Beef Goulash Moroccan Style

I'm not a big goulash lover but I had this moroccan dish in mind and needed beef. Filet is pretty expensive though so I decided to buy goulash, since moroccan meat dishes are generally cooked for 1-several hours. I didn't use any recipe for this, it's rather a work of improvisation but it turned out quite nice.
It was also my first time ever making goulash!

Anyway, on to the recipe (2 people):

* 250-300g beef goulash
* 1 can of chickpeas
* 1-2 red or yellow peppers
* +/- 300ml water
* 500ml beef stock
* cumin, cinnamon, salt, baharat
* 3 tbsp tomato purée
* 1 tbsp low-fat or normal cream

Heat a bit of oil in a wok or pan (I don't own a tajine therefore I cooked it in a wok), wait until hot and stir-fry the meat shortly from each side, seasoning it with salt, cumin, a bit of cinnamon and baharat. Add the beef stock, 1 tsbp of tomato purée and cover the wok or pan. Reduce heat. The meat needs to simmer (not boil!) for about 2 hours, but make sure there's always enough liquid. Pour the rest of the water in, when there's not enough liquid. It has to cover the meat completely. After 1 1/2 hours, chop the pepper and add it to the meat. Check from time to time if it's soft. As soon as the meat is soft, add the rest of the tomato purée and season a little more, until you think it tastes spicy enough. Add the chickpeas, the cream and wait until it's hot enough to be served. If the sauce is too thin, you can add sauce thickener. Serve hot with couscous and enjoy!

~Vail~

Mince Strudel

The idea for this dish came from this site. I thought it'd taste wonderful and so I gave it a try. As usual, I made a few changes, except for the dough.The quality of the picture is quite lame, since I forgot my camera at home and only had my phone at hand.
So here is how it works.

 Dough:

* 250g flour
* 1/2 package of dry yeast
* 1 1/2 tbsp soft butter
* 1 egg
* salt
* 125gr low-fat yoghurt

Put the flour and the yeast in a bowl, add the soft (but not melted) butter and mix with a fork. Add the egg, the salt and the yoghurt and knead until you obtain a nice and firm dough. Cover the bowl and let it rest for about 1/2 hour.

Filling:

* 250gr beef mince
* 1 red pepper
* cumin
* salt, pepper
* baharat
* tomato purée
* red wine
* ground cheese

Heat a pan with a bit of oil and fry the meat. Season with salt, pepper, cumin and, if you like, baharat. Add 1-2 tbsp of tomato purée, a shot of red wine and the cooked red pepper in dices. Reduce heat and wait until the liquid has reduced.  Add the cheese and take away from heat.

Preheat oven to 180°C. Split the dough in half and roll it out. Put the filling onto the dough and roll it up. Do the same with the second half of the dough. Pierce the surface several times with a fork, then bake in the oven for about 20-30 minutes, until the dough is crispy.

Serve with hot tomato sauce and enjoy!

~Vail~

Moroccan Apricot Chicken With Couscous

The first recipe in the new year - I'm so lame. *laughs* Ever since I saw this recipe in a book, I knew I had to try it out. And believe me, this Moroccan dish was worth the impatient waiting.

As usual, I changed the recipe a little (seems like I really can't cook anything the way it's described in recipes).

You need:

* 2 chicken breasts
* about 10 dried apricots
* 2-3 oranges
* 1 tsp honey
* 2 tbsp ground almonds
* cinnamon, cumin, salt, pepper
* 1 cup of water
* 1/2 cup of couscous

Cut the apricots in half. Squeeze the oranges and let the apricots soak in the juice.
Dice the chicken breasts and stir-fry the meat in a pan with a bit of oil. Season with salt and pepper.
Add the juice, the apricots and 1/2 cup water, and season with cinnamon and cumin. Stir the honey and the ground almonds and reduce heat. Cover the pan until sauce has reduced and thickened.
In another pan (it should be coated), heat 1/2 cup of water with salt until boiling, then add the couscous. Reduce heat and wait until the couscous has absorbed the liquid. Loosen up the grains with a fork but don't scratch the pan ;) Add some butter and let it fry a little more.

When everything's ready, serve hot and enjoy. :)

PS: While eating, I thought that adding raisins would be very nice too! I also added a few fried sesame grains, as you can see in the picture, but I actually prefer the dish without them.