Delicious Lamb Biryani

On August 15, 2018 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Product Reviews, Recipes6 Comments

This is a sponsored post on behalf of The Spice House. The recipe and all opinions are our own.

Our favorite meal when we visited India was Lamb Biryani. It isn’t a particularly difficult dish to create, but it does take a bit of time and preparation. One of the reasons that it is so flavorful is that it uses a variety of spices, some of which can be difficult to find. We used several spices from The Spice House and created our own take on Lamb Biryani. It turned out to be quite delicious and very fragrant. Depending on how spicy you like your food, you can control some of the heat by changing the amount of cayenne pepper or type of green chili that you use. We served ours over Basmati rice, but regular rice would be just as good.

INGREDIENTS

1 lb Lamb Shoulder Chops – cut into 1 inch cubes
8 Whole Cloves
4 Black Cardamom Pods
4 Cinnamon Sticks
1 Large White Onion – sliced thinly
1 tbsp Minced Garlic
1 tbsp Minced Ginger
3 tbsp Fresh Mint Leaves – chopped
3 Tomatoes – chopped
3 Serrano Peppers – chopped (and deseeded for less heat)
2 tbsp Cayenne Pepper
1 tbsp Harissa Spread
4 tbsp Plain Yogurt
2 tbsp Lemon Juice – fresh squeezed
1/2 tsp Saffron
2 tbsp Warm Milk
1 cup Basmati Rice – cooked to package directions
1/4 cup Vegetable Oil
Salt to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

Heat the oil in a large skillet on medium heat and, once the oil is heated, add the cloves, cardamom pods, and cinnamon sticks for about 1 minute until they are fragrant. Add the onion and cook until lightly brown stirring frequently, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for another minute. Stir in the mint and cook for 1 minute more. Add the lamb to the onion and spice mixture and cook until the meat begins to brown on all sides, about 15 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, serrano peppers, and cayenne pepper and cook for about 10 minutes. Finally, stir in the yogurt, milk, saffron, harissa spread, and lemon juice and cook for about 15 minutes. Serve over the rice.

Getting Fresh Food at a Local Food Market

On January 25, 2018 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn morocco, Photo Challenge4 Comments

Regardless of where you live, getting fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, and other items from local farmers is definitely worth the effort. During our time in Germany, we came to rely on the market to get fresh produce, but also to pick up flowers for our apartment. Even here in Colorado, we will go to the farmer’s market almost every weekend during the summer to take advantage of getting items that are being harvested at that time. Unfortunately, we don’t have access to the variety of items that seem to be available in Europe and other places, but we enjoy going to them whenever we can, even if we aren’t buying anything.

One of the most diverse markets that we visited was the one in Tangiers, Morocco. The variety of colors and smells were almost overwhelming with the spices, fresh produce, seafood, and meat that would be trimmed in front of you. You could even buy bones for soups and other parts of the animals as nothing goes to waste. Even though we didn’t buy anything, we were able to try several things as we walked through the stalls from olives to a fresh tangerine. Each owner was very proud of the items that they had to sell and were definitely keen on making sure that you knew anything you wanted about what they had on display.

Although every stall was unique in what they had to offer, it was amazing to see the similarities in the way that they arranged their items for sale. Each would put their items out in ways where the colors would contrast one another and naturally draw you eyes to certain items. This week’s Daily Post Photo Challenge is Variations on a Theme and the entirety of the market in Morocco was definitely just that.

Moroccan Chicken with Potatoes, Apricots, and Harissa Sauce

On August 30, 2017 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn morocco, Recipes7 Comments

One of our favorite memories of our trip to Morocco was having lunch at a small, family-owned restaurant where they cooked us chicken in a tajine. Tajines themselves are quite beautiful, but they are also functional for cooking one pot meals. We bought a tajine while we were in Morocco, but it was too small to actually cook a dinner so we recently bought a full-size tajine. As we continue to try to replicate meals that we have had during our various travels, we decided to cook a Moroccan chicken dinner. There were some fairly unique ingredients in the recipe that we decided to use and modify, but we were actually surprised that we were able to find them in our local grocery store. Typical of Moroccan food, it was both sweet and spicy and it could easily be modified to suit any taste. The original recipe called for chickpeas, but our family has an allergy to them, so we substituted potatoes, which made it a little hardier. We were very pleased with the results and found the dinner to be very delicious. Because it was just the two of us, we made only cooked two chicken thighs, but the recipe could be increased to serve a larger family. Also, if you don’t have a tajine, you could simply use a Dutch oven instead.

INGREDIENTS

Two Chicken Thighs – skin on
1 tbsp Canola Oil
1 tbsp Olive Oil
1/2 Yellow Onion – peeled and sliced thinly
1 Garlic Clove – finely chopped
1 tbsp Ras Al-Haunt
1 Large Pinch Saffron – soaked in a 1/4 cup of warm water
1/2 Cinnamon Stick
1 1/2 cups Canned Diced Tomatoes (15 oz can) – drained
3/4 cup Dried Apricots – sliced in half
1 Large Red Potato – cut into bite size pieces
1/2 cup Creme Fraiche
1 tbsp Harissa
Salt and Pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. When the oven is preheated, place the tajine into the oven to start heating. Heat the canola oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat. Season the chicken on both sides with salt and pepper. Place the chicken in the skillet, skin side down and cook until the skin is golden brown, approximately five minutes. Turn the chicken over and continue cooking for another two to three minutes. Remove the chicken from the skillet and let it rest. Reduce the heat to medium and remove all but one tablespoon of oil from the skillet. Add the onions and cook until soft and semi-translucent. Add the garlic and cook for about thirty seconds, then add the ras al-hanut and cook for another thirty seconds. Add the saffron with the liquid it was soaked in as well as the cinnamon stick, tomatoes, potatoes, apricots and bring to a simmer. Remove the tajine from the oven and transfer the vegetables and liquid from the skillet to the tajine. Nestle the chicken thighs on top of the vegetable mixture, put the lid on the tajine and return it to the oven. Cook in the oven for forty minutes. While the chicken is cooking in the oven, mix the creme fraiche, harissa, and salt and let stand in the refrigerator for thirty minutes. Plate individual servings of chicken and vegetable mixture. Garnish each serving a tablespoon or two of the harissa sauce.