No. 30 – Bulgarian Moussa.k.a Potatoes and Mince

(most desperate pun yet)

I feel like I am repeating myself, but this moussaka tasted exactly like its components – spuds and mince, blatantly obvious maybe, but the best and only possible description. This was the first time we marked a culinised dish out of ten - ten being a roast lamb dinner, zero being not worth naming. It turns out that our marking system became more complicated than I originally intended, but I take culinising very seriously and marking the dishes out of ten should give a sort of structure and order to the randomness.  I also tend to forget how good or lets say, less good some dishes are, and find some difficult to recall at all (Bulgarian moussaka in fact being one of them).

Our marking system was doomed from the start. You can’t compare minced beef to a leg of lamb, because a leg of lamb is intrinsically better and minced beef simply can’t and won’t ever compete. This didn’t seem fair though and so having thought about the dilemma for a while, we decided that the moussaka was a ⁴/₁₀ compared to roast lamb dinner (though it depends how much you like lamb) but an ⁸/₁₀ compared to other mince dishes. The final mark works out as a ⁶/₁₀  average.  By this system we could have gone down the road of comparing moussaka to steak, or lobster, or beans on toast, or liver, or marshmallows. We’re just going to have to come up with another system.  

Moussaka                                                                                                                           Rating: ⁶/₁₀

This Moussaka wasn’t what I thought it would be. I thought Moussaka was like some sort of lasagna with aubergine. Not in Bulgaria. I read somewhere that they claim to have invented it and who am I to contest?

It was a very satisfying and comforting sort of dinner. What else can you expect from spuds and mince with a dollop of yogurt?

500g potatoes, peeled and diced small

500g minced beef

oil for frying

salt and pepper

2 onions, diced

garlic, chopped

4 tomatoes, chopped

handful of cheddar or other hard cheese.

1 egg

500g plain yogurt

1 tsp flour

In a heavy ovenproof dish fry the onions and garlic in some oil until soft. Add in the mince and cook until browned. Season. Add the potatoes, tomatoes, cover and bake in a preheated 180 degree oven for about 45 minutes until the potatoes are cooked.

In the mean time, mix together the egg, half the yogurt, flour and cheese. Pour over the meat and potatoes and bake for a further 15 minutes until the top is golden. Serve with a dollop of yogurt and a few dashes of tabasco. 

No. 14 - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azerbaijan!

Bidding farewell and good riddance to the A’s we finish up running scared from Azerbaijan.*

This meal was relatively uneventful and passed without any particularly mentionable anecdotes. Apart from maybe Ronan, my most helpful helper turning up just in time to help with the tasting of these little unpronounceable yarpag dolmasy’s. Use of vine leaves in this recipe, means yet another opened jar in the back of the fridge that I won’t ever use again but can’t bear to throw out. There is a chance I would finish them off if I didn’t have so many other unusual ingredients to buy and waste half of. So ya, that’s about as exciting as it gets I’m afraid.

*running scared was the winning Eurovision song this year by the way, in case my brilliant wit was undeterred by anyone. It also ties in with running scared from Azkaban - I think I'm on a role here. 

Yarpag dolmasy’s

I halved the (altered) recipe to serve two (and a half) people. You could probably add more rice if you wanted to bulk it up a bit - they were pleasantly and surprisingly meaty. Halved, tinned chickpeas are an additional option. Opening a can of chickpeas for a mere tablespoon or so didn’t seem worth it to me, but if you already have them open in the back of the fridge, why not? The vine leaves were jarred in brine and had a slightly pickled taste before they were rinsed. Afterwards they had the tang of black olives.

Yarpag dolmasy’s are tasty little mouthfuls and they really grow on you, different but in a good way – I think maybe it’s the cinnamon. Wrapping the meat in the vine leaf parcel and lining them in neat concentric circles in a saucepan is highly satisfying, at least for me anyway. They’re cooked for an hour and a half and then – loaded with garlicky yogurt, they’re gone in a mouthful.

1 bundle of vine leaves, rinsed and separated in cold water

250g of minced beef

1 small red onion, chopped finely

¼ tsp turmeric

¼ cinnamon

a handful of chopped parsley

2 tbsp of rice, rinsed in cold water

40g of butter, room temperature

salt and pepper

Garlic Yoghurt

5 heaped tbsp of greek yogurt

½ clove of garlic, minced

salt

Mix all of the ingredients except the vine leaves in a bowl with your hands to ensure everything is evenly distributed. Lay out the vine leaves on a work surface and place a dollop meat mixture in the centre. Fold the leave over and over again, to create a little round parcel (the circular shape is unique to Azerbaijan). Line a saucepan with the parcels and layer them up on top of one another. Place a plate in the pan with a heavy weight on top, this stops the parcels from unraveling, Cover with water up until the plate and simmer for an hour and a half.

Remove with a slotted spoon and serve with greek yogurt mixed with half a clove of minced garlic and some salt. Add a green salad, crusty bread and a punnet of ripe cherry tomatoes and you’re sorted.

No. 1 - Afghanistan has been tried and tasted!

Last Thursday, despite the gorgeous weather and a hangover, I somehow managed to feed a hungry 12 friends, without getting too pissed (beforehand) or dropping anything on my feet. A massive thank you to Luke, Teresa, Gretta, Maeve, Andrea, Katie, Micheal, Kirwan (for photographing the night), Noel, Eoghan, Egle, Donagh - all that came to show their support! I’m already looking forward to the next rendition of Culinisation – Party No. 2!

As for the food, I think we were all surprised at how good it tasted - who knew that Afghanistan rocked such a mean cuisine? Thursdays dastarkhan consisted of a few national and traditional Afghan dishes that were devoured by everyone (no fussy eaters then). I had a few aubergine convertists and we all admitted that the raisins actually made the savory rice! I’ll say it again – who knew!

Qabili Pilau

Qabili Pilau is the national dish of Afghanistan. It is served at all dastarkhan (a floor spread central to Afghan culture) and is a sort of beef and rice dish, topped with fried raisins and carrots. It contains all sorts of spices but is not spicy nor is it an extremely exciting or attractive dish. I wouldn’t recommend eating it on its own but was tasty with the rest of the food - not the star of the show but a necessary addition.

Serves 10 (as a side not a main dish)

Ingredients

500g basmati rice

vegetable oil, for frying

1 onion, diced

750g stewing beef, diced

2 carrots, cut into match stick sized pieces

100g raisins

1 tsp cumin, ground

1tsp cardamon, ground

1 tsp cinnamon, ground

Pinch of Safron

tsp sugar

salt and pepper

boiling water

First thing to do is fry the diced onion in the oil until fairly dark. Then add the diced beef and brown lightly. When the meat is sealed add about a pint of water, salt to taste, and the teaspoons of cinnamon, cumin and cardamom. Cover and let simmer until the meat is tender. I bought the cheapest cut of beef because I’m broke and it took me a good 3 hours for the meat to tenderise, but it depends on what part you buy. When the meat pulls apart easily in you fingers, remove from juice and set aside.

To get on with the topping, cut the carrots into matchstick sized pieces – I found this a pain in the ass. Fry them in some oil and add a teaspoon of sugar. Cook until they’re browned. Remove the carrots and throw in the raisins. You are supposed to cook them until they absorb all the oil and swell up. I refrained from adding yet more oil and they burned. To be honest you could just skip frying them at all and just throw them on as they are.

Boil the meat juice up and throw in the rice, salt to taste, pinch of saffron and enough boiling water to come up to, say, 5 cm over the rice. You’ll probably need to add more later. Cook until rice is just under done. Mix back in the meat to the rice. Scatter with the carrots and raisins, cover and bake in a moderate oven (my oven is crazy but I’m guessing at about 180 degrees) for about an hour. Make sure it is covered tightly with tin foil to stop any steam escaping when it’s in the oven. This way when you take the lid off there’s a gush of steam. Traditionally you serve it on a large communal platter, but it looks great from the pot and saves on the washing up.

Bouranee Baunjan (Baked Eggplant With Yogurt)


This was the clear favorite of the night and as I mentioned earlier, some of my friends were not only converted, but raving about aubergines. However, although it had all of the carnivores more excited about veggies than meat, the aubergines were pretty much deep-fried and this may contribute to some of its deliciousness. I would recommend this recipe to anyone – at all. This recipe is dedicated to Eoghan.

Serves 6 – 8 as a main

Ingredients

6 aubergines, sliced length ways

lots of salt

vegetable oil for frying

2 bell peppers, I used red, sliced thinly

2 punnets of cherry tomatoes, chopped

water

jar of tomato sauce (the usual pasta sauce)

½ tsp coriander

½ tsp tumeric

tsp freshly ground pepper

fresh coriander

250g tub of greek yogurt (or lebene if you can get it)

Cut the stems from the aubergine and slice them length ways into 1cm thickness. You can peel them but the skin is in my opinion the essence of the aubergine. Spead the slices out and sprinkle liberally with salt. Leave for 30 minutes and dab off the water with kitchen paper. Turn them over and repeat with the other side. This process makes this dish quite tedious but salting them means that they will brown in the pan later.

Next you need to fry the auberines – they absorb the oil in the pan like nothing I’ve ever seen. Cover the base of the pan in oil and fry until lightly browned. You’ll need to add more oil when you turn them. I did mine in batches in two separate pans. Set aside on a plate. In the same pan, fry up the onions and peppers in yet more oil, until the onions are soft.

Now its time to start assembly – it’s a bit like lasagna. Get yourself an ovenproof dish and start with a layer of aubergine, then a layer of onion and peppers, then sprinkle on some chopped tomatoes. Repeat until you’ve ran out of ingredients. It doesn’t matter which ingredient ends up on top. Heat the jar of tomato sauce with the ground coriander in the pan you cooked the peppers and onion, and spread over the top. Bang it in the oven for about 30 minutes at around 180 degrees.

Once again, this dish is supposed to be served on a platter, where you spread a layer of yogurt on the platter, carefully transfer the aubergine on top of that and then top with more yogurt. I however am to lazy for that (and do not yet even own a platter) and so served it straight from the oven, with the yogurt dolloped on top and sprinkled with coriander leaves. Delicious with pita bread for moping up the juices.

Kebab e Murgh (Yogurt Marinated Chicken Kebab)

This is a really simple recipe. It just involves throwing everything into a bowl together, leaving it over night and grilling it. As long as you have a decent grill (which I don’t) this should be a walk in the park. For handiness sake, because I was cooking for a large number of people I put the chicken on skewers but this isn’t totally authentic. You can just turn them individually under the grill.

Serves 6 -8

Ingredients

500g  tub of natural yogurt

7 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tsp ground coriander

2 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground black pepper

dash of garlic powder

8 large chicken breasts, cut into large chunks

Throw everything into a bowl and mix together with your hands to get everything totally incorporated and covered. Leave over night in the fridge. Take them out of the fridge 30 minutes before grilling them. Take off as much of the yogurt marinade as possible (my method was messy and not very effective, just squeezing and squelching it off with my fingers, let me know if you come up with a better solution). Throw the chicken under a really hot grill for about 7 minutes aside (it really depends on how hot your grill is) until slightly charred. Serve hot or cold.

Salata (Salad)

Make this salad, it goes with everything – including Albenia.

Serves 8 – 12

Ingredients

2 punnets of cherry tomatoes, chopped.

3 cucumbers, peeled, core removed and diced.

1 small red onion, diced

bunch of roughly chopped coriander.

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp. salt

½ tsp. ground black pepper

Combine all of the ingredients and enjoy the party!

Thanks again to everyone who came, especially  Eoin Kirwan for his photo expertise. Cheers!