Month: June 2020

Lamb Harira

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Lamb Harira
Lamb Harira

Today we’re bringing you one of our all time favourite recipes! This is our version of the Moroccan dish Harira, a soup or stew usually served at special occasions. The great thing about this stew is that it’s easy to make, extremely delicious and you feel virtuous eating it, as it’s packed full of vegetables and herbs. There are many versions of this recipe, and so many options for which ingredients you could include. We’ve used lamb shanks as they are easy to source and add a nice depth of flavour to the stew, but you could use any kind of meat which benefits from a few hours of slow cooking. Similarly, we used freekeh as our grain because that’s what we had in the cupboard, but buckwheat, lentils or chickpeas would all work just as well. We’ve used winter vegetables which are in season, but use whatever you have available or the vegetables you like most.

We love making this in the morning and leaving the pot to simmer away all day, giving the flavour time to develop and filling our home with the fragrant aroma. The dish tastes even better the next day, so make more than you need and you’ll be rewarded with delicious leftovers for the rest of the week.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup freekeh
  • 1 Tablespoon coconut oil
  • 4 lamb shanks
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 2 celery stalks, diced
  • 6 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
  • ½ teaspoon ground ginger
  • ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 400g can diced tomatoes
  • 2 litres stock or water
  • 1 sweet potato, diced
  • ½ butternut pumpkin, diced
  • 2 zucchini, diced
  • 1 bunch of kale
  • 1 handful of coriander leaves, chopped
  • 1 handful of parsley leave, chopped
  • 1 handful of mint leaves, chopped
  1. Soak the freekeh or buckwheat overnight, or cook according to the directions on the packet.
  2. Place a large pot over medium high heat and melt the coconut oil. Season the lamb shanks with salt and pepper then brown them on all sides. Remove the shanks and set aside.
  3. Add the onion and celery to the pot and fry for a few minutes, until the onion is translucent.
  4. Add the garlic and spices, and continue to cook for a minute or two, until fragrant.
  5. Add the chopped tomatoes and stock, give it a good stir, and then return the shanks to the pot.
  6. Bring the liquid to the boil, then reduce the heat and leave to simmer gently for at least two hours, or until the lamb is falling from the bone.
  7. Once the lamb is cooked, remove from the soup. When the shanks are cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the bones and roughly shred. Return the meat to the soup and discard the bones.
  8. Add the freekeh and sweet potato to the soup and simmer for 10 minutes, then add the pumpkin and simmer for a further 10 minutes. Finally, add the zucchini and kale and simmer for 10 more minutes.
  9. Adjust the seasoning and add the coriander, parsley and mint.
  10. Serve in a warm bowl with a slice of lemon, and some fresh crusty bread, if you like.

Korean Soybean Paste Stew with beef and mushrooms

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Korean Soybean Paste Stew with beef and mushrooms
Korean Soybean Paste Stew with beef and mushrooms

It’s winter here in Australia and we’re craving hearty, warming dishes like soups, stews and curries. We love eating out at Korean restaurants, and there are so many to choose from in Sydney now. We rarely cook Korean at home though, so we decided to try making this fairly simple stew. You need to visit a specialty Asian grocer to find a few ingredients, but they will last for ages and will hopefully inspire you to cook more Korean food in the future.

A few notes about this recipe – we added the beef stock to give the soup more body, a traditional recipe would just use the rice washed water, which we found a little bland. You can remove the chillies if you don’t like the dish very spicy. We used a mixture of enoki, shiitake and oyster mushrooms here but feel free to add whatever kind of mushrooms you enjoy.

Serves 2 people as a main dish, or can serve up to 4 people with the addition of Korean side dishes (Banchan).

Seasoning sauce:

  • 1 Tbsp light soy sauce
  • 2 tsp green onion, minced
  • 1 tsp garlic, minced
  • 2 tsp sesame oil
  • a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the Stew:

  • 200g sirloin steak, thinly sliced
  • 2 cups medium grain rice
  • 500ml beef stock
  • 75g Korean soybean paste
  • 250g firm tofu
  • 100g mushrooms
  • 1 tsp Korean red pepper powder
  • 30g green onion, sliced
  • 1 green chilli, sliced
  • 1 red chilli, sliced
  • Sesame seeds, to garnish
  • Green onion, finely sliced, to garnish
  1. Prepare the seasoning sauce ingredients and mix together. Add the sliced beef and leave to marinate while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
  2. Wash the rice in water and drain, reserving 500ml of the rice washed water. Put the rice on to cook in a rice cooker or according to the instructions on the packet.
  3. Drain the tofu and cut into 2cm cubes.
  4. Preheat a heavy pot or large saucepan over medium high heat. Add the beef and seasoning sauce and stir fry for two minutes.
  5. Add the beef stock and the rice washed water and bring the liquid to the boil. Reduce the heat to low, and keep the stew simmering gently.
  6. Place the soybean paste in a fine metal sieve and lower into the simmering stew. Allow the paste to dissolve into the stew for 10 minutes and then remove the sieve and any remaining solids.
  7. Add the tofu, mushrooms and red pepper powder and continue to simmer for another two minutes.
  8. Add the green onion and chillies and cook for another minute. Check the seasoning and adjust to taste.
  9. Serve the stew in bowls and garnish with sesame seeds and finely sliced green onion. Serve with a bowl of rice and side dishes of your choice, if you like.