6. März 2009

i *never* eat beef

done
i mostly cook vegetarian now, sometimes even vegan. i don't really miss meat and going vegetarian/vegan is about as close as i will ever get to these special diets that would probably be a good idea for an ms-patient like me. i've made quite a few adjustments to my diet anyway since the diagnosis and i continue to do so, but i am not (yet) cut out for the strict regime that's necessary when you follow those specific diets. there are several diets too, which makes it even harder to find one that suits me.

ah, what the hell.

i never hesitate to eat meat when i feel like eating meat! i'm like "hey, my body wants it, my body probably needs it!" when i have that craving i always buy poultry. i haven't bought red meat in years, even before the diagnosis.

when i stumbled upon the amazing recipe for mongolian beef over at "the crepes of wrath" i not only licked my laptop screen, i also instantly wanted to try it.

well, i did. and i did not substitute the red meat with white meat on my first try. though the dish itself tasted incredibly hearty and savoury i wasn't too satisfied with my choice of the red meat.

since the recipe itself is pretty awesome and tasty i was willing to give the dish another try - this time with turkey (virtually the only kind of meat i eat these days).

so here is my (metric) approach to the recipe along with some pictures.

dice two turkey schnitzel and cover the cubes with two heaped spoons full of cornstarch. make sure to shake off any excess starch because it can make your sauce too gooey. set the meat aside while you prepare the sauce.

cornstarch on white meat
shake off excess
fry one tablespoon of grated ginger and six cloves of minced garlic in three teaspoons of sunflower oil.

garlic and ginger
now mix 150 ml water and 150 ml soy sauce with two generous table spoons of sugar and add to the pan [the original recipe calls for brown sugar, but i still have to get rid of a couple of sachets of plain old white sugar. so i used those].

garlic and ginger infused soy sauce
now remove the sauce from the pan.
fry the meat until it starts to turn brown.

turkey
turkey
now pour the sauce back in the pan and let it simmer over medium heat until the sauce has your desired consistency.

sauce thickens
cook your favorite rice for this dish! i am totally into brown rice these days ...

brown rice
garnish with a nice touch of a little green when you arrange the dish. you could use spring onions or salad or even swiss chard, as i did.

asian/mongolean inspired

while i am all for experiencing new things and tastes i guess i'll resort to white meat in the future. turkey is just "my thing", i like it a lot and it looks like i just can't cook red meat anyway - it is never tender and yummie, it always has the consistency of the sole of a shoe. clearly, i am doing something wrong! i probably can't handle beef! [and i manage to screw up dishes with pork now too.]

even the leftovers look delicious!
what a fantastic dish! even the leftovers look delicious! [since i made enough to have dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow, technically those are not leftovers. this is my lunch for tomorrow!]