Shanghai Steak

Chinese food is much loved in our home – sadly I don’t make it all that often, there’s quite a bit of prep work but is well worth the effort.  Our Chinese evenings usually consist of Shanghai Steak, Egg Foo-Yong, Sweet and Sour Pork or Chicken and fried rice (sometimes just plain rice).

A while ago a lady sent me her recipe for Shanghai Steak and I promised I would try her version when next I make it – it’s only been 2 months!  Antoinette, thank you for your lovely recipe.  I hope you don’t mind that I added peas in at the end and upped the soy sauce just a bit.

This recipe comes together in just a few minutes – as you well know, thats just my kind of recipe and besides the marinating time, cooks in just 3 minutes.

Antoinette’s recipe slightly amended

Ingredients

40ml soy sauce
25ml corn starch
15ml brown sugar
1 onion sliced
500g steak thinly sliced
oil for frying
¼ cup frozen baby peas

Method

1. Mix the soy, corn starch and sugar together in a bowl.
2. Stir in the onion and steak and marinate for 2 hours.
3. Stir fry the steak over a high heat in a little oil for 2 minutes.
4. Stir through the peas and cook for 1 minute.

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Mandy’s Moussaka

Two quick notes:  Firstly if you saw this last week, sorry about that – little gremlins crept into the works but I have managed to sort them out and secondly, my apologies if I have not made comment on your posts the last couple of days, things have been a touch on the busy side plus we made a quick trip away.  I will be back soon. 😀

You may wonder why I call this Mandy’s Moussaka.  Quite simply it’s not authentic and I would not want to insult any genuine Moussaka making Greek so rather played it safe.  Authentic or not, its scrumity.  We enjoyed this for dinner the evening Pete and my Mom drove down from Johannesburg.  Both Pete and Mom did say though that adding potato like with a traditional Moussaka would be nice.

Ingredints

500g lamb mince
500g beef mince
2 onions sliced
½ tsp dried thyme
1 tsp corriander seed – ground in a pestle and mortar
½ cup red wine
½ cup beef stock
410g tin tomatoes
2 carrots scraped and grated
Salt and black pepper to taste
5 medium brinjal (eggplant / aubergine) sliced ¼ inch thick length ways
1½ cups cheddar cheese grated

Thick Bechamel Sauce

100g butter
100g flour
4 cups milk
Salt and white pepper to taste
1 egg

Method

1. Fry both the lamb and beef mince until browned.
2. Add the onions and fry until softened.
3. Add the thyme, coriander, wine, stock and tomatoes and allow to simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Add the carrots and simmer until the liquid has reduced by half and thickened slightly.
5. Fry the brinjal in batches in a little grapeseed oil until tender, drain on paper towel and set aside.
6. In the meanwhile melt the butter and sir in the flour.
7. Whisk in the milk and continue stirring until thickened and boiling.
8. Season with salt and pepper and stir in the egg.
9. Assemble the Moussaka by layering the mince and brinjals finishing with a layer of bechamel.
10. Sprinkle the cheese over the top and bake at 180 °C for 45 minutes.

Chinese Style Lamb, Pork or Beef

When I read about this recipe over at my friend Tanya’s blog, Chica Andaluza, I quickly commented that I was going to get some pork ribs out of the freezer so I could get cracking with making this delectable recipe but alas the pork ribs turned out to be lamb ribs – no matter.  Even though I had pork in mind, this was lip smacking good using lamb.  I will be making this again using pork and beef – just for research purposes of course to decide which I like best.

I amended the recipes slightly mainly out of necessity as I didn’t have any star anise or dry sherry in stock so I omitted the star anise and replaced the sherry with red wine which I always have on hand.

Ingredients

45ml vegetable oil for frying
1kg Lamb/Pork / Beef for slow cooking cut as desired
1 large onion roughly chopped
50g peeled fresh ginger roughly chopped
6 cloves of fresh garlic
15ml water
15ml Chinese five spice powder
5ml freshly ground black pepper
100ml brown sugar
50ml soy sauce
50ml red wine
30ml tomato purée
250ml chicken or beef stock

Method

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan and seal the meat on all sides (in batches if necessary). Remove the meat and reserve in a separate bowl.
2. Blitz the onion, ginger, garlic and water to a paste in a food processor then fry gently until softened in the same saucepan you used for the meat.
3. Add the five spice and pepper then after a minute add the sugar, soy sauce, wine, tomato purée and stock .
4. Add the meat with any juices and stir to coat the meat in the sauce.
5. Bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer and cook gently for 2 hours.
6. Remove the lid for the last 30 minutes to allow the sauce to reduce and thicken.

Dad’s Meatballs

Dad was on duty to make supper the one evening during their Easter visit and decided to make his scrumptious juicy meatballs.  I was hoping to get quantities for you but alas, ingredients was the closest I could get.  Dad says everything is all about feel, so you can add as much or as little of each ingredient to suite you.  I have put guestimates taken from watching dad at work.

Ingredients

1kg ground beef
5 slices white break soaked in milk and excess liquid squeezed out
1 onion chopped
1egg
Handful flat leaf and moss curled parsley chopped
20ml spice of choice
15ml balsamic vinegar
15ml soya sauce
15ml Worcestershire sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Combine all the ingredients together in a ball and shape balls
2. Place balls on a floured board and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Fry the meatballs in very shallow oil over a medium heat.

This is the new spice dad found at Spar and it is a must buy – absolutely delicious!

Lamb Casserole

We recently had 3 days of solid rain which dropped our lovely temperatures quite a lot, which in turn set in quite a large urge for a hearty meal and a tomato based lamb casserole was right on the top of my list.  This is one of those meals that is even nicer the next day and freezers very well too.

Ingredients

1kg lamb cut up -I used the “offcuts” from the half lamb be bought late last year
80ml flour
5ml salt
5ml black pepper
7.5ml cumin seeds
7.5ml dried thyme
2 medium onions sliced
1 litre lamb/beef stock
115g tin tomato paste
15ml brown sugar
4 potatoes peeled chopped
3 carrots scraped and chopped

Method

1. Combine the flour, salt, pepper, cumin and thyme in a bag and add the lamb.  Shake the bag about to coat the lamb in the flour mixture.
2. Seal and brown the lamb in batches in a little olive oil in a pot over a medium heat and set aside.
3. Fry the onions and add the meat back to the pot.
4. Add the stock, tomato paste, sugar and stir to combine, cover and allow to simmer over a low heat for approximately 1 hour or longer until the meat is tender.
5. Add the potatoes and carrots and simmer for a further 30 to 40 minutes until the vegetables are cooked through.
6. If the sauce is a little thin, thicken with a small amount of cornstarch mixed with water.

Melody’s Tripe

As promised, I asked Melody for her tripe recipe and she lovingly shared it with me.  She never gave specific measurements for any of the ingredients; depending on the quantities you are preparing, I think it is all very self explanatory.  So with no further ado…

Ingredients

Tripe cut into bite size pieces (fresh or frozen)
Water
Salt
Onions
White Sauce

Method

1. Cook the tripe in a covered dish over night in a low oven (100°C) covered in water and salt to taste or until the tripe is tender.  Check periodically in case more liquid is required.
2. Chop the onions and fry until soft.
3. Make a white sauce.
4. Remove any liquid from the tripe and stir in the onions and white sauce.
5. Cook for a further hour.

Mince Bourguignon

I do so love a good slow cooked rich full flavoured Boeuf Bourguignon so I thought why not then try it with mince and I must say it comes in a very close second.  This is not the most holiday inspired meal but it it super tasty; well now that I think about it, this is a great meal to prepare if you are having family and friends around over the festive season as you don’t have to be in the kitchen at all once you have prepared everything and have it simmering away on the stove.

Ingredients

1 onion sliced
2 small carrots chopped
400g beef mince
250ml red wine – I used Chateau Libertas
15ml beef stock powder
15ml tomato paste
Salt and pepper to taste
12 button mushrooms halved
Sprig of thyme

Method

1. Sauté the onion and carrots in a little olive oil.
2. Add the mince and brown.
3. Add the wine, stock, tomato paste and salt and pepper and bring to the boil.
4. Add the mushrooms and thyme and simmer covered very slowly for an hour.
5. Remove the lid to reduce the remaining liquid slightly.

Sausage Stuffed Bell Peppers

I have been wanting to make stuffed peppers for the longest time but for whatever reason, is just one of those ideas that gets pushed aside or forgotten.  I was reminded about this lovely idea when I was visiting over at Zestybeandog’s Blog, which made me put my want into action.  Thanks Zestybeandog for the reminder.  This is really a tasty meal and we enjoyed the yellow pepper so much more than the red.  It seemed to have more flavour once baked.

Inspired by Zestybeandog

Ingredients

1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
1 tbsp butter
½ onion chopped
½ cup sliced mushrooms
1 clove garlic crushed
4 pork bangers removed from casings
10ml chicken stock powder
5ml vegetable spice
¾ cup cooked rice

Method

1. Cut the tops off the peppers and remove the inner membrane and seeds.  Set aside.
2. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
3. Fry the onion and mushrooms in the butter until tender.
4. Add the garlic and and sausage breaking the sausage up into small pieces.
5. Add the stock powder and vegetable spice and cook through.
6. Stir in the rice and stuff into the peppers.
7. Bake for 35 – 40 minutes.
8. Drizzle the peppers with olive oil before serving.

Kassler chops with mustard and minted pears

After another read through the Love and Food, The Market Cookbook that I won from Tandy, my mom was set on preparing one of the recipes with her twist on it.  I love it when my mom gets inspired like this because we always land up with a taste explosion meal that we talk about for weeks on end after enjoying it.  The original recipe was pan-roasted kassler chops with fresh peaches and the mint called for was merely for decoration – what a waste we thought so we incorporated it into the meal – WINNER!  Well done mom on another magnificent meal.

Ingredients

1 tbsp whole grain mustard
1tbsp white wine vinegar
1tbsp honey
1 tbsp mint chiffonade
2 pears quartered and drizzled with olive oil
4 kassler chops

Method

1. Make a vinaigrette by combining the mustard, vinegar, honey and mint and set aside.
2. Heat a griddle pan over a high heat.
3. Grill the pears on both sides and set aside and keep warm.
4. Clean and reheat the pan and grill the kassler chops.
5. Plate the chops and peaches and drizzle over the vinaigrette.

Sosaties (Kebabs)

Sosaties are a traditional and proudly South African dish of Cape Malay origin.  The term derives from sate (skewered meat) and saus (spicy sauce) and are usually cooked on a braai (barbecue) after marinating for a day.  For all intents and purposes, you can call these yummy morsels kebabs, either way they are fabulous!

 

Sosaties

Ingredients

Marinade

30ml oil
3 large onions sliced
3 garlic cloves crushed
30ml mild curry powder
½ red chilli finely chopped
3 bay leaves
15ml chopped ginger
30ml smooth apricot jam
350ml wine vinegar
500ml milk

Meat

1.5kg boneless mutton or lamb
1.5kg boneless pork
50 dried apricots (optional)
16 wooden skewers soaked in water

Method

Marinade

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan and sauté the onions and garlic until the onions are soft.
2. Add the curry powder and sauté for 2 minutes.
3. Add the remaining ingredients except for the milk and simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Remove from the heat, leave to cool and stir in the milk.

Meat

1. Cut the mutton and pork into 2.5cm cubes.  Marinate the meat in the marinade for 24 hours.
2. Thread 6 meat cubes onto each skewer, alternating them with the apricots.
3. Braai (barbecue) over medium coals basting with the marinade.

Mini Lasagnes

Lasagne is one of those comfort foods, which I don’t make often enough and still being in the mood of wanting to make everything into individual portions plus remembering that I originally saw the idea for mini Lasagnes on Can You Stay For Dinner‘s blog, I set to work on making my version of Mini Lasagnes.  Using spring roll wrappers instead of pasta, gave these little lasagne’s an extra treat of crispy ears, although the very dark picture does them no justice.

Ingredients

1 medium onion sliced
75g mushrooms sliced
250g mince
5ml dried origanium
5ml vegetable spice
2 tomatoes roughly chopped
1 small carrot scraped and grated
60ml red wine
30ml chutney
30ml tomato sauce (ketchup)
Salt and black pepper to taste

White Sauce
60ml butter
60ml flour
1½ cups milk
Salt and pepper to taste

6 spring roll wrappers each cut into 4 = 24 pieces

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Method

1. Fry the onion and mushrooms in a little butter until soft.
2. Add the mince and fry until browned.
3. Add all the other ingredients and allow to cook until reduced and thickened.
4. Melt the butter in a small pot and stir in the flour to form a roux.
5. Add the milk while stirring continually until thickened.
6. Add salt and pepper to taste.
7. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
8. Lightly spray 8 muffin tins with non stick spray.
9. Line the tins with 2 wrappers each.
10. Spoon half the mince on top of the wrappers.
11. Spoon over half of the white sauce over the mince.
12. Place the remaining wrappers on top of the white sauce.
13. Spoon the remaining mince on top of the wrappers followed by the remaining white sauce.
14. Place the cheese on top of all the lasagnes
15. Bake for 20 mintues.

Serve with beetroot salad.

Beef Pasta

Last nights supper was sort of a glorified beef stroganoff which I served over pasta.  The combination of flavours married so well together which resulted in a super tasty meal that I will definitely be making again.  I should probably think of a more appropriate and appealing title though.

 

Ingredients

125g mushrooms sliced
Vegetable spice
400g fillet thinly sliced
250ml cream
10ml prepared hot English mustard
20ml port or sherry (I used port)
7.5ml maizena (cornstarch)
Salt and black pepper
Fettuccini pasta cooked according to package instructions

Method

1. Fry the mushrooms in a little butter sprinkled with the vegetable spice until tender and set aside.
2. Fry the steak in a little olive oil over a high heat for 1 minute and set aside with any pan juices.
3. Pour the cream into the pan you cooked the mushrooms and steak in and heat.
4. Whisk in the mustard and add the sherry.
5. Mix the maizena with a little water and stir through the cream mixture to thicken.
6. Add the mushrooms and steak to the cream and heat through.
7. Add salt and grind black pepper to taste and stir through.

Serve over the pasta.

Beef and Mushroom Stir Fry

We often enjoy a stir fry for dinner which I make with a variation of veggies, cabbage and onion being the standard “base” veggie ingredients and either steak or chicken which I marinade in soy sauce, honey, garlic and ginger.  It is always a hit but  I thought it would be nice to try something a little different and substituted the honey with sweet chilli sauce and added coriander.

Ingredients

450g beef fillet cut into thin slices
60ml dark soy sauce
40ml honey
5ml crushed garlic
2.5ml crushed ginger
1/3 cabbage shredded
1 large onion sliced
20ml fresh coriander chopped

Method

1. Place the beef, soy, chilli sauce, garlic and ginger in a bowl and mix to combine.  Let marinate for 30 minutes, the fillet will soak up all the soy.
2. Heat a little sunflower or grape seed oil in a wok until very hot, add the beef and stir fry for no longer than 2 minutes.  Remove the beef with a slotted spoon and reduce the liquid left in the wok by half and pour over the meat.
3. Add a little more oil to the wok, add all the vegetables and stir fry until tender but still crispy and add the beef back and stir into the vegetables to heat through.
4. Stir through the coriander just before serving.

Serve over basmati rice.

Beef Stir Fry

Last night’s dinner was created from left over fillet steak that I had in the fridge and a couple of extra remaining carrots  from Carrot Cake Cupcakes I made on Tuesday (recipe coming up soon), plus a few other ingredients and it was seriously yummy served over basmati rice – there is just enough left for lunch today.  The base marinade for most of my stir fries is always soy sauce, honey, garlic and ginger with a variation on the veggies, depending on what is in the fridge.

Ingredients

500g beef fillet cut into thin slices
60ml dark soy sauce
40ml honey
5ml crushed garlic
2.5ml crushed ginger
1/3 cabbage shredded
2 carrots grated
1 large onion sliced

Method

1. Place the beef, soy, honey, garlic and ginger in a bowl and mix to combine.  Let marinate for 30 minutes, the fillet will soak up all the soy.
2. Heat a little sunflower or grape seed oil in a wok until very hot, add the beef and stir fry for no longer than 2 minutes.  Remove the beef with a slotted spoon and reduce the liquid left in the wok by half and pour over the meat.
3. Add a little more oil to the wok, add all the vegetables and stir fry until tender but still crispy and add the beef back and stir into the vegetables to heat through.

Shanghai Steak

I have so many favourite Chinese dishes but Shanghai Steak is definitely at the top end of the list and pairs perfectly with another much loved dish of  Egg Fu-Yong and fried rice.  What’s even better is that the recipes are straight forward and easy to prepare, which really helps when preparing a variety of dishes at once.

Shanghai Steak

Ingredients

1kg steak thinly sliced
45ml cornstarch
120ml soy sauce
105ml sugar
180ml vinegar
360ml water
120ml oil
½ cup frozen peas thawed

Method

1. Marinate the steak in the cornstarch and soy sauce for 3 hours.
2. Bring the sugar, vinegar, water and oil the boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
   Add the steak and cook for 5 minutes or until tender.
3. Add the peas and stir through and allow to heat through.

Submitted by:  Christine de Villiers, Port Elizabeth

Mutton and Pear Curry

This dish works equally as well if cooked in a slow cooker for 2.5 hours, so for those busy week days that are filled with work and school, prep everything in the morning and all you have to do if turn on the cooker in the afternoon.  Perfect.  Serve with your choice of rice or mashed potatoes.

 

Ingredients

1kg thick mutton rib chops
15ml cooking oil
1 onion chopped
1 garlic clove chopped
410g tin pears
5 ml brown sugar (or use half the juice from the pears)
10ml ground ginger
1 cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
15 – 30 ml curry powder (to taste)
Juice of 1 lemon
250ml meat stock
250ml milk

Method 

1. Slash the fat edges of the chops to prevent curling during cooking.
2. Brown the meat in the heated oil.
3. Add the onion and garlic to the meat and sauté.
4. Cut the pears into smaller pieces and add to the meat (with the juice or sugar), as well as the other spices and seasonings.
5. Add the lemon juice, stock and the milk, cover and simmer until the meat is tender – ± 1 – 1.5 hours.

 

Submitted by:  Desiree Visagie, Johannesburg

Corned Beef Hash

This is another one of my favourites from childhood.  We used to call it Sundays River Stew, as we always used to have it at our family holiday home at Sundays River, so no big surprise in the name then.  I think the dish originated when my Bompa (grandfather) used what he found on the shelf – well, that’s my memory of the story.  I always serve this comforting meal with mashed potatoes however my aunt serves it with rice – it just wouldn’t be the same for me with rice, sorry Aunty Christine.

 

Ingredients

1 large onion sliced
1 tin corned beef cubed
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tin baked beans
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Lightly fry the onion in a pan with a little oil until soft.
2. Add the corned beef and fry for a further 5 minutes.
3. Add the tomatoes and reduce slightly.
4. Add the baked beans and heat through.
5. Add salt and pepper to taste.

 

Submitted by:  Mandy Frielinghaus, Mauritius

Fillet Salad

I doubt I will ever tire of eating this divine salad, then again, there is something about simple foods that really do it for me.  I often feel the simpler a recipe is, the nicer it is.  If I don’t have black bean sauce in stock, I make a balsamic and olive oil dressing, which is equally as yummy.

 

Ingredients

500g fillet steak
3 baby marrows (zucchinis / courgettes)
1 medium red onion
1 red bell pepper
Salad greens

Dressing

45ml black bean sauce
60ml peanut oil
15ml lemon juice

Method

1. Fry the steak in a pan or under the grill for 15 minutes or until medium rare, turning during cooking.
2. Set aside to relax for 10 minutes then cut into thin slices.
3. Trim the ends off the baby marrows and slice lengthwise with a potato peeler.
4. Peel the onion and slice thinly.
5. Cut the pepper in half, deseed and cut into thick slices.
6. Toss the baby marrows, onion, pepper and salad greens with the meat.
7. Mix all the dressing ingredients together and drizzle over the salad.

 

Submitted by:  Mandy Frielinghaus, Mauritius

Oxtail Casserole

I grew up eating and loving my mom’s oxtail casserole.  It left my lips and fingers so sticky and always wanting more.  The meat just falls off the bones and is incredibly tender.  This recipe is and always will be a firm favourite in our family.  If you are unable to get oxtail soup powder, coating the oxtail in flour will work just as well.

 

Ingredients

1 large oxtail
60ml oxtail soup powder
Salt and pepper to taste
500ml beef stock
3 cloves
2 large onions chopped
4 medium potatoes peeled and chopped
4 carrots peeled and sliced into rings
370g butter beans

Method

1. Coat the oxtail pieces in the soup powder, salt and pepper.
2. Heat some oil in a pan and brown the oxtail pieces in small batches.
3. Preheat the oven to 180˚C.
4. Place the oxtail in a casserole dish and cover with the stock, and add the cloves.  Cover and bake for approximately 4 hours or until the meat starts separating from the bone.  If necessary at this point, add more stock.
5. Add the onions, potatoes, carrots and butterbeans and bake for an additional hour or until the vegetables are tender.

 

Submitted by:  Val Olsen, Johannesburg

Devilled Lamb Chops

After a long hard week, it is nice to have a quick, easy and super yummy meal.  These devilled lamb chops are great served with rice or couscous and steamed broccoli.

 

Ingredients

15ml oil
125ml water
15ml curry powder
5ml soy sauce
125ml chutney
5ml mustard powder
15ml sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
1kg chops

Method

1. Mix all the ingredients and pour over the chops mixing through until the chops are all coated.
2. Set aside to marinate for an hour.
3. Preheat the oven to 180˚C.
4. Bake the chops in a covered casserole dish for 30 minutes.
5. Remove the lid and bake for a further 15 minutes.

 

Submitted by:  Mandy Frielinghaus, Mauritius