Uzbek Palov

Someone gave me this recipe and it's very good. It's prepared in one pot which I like and reminds me of fried rice. It requires A LOT of oil but the end result doesn't taste oily. Just buttery and delicious! Lamb is traditional but I used venison.

Ingredients

1 lb venison or beef or lamb (traditional), cubed
5 carrots, peeled and julienned
1 c dried chickpeas, soaked overnight
3.5 c long grained rice, washed until water runs clear
1 large onion, peeled and sliced thin
1 c butter
8 c boiling water
Salt & cumin to taste
1 clove of garlic, outer skin peeled

Method

Melt the butter in a dutch oven over medium heat. When hot, add the meat. The meat should sizzle and brown. Add onions and cook until caramelized. Add carrots and chickpeas. Cook until softened. Add rice and boiling water and allow to boil. Lower the garlic head in the middle of the pot. Lower the heat, cover and allow the dish to simmer on low heat until the rice is cooked. Season to taste.

Remove the garlic head and mix the ingredients in the pot before serving.

Sweet Sour Meatballs

This dish is not traditional Chinese. It's closer in taste to American Chinese fast food, except without the garbage ingredients.

Ingredients

Sweet sour sauce (recipe here)
Meatballs (beef or venison is recommended for this sauce) (recipe here)
1 medium onion, peeled and sliced thin
1 Tbsp oil for frying

Method

Heat oil in a dutch over (preferred) or pan. Add onions and fry until soft. Add meatballs then sweat & sour sauce. Mix well. Cover and let simmer on low heat for at least an hour. Add some water if the mixture gets too dry

Serve over white rice

Venison Meat Balls

OK. So I was inspired by Ikea's Swedish Meatballs so I decided to make my own with venison and pork. They're charging "only" $9.99 for a frozen box that feeds a family of 4. $10 for a home cooked meal's pretty expensive. I wasn't impressed with the price so I made my own and came up with enough meatballs for 5 family meals at a fraction of the price.

The resulting meat balls are very versatile. I have used them for my copycat Ikea Swedish Meatballs, sweet & sour meat balls and spaghetti and meatballs.

Ingredients

2 lbs ground chuck venison (or beef)
1 lb ground pork
3/4 c milk
1/4 c breadcrumbs
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1/4 c dried onion flakes
Salt and pepper to taste
Butter or oil for pan frying

Method

Since my venison was processed and frozen as chunks, I pulsed it in the food processor until roughly minced. See why it's better to grind your own beef anyway.

Add all the other ingredients except the butter/oil and process until well mixed. In a pan, heat butter/oil over medium heat. Cook a bit of the meat mixture until done then re-season the raw meat to taste if necessary.

It is easy to make regular sized meatballs with your hands:

Use a spoon to make the final scoop off your hand.

Make all the meatballs. Then in the heated pan, pan-fry all sides until done. I find that pan-frying is better than baking as it locks the juices in rather than drying the meat out.

Pulled Elk (or Pork) Burgers

I used meat from the elk neck that was given to us. The neck was stewed in water until cooked, then the meat was pulled.

You can use your favorite barbecue sauce for this recipe but I made mine up with stuff I had on hand.

Ingredients

Pulled elk (or pork) meat, cooked
Onions, peeled and sliced
3-4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

Barbecue Sauce

I used a mix of:

• Distilled white vinegar
• Ketchup
• Organic sugar
• Maple syrup
• Maple sugar 
• Kecap Manis (Dark sweet soy sauce)
• Salt 
• Black ground pepper

 Method

 Cook onions in a little oil until soft. Add garlic and cook until softened. Add meat and mix well. Add the barbecue ingredients, adjusting the amounts to taste. Stew on low heat for a few hours. 

Serve on burger buns.

I strongly suggest using Kecap Manis because it adds a nice flavor to the sauce. You can get it at any Asian grocer. I get mine for about $3.50 for a 21oz bottle. If you can't find it, Amazon does carry it (at an outrageous price of $21+ for two 21oz bottles)