the next day in packed -lunches!
This is my own variation of several recipes.

Week 37 - Poland and Qatar

Wow, I nearly scored a 10 with the dish from Qatar and it had no meat in it! Those of you that have dipped into this blog will know that my husband loves his meat. However, I couldn't add it as I had pork and Qatar is pork-free; although we do not follow their beliefs; I felt I should follow it for their food. This meant a vegetarian dish for us.

It seemed that there were three dishes - all beginning with M - that were linked with Qatar (it is so strange typing that without putting in the 'u' after the 'q'!). Of these three dishes I liked the name 'Margooga' so I explored how to cook this. And, as is so often the way there are as many variations as there are families! So, I took the core ingredients and made it my own. I also did Batata b'kamun - again for the name - but also as it is potatates and my husband loves his spuds!

My Margooga

Ingredeints:
Cougette, diced
Carrots, diced
coriander - fresh
coriander - ground
lemon
chillies ( I used flakes)
ginger, ground
turmeric, ground
onion, finely diced

I fried off the onion, and then put in the spices and allowed them to become fragrant. Then I added the carrots, courgette and lemon and mixed them up a little. A splash of water just at the bottom and then allowed the veg to cook. As the water level lowered I added a little more so it was not all liquid and also not catching on the bottom of the pan.

Cumin Seed Potatoes | Batata b'kamun

Serves 4 -6

Ingredients

2lbs baby potatoes (red, gold, or mix)
1/4cup vegetable oil
1Tbsp cumin seed
1 onion, chopped
1tsp ground cumin
1tsp ground coriander
1tsp ground turmeric
chili powder, to taste
salt
pepper
1 lemon, juiced
1/2 lemons, sliced (for garnish)

Instructions

Set a pot of potatoes to boil and cook until tender. Our small golden potatoes only took about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, fry up those cumin seeds in some vegetable oil until fragrant and just beginning to color (30 seconds to a minute).

Toss on the onions and cook until “meltingly” soft. Then stir in all the spices, salt, and pepper.
Halve or quarter your potatoes, as desired, and add to the onion mixture. Squeeze on a little lemon juice, as desired.
Toss until completely coated with golden, sweet spiced goodness. Serve hot with fresh lemon slices.


Source: Recipe Copyright Sasha Martin, Global Table Adventure. For personal or educational use only.

 

Week 36 Norway and Philippines

We have eaten Norwegian food before, so I re-did the Lemon and Cardamom biscuits that we liked from the last time we did a food challenge. I have repeated the recipe below.

As for the Philippines, well I took several recipes and created my own spin on it, I needed to as there are various foods my dear husband cannot have. But, I did stay true to the core of the flavours. So much so, my son asked for this dish again on his birthday! I am so glad I noted what I did so I could repeat it for him.

We called it

Sausage Stir-fry...

Ingredients
Sausages (I used Lincolnshire, as I wanted them to be 'spicy', but not over spicy)
soya sauce
minced garlic
Pak Choi
Mushrooms
Red pepper
Noodles

Using scissors chop the sausages into 5 chunks.
Pop them into a plastic container with as much minced garlic as you like, as well as generous splashes of soya sauce. Put the lid on and shake! Then pop into the fridge for at least 3-4 hours.
Heat some sesame oil in a big wok and then drop the meat and marinade in; stir fry until cooked. Add the chopped mushrooms and peppers; then the pak choi. Lastly add the noodles.
Serve and enjoy!

Cardamom and lemon stamped cookies

Makes 24

Source: Hairy Bikers

Cardamom is a really popular spice in Norway, used in many cake and biscuit recipes. Some say the spice was first brought back to the country hundreds of years ago by Vikings who worked as mercenaries in what was then Constantinople (now Istanbul). 

Ingredients

225g/8 oz butter, softened

150g/5½ oz caster sugar

1 lemon, zest only

250g/9 oz plain flour

100g/3½ oz ground almonds

3 tsp ground cardamom or 1 heaped tsp cardamom seeds, ground in a pestle and mortar

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5. Line 2 large baking trays with baking parchment.
2. Using an electric hand-whisk, beat the butter, sugar and lemon zest together in a large bowl until pale and fluffy.
3. Beat in the flour, almonds and cardamom until the mixture is well combined and comes together to form a stiff dough.
4. Roll the dough into 24 balls and place 12 on each baking tray – make sure you leave space between each one.
5. Press each cookie with a cookie stamp or the bottom of a glass to flatten and leave decorative indentations in the dough.
6. Bake a tray at a time for 12–14 minutes until the cookies are pale golden brown.
7. Leave them to cool on the tray for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. They will crisp up as they cool. Store the cookies in an airtight tin and eat within 7 days

Week 35 - Netherlands

Just the one this week, which takes the pressure off a little. We loved Netherlands when we visited there Summer 2016; we ate some lovely food and I think our favourite was the fish we had one lunch-time. A recommendation of my husbands cousin's son who lives there.   

                                       
                            

We had a chicken stew, which I have made before on a previous challenge. But on this occasion I made a couple of slight changes, based on the comments we made and we all loved it. It was very tasty, and just what we needed on a wet autumn day.

Oudejaarspot - New Years' Eve Chicken Stew

one chicken (at least 1 kilogram)
salt, pepper,
50 grams butter
1 small white or bok choy cabbage
2 large onions
2 large carrots
2 red bell peppers
500 grams potatoes
½ celery root
¼ liter chicken stock
½ liter red wine
2 cloves garlic
piece of mace aril
2 baguettes or French breads
butter


Thoroughly clean the chicken inside and out, then pat dry and quarter it. Rub the pieces with salt and pepper, heat the butter and quickly brown the four pieces on all sides in a large skillet or pot. Clean and dice the vegetables (discard the seeds of the peppers) and potatoes. Mince the garlic.

Add the stock, wine, vegetables, potatoes and garlic to the chicken, salt and pepper to taste and put in the piece of aril. Cover the pot or skillet, turn down the heat and cook the stew for 60-75 minutes on low heat. Stir the stew once in a while. Serve with oven-warm, crisp bread and butter.
Source: http://www.godutch.com/newspaper/recipes.php?id=45