Friday, January 13, 2006
Seeking Mongolia
Last night, my workmates and I finally went for our company-sponsored Christmas dinner. We wanted to have it in December as most people we knew, but the combination of our German perfectionism and our management's Irishness got in the way. Originally, we wanted to use the money to organise a traditional German Gluehweintrinken, getting everyone from all departments together over some mulled wine and home baked Stollen and Plaetzchen (sorry, the term "Christmas cookie" just does not cover these lovely little biscuits (especially the ones my dear friend Emily makes - they are simply divine!) - if you are in doubt or curious or just want to refresh your memory or enlarge your recipe archive (and speak German), check out Weihnachtsbaeckerei.com or Marions Kochbuch. Both have a large collection of very nice recipes, some of them illustrated. English speakers can check out About.com, but the quality comes nowhere near that of its German peers - especially Marion's Cookbook, which I highly reccommend. I promise, if this blog survives the year, I will make an effort to find and post original recipes that are tried and tested by people I know, along with images of what the results looked like when I tried my hand at Plaetzchen baking. But before I can do that, I still have a lot more to learn about computing and blogging; especially how to add pictures and video clips to my blog...
But where was I? I know this whole line of thought started with an open bracket, but I think I will just leave it at that, let it fizzle out and try to get back to the beginning. Initially, I was going to rant a little about our inability to move beyond the planning stage until it was too late, about Irish licensing laws (and into the question what comes first, a society's obsession with preventing people from having a relaxed attitude to alcohol like the French or Italians enjoy or said society's problem with binge drinking and the loss of enjoyment associated with a good glass of wine). Unfortunately, looking at the length of this post, I have to restrain myself for fear of boring everyone including myself. Lets just leave it at saying that the Gluehwein get together never happened and that, by the time we realised this it was too late to book a Christmas dinner at a restaurant for a group of 15.Instead, we decided to go to Dublin's Mongolian Barbecue in January. Quite a few people I know have reccommended this place if you're looking for a special treat and are not too worried about the final bill. So I had high expectations because finding a special treat here in Dublin is like looking for a needle in a haystack, and if you dare to venture into one of the restaurants, you better not worry about the final bill or you are in for a great shock.
Anyway, I should have known not to expect too much... Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of these people who refuse to eat in anything less than a three star restaurant. I love good take-out and have been known to buy a large portion of french fries from Burger King. Unfortunately, good take-out was roughly what we got. The mixed starter plate consisted of deep fried prawns wrapped in filo pastry (very yummy), vegetarian spring rolls, Veggie Samosas and BBQ spare ribs. Not bad overall, but your local Chinese takeout is probably no worse. Mine certainly isn't. The main course was, as in all Mongolian Barbecues outside Mongolia, a selection of meats and vegetables laid out buffet style. You were asked to help yourself to anything you want, add the seasoning and sauce of your choice and then take it to a couple of guys to stir fry it for you on a huge hotplate. Therefore, it is theoretically your own fault if you end up with a dull dinner. In practice, however, it is difficult to come up with great food if you're using powdered spices that have been sitting out in the open so long they no longer even smell of anything, and ready-mixed sauces that have been thinned out to the point where you would really need to fill your bowl to the rim if you wanted to be able to taste them. And what's more, you cannot adjust the seasoning during cooking.
I took a mixture of mushrooms, onions, corn, grated carrots and mixed seafood (frozen as it would be coming out of the great oceans of Mongolia) and added about twice as much herbs and spices as I would at home - garlic and ginger with a touch of chili - and two ladles of honey and soy sauce. The result was, well, slightly spicy, but otherwise taste-free stir fry, served on, believe it or not, overcooked long grain rice. Had I had a choice in the matter the whole thing would have looked somewhat like this (for 1 person):
½ cup of sliced meat, seafood of tofu (I advise against fish, it tends to fall apart. If you really want it or need to use it up, steam your whole filet with a bit of chopped garlic & ginger and use only vegetables for this recipe)And while this is a European's interpretation of a Chinese cook's adaptation of his/her home country's cooking for European palates rather than a Mongolian BBQ, I still think it beats what I got.
1 ½ cups of thinliy sliced mixed vegetables (Onions, carrots, sugar peas, green beans, water chestnuts, pak choi, Chinese cabbage, bean sprouts and baby corn work particularly well. Shredded Brussels sprouts are also a good addition if you like a bit of bite. If you are using broccoli or cauliflower, make sure to blanch the florets briefly in boiling water and refresh them under the cold tap. Otherwise they will stay raw during stir frying. Stay away from aubergines and zucchini, they lose too much water.)
2 cloves of garlic, chopped (or sliced if you prefer)
4 tbsp soy sauce (more if you like your food saltier)
3 tbsp medium sherry (verjuice is a good alternative if you live completely abstinent)
1 tsp grated ginger (alternatively 1/3 tsp powdered ginger)
¼ tsp cumin powder
2 tbsp sweet chili sauce (alternatively a mixture of honey, water and chili to taste)
Oil for frying (Don't be shy, use enough to give the food a bit of flavour and to be able to turn the heat up. But make sure you use the right stuff. Sunflower of peanut oil work really well. Vegetable oil isn't as good for you, but can be used. Stay away from olive oil, which burns at high temperatures. If you use flavoured oil, make sure that it is a good one. Often the seasoning is used to literally spice up cheap oil and sell it at a premium price.)
Mix the garlic, soy sauce, sherry, ginger, cumin and sweet chili sauce in a bowl. Add the meat/seafood/tofu (not the fish if you are using steamed fish). Leave to marinate for as long as you can and have time, at least 30 minutes.
Heat the oil in a wok until very hot. Lift the meat/seafood/tofu out of the marinade (drain as much as possible, you want it to fry, not steam in its own sauce) and stir fry for a minute. Add you vegetables (except bok choi greens and bean sprouts) and continue frying over high heat for another 2 minutes. If you are using scallops or prawns or like your beef rare, change the order and fry the veggies first and then add the meat/seafood. Do not undercook chicken, it's nasty and unhealthy. Now add you bok choi greens and bean sprouts and fry for another minute. Finally, add the meat/seafood/tofu marinade and heat through. If you like your vegetables slightly softer or your food less garlicky, adjust the cooking times in the beginning and after adding the sauce. Beware that you might need to add a few spoonfuls of water or stock if the pan boils dry.
Serve on fried or boiled sticky rice, jasmin rice or basmati rice. Do not use long grain rice. It's impossible to eat with chopsticks and has no taste to it at all.
Desert, however, was a whole different story. If it is true what they say, that a restaurant is best judged by its deserts, this one is not bad at all. The choice wasn't great, but the quality of what we got was superb. I ordered Death by Chocolate - which is exactly what I got. A slice of sticky, rich chocolate cake with lovely, gooey icing, accompanied by a scoop of creamy vanilla ice cream and smothered in chocolate sauce. None of it seemed to have come from a packet, all of it was great (although not exactly Mongolian either) and I walked away happy.
Overall, the experience was pleasant enough, but I still don't recommend it to anyone who is a little more demanding. And while it did not inspire me to go home and copy their recipes, it did get me thinking: Why did we choose a Mongolian place? I think my colleagues did because it is considered trendy at the moment. I went along because I was curious. My main drive was to find out what they eat in Mongolia. I didn't manage to find and answer. But I did find a mission for tomorrow. Watch this space for some Mongolian recipes!
Christine at 11:54 pm
