Tag: appetizer
Raw Beef Salad
Raw Beef Salad
While this is more of a Cambodian-style carpaccio than a salad, this dish is extremely easy to make and will impress your dinner guests. The beef is technically raw, but gets cooked in the acidity of the lime juice; much like ceviche. The beef salad gets tossed with peanuts, chilies, and cilantro at the end of marination and is served with slices of cucumber.
Equipment
- mortar and pestle
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp fish sauce
- 3 limes juiced
- 3 tbsp palm sugar
- 2 stalks lemongrass finely chopped
- 2 shallots finely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves finely minced
- 1 lb top sirloin trimmed of all fat; sliced 1/8” thick or less
- 1 red chilies thinly sliced
- 2 oz toasted peanuts
- 8 basil leaves
- 1/2 small white onion thinly sliced
- 1 cucumber peeled; thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup cilantro chopped
Instructions
- Pound in a mortar and pestle the 2 tbsp of palm sugar with the juice of 2 limes and 2 tbsp of fish sauce.
- Toss with the onions, shallots, lemongrass, garlic, and basil.
- Add in the thinly sliced beef. Cover and let marinate in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
- Pour out the marinade. Stir in the rest of the fish sauce, palm sugar, and lime juice. Toss with the peanuts and red chilies.
Sesame Salt Pork Skewers
Sesame Salt Pork Skewers
Anthony Bourdain once said that the older he gets, the more he craved eating things on a stick. In my case, I believe this to be true. I’m always craving something on a stick or a skewer. These Hmong-style sesame salt pork skewers are extremely easy to make and are ready in 10-12 minutes(in addition to marinating the pork for a day).
Equipment
- food processor
- metal skewers
Ingredients
- 4 green onions chopped
- 4 stalks lemongrass chopped
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup fish sauce
- 2 tbsp honey
- 2 tsp oyster sauce
- 2 lbs pork sirloin sliced 1/4” thick
Garnish
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
- 2 tsp sea salt
Instructions
- Add the marinade ingredients to a food processor.
- Process until smooth.
- Marinate the pork for 24 hours.
- Skewer 5-6 pieces of pork on each metal skewer. Turn on your oven’s broiler. Place the skewers on a rack on a baking sheet lined in foil.
- Broil for 5-6 minutes on each side until a light char forms. Alternatively, you can grill the skewers for the same amount of time.
Tajine Maadnous
Tajine Maadnous
Tajine maadnous is a baked Tunisian egg dish. With a heavy Italian influence, this egg bake is very similar to a frittata. Traditionally, the meat(either beef or lamb) is cooked until tender in an actual tajine. If you don’t own a tajine, you can speed up the cooking process by using an instant pot pressure cooker. The meat is then mixed with sautéed onions and herbs, cheese, breadcrumbs, and eggs. The mixture is baked in a glass dish for 30-40 minutes. This can be served as an appetizer or as a main course with couscous.
Equipment
- instant pot
- glass pie plate
Ingredients
- 1 lb beef chuck roast cut into 1” cubes
- 1 bunch parsley chopped
- 1 large onion finely chopped
- 8 large eggs beaten
- 2/3 cup breadcrumbs
- 4 oz mozzarella grated
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat up 1/4 cup of olive oil in your instant pot on the sauté function over medium high heat. Add in the beef. Brown for 8 minutes.
- Stir in the turmeric, tomato paste, salt and pepper. Pour in 1 cup of water. Turn on the pressure cook function over high heat for 15 minutes. Place on the cover and push start.
- When the 15 minutes are up, release the pressure. Turn the sauté function back on and simmer the beef on high.
- Cook until all the liquid has evaporated. Allow the meat to cool.
- While the beef is cooking, heat up the rest of the olive oil,in a sauté pan over medium high heat. Sauté the onions and parsley for 5 minutes. Allow to cool.
- Once the beef has cooled, add them to a large bowl with the beaten eggs.
- Stir in the cheese, breadcrumbs, and the sautéed onions and parsley. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Pour the egg mixture into a butter glass pie plate.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes until the center is cooked all the way through.
