Azerbaijan - the meat

 

I went a little heavy on the meat dishes on Sunday night.

I was only going to cook the kebabs, but really loved the sound of these little meatballs with pomegranate sauce. I had intended to make a pilaf to go with the meatballs (I will next time I make them) but I ran out of time. Beside, lets be realistic: there were only four of us for dinner.

We ended up with heaps of leftovers - fine by me!







































































Don't forget: if you are using bamboo skewers, you need to soak them in water for a couple of hours first. I think I need to get myself some of these metal skewers. Perfect.

Basturma

Marinated Beef Kebabs

serves 4-6

• 1 kilogram sirloin steak (cut into 3 cm cubes)

for the marinade

• 1 onion (peeled and grated)
• 2 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
• 2 tablespoons coriander leaves (chopped)
• 1 tablespoons basil leaves (chopped)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• salt and pepper

to serve

• chopped shallots
• tomato wedges
• lemon wedges
• coriander sprigs

Mix all of the marinade ingredients together in a large bowl and add the meat. Mix well and marinate the meat for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Thread the meat onto skewers and barbecue to you liking. To serve, arrange the kebabs on a platter and garnish with shallots, tomatoes, lemon and coriander sprigs.


Karabakh Khorovats

Marinated Pork Kebabs

serves 4-6

• 1 kilogram pork loin (cut into 3 cm cubes)

for the marinade

• 1 onion (peeled and grated)
• 1 tablespoons oregano leaves (chopped)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 1/2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
 • salt and pepper

to serve

• chopped shallots
• tomato wedges
• pomegranate molasses

Mix all of the marinade ingredients together in a large bowl and add the meat. Mix well and marinate the meat for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Thread the meat onto skewers and barbecue until cooked. To serve, arrange the kebabs on a platter and garnish with the shallots and tomatoes. Serve a bowl of pomegranate molasses separately.

Both of these kebab recipes came from this Russian cookbook.

Fesinjan Kyufta

Meatballs in Pomegranate Sauce 

serves 6-8


for the meatballs

• 750 grams beef mince
• 750 grams lamb mince
• 1 onion (grated)
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons iced water
• 1/4 cup breadcrumbs
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 tablespoon mint leaves (finely chopped)
• salt and pepper


for the sauce

• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1/2 cup pomegranate molasses
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons honey

serve with rice pilaf

Preheat oven to 220 degrees. In a large bowl, mix all of the meatball ingredients together and roll into walnut size balls. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. In a saucepan combine all of the sauce ingredients together and set aside, ready to heat when the meatballs are cooking.

To cook the meatballs, toss in a little olive oil and spread out onto a baking tray. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes. Bring the sauce ingredients to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Put the meat balls into a serving dish and pour over the hot pomegranate sauce. Serve immediately.

This recipe is from the inspiring blog, Global Table Adventure.