Every now and then a meal goes bad.

Sunday night I tried a recipe that just didn’t work.

It isn’t that the taste was off, mind you, nor the ingredients. Those were good. And the flavor sounds very tasty indeed. I think the recipe itself is off.

See what you think.

Fragrant Curried Beef

Serves 6

4 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
1 ½ pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1 inch cubes
4 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons chopped green chilies
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 medium onions
1 piece (roughly 2 inches) fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon ground coriander
2 cinnamon sticks
3 bay leaves
1 ½ cups beef broth

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add beef and cook until browned, about 10 minutes. Remove the beef from the skillet

Puree the garlic cloves, green chilies, and lemon juice to a paste.

Slice one onion into rings. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in skillet and add onion rings. Cook about 2 minutes and remove from skillet. Set aside.

Cop remaining onion. Cook with remaining tablespoon of oil and ginger in skillet over medium high heat for 5 minutes. Add beef, garlic paste, cumin, thyme, coriander, cinnamon, and bay leaves.

Add broth to skillet and cover. Cook until beef is tender, about 1 hour. Add sliced onions. Boil uncovered until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove cinnamon sticks and bay leaves.

Source: Easy Everyday Cooking recipe cards

Notes from the Hare

Sounds tasty – so what went wrong? I’m thinking there was a step missing from the recipe, after you add the broth, to whit: bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. I’m only guessing – after 20 minutes in a medium high skillet (which is where it was after cooking the second onion) the dish was bone dry and burning.

Alternatively, maybe the recipe is correct as written and my oven is just too hot. I’ll have to try this out again sometime and see if I can get it to work – what flavor I could taste was very good.

Instead of beef, this dish could be made with chicken or shrimp – I imagine you would want to switch to chicken broth instead of beef broth.

Also, you can use 1 ½ teaspoons of beef bouillon and 1 ½ cups of water for the beef broth.

Two recipes from Church

Here’s a couple of recipes I got from my friend Evie at church – a very tasty strudel and a Romanian dish that is a lot tastier than it might seem

Sour Cream Strudel

Serves 10 to 12

For the Dough

1 cup dairy sour cream
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 cups unsifted flour

For the Fruit Filling

1 cup dark raisins
¾ cup chopped nuts
¾ cup coconut
½ cup sugar
¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon peach preserves
¾ teaspoon cinnamon

Combine the Dough ingredients and refrigerate for two days.

After two days, combine all ingredients for the filling. Remove the dough from the fridge and divide in half. Roll out each half into an 8 x 11 inch rectangle. Spread filling on each half f the dough and roll as or a jelly roll. Bake in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 45 to 50 minutes, or until roll is slightly browned. Sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar and cut into ½ inch slices.

Corn Meal Mush with Cheese – Mamaliga cu Branza

Serves 6

1 ¼ cup corn meal
1 ¾ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cup cold water

Mix all of the above together. Put 4 cups water on to boil. Add mixture to boiling water, stirring constantly. When it begins to thicken, cover and cook 30 minutes, stirring occasionally

¼ pound butter
½ pint sour cream
¾ pound cheese (Wisconsin Brick recommended)

Divide butter into 3 equal parts, cheese into 2 equal parts, and corn meal mush into 2 equal parts. Put 1/3 of the butter and ½ of the mush into a casserole, add another 1/3 butter and ½ the cheese, cut into small pieces. Add the rest of the much, butter, and cheese (cut into small pieces) and top with sour cream. Bake for 1 hour in a preheated 350 degree F oven.

Notes From The Hare

I can personally attest to both of these dishes being quite tasty – although the Mamaliga cu Branza does look kind of funky.