Meat Pie - Poultry Stuffing

When I was a little girl (don't all childhood food stories start like this?), my mum would make stuffed chicken every other Sunday (the other one would be schnitzel or something similar). We used to love this one. Even my dad, who is not a chicken fan would help himself twice. Now that we don't live together any more, our Sunday traditions naturally disappeared. But after learning about Anna´s annual Festive Food Fair event, this little story glimpsed in my mind
immediately.

I decided to re-create this baked mish-mash that I learned it from my mum, who learned it from her mum… Traditionally, we use it as a chicken stuffing. But since it is such a big hit back home, people tend to make enormous amount of it, use a part of it as a stuffing and the rest, they bake in a separate dish to be sliced up as a :

MEAT PIE :
(mäsový koláč)

prep time : 1 hour
serves: 4 people

• 10 bread rolls (the older the better)
• 200 g chicken liver
• 3 eggs
• 100 g butter
• Salt, pepper
• Parsley
  

Cut rolls into 1 cm thick pieces and soak in water (alternatively milk) for about half an hour. Drain and squeeze the remaining liquid out. Meanwhile, chop the liver or blend in a blender. Chop fresh parsley. Separate egg yolks from egg whites. In a bowl, mix soaked rolls, liver, parsley, egg yolks, half of butter, salt and pepper. Whisk egg whites until thick. Carefully add to the mixture. It should be fluffy.
Grease a baking dish with butter and place the pie in it. You can put some butter slices on top. Bake at 180 degrees for about half an hour. When it starts to harden, place more butter slices on top, so it melts and leaves the pie crispy.

As mentioned above, you can also use it as a poultry stuffing (great idea for Thanksgiving turkey, too). In this case, cut the amount of butter in half. Poultry will grease the rest well.
For a change, use pork liver instead of chicken.
Beef liver is a bit hard, though.

Serve with pickled jalapeño or pepperoni, pickled cucumber and some nice wine.

Raisin Stuffed Chili Pepper Pickles

This is a very unusual pickle recipe that I got from my dad who claims to have it from a lady that used to babysit me thousands years ago.... He accidentally ran into her last week (after considerable amount of time he still seems to remember her) and was talking pickles with her. (This is not a pick up line, mum :) Right now, there is a pickling season in here (did I mention I was down in Slovakia again?), so preserving and canning is "in" right now. So, when meeting old accuaintancies talking pickles is more inventive than talking weather.

PLUS! This type of small talk is lot more productive, since you happen to learn lots of unusual recipes. Just like:


RAISIN STUFFED CHILI PEPPER PICKLES:
(zavárané feferónky s hrozienkami)

spice ladder: ****

prep time: forever

• big chili peppers
• raisins
• pickling solution (1:1:1 ratio)
• water
• vinegar
• honey

* Note: We used jalapeno and these little round ones, we call them peperoni. I couldnt the word for them in English, not even after consulting it with this Awsome Chile Database.... If you guys know the word, help. They re pretty spicy...

Preparation is easy, but time consuming. Gather all the chilies and wash them. With a sharp knife, cut off the green tops and with the back of a spoon, scoop out al the insides. Wash well.

With the help of a long chopstick, stuff the peppers with raisins.

Place into a pickling jar, very tightly.

Combine the ingredients for the pickling solution and bring to boil. Set off the fire and let cool down. Pour into the pickling jars and close tightly. (The lids should be very clean, so I advice you to boil them for a minute to sterilize them).
Place the jars into a big pot, cover with water and bring to boil. Set off the fire and let cool down. Take them out of the water adn store in a dark cool place for about 3 weeks, so the chili peppers soften up. Open and enjoy :-)

This is my contribution to a great event: Waiter, There Is Something In My .... Savory Pickle hosted by The Passionate Cook. Enjoy!!

UPDATE (Oct 10th): I am proud to hear that Joey of 80 Breakfasts decided to re-create my recipe. She adds sage and thyme for extra kick... Look at all her pictures, now that is something. Thanx, Joey. Hope you enjoy them.

Beer Battered Aachar Stuffed Chili Pepper Tempura

...Uff, that was a very long and descriptive title, but I just felt like this special dish I created yesterday needed an adequately fancy name.
I haven´t deep fried chilies before (actually I haven´t deep-fried anything in a veeeeery long time). Deep-frying = lots of oil and lots of oil = bad cooking habit and bad cooking habits = bad health and ugly shapes :) .... This was a short explanation of my anti-too-much-oil attitude...

Anyway, I love chilies and I love crunchy. So, while Tom cooked his Awesomely Awesome Red Wine Pasta again, I decided that my sudden crave for spicy and crunchy was a fair enough excuse to contribute with a nice appetizer last night:














BEER BATTERED ACHAR STUFFED CHILI PEPPER TEMPURA:

spice ladder: *****

makes: 7 stuffed chilies
prep time: 25 mins

• 7 fresh long chilies
• 2 tbsp desiccated coconut
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp kalonji / nigella seeds
• 1 tsp fenugreek seeds
• 3 tbsp tempura flour
• beer*

* I have to admit that I forgot how much I used and how much I drank (shy smiley)

Ok, think... How much of a chili can you really take? You have four options. Either soak the whole chilies in a hot salted water for couple of minutes (this will wash away some heat) or open them up and de-seed, or both or none. i guess i underestimated the hotness of the chilies I bought and decided to go spicy all the way... (Note: It was very, very, very spicy)

So, whether soaked or not, wash the chilies, make a long cut (not all the way to the end and definitely not through the whole chili). If you are de-seeding, do it now. Remember that the hottest part of the chili is not the seeds, but actually the veins and 'flesh', so if you are the mild type, take the whole stem out. (and wash out the remaining seeds).

Now, heat up a dry wok and roast the seeds together with coconut flakes. Shake the wok, so the spices release their flavor and do not burn. Put in a mortar and process to a smooth paste. (I love this part, the whole kitchen smells so nice). Take the stuffing and rub it all into the emptied chilies.


















Heat the wok with lots of oil. Mix the tempura flour with some beer (beer makes it really fluffy, you can use water, but the effect won´t be so extravagant) Mix with the fork until a smooth, batterry consistency. Dip the chilies into the batter and dip em in the hot hot hot oil. Wait for couple of seconds (they fry really fast). Take them out and place on a kitchen towel (to 'sip in' the excess oil). If you want, you can double dip them into the batter and re-fry. This will add more crunchiness to the chilies.


















Serve with any type of raita (yogurt really cuts down the heat from the chilies). Sailu of Sailu´s Kitchen makes a really pretty yogurt-based chutney. (The tadka on top is such a great idea to add more crunchiness). The one that I made had no chilies in it and had a pinch of cumin powder on top.

This is my very first time contributing to JFI Food Event hosted by Nandita of Saffron Trail, ran by Indira of Mahanandi, so I hope you girls will like it. This month´s theme was chilies, so there was no doubt I could have come up with something less 'chili-like' :) Thank you for such a great theme :)

Yellow Squash Baked Boats

After my personal success with cooking okra for the very first time, I was tempted to participate Nupur´s A-Z Indian Vegetables Food Event again. She really got me with the veggies. I looooove them. So, it wasn´t difficult to pick the next one .... This week´s letter is 'Y', which to me sounds like YELLOW SQUASH. Originally, I thought of a curry, but this bright yellow wonder I found at the market, was so inviting that I just couldn't spoil it by chopping it up and stewing in gravy. Therefore I went for:

YELLOW SQUASH (ZUCCHINI) BAKED BOATS:

spice ladder: ***

serves: 2
prep time: 1 hour

• 1 big yellow squash
• 1 tbsp oil (I used coconut fat)
• 1 onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 cup Jasmine rice, cooked
• 1 tbsp dhansak masala
• 1 red chili
• 1 tsp dried marjoram
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• salt
• 1 tbsp sunflower seeds
• 1 tsp chana masala
  

• tadka as a topping

Pre-heat the oven to 200 degree Celsius. Wash the squash and cut it in half (length-ways). With a spoon, scoop out the middle and chop into bite sized pieces. Place the emptied squash halves into the oven and bake for about 20 - 25 minutes.
Meantime, in a wok, heat up the oil and saute the chopped onions, garlic and chili. Add the masala and the squash flesh. Let cook, until the flesh cooks through. Add dried herbs and salt. Add the rice and mix well. Set aside.
Take the squash halves out of the oven and fill them in with the rice mixture. Sprinkle with sunflower seeds and chana masala powder.


















Put back into the oven and continue baking for another 20 minutes or so. When serving, place one half onto your plate and other half on your other half´s plate :) Garnish with tadka and enjoy. We did...


















Of course, there are no limits to this dish. Use minced meat instead of rice, different masala or curry powders, try different herbs, or simply, substitute yellow squash for zucchini, eggplant, bell pepper,.. etc. Up to your liking.