Quick Meat Ideas with Herbs & Spices

QUICK MEAT IDEAS WITH HERBS AND SPICES

Chicken

• Dust fillets with a Herbie’s spice blend before pan frying, grilling or barbecuing. Suitable blends are: Native Seasoning, Cajun Spice, Ras el Hanout, Tagine Spice, Tandoori , Tasty Meat Sprinkle, Bay Seasoning, Berbere Native BBQ, Greek Seasoning, Lemon & Herb Pepper.
• Mix 1 Tbs Herbie’s Tandoori Spice Mix with ¾ cup plain yoghurt and marinade cuts of chicken for about 2 hours. Cook in the oven or grill.
• Dry-fry 1 Tbs curry powder for 30 seconds. Add 1 Tbs oil and 1 Tbs tomato paste and mix with the spices, then add 500g chicken pieces and a little water. Simmer. When nearly cooked, yoghurt or coconut milk can be added. Do not replace the lid after adding coconut milk or it will curdle.
• Rub the skin of a chicken with za’atar, Tunisian spice or Lemon & Herb Pepper before roasting.
• When roasting a chicken, add enough good chicken stock to make a depth of about 2cm. Sprinkle about a tablespoon of sumac into the stock. The liquid will reduce during cooking and make a delicious sauce for the cooked chicken.
• Make a marinade of grated onion, garam masala and curry leaves for barbecued chicken thighs.

Pork

• Use Herbie’s Vindaloo Curry Powder to make a hot, tasty pork curry
• Roast a joint of pork, rubbing the surface with Chinese Stir Fry or with Native Seasoning Mix
• Sprinkle pork chops with Tagine spice mix or Jerk Seasoning for an exotic, sweetly spicy flavour
• Add ½ teaspoon sage or ajowan seed to stuffing for pork to combat the richness of the meat
• Stir-fry pork strips with chilli, lemon grass and Stir-Fry Spice mix, moistened with soy sauce. Or stir-fry using Thai Spice Mix, Asian vegetables and coconut milk.
• Make an Asian stock using Chinese Master Stock, coat spare ribs generously and roast.

Beef

• Dust steaks with a Herbie’s seasoning blend before grilling, frying or barbecuing. Suitable blends are: Tasty Meat Sprinkle, Crusting Mix, Native BBQ Spice Mix, Cajun Spice Mix, Berbere, Bushman’s pepper, Smokey Barbecue, Pepper Steak Mix.
• Before roasting meat, shake in a clean plastic bag with Crusting Mix, Berbere or Smokey BBQ mix.
• Most suitable curries for beef are: Rendang, Malaysian, Curry Mix with Seeds, or Medium Curry.
• For a winter stew or casserole, brown onions and garlic in oil, add cubed lean beef which has been shaken in a bag with flour, salt, seasoning herbs and a few bruised juniper berries. Add stock and tomato paste, simmer until tender. Alternately, use Baharat or Tagine mix to coat the meat.

Lamb

• Crust cutlets and chops with Lamb Roast and BBQ spice, Chermoula, Greek Seasoning or Balmain and Rozelle spice before grilling, frying or barbecuing. Add a squeeze of lemon juice to each side while they are cooking.
• Make a Moroccan tagine (stew) using the recipe on the back of the pack.
• Make Tandoori or curry as described for Chicken. Most suitable curries for lamb are: Vindaloo, Curry Mix with Whole Seeds and Spices, Medium Curry, Rogan Josh.

Fish and Seafood

• Pan-fry white-fleshed fish fillets with a dusting of ground Lemon Myrtle, Sumac Pepper, Lemon & Herb Pepper, Balmain & Rozelle Spice or South Indian Seafood Masala.
• Make a curry paste with Vegetable Curry Mix and oil and water. Add finely chopped tomatoes and coconut milk – cook until tomatoes are done, then add prawns or fish fillets.
• Combine Salt & Pepper Squid mix with cornflour, coat squid and prawns, and deep fry.
• Make slashes in the sides of a whole fish. Rub both sides of the fish with Aussie Fish Seasoning and squeeze lemon juice over. Wrap in foil and barbecue.
• Stir-fry seafood with Green or Red Curry Mix and vegetables. Add coconut milk before serving.
• Make a delicious, quick Laksa (curry soup) following the directions on the back of the Laksa mix.

NOTE: Where no quantities are given, start with a small amount and adjust to taste. Remember, you can always add more, but you can’t take it out!