Hunter Cutlet former East German style

Jägerschnitzel or Hunter cutlet is a classic dish here in Germany.

During the time when there were 2 Germany's. In the West for a schnitzel/cutlet either pork or veal is used. After cooking it, a creamy mushroom sauce is put on top and served.

In the German Democratic Republic meat, especially veal was hard to come by. A completely different dish was created that just had the name in common.

There is a sausage that is called Hunter sausage and it is known in all of Germany.

Taking a thick slice and coating it with breadcrumbs and frying it like a cutlet and serving it on top of spirally pasta with a tomato sauce.

I watched that on TV a couple of days ago and was intrigued.

Recipe for 2:
2 2cm slices or hunter sausage or bologna sausage
3 tbsp flour
1 egg
5 tbsp breadcrumbs
Salt and pepper
Oil for frying.
160 g spirally pasta
Tomato sauce

Polish Food in our Cafeteria

The chef of our cafeteria is from Poland. Two years ago when she started to work there she mostly offered regular German food. But over the time, she started to serve food from her Polish family.

It took us no time to appreciate it. It is a hearty kitchen.

Some of our favourites are meatballs filled with cabbage, piroggies and bigos.

Some combinations are a bit strange for our taste buds, but we are getting used to it.
Everything is cooked fresh and not much preprocessed ingredients are used.

Okinawa Shoyu Pork

There are different methods to prepare this dish on the Internet. The pork can either be boiled or braised. But in the end it is some tender meat in a dark glazed sauce.

I decided to use the boiling method. That way, less fat spitting on the kitchen walls and surfaces around.
This method was from a woman who learnt it from her Mom and who learnt it from her Mom, an Okinawan woman from the Japanese island.

It is prepared with pork belly. A low cost part of the pig. Eating other parts then pork loin, ham or cutlet is a great way to use all the meat. I love the concept of "From Nose to Tail".

Recipe for 3:
750 g pork belly
1  big knob fresh ginger
4 cloves of garlic
1 cup shoyu or soy sauce
1/2 cup mirin
1/4 cup Sake
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup dashi stock
1 Tbsp black Chinese vinegar

Slice the pork belly in 1 inch slices and put them in a pot with cold water. Bring to a boil and cook for 3 min.

Pour the whole stuff through a colander to get rid of the scum.
Clean the pot, put the pork back in and fill up with water until covered.
Bring to a boil, reduce the heat an cook for 45 min.

Get the meat out and cool it down a bit, take off the skin and cut the meat into blocks to make it easier to eat with chopsticks.

In the same pot, heat up the other ingredients and get the meat in. Simmer for 30 min.

Serve on shortgrain rice. I had it with a bowl of stewed red cabbage.

Red Cabbage Steaks with Goat Cheese

I was on a tour into the Odenwald, a large area with lots of small hills and valleys to buy chocolate Easter goodies. In a tiny village is an old chocolate factory which sells to the public. Without good knowledge where to look and a decent Sat Nav everybody has problems finding it.  I came out with a whole bunch of goodies.

On my way back home I went into a local supermarket in the next bigger village and bought my weekend groceries.

A head of red cabbage was the first thing in my shopping cart. These cabbages are a real winter vegetable and can be prepared either as cooked cabbage or as a salad.
I decided to try a method I saw on a photo on Pinterest.

Recipe:
1 head red cabbage
2 tbsp parsley
2 tbsp maple syrup
125 g goat cheese
4 cloves of garlic
1/2 lemon juiced
4 tbsp olive oil
75 g bacon bits
1/2 tsp dried majoram
1/2 tsp Baharat seasoning
Salt and pepper

Heat up the oven to 170 C

Cut the cabbage head int 1 inch slices, be carefull, it is not that easy. They may get a bit loopsided.
Chop the garlic roughly, add spices and lemon juice and top off with oil.
Use a brush and smear some of it on the baking paper, then set the cabbage on top.
Get all the rest of the garlic over all slices and put it into the oven for 22 min.

Cut the cheese  into 1 cm discs and place them on the hot cabbage. Brush with maple syrup and bake 7 min until the cheese is soft.
Fry bacon in a pan and dry on kitchen paper
Chop parsley.

Salmon with Tomato Basil Cream Sauce

I have not cooked this recipe in a long time. Over the years I evolved from Maggi ready mix packages to making my own seasonings.
It turned out so tasty.

I bought 300 g of fresh salmon fillet yesterday and today I had to cook it. I did not bring any other specific ingredients with me. I had no idea what to with the fish.

I looked around and found tomatoes and I had whipping cream in the fridge. Since spring onions are a staple in my household, they had a chance to shine in the dish too. Fresh basil from the window sill as a flavour enhancer.

Recipe:
300 g salmon
1 Large spring onion
4 tomatoes
1 bunch of basil leaves
3 tsp mild Ayvar
125 ml double cream
Salt and pepper
Lemon chili powder

Heat up the oven to 200C.
Season the salmon with salt and lemon chili
Put in a small ovenproof dish.

Slice the tomatoes, chop the onion and rip the basil.
Mix with ayvar and cream and season.
Pour on top the fish and put into the oven.
Bake for 25 min.

Raclette cream sauce and pasta

I had 5 small slices of raclette cheese leftover.

Not enough for a whole dish with potatoes.

What to do with that? The cheese is strong smelling and very aromatic. Putting it on bread is not a good idea.

A while ago I made Fonghetti, leftover Fondue cheeses with Spaghetti and that was crazy good.

That gave me the idea.

Recipe for 2:
100 g raclette cheese
100 ml milk
2 tbsp Noilly Prat
1 tbsp butter
1 large spring onion
Chipotle Tabasco and pepper
Salt
Pasta

Heat the butter and let it foam, add chopped onions and saute them. Pour Noilly Prat in and reduce that a bit.
Add milk and chopped cheese and let it melt.
Season with salt and pepper.
Finish with a bit of Tabasco
Cook the pasta.

Schnitzel in Onion Cream

I was invited to a birthday dinner last night. The entree was something I have not eaten in a long time. It is a good dish to have when you invite 8 people.

It is easy to prepare and keeps in the oven until you are ready to serve it.
It can be pimped with various veggies or a salad on the side
It is best served with Spaetzle or pasta, rice or baguette.

Recipe for 8:
8 pork schnitzel
500 ml cream
100 ml milk
300 ml creme fraiche
2 Packs Maggi dry Onion soup
Salt, pepper, paprika
2 cans of sliced button mushrooms

Heat the oven to 180 C fan.
Salt and pepper the schnitzel and sprinkle a little paprika on top.
Use an ovenproof pot and mix the liquid with the packages of dried onion soup in it.
Stick the schnitzel in and add sliced mushrooms.

Close the lid and put the pot in the oven
After 40 min, get the lid off and cook open for 20 more min.

I would not use canned mushrooms, but fresh ones and add some bell peppers and spring onions.

Matsaman Beef Curry

I made a vegetarian Matsaman Curry with udon noodles before. Now I wanted to prepare a meat version. At the supermarket I looked for beef that could be cooked short and ended up with flank steak.
The meat had good quality and was very tender at the end of the short cooking time.

Matsaman Curry is from the of Thailand. The addition of Tamarind juice, palm sugar and
fish sauce gives a lot of flavour to the curry. I had a spice package just for the curry and added the other ingredients. Since the sauce is coconut based, the heat index of the dish is very low.

recipe for 4:
440 g beef flank steak
4 boiled potatoes
1 onion
1 large spring onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 red bell pepper
1 large tomato
400 ml coconut milk
1 seasoning package of Matsaman Curry
2 tsp Tamarind paste
2 tbsp fish sauce
1/4 pattie of palm sugar grated
3 tbsp sunflower oil
salt and pepper
rice

Cut the beef in small strips.
Chop onions and garlic and bell pepper and half a tomato.
In a wide pan heat up 1 tbsp oil and saute the veggies until soft. Get them out of the pan.
Add an other tbsp of oil and season the meat with some salt. Brown it on all sides and take it out of the pan.

With the last tbsp of oil fry off the Matsaman curry paste for 1 min, add the coconut milk and start to dissolve the curry. Add tamarind paste, fish sauce and palm sugar and the meat. Let the beef get back to temperature, add potatoes, half tomato, veggies and stir well. Cook for 5 min more.

Serve with rice

Tuerkey breast strips with Paprika and Cream

I bought some turkey breast strips without the least idea what to prepare with them.
Yesterday I checked what was sitting around and found 2 red bell peppers and halve a bottle of double cream.
A creamy sauce to mop up with fresh bread, that sounded so good to me. This is a meal that is done in 30 min. Good to come home to and prepare it.

The seasoning is heavy on the paprika side, it reminded me of Hungarian dishes.

recipe for 2:
350 g turkey breast strips
2 large spring onions
4 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 red bell peppers
2 tsp paprika powder mild
1 tsp paprika powder smoked
1 tsp Chili Ancho
1 tbsp hot paprika paste
250 ml double cream
50 ml Noilly Prat
salt and pepper

Chop onions, garlic and peppers.
In a wide pan heat up the oil and start with turkey breast strips. When they get white all around add the onions and garlic. After 3 min, add the paprika chunks. Season well with salt and pepper and paprika paste.

Give that a good couple of minutes to get some roasted flavour, add the Noilly Prat and the cream.
Now is the time for the paprika powders and Chili Ancho. Put them in too early and they will burn and turn bitter.
Close the lid and cook for 5 min, open the lid and let the sauce reduce a bit for 5 more min.
Done
Eat with fresh bread, rice or pasta.

Coffee Streusel Cake

This recipe was on the FoodNetwork website. The barefoot contessa - Ina Garden-made it.
I admire her for many years now, I watched so many foodnetwork series when I was in the US.

I was looking for a real coffee cake on Google, but I found nothing really exciting. Then came her short video and I knew, I had to prepare that.
As always the recipes shows my own hand. I can' t stand the huge amounts of sugar in the American cakes, they are all too sweet for my taste. I did a good reduction on that side.
A while ago I bought a Bundt cake tin with a loose bottom. They are very different from the ones you get here in Germany. One thing is the best, the cakes fall out of the tins very easily. Nothing sticks.

recipe:
110 g soft unsalted butter
240 g sugar
3 extra large free range eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
300 g sour cream
310 g flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

streusel:
55 g light brown sugar
60 g flour
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
40 g cold butter
100 g chopped almonds

glaze:
50 g icing sugar
1 1/2 tbsp Maple syrup
some lemon juice

Preheat the oven 175 C.
In a stand mixer beat softened butter and sugar until fluffy, add eggs, one after the other, beating after every single one.
Add vanilla and sour cream, beat again.
In a bowl sift the dry ingredients and let them get into the wet mix in two parts. Scrape down the sides and make sure, you do not have any pockets of flour left.

Butter and flour the tin. 
Make the streusel by rubbing the ingredients between your hands.
Pour halve of the cake mix into the tin, sprinkle halve of the streusel on top.
Get the rest of the batter on top and finish with the streusel.

Bake for 50-60 min until a wooden skewer comes out clean.
Cool it down and get it out of the tin to cool completely.
Make the glaze and sprinkle on top.

The cake is moist and has some crunch from the streusel.
I served it the same day and it was nearly gone in one setting.

Japanese fruity vegetable Curry

It is a no meat day!

There is no reason for that other then I have no meat or sausages
 in the house and several single pieces of vegetables sitting around. Before they are going to rot, make them into a tasty meal.

When you look at recipes for celeriac, sweet potato and potato you mostly come up with soup or mash.
I had a couple of soups in the last week. That was not exciting.
Making a mash with nothing like fish of meat to combine it with, was not looking promising either.

I watched Japanese food and travel videos on YT and someone was eating vegetable curry in a shop. It tasted sweet to him.
O K, that I can do. An open package of medium hot curry roux from Golden Curry is in my Asian food storage.
But how to get the curry a bit sweet - add fresh apple! A little of a home made jar of orange chili jam was there too. It went in the curry as well

RECIPE for 2:
1 small head of celeriac
1 sweet potato
1 large potato
1 medium onion
3 spring onions
2 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp sunflower oil
3/4 or 1/2 red apple depending on the size
650 ml veg stock
Salt and pepper
1/2 tsp herbes de Provence
2-3 blocks of curry roux
A dash Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp orange chili jam
1 cup short grain rice

Clean all the veggies and start with the heating up the oil and getting all the veggies in at once, just spare the tomato and apples chunks.
Season with salt and pepper and give them about 5 min.
Pour in the hot veg stock and add tomato and apple chunks.
Close the lid and cook until everything is tender, about 15 min.
Chop the curry roux in strips and dissolve them on medium heat in the pot. Let that cook out 5 min.

Add the rest of the ingredients and season to taste.
Serve with white rice.

Chicken Biryani

My BFF brought a seasoning package of Biryani back from her recent trip to the VAE.
The package has a lot of tiny ingredients pictures on the back, but no recipe. When in doubt, ask Google.
It looks like a one pot dish, but you will need one small pot more. The spice blend is on the hotter side. I used half of it for my dish, so I can cook an other Biryani again.

Recipe for 4:
600 g chicken thighs
400 g Basmati rice
250 g Greek yogurt
2 medium onions
2 spring onions
6 clove of garlic
3 knobs of ginger
2 medium potatoes
100 ml yellow dal lentils
2 large tomatoes
750 ml chicken stock
4 tbsp ghee
Biryani seasoning package
8 green cardamom pods
6 cloves
3 cinnamon sticks
4 bay leaves
Mint or parsley
Yogurt

Marinate the chicken thighs in a blend of 200 g yogurt and 3 tsp of Biryani seasoning and let it sit for a couple of hours in the fridge or over night.

In a small pot cook the yellow lentils for 6 min, then get them off the heat and let them sit for 10 more min. Cool down on a plate.
In the same pot cook the potato cubes until half tender. Cool down.
Wash the rice .

Use a small mixer and add peeled garlic, ginger and spring onions and make a fine paste.
Cut the onions in half rings.

Use a big pot and melt a bit of the ghee and add the cardamom, cloves and cinnamon and let that get some heat. Pour in the paste and brown that a bit, add 1 tbsp of Biryani seasoning. Now the onions and get them soft. Fill all that into a bowl and add more ghee to the pot.
Fish the chicken out of the marinate and start to brown it on all sides. Add the onion mix, the tomatoes, the rest of the yogurt marinate and top with lentils mixed with potatoes.
On top goes the rice and the bay leaves.
Pour the chicken stock over it, close the lid and on medium temperature bring it to cook, reduce the heat and let it simmer until the rice has soaked up all the liquid.

Mix yogurt with some herbs and serve alongside the Biryani.