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~

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.

Vegetable Couscous With Goat Cheese

While I was with my friend at the health food store yesterday, I found a spice blend that caught my attention: Arabian spice. Needless to say that I didn't leave with empty pockets. It is a combination of nutmeg, black pepper, coriander, cumin, clove, cinnamon, cardamom, paprika and chili and they call it Baharat.
Today's recipe is a low-fat and easy dish if you feel like having something simple, yet tasty that doesn't take much time.

I used eggplant and zucchini which I diced, then fried in a bit of olive oil until they were soft. Added salt, pepper and baharat, then put a cover onto the pan and put it away. In another pan, I prepared the couscous, added a tiny bit of olive oil, salt, baharat and origan. Add the vegetables to the couscous and serve with creamy goat cheese.

Enjoy!

~Vail~

Moroccan Lamb With Couscous

The idea for this recipe came to my mind when I found this product in the supermarket. Jamie Oliver's moroccan herb crust.

Since lamb is my favourite meat, I decided to use the crust with this kind of meat.
Ok I have to admit, that I spent a little more time in the kitchen for this dish but it was definitely worth it! The sauce that goes along with it isn't absolutely necessary because the meat is already nice and juicy but if you prefer having sauces in general, you can give it a try. It actually is an experiment that I came up with spontaneously after checking my fridge and cupboard but I liked how it turned out.

Anyway, on to the recipe!

What you need:

* lamb filet
* Jamie Oliver's moroccan herb crust
* salt
* pepper
* honey
* olive oil
* 1 eggplant
* tomato puree
* crème frâiche
* cinnamon
* paprika (spice)
* vegetable stock
* couscous

Start with the eggplant. Cut it into thin! slices, put those onto a baking tray, coat them with a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Put them in the oven and turn on the grill function. Depending on your oven, they take +-10-15 minutes.

Cut the meat into palm-size pieces, then season it with salt and pepper. Coat it with fluid honey (if you only have honey that's firm, heat it a few seconds in the microwave), then coat it with the herb crust. Heat olive oil in the pan and take care that the pan isn't too hot. Fry the meat on each side for about 5 minutes.

For the sauce, heat a little water and dissolve the vegetable stock powder. Add a little paprika and cinnamon, tomato puree, honey and black pepper. Use 1-2 tablespoons of crème frâiche or normal cream (I used crème frâiche because I still had some leftovers in my fridge). To make it a little sour, use a bit of lemon juice.

The sauce turned out quite thick so if you're not a big fan of creamy sauces, add more water. I know that different people have different opinions about this issue (I've had several discussions with my mother whether the sauce was too thick or too thin) so you better decide for yourself.

If you don't know how to prepare couscous, check the suggestions on the package. (Or boil the same amount of water than couscous with salt in a pan, add the couscous and take away from heat, wait a few minutes, then loosen the grains with a fork.) Add a little butter, season a little with salt, then serve everything together.