1 lb ground beef
1/2 cup cooked rice
1/4 tsp five-spice powder
2 tbsp peanut oil
1 medium yam
2 sqs. bean curd
6 fresh mushrooms
2 cup warm water
1/2 cup dark soy sauce
2 tbsp sherry
1 tsp fresh ginger, minced
1 cornstarch paste
Directions
This dish is almost a meal in itself. It is easy to prepare and a
dramatic addition at the table.
Preparation: Mix beef, rice & five-spice powder; form into firm 1"
balls.Peel yam; cut into chunks. Cut bean curd into 1" cubes. Wash
mushrooms; remove dried part of stem.
Cooking: Heat wok until smoking; add peanut oil. When oil is hot,
braise meatballs. Add warm water, soy sauce, sherry & ginger. Bring
to boil, transfer to clay pot, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. Add
yam chunks, bean curd & mushrooms. Cook uncovered another 20 minutes
until yams are done but still firm. Thicken sauce with cornstarch
paste; boil briefly. Turn off heat, cover to keep hot until ready to
serve.
Servings: 6 servings
Beef & Bean Curd Clay Pot Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Bean; Beef; Meat
The History of Recipes
It is actually possible to track the history of recipes back into the far past, in fact as far back as the early Egyptians, and potentially, even further back. Having said that, generally, these ancient cookbooks were just basic pictorial, hieroglyphic or cunieform recipes for food preparation.
In an interesting twist, the most ancient recipe discovered, according to academics are a few ancient tablets in the Sumerian language describing the preparation of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as having made anyone who tried it feel exhilarated and blissful. Much later, in Roman times a roman called Apicius wrote a few documents which described recipes prepared by the Romans. In his scrolls, he recounts how the meals were split into starters, entrees and afters, something that is very familiar to us today. Aspicius describes how the Roman chefs used a good variety of herbs and spices, including a few that will be familiar to modern cooks such as bay, fennel and asafoetida. In the fifteenth century, knights returning from the crusades brought back a variety of spices and herbs from Arab cuisine, including spices like coriander, parsley, and basil. These new foods and spices prompted an outbreak in books on cookery, most of which are kept safe in private collections. Over the following few hundred years, the upper-class families of Wesstern Europe competed to serve the most exotic banquets, and because of this the best chefs and their recipes increased in prestige. Nevertheless, it wasn`t until the 1800s that fine cooking and recipe books became popular. Mrs Isabella Beeton in the UK, and the equally well-known Fannie Merritt Farmer in the USA, dedicated the best years of their lives to collecting, testing, and publishing the recipes that were being prepared for the better households. By the arrival of the 20th century, cooking books are highly popular mostly due to higher levels of literacy, people having increased leisure time and a general increase in wealth. |
We hope you enjoy this Beef & Bean Curd Clay Pot recipe.
