At the Steak House

Yes, you heard me correctly. Steak in Hyderabad. Tender, juicy, perfectly seasoned grilled tenderloin. Decent, and even passable, steak is difficult to find here. Hindus and Muslims don't eat a lot of beef and the cows aren't raised for eating purposes. The few times we've bought beef to roast or grill ourselves it's been tough and no amount of pounding or marinating has made it tender enough to be enjoyable. And for some reason I always think of buying a steak for Friday night dinner, but you can't buy beef on Fridays (all the Muslim butcher shops are closed).

Since we arrived our driver has been pointing out Chef Inam's Steak House to me every time we pass it and one night Mike and our neighbor stopped there on the way home from work to pick up some take-away. Mike met Chef Inam, tried the steak, and has been insisting we get back there right away. Inam lived in the United States and took culinary classes at Johnson and Whales (Yay Rhode Island!) and has brought his American steak-grilling skills back to India. On Friday night I packed up Muffin, we went to pick up Mike at work, and we went at Chef Inam's for a steak.

This is not a steak house like you'll find in the United States and I can see why so many expats get their steak for take-away. It's a little hole-in-the-wall with a couple tables and plastic chairs. Inam grills on the street in front of the facade. There's a cooler full of sodas and water. It's a dive. But we pulled out our hand sanitizer and ate there anyway.

It was worth it. Mike got a French-style peppercorn-encrusted steak and I had what Inam calls his Boston steak, covered with herbs and English mustard. They were perfectly cooked (rare for Mike, medium rare for me), tender, and deliciously seasoned.

We took Muffin outside to watch the grilling. She was fascinated. We even gave her a few bits of meat to chew on. She loved it until she got a peppercorn. She was getting tired by then, so instead of her spitting-out yucky face, she screamed. Luckily the place was getting full of men talking and laughing loudly so no one else could hear her. We paid the bill and made a quick getaway.

Speaking of the bill, the steaks were about five or six dollars each and the serving was big enough to fill Mike and for me to eat half and bring the rest home.

Don't let Muffin's reaction deter you from Chef Inam's Steak House. She's just a baby. And we're the stupid parents who gave her spicy peppercorns, then stopped to take a picture of it.

Cross-posted from Where in the World Am I?

carnivore restaurant, nairobi

I have to say that after hearing some great things about Carnivore in Nairobi, everyone in our group was disappointed. We expected it to be somewhat touristy because most tour packages include a stop off at the restaurant to try exotic African game meats. But we were hoping the delicious meats would make up for the tourist trap factor. The meats weren't all that delicious though, unfortunately.

We were given the fixed price all-you-can-eat meal. They place a carousel of different sauces in the middle of the table (a sauce for each meat) with a flag on top. Then servers walk by with giant skewers of meat and carve some off right onto your plate. When you're full, you take your flag down. The meats include different cuts and preparations of chicken and beef, there's lamb and goat, and the exotic meats for the night were ostrich and crocodile. 

I'm not a huge meat eater but I like it when it's done well. My favorite piece of meat was the chicken drumstick that was served at the very beginning of the meal. Mike liked the beef. We can get better lamb and goat here in Bujumbura. And none of us were impressed by ostrich or crocodile. The ostrich was ground and made into meatballs and it tasted like strong turkey. Crocodile does not taste like chicken. Anyone who says that is a liar, or has no imagination or has absolutely no idea what chicken tastes like. Crocodile was salty and chewy and full of tiny bones. If chicken were like that, I'd never, ever eat it.

I know I'm not the best judge of a meat restaurant, but Mike is a carnivore and he was disappointed in this place. If you're going to Nairobi, take the time to find some lesser-known establishment that will treat you to a more authentic African meal. Carnivore is a tourist trap.

jamaican jerk-rubbed pork, black beans w/ mango, and rice

This was a big meal.

Pork tenderloins are packaged in twos, and I always forget that when I bring the package home and throw it into the freezer. Then I end up defrosting two and having to cook two at the same time, giving us way more leftovers than we can possibly eat. And until recently, I only had one really good tenderloin recipe, and even the best food will get boring if you have too much of it.

Searching for something else to do with pork tenderloins led me to this spice rub on Recipe Source.

Jamaican Jerk Rub
4 Tbs ground allspice
1 Tbs dried thyme
1 Tbs paprika
1 tsp ground red pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

Mike sliced one of the tenderloins into little medallions and spice-rubbed them. The other went into the fridge for a couple days (it will be tonight's dinner--my other tenderloin recipe). In order to keep them from slipping through the grill, he put foil over the grill but made little indents and poked holes for the grease to run off. This was to ensure they were grilled rather than pan-fried.

For the side dish I was thinking something with rice. Eventually I decided on black beans, and then I was inspired to add some mango. I searched around Recipe Source and Mollie Katzen Online for ideas on exactly how to cook black beans. I ended up sauteeing in olive oil about a tablespoon of chopped white onion and 3 cloves minced garlic. I added a can of black beans, including the water. When it started simmering I added one diced mango and a few leaves of fresh cilantro. It simmered on the stove top for about 15 minutes until the liquid was down. I thought it could use a little extra seasoning, but Mike thought it was perfect, so I added a dash of salt and pepper once it was on my plate.

I don't know how we lived before we had a rice cooker. Started it up first thing and forgot about it until it was time to plate and eat.

indian spice rub

This is a recipe I snagged from the Everyday Food magazine: all-purpose spice rub. Online they don't give the suggestions for making different varieties, but the print magazine does. In order to make this more Indian-inspired, replace the oregano and thyme with cardamom, ground ginger, curry powder, and tumeric.

Indian Spice Rub
1/3 cup coarse salt
1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/4 cup paprika
2 tablespoons ground black pepper
1 tablespoon cardammom
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 tablespoon tumeric

Put everything in a jar and shake it. Spoon out as much as you'll use for whatever you're coating, then put the jar away in the cupboard. Keeps for about 6 months.

I like to use this on chicken breasts, but you could use it for anything. (I'd like to try tofu cubes some day.) Per Martha's instructions, coat the chicken breasts in a little vegetable oil, then coat them with the spice rub, 2 to 3 tablespoons per pound of meat (measure out the spice rub beforehand and put what you'll need on a separate plate so as not to contaminate your whole jar). Let it sit for awhile to soak in the flavors or throw it on the grill right away.

In order to cool down the spiciness I pair this chicken with an apple slaw inspired by an episode of Everyday Food on PBS. Their full recipe is here, Tandoori chicken with yogurt sauce. It's really good and pretty easy, but sometimes on a hot summer evening you want something even easier that you don't have to light the oven for. To make the apple slaw I grate an apple or two, mix in some plain, nonfat yogurt, some lime juice, and some chopped fresh cilantro. Everything is "to taste" and dependent upon how much I want to make.

Make some rice and this meal is complete. And completely tasty and quick.

tabouli and grilled veggies

For awhile I've been thinking I should try making tabouli with quinoa grain instead of wheat and I finally got around to it yesterday. It was amazingly delicious! We gorged ourselves on it and my mouth is watering, thinking ahead to lunchtime today. I used the recipe in Moosewood. I'm not good at deciphering tastes in things, so I need recipes for guidance. Salt? Lemon? Garlic? Something else? Obviously I exchanged the bulgar wheat for quinoa. I steamed it early in the afternoon and by dinner-making time it was cool. I eyeballed the ingredients amounts and added them to taste. Garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, parsely, scallions, mint, tomato--mostly stuff we have on hand regularly.

Mike put veggies on skewers and I brushed them with herbed olive oil (dried herbs de provence and fresh garlic added to the oil about an hour beforehand to steep), then he grilled. Mike heated up some pita for himself, and voila. Fantastic meal.