Sunday 3 November 2013

Sauerbraten - a delicious Franconian dish

Today I want to introduce you a bit to our Bavarian/Franconian cuisine. As I mentioned in some posts before, Franconia (where I am actually from) is the northern part of Bavaria and our cultures and cuisines are as good as alike.
But there is one dish - the Franconian Sauerbraten - that is very special here in Franconia. Sauerbraten is a marinated pot roast dish that is known throughout Germany but recipes vary from region to region.
This recipe is a traditional Franconian one and I hope to guide you through it with no problems. Who knows ... maybe you'll be cooking it, too, someday to show off ;-)

Of course, you can go to the supermarket and buy some ready-made sauce but this recipe does not contain any of those ingredients. Everything is made fresh from scratch.
Therefore, you need to decide in advance on which day you want to eat Sauerbraten because you need to marinade the beef four or five days beforehand.

Here are the ingredients you need for the marinade (which later will be used for the sauce):



After 4 or 5 days in the marinade and in the fridge, you take out the beef and sieve the vegetables. Then you prepare the following ingredients:


Step 1 & 2: Let the vegetables drain well and keep the rest of the marinade in a bowl. Dab the beef with some paper towel.
Step 3: Stir-fry the beef on each side in some vegetable oil for about 2 till 3 minutes. Then take it out of the pan again.
Step 4: Now put the vegetables into the pan and let them braise.


Step 5: Add the rest of the marinade and the tomato paste and stir well.
Step 6: Put the meat back into the pan and add the sugar and the cranberries.
Step 7: Crumble the Soßenlebkuchen (maybe you can find it in a German supermarket or a gourmet food shop) or the pumpernickel and add it. If you use the pumpernickel, don't forget the syrup. Just add as much as syrup as you like, depending on how much sweetness you want to add. And add just as much pumpernickel as you need to thicken the gravy a bit more.
Step 8: Stir all the ingredients well into the gravy and let the Sauerbraten simmer for about 2 hours on a pretty low heat. You can let it simmer in a pan with a lid on your cooking plate or in your oven.


As side dishes, I chose Knödel (potato dumplings) and red cabbage. I was a bit lazy, so I just bought some fresh Knödel dough and red cabbage as you can see in the pictures below.

Just put the red cabbage in a pot, add 200 ml currant juice and two sliced apples. Let the juice first boil up a bit and then let the cabbage simmer on low for as long as you want to (depending how soft you want your cabbage, I let mine simmer for about 2 hours). Almost at the end, you should add some black pepper and salt. Be careful though not to add too much. 
I used two glasses of red cabbage which is almost 1 kg. That is why I used 200 ml juice and two apples. If you want to make less cabbage, then use less juice and apples :-)



This is how you roll Knödel :-) Maybe you can find some dough in a German supermarket or the like. If not, you can probably google how to make German potato dumplings. I will probably upload a recipe with step-by-step instruction pictures at some point. 
And by the way, this little thing I put in the middle of the Knödel in the second picture is a bread crumb. To be honest, I don't know why we put them in the Knödel but my mother said it is important for the Knödel not to fall apart while they are being cooked in the water.


Here is the result :-)


I added some extra cranberries on the plate. I didn't sieve the vegetables out of the gravy again but you can do that of course if you want to. If you leave them in the gravy, however, make sure that you don't eat the juniper berries and the bay leaves (doesn't taste that great ;-) ).

I hope you enjoyed this post/recipe/dish :-) I would be thrilled to get some feedback.

Kat :-)






Friday 1 November 2013

Cashew Chicken



Schon seit längerem bin ich auf der Suche nach einem Rezept für dieses asiatische Gericht. Hühnchen mit Cashewnüssen!
In Kopenhagen habe ich dieses Gericht total gerne im Wok Shop gegessen und deswegen wollte ich dieses Gericht selbst zu Hause nachkochen. Und nun habe ich endlich ein ähnliches Rezept von einer Amerikanerin auf Pinterest gefunden. Ich habe es heute nachgekocht mit ein paar Abwandlungen (allein schon, um mehr Soße zu dem Gericht zu haben, denn ich mag es nicht allzu trocken). Meine Eltern haben mitgegessen und sie fanden es superlecker. Also, ich kann es nur empfehlen und hoffe, ihr habt jetzt eine neue Kochinspiration :-)

Zum Rezept:

für 4 Personen
ca. 400 - 500 gr Hähnchenbrust
40 gr Mehl
einen guten halben TL Pfeffer
1 EL Rapsöl
150 ml Sojasauce
6 EL Reisessig
6 EL Ketchup
3 EL brauner Zucker (kann auch weißer sein)
2 - 3 Knoblauchzehen, fein gehackt (je nach Geschmack)
1 TL frisch geriebener Ingwer (Achtung! nicht mehr als einen TL)
1 1/2 TL Paprikapulver
100 - 150 gr Cashewnüsse (je nachdem, wie viel man will)
2 - 3 Frühlingszwiebeln (wieder je Geschmack)

Kleiner Tipp zu Beginn: Benutzt am besten eine große Pfanne mit Deckel.

Das Mehl und den Pfeffer in einer Schüssel mischen, Hähnchenbrust in kleine Stücke schneiden und in der Schüssel im Mehl-Pfeffer-Gemisch wälzen. Das Rapsöl in einer Pfanne erhitzen und das Fleisch goldbrauen anbraten. 
Sojasauce, Reisessig, Ketchup, brauner Zucker, Knoblauch, Ingwer und Paprikapulver in einer Schüssel vermischen und über das angebratene Hühnchen geben. Das Ganze aufkochen lassen und dann auf niedrigster Stufe mit Deckel weiterköcheln lassen. Nach ca. 15 Minuten die Cashewnüsse und die klein gehackten Frühlingszwiebeln hinzugeben. Dann nochmals 15 Minuten köcheln lassen. Das Gericht dann mit Reis servieren und genießen :-)


For some time now, I have already been looking for a recipe for this Asian dish - chicken with cashew nuts!
I really liked eating that dish at the wok shop in Copenhagen and that's why I wanted to cook it myself at home. And now I finally found a similar recipe by an American woman on pinterest. Today I tried it out with a few alterations (not only to have more sauce for this dish because I don't like it too dry). My parents came for dinner and they also thought that it was super delicious. I can only recommend this dish and hope that you've got some new cooking inspiration :-)

the recipe

ca. 400 - 500 gr skinless chicken breasts 
40 gr flour
a good 1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp canola oil
150 ml soy sauce
6 tbsp rice vinegar
6 tbsp ketchup
3 tbsp brown sugar (or normal white sugar)
2 or 3 garlic cloves, minced (depending on taste)
1 tsp freshly grated ginger(watch out! don't use more than a tsp)
1 1/2 tsp paprika powder
100 - 150 gr cashew nuts, unsalted (depending on how many you like to have in your dish)
2 or 3 spring onions/scallions (again depending on your taste)

Some piece of advice for starters: use a big frying pan that has a lid.
Put the flour and the pepper in a bowl and mix it. Cut the chicken into small pieces and toss it in the flour-pepper-mix. Heat the canola oil in a frying pan and add the chicken. Fry the chicken until it is golden brown. 
Combine the soy sauce, vinegar, ketchup, sugar, garlic, ginger and paprika powder in a bowl and pour it over the chicken. Let everything boil up, then continue to let it simmer with the lid on low. After about 15 minutes, add the cashew nuts and the chopped spring onions. Let it simmer for another 15 minutes. Serve it with rice and enjoy it :-)

Kat :-)