5th Dish Dark Beer Soup with Pork from Estonia

I think my main motivation for making this may have been the beer! Plus it’s the first time during this challenge I’ve cooked with Pork.

I must say Pork isn’t my favourite meat to cook with, Bacon/Sausage aside I don’t tend to eat much of it. So I was quite apprehensive when I decided to cook this, but I must say I was pleasantly surprised. 

Ingredients:

500g pork, cut into bite-sized peices

1 large onion, diced

800g mixed beans (either home-cooked or tinned)

500ml beef stock

500ml Saku Tume, or a dark beer

 oil for frying

Method:

• Heat the oil in a pan and add the onion and pork.
• Cook for about 8 minutes, or until the onion is soft and the pork has browned all over. Add the beer and stock then bring the mixture to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 60 minutes, or until the pork is completely tender.
• Stir-in the beans and return to a boil.

Reduce to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes, or until the beans are heated through. Ladle into warmed soup bowls and serve with plenty of crusty bread. 

I good hearty broth was just what the doctor ordered!

Definitely one for a cold, dark winters evening.

We’ve given it 7.5 out of 10, but only because my wife didn’t like to taste of ale in the soup!

Ammo

4th Dish Zharkoye from Russia

This may not look too appetising, but trust me it tastes a lot better than it looks. 

Ingredients:
1/2 lb beef
5 ea potatoes
1 ea onion
2 tbsp butter
1 ea carrot
1 ea parsley root
1 ea celery root
2 ea garlic cloves
1 tbsp sour cream
2 tbsp chopped green dill and parsley

1 can beef broth
salt
ground
pepper

Method:
Peel potatoes, wash, cut into cubes and fry in butter until light golden. Slice onion and fry in butter until golden. Cut carrot into small cubes and fry in butter. Cube beef and fry in butter until light brown. In a ceramic pot, put beef, potatoes, onion, carrot, roots, garlic, season with salt and pepper and pour over a little broth. Stew in the oven on average heat for 30 minutes. 10 minutes before, add sour cream and sprinkle with green.

I had no idea what a Parsley root or Celery root looked like, let alone what it tasted like. And I wasn’t able to find either, so I used a Celeriac instead. This was only after doing a bit of research online to see what the two roots looked like, and it’s the closes match I could get. 

Again the flavours weren’t familiar to me, and I would have preferred more stock but overall I’d give it a good 8 out of 10.

Ammo

3rd Dish Picante de Pollo (Spicy chicken) from Bolivia.

This has got to be my favourite recipe so far, both for ease of cooking and taste. As tastes goes it’s probably the closes to the curries I’m used too, so it tasted very familiar. Be warned if you decided to cook this, IT’S HOT!!!!!.

As for the ease of cooking, it couldn’t have been any simpler, you just put everything in the pot and add heat until cooked.

1.5 pounds chicken, divided into parts
2 tablespoons Ground cayenne pepper
1 cup white onion, cut into small strips
1/2 cup tomato, peeled and finely chopped
1/4 cup fresh locoto or chili pepper, finely chopped
1/2 cup green peas, peeled
1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon crumbled oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 garlic cloves, peeled, chopped and roasted
1 1/2 cups Broth or water
1 tablespoon oil

Preparation: 

In a large casserole put the chicken pieces with all the other ingredients. Pour the broth or water until covering the ingredients completely. Set to cook over high heat until it boils, and later over low heat for at least an hour and a half or until the chicken is soft. Stir occasionally. If while cooking the broth diminished much, add a little bit more of broth or water so that when serving there is enough liquid. In a deep plate serve one piece of spicy chicken with one boiled potato, cooked aside, chuño phuti and uncooked sauce on top. Finally, sprinkle the chopped parsley on top of the spicy chicken.

We gave it 8 Out of 10, it was a little too salty for my taste buds. I'll cut it back the next time though.
 

Ammo