Taco à la Sørkedalen

Sørkedalen is a place where I lived for a good while after moving to Norway eight years ago. In many ways an idyllic place and a source of many good experiences in my life.

Foodwise it was a place of many good tastes and great freedom. One of the dishes, served typically on a Friday evening and made with chicken breast, was taco. Or perhaps "taco". I'm sure it had little to do with the original - also because it was served with lompe - but it was good and easy to prepare. Later on I have developed my version of taco à la Sørkedalen. I have retained the lompe instead of taco shells which are impossible and greasy and full of conservants anyway, and mixed my own taco seasoning, rather then rely on a readymade one.

Due to a phenomenon dubbed by the newspapers as a price war about minced meat I bought into it, so to say, and made my taco with minced meat this time.

For this you will need:
Taco spice mix made at home (recipe below)
some 500g minced meat or any other source of protein (beans, quorn)
1 medium onion, chopped
a few button mushrooms, sliced
1 tablespoon of oil
150 ml of water
6-10 lompe (2 packets of it) or taco shells, if you have to
tomato, cucumber, ruccola, sprouts, bell peppers, any other vegetables you like (washed and cut into pieces)

For the spice mix use:
1 tablespoon of plain flour
1/2 teaspoon of chilli powder
1 teaspoon of paprika powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic, chopped
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

Mix everything in a small bowl.
Meanwhile heat the oil in the frying pan. Add your proteins with onions and mushrooms and fry until almost done. Add the spice mix, stir well, then add water and let it simmer until the water is almost gone.

Place a lompe on a plate, fill it with everything, roll and eat.

Vel bekomme!

Also I strongly recommend reading the Wikipedia entry on lefse and lompe since it is not well known outside of Norway. In case you would want to serve it to the underaged, the mix is slightly more spicey than the usual stuff.

Fast food - not so fast, part 2

This one is the most obvious: homemade hamburgers. I made these when a friend of ours visited us with his two sons. Memo to myself: kids and dijon mustard do not combine well. Otherwise I think they liked the hamburgers - at least enough to eat up.

You will need:
600g beef mince (that is slightly better than minced meat, does not have to be beef at all)
a pinch of salt, or two
1/2 teaspoon of crushed black pepper
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, chopped (optional, depending on wheteher you want your garlic in the dressing)

Dressing:
kesam or sour cream or something even lighter
either lemon juice and chopped chives, or chopped garlic

You will also need:
wholegrain hamburger bread, or indeed any other kind of bread you want to serve
slices cucumber, sliced tomatoes, salad and so on

Heat the oven to warm the bread. Fry the hamburgers. I wonder if there is anything vegetarian that you could substitute for meat? Perhaps Miss White Elephant knows the answer?

Smacznego!

And remember to enjoy your weekend!

Fast food - not so fast, part 1

I sometimes find myself craving for unhealthy fast food. The problem is that in the light of articles such as this one, or this one, or even this one, I am being effectively deterred from satisfying my little cravings.

Thus I have started making the food I think I want at home. Fast food purists may disagree and argue that e.g. kebab is best at this or that place in Oslo. Still I prefer my light variants of fast food - just look at teh pictures in the articles above.

Here comes the first recipe: my almost kebab with light dressing



Prepare the dressing first. You will need:
1 container of light sour cream/kesam or 2 of rømmekolle
2 teaspoons of sweet papika powder
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of coriander seeds, crushed
1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1 clove of garlic, crushed
maybe some salt

Mix everything in a bowl and place in the refrigerator for at least half an hour.
Heat the oven and prepare a few pita breads (wholegrain, if available).

For the kebab part you will need:
2 chicken breast fillets of quorn fillets or any other kind of protein source you prefer
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon of chilli powder (or less...)
1 teaspoon of crushed black pepper
1 teaspoon of coriander seeds, crushed
chopped parsley
rice oil

Fry your protein source with onion, garlic and the spices above. Serve with the dreassing, a nice salad and pita bread.



to be continued...