Tag: main course
T’fina Pkaila (Instant Pot)
T’fina Pkaila (Instant Pot)
Tfina pkaila is a traditional Jewish Tunisian dish served during Rosh Hashanah. The dish consists of stewed spinach with white beans and beef. I used my Instant Pot in preparation to speed up the cooking process; taking about an hour to make as opposed to 3+ hours it would take if using your stove top. The pkaila is always served over couscous with crusty Italian bread.
Equipment
- instant pot
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups dry white beans soaked overnight
- 1 lb fresh spinach
- olive oil
- 1/2 large onion diced
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 1 lb beef shank meat cubed
- 1/2 tbsp harissa
- 1/2 bunch mint chopped
- 1/2 bunch cilantro chopped
- 1/2 bunch parsley chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat up the olive oil in you instant pot on the sauté function over medium heat. Add in the spinach.
- Allow the spinach to cook down and release it’s liquid until it evaporates. Remove the spinach from the pot.
- Turn the function to high heat. Add in the onion, garlic, beef shank, and harissa. Brown for 5 minutes.
- Drain the beans and add into the pot. Stir in the spinach.
- Turn the function to pressure cook on high for 30 minutes. Put on the cover and push start.
- Release the pressure. Turn the function back to sauté on high. Add in the chopped herbs, salt, and pepper. Simmer for 10 more minutes until thickened.
Merguez Sausage
Merguez Sausage
Merguez sausage is the most popular type of sausage in North African countries such as Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco. The sausage is a combination of various ratios of lamb and beef, stuffed into lamb casings. This particular recipe uses 3 parts leg of lamb, 1 part beef fat. It is seasoned with freshly toasted whole cumin, coriander, and fennel seeds, paprika, cayenne, and Tunisian harissa paste.Merguez are typically grilled, but obviously can be pan fried. They will take about 5-6 minutes a side to cook through. If pan frying, you won’t need to add any oil. There is enough fat in the sausages that will render out to fry in. Serve the merguez with herbed couscous.
Equipment
- Spice grinder
- meat grinder
- sausage stuffer
Ingredients
- 3 lbs boneless leg of lamb cubed
- 1 lb beef fat
- 2 tbsp sea salt
- 2 tbsp paprika
- 2 tsp coriander seeds
- 2 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 1/3 cup harissa
- 1/3 cup ice water
- lamb casings
Instructions
- Dry toast the cumin, coriander, and fennel seeds in a small skillet over medium heat for 3 minutes. Let cool. Grind to a powder in a spice grinder.
- Mix all of the spices together.
- Grind the lamb and beef fat once through a meat grinder with a medium ground plate.
- Add all of the ingredients to the ground lamb. Mix thoroughly.
- Place in the refrigerator and allow the ingredients to commingle for an hour before stuffing.
- Stuff the sausage into the lamb casings. Twist to 6” in length.
- Allow to rest in the refrigerator for a couple of hours before cutting the links apart. Wrap whatever you don’t plan to use in the next 3 days freezer paper.
- Heat up a skillet over medium high heat. Add the sausages to the skillet.
- Cook for 5-6 minutes a side. These sausages can also be grilled for the same amount of time.
Pork and Potatoes
Pork and Potatoes
One of my favorite Chinese takeout restaurants, Bing’s, closed over 25 years ago. They were known for giant egg rolls, giant egg foo yung, plus standard Cantonese dishes that you’ll find on most menus prepared significantly better than other Chinese restaurants. But my favorite thing on the menu was their pork and potatoes. I’ve had it from many other restaurants, and it’s all been garbage in comparison to Bing’s. So what made Bing’s so much better? A couple things. While most potatoes used in this dish are cubed, Bing’s sliced them thinly on a mandolin. It creates a wider surface area when frying the potatoes, allowing them to get crispier than cubed. Most places just use oyster sauce. Bing’s added both light and dark soy sauces to enhance the flavor and give it a darker color. Also, their char siu was second to none.
Equipment
- mandolin
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 lb potatoes peeled
- 1/4 red onion sliced
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1/2 cup char siu roast pork diced
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- white pepper to taste
Garnish
- green onions finely chopped
Instructions
- Slice the potatoes on a mandolin about 1/4” thick. Soak in cold water for 30 minutes. Pat dry.
- Heat up cooking oil in a sauté pan or wok over medium high heat. Fry the potatoes in a single layer in 2 batches.
- Fry for 3 minutes a side until lightly crispy. Remove from the pan.
- Add in the onions and pork. Sauté for 3 minutes.
- Add the potatoes back into the pan.
- Pour in the soy sauces, oyster sauce, and sesame oil. Make sure that all of the potatoes are coated.
- Pour in the water. Simmer for 5 minutes until all of the liquid has evaporated.
- Season with white pepper.
