Monday, July 25, 2005

More food...
About 3 years ago an old Morrocan man taught me how to make pinchitos.

Pinchitos
Take a half leg of lamb and cut it into pieces the size of your thumb (from the knuckle to the tip of the nail). If you don't like lamb use chicken breast.

1 rounded tablespoon of powdered sweet chile
1 rounded tablespoon of powdered hot chile
1 rounded tablespoon powdered cumin
1 teaspoon of ground black pepper
1/2 a teaspoon of salt
The juice of half a lemon
Four cloves of garlic crushed
A dash of olive oil
A cup of water

Mix all the ingredients except the meat in a bowl until you have a loose paste, then add the meat and leave it in the fridge to marinate for an hour or so. The pinchitos should ideally be cooked on a barbecue, but if you don't have one they can be grilled or cooked on a hot iron skillet, or at a pinch in a frying pan. Take about 6 pieces of the marinaded lamb and put them on a skewer and cook them on the barbecue until they are cooked through. Serve them with more lemon so that your guests can add an extra squeeze of lemon juice and some French bread.

Kefta
The same marinade can be used for kefta but instead of lamb or chicken use minced beef. Mix everything in a bowl with without the water and add the minced beef, if you have some parsley at home a chopped tablespoon of that can be added for an even more authentic touch. Squeeze the beef into patties and fry or barbecue them.

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