Spinach & minced meat curry

For ➍ 

450 g fresh spinach 

1 ts salt for cooking spinach 

1 tbs salad oil or olive oil 

300 g minced meat 

1 onion, finely chopped 

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped 

3-4 tbs curry powder 

1 red chilli, cut into small pieces 20 cl water 

1 ts salt for seasoning 

4 tbs ketchup 

2 tbs Tonkatsu sauce or 1 tbs Worcestershire sauce 

4 servings rice or naan 

4 boiled eggs (optional) 

Wash the spinach and drain the water. Boil plenty of hot water and add 1 ts salt. Put spinach in boiling water, submerge the spinach and boil for about 1 m. Immediately soak in cold water after boiling. When it cools, transfer it to a cutting board and cut it into 1 cm width. Then squeeze the spinach to drain excess water and set aside. (if you don’t cook curry immediately, keep it in the fridge until required). 

Heat 1 tbs of oil in a frying pan over medium heat, add chopped onions and garlic and fry. When they become soft, add minced meat and fry. When the color of the meat changes, lots of fluid and fat will come out. Absorb it with kitchen paper. Add curry powder and red chili and fry until the curry aroma comes out. Pour 20 cl of water and add salt, ketchup, tonkatsu (or Worcestershire) sauce. After boiling, cover and simmer over low heat for about 15 m. Take the lid off and cook for 5 m. 

Add spinach* to the curry and mix gently, and cook for 5 m. Serve with rice or naan. 

*Before adding spinach, if the curry is too watery, cook for an additional 5 m to reduce excess water. *About seasoning: at first, add less than the amount stated in the recipe, check the taste, and then add if it is not enough. 

-okawarishitene-

Peri peri sauce

For ➍
1 red onion
4 cloves garlic chopped
1-2 bird's-eye peri peri peppers, chopped
2 tbs sweet, smoked paprika powder
4 tbs white wine vinegar
2 tbs Worcestershire sauce
grated zest plus the juice of 2 lemons
pinch salt & pepper
small bunch basil

Mix the ingredients. Add a little water and chop finely.
You can then let the chicken marinate in the sauce for a while, before you roast it in the oven. If you use chicken thighs, you can first grill them in a grill pan and then bake them in a large baking dish together with the marinade in a hot oven at 200°C for 10 m.

Serve with chicken f.i.

Lemony green salad

For ➍
1 large clove garlic, crushed (or grated, or mashed into a paste with a pinch of salt)
3 tbs olive oil
1 tbs good balsamic vinegar
1 tbs anchovy paste or finely chopped anchovies (or more to taste)*
1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
juice of 1 lemon (I always use a full lemon)
1 head crisp romaine lettuce, washed, dried, and torn or chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 stalk celery (2 stalks if small), sliced into half moons
½ cup grated Parmigiano cheese
salt, if needed, and lots of freshly ground black pepper to serve

Add garlic to a large salad bowl
Add olive oil and stir and let sit for a few minutes.
Add vinegar, anchovy, Worcestershire, and lemon juice, and stir. For a thicker dressing, add half the Parmigiano now. You can let this sit while you prepare the rest of your meal.
Dip a lettuce leaf in to taste your dressing. If it doesn't taste fiercely of lemon juice, garlic, and anchovy, add more of those, to taste. The balsamic and Worcestershire should be in the background.
Just before serving, add lettuce and celery and toss.
Add Parmigiano and freshly ground pepper before a final toss.
Serve immediately.

*Replace with salt for a completely vegetarian salad.

Maze kare (Japanese dry meat curry)

For ➍
250 g ground pork or beef
2.5 cm ginger root, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
2 small green bell pepper, seeds removed and finely chopped
1 tbs vegetable oil
1 tbs butter
1-2 tbs curry powder
3 tbs ketchup
1 ts Worcester sauce
30 l chicken broth
700 g steamed sushi rice

Heat oil in a large skillet. Fry ginger, garlic, and onion until transparent on medium heat.
Add meat and fry until color changes.
Add carrot and green bell pepper in the skillet.
Sprinkle curry powder over the ingredients and stir-fry until well mixed.
Pour chicken broth in the skillet and add ketchup and Wrocester sauce.
Simmer on low heat until the liquid is almost gone. Add butter and stir well.
Adjust the flavor with salt and pepper.
Serve dry curry over steamed rice.

This curry contains less liquid than basic Japanese curry and is called dry curry in Japan. It's similar to Keema curry. Dry curry is often served on steamed rice.
Curry (karē) is one of the most popular dishes in Japan. It is commonly served in three main forms: curry rice (karē raisu), karē udon (thick noodles) and karē-pan (bread). Curry rice is most commonly referred to simply as 'curry' (karē).
A wide variety of vegetables and meats are used to make Japanese curry. The basic vegetables are onions, carrots, and potatoes. For the meat, beef, pork, chicken and sometimes duck are the most popular, in order of decreasing popularity. Katsu-karē is a breaded deep-fried pork cutlet with curry sauce.
Curry was introduced to Japan during the Meiji era (1869–1913) by the British, at a time when India was under the administration of the British. The dish became popular and available for purchase in supermarkets and restaurants in the late 1960s. It has been adapted since its introduction to Japan, and is so widely consumed that it can be called a national dish.
It was originally considered to be Western cuisine. This Western-style curry currently co-exists alongside Indian-style curry, which has become popular since the increase in Indian restaurants in the 1990s. A third style that combines these two, original curry (orijinaru karē?), is also available. Western-style curry draws its influence from stews mixed with curry powder, which were popular amongst the British Navy.
In the Kansai region, beef curry is most common, while in the Kantō region pork curry is most popular. This contrasts with South Asian curries where, due to the strong influence of Hinduism and Islam, vegetarian, chicken and lamb curries are most common.

American meatloaf

For ➍
1 kg lean ground beef*
1 large egg
1 small onion, grated
1 small clove garlic, minced
1 tbs Dijon mustard or Worcester sauce
3 tbs ketchup
3 tbs breadcrumbs
1 tbs flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
2 ts salt
¼ ts freshly ground black pepper
2 strips raw bacon**
butter & oil

Preheat oven to 190°C.

Coat a standard loaf pan*** with oil.

In a large bowl, combine the ground meat, egg, onion, garlic, mustard, ketchup, bread crumbs, parsley, salt and black pepper. Mix well with a large spoon or clean your hands.

Pack the meat mixture into the prepared loaf pan, rounding the top to form a nicely shaped loaf. If using the bacon, lay the strips along the top of the loaf**.

Bake for 1 h (or 45 m when using a broad tin).

Remove from the oven. Cool for 15 m in the pan/tin before releasing and slicing.

Serve with with a nice drop of mushroom gravy (or a mushroom-onion gravy), with mashed potatoes and vegetables like broccoli.

In summer, serve it cold with pickles or a good green salad. Or put a thick slice on toasted bread with some ketchup.

*Or a combination of ground beef, veal and/or pork.
**Optional.
***Or cake tin.

Ground meat was met with suspicion (and rightly so, giving the hygiene of the time) until the 1880's when meat loaf recipes turned up in the US, some 20 years after the first mechanical meat grinders surfaced. The preparation was called cannelon (of beef), still shaped in a roll, like sausages but without skin. Ground meat was a cheap answer to feed the industrial masses, and would not have been of the highest quality beef. Veal was a main source, and the mixing with pork was/is still common.
Small balls of minced meat were already popular, but quite expensive, in Europe. Meat, minced by hand, was documented in the States as a leftover cooked in sauce since the beginning of the 19th century.