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Lebanese Beef Kofta Recipe for Classic Lebanese Grilled Kebabs. 10 most popular recipes of December. Copyright © 2022 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

Beef Kofta Recipe for Lebanese Kafta – Grilled Spiced Ground Meat Kebabs

This beef kofta recipe makes traditional Lebanese kafta – grilled, spiced, ground meat kebabs that are made throughout the Middle East. Cooked at home, served at restaurants, and barbecued in parks at family gatherings on weekends and holidays, these Arabic minced meat kebabs are one of the most beloved dishes in a region that loves its grilled meats.

Our easy beef kofta recipe will make you the mouthwatering Lebanese kafta or spiced minced beef kebabs of the kind that we used to eat when we lived in the Middle East. Arabic restaurants were on every corner in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, our homes for almost eight years, and we’d tuck into Lebanese food a few times a week.

While summer might be barbecue season in many countries, come winter in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, on cool weekend nights, Middle Eastern expat families from around the region would head to the public parks for picnic dinners, setting up portable grills and small barbecues to make kebabs for moonlit meals.

Terence and I’d be on our evening stroll when we’d get a whiff of the smoky aromas of grilled meats wafting our way. On our walk home, we’d stop by the liquor shop for a bottle of red and drop into our favourite Arabic restaurant to order take-away: hummus, baba ganoush, fatoush, tabbouleh, and a mixed grill with lamb kebabs, shish tawouk (garlicky chicken) and beef kofta. Or kafta.

So which is it? Beef kofta or kafta? It was ‘beef kofta’ in the United Arab Emirates and other Arabian Peninsula countries, as well as at Arabic restaurants in Syria, Jordan, Palestine, and Egypt. But, oddly enough, it was ‘beef kafta’ in Lebanon, which explains our usage here.

Now before I tell you more about this Lebanese beef kofta recipe, I have a favour to ask. Grantourismo is reader-funded. If you’ve cooked our recipes and enjoyed them, please consider supporting Grantourismo. One way is by making a donation to our epic Cambodian cuisine history and cookbook on Patreon, which you can do for as little as the price of a coffee. Or you could buy us a coffee and we’ll use our coffee money to buy cooking ingredients for recipe testing.

Another option is to use links to the products below on Amazon or buy something else, such as these cookbooks for culinary travellers, James Beard award-winning cookbooks, cookbooks by Australian chefs, classic cookbooks for serious cooks, travel books to inspire wanderlust, and gifts for Asian food lovers and picnic lovers. We may earn a small commission but you won’t pay any extra.

Alternatively, you could use these links to buy travel insurance, rent a car or campervan or motorhome, book accommodation, or book a tour on Klook or Get Your Guide. You could browse our Grantourismo store for gifts for food lovers, including food themed reusable cloth face masks and jigsaw puzzles designed with Terence’s images. Now let me tell you all about this Lebanese beef kofta recipe.

Beef Kofta Recipe for Classic Lebanese Kafta – Grilled Ground Meat Kebabs

Our easy beef kofta recipe will make you traditional Lebanese kafta of the kind we used to eat in the Middle East – both in the Levant, especially in Lebanon and Syria, where we travelled extensively researching and writing travel guidebooks, as well as in the UAE, where we lived and worked and ate Arabic food frequently.

So what’s the difference between Arabic food and Lebanese food? ‘Arabic food’ is an umbrella term to describe the food from the Arabic-speaking world, because, to borrow a term used by locals here in Southeast Asia to describe the cultures of this region, they’re a bit “same same but different”.

While Lebanese food, Syrian food, Palestinian food, Egyptian food and so on can all be called Arabic food, not all Lebanese food is the same as all Syrian food, nor are all Jordanian dishes the same as all Iraqi dishes, etc, though I’d say they all have more in common than they do differences.

Traditional dishes can vary from one country to another, from province to province, city to city, between city and country, from village to village, and even from one family to another family in the same village, depending on the availability of ingredients, local culinary traditions, and personal taste.

Cuisines also evolve over time, especially in diasporas, so a beef kofta recipe from Tripoli might produce a very different beef kafta to that of a Lebanese-Canadian chef in Toronto. A cook can lose contact with their motherland or have to adapt recipes according to ingredient availability, not to mention the changing tastes of their children who’ve grown up in a culinary culture far removed from that of their culinary heritage.

And let’s not forget that home cooks, chefs, cookbook authors, food writers, and recipe developers all love to experiment. So the recipes you might stumble upon in a food magazine, recipe site or food blog might be very different to the recipes for traditional dishes that you were raised on or tasted on your travels in the Middle East.

And in our case, very different to the traditional dishes we ate living in places where, while the cuisine might not have been our own, was a cuisine we ate frequently, became very familiar with, and, especially in the case of Syrian food and Lebanese food, cuisines with which we became smitten.

Now for some tips to making this beef kofta recipe for classic Lebanese kafta.

Lebanese Beef Kofta Recipe for Classic Lebanese Grilled Kebabs. Copyright © 2022 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

 

Tips to Making this Beef Kofta Recipe for Classic Lebanese Kafta Grilled Ground Meat Kebabs

I’ve got some important tips to making this beef kofta recipe for classic Lebanese kafta, starting with the spices, because kofta are spiced in Lebanon and elsewhere in the Middle East.

The Kofta Seven Spice Blend Called Baharat

The spice mix used to flavour beef kofta is an Arabic spice blend called ‘baharat’, which means ‘seven’ in Arabic, and is usually translated as a Middle Eastern Seven Spices mix or in this case Lebanese Seven Spices blend.

In the Middle East, you can buy baharat from a spice merchant at a souq (traditional market) or supermarket. Outside the region, a supermarket with a good Middle East section should sell baharat, otherwise a specialty Middle Eastern food shop. Amazon also has baharat.

Baharat is used in Middle Eastern cooking right across the region, but is thought to have originated in the Levantine cuisines of Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Jordan. Baharat is essentially the Middle Eastern equivalent of ras el hanout, the essential spice blend of the Maghrebi cuisines of Northwest Africa, or garam masala, the popular spice blend used in Indian cuisines and South Asian cuisines.

Like a beef kofta recipe, although the baharat recipes are all fairly similar, there’s no singled codified Seven Spice blend. Like a lot of recipes in a lot of cuisines, there are national variations, regional variations, local variations, variations from restaurant to restaurant, and family to family.

Having said that, the list of spices on my ingredients list below essentially make a typical Lebanese Seven Spice mix recipe. If you do some research, you should find that most other Lebanese Seven Spice blends are the same if not fairly similar, with just one or two or three spices that are different.

I’ve spotted some beef kofta recipes that call for a couple of teaspoons of baharat or Seven Spice, and then half a teaspoon of this spice and half of teaspoon of that spice. Those kinds of recipes assume that your baharat doesn’t include the spices that are in addition to the baharat.

So if you’re making one of those beef kofta recipes, and you’re buying baharat in a supermarket, you need to check the label to see what’s in the little bottle before adding the rest of recommended spices on the ingredients list, so you don’t double-up.

Lebanese Beef Kofta Recipe for Classic Lebanese Grilled Kebabs. Copyright © 2022 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

 

If you’re cooking up a Lebanese feast for family or friends, I suggest making everything other than this beef kofta recipe first, so prepare your hummus, baba ganoush and tabbouleh before you embark on your kofta, although I’d recommend leaving your fattoush as close as possible to serving, as it can get soggy.

Prep Tips for Smooth Kofta Making

  • if you’re using wooden skewers, soak them in water at the start.
  • If you’re using small metal skewers, which are better, as they help cook your kofta from within and result in more evenly cooked kofta, lay them out on a tray and rub olive oil along the skewers.
  • Fill a bowl of water that you can dip your hands, as the minced meat mixture is sticky.
  • Have your raw meat-friendly plastic cutting board ready
  • Lightly grease another baking tray large enough to hold all the raw beef kofta after shaping them.
  • If serving pita bread with your kofta, lay the pita out on a tray and keep it warm in the oven on low.
  • If making your kofta well ahead of the meal, cover the pita with foil so it doesn’t crisp up.

How to Make the Beef Kofta Mix

The first thing to do is to make your baharat or seven spice blend by stirring all the spices and seasonings together in a small bowl or jar until well incorporated. You’ve essentially created your own Seven Spice blend. Easy, right?

Next, I use the back of a big serving spoon to combine the spice blend, ground beef, finely diced onions, minced garlic, and finely chopped fresh herbs in a big mixing bowl until thoroughly incorporated.

I don’t recommend using a food processor, as that will create a super-fine, dense paste that can result in dry kofta if you’re not careful. Plus you still want some texture, as that’s where your meaty juices lie, in those little pockets of fat that you don’t want to blend out of existence.

For the same reason, you also don’t want to use ultra lean beef. You want some beef with a fat content of around 10-15%. A little fat is good. If you’re only reading it after you’ve bought your lean beef, then add a teaspoon or two of olive oil.

How to Shape the Beef Kofta

This beef kofta recipe calls for a long cigar or sausage-like shape. That’s because that’s how the beef kofta came when we lived in the Middle East, and there’s a reason for that: it results in even cooking of the kofta.

I like to scoop out a handful of beef mixture, first form it into a patty in my hands, and then I roll it back and forth a few times on my raw meat-friendly cutting board until I have a nice smooth sausage shape.

I then carefully slide a skewer through the centre from one end of the raw kofta to the other, squeezing and shaping the sausage-shaped raw kofta around the skewer, then lay the raw kofta skewer down onto the greased tray, and repeat until the mixture is finished.

How to Prevent the Kofta from Falling Apart

I’ve spotted a few first-time kofta makers asking for tips to how to keep the kofta together so it doesn’t fall apart, including a certain food writer in a story on how to make perfect kofta…

There are no real tricks to keeping kofta from falling apart. It’s a combination of using beef with some fat content, rolling the raw meet as I suggest above, giving it a final squeeze around the skewers, and sealing the raw kofta meet before leaving it to brown and char.

If you’re not cooking kofta on an outdoor grill on barbecue over much higher heat, but you’re making the beef kofta indoors on a griddle pan on the stove, sealing the raw beef kofta first helps (see below).

Refrigerating the beef kofta if you have time is another trick: that’s when you could make your fattoush.

How to Cook the Kofta

Cooking kofta on an outdoor grill or barbecue over wood or charcoal is best to achieve a smoky flavour. In those parks in Dubai, families would do their kofta in a BBQ grilling basket over a small portable grill.

Our beef kofta recipe calls for a griddle pan (or grill plate with griddle side) as I love those charred stripes. (If you want me to add tips for cooking the beef kofta on an outdoor grill or barbecue, just let me know in the comments below.)

Heat your griddle pan, greased with a little olive oil, over high heat, then lay out the kofta skewers in a row and initially keep turning the kofta kebabs, one by one, in the order of how you laid them out, for a minute after laying them down, until they turn grey, to seal all sides. This keeps the juices in and prevents them from sticking.

Once you’ve done that, you can leave the beef kofta for a few minutes (if the heat is too hot, turn it down) until one side is brown and has charred stripes. Then turn them all over (again, in the order you laid them out) and leave them for another few minutes until the other side is brown and charred.

That timing should result in a medium-rare doneness, and once you remove the skewers they will keep cooking and be medium by the time you serve them. Obviously cook them for longer if you like them more done.

You could use a digital meat thermometer to make sure the kofta are cooked to your liking, however, I use the old fashioned method of pricking the first beef kofta I laid down with a wooden skewer. If the juice that runs out is clear, they’re ready. Remove them all one at a time as you laid them down so that they’re evenly cooked.

If you need to grill the kofta in batches (depending on the size of your griddle pan), then transfer the first batch to the oven with the pita bread while you cook another batch. I usually lay them on top of the pita breads so the bread soaks up some of the meaty juices. Some cooks prefer to spread the pita bread on top and that’s good too. If you don’t want your pita to start to crisp up, lay some foil on top of that.

When all the beef kofta skewers are ready, transfer the warm pita to a serving platter, pile the beef kofta kebabs on top, brush them with extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle them with sprigs of fresh parsley and/or mint, and I serve immediately with hummus and baba ganoush, and salads of fattoush and tabbouli. Recipes for those coming soon!

Beef Kofta Recipe for Lebanese Kafta – Grilled Spiced Ground Meat Kebabs

Lebanese Beef Kofta Recipe for Classic Lebanese Grilled Kebabs. 10 most popular recipes of December. Copyright © 2022 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

Beef Kofta Recipe for Traditional Lebanese Kafta – Grilled Spiced Ground Kebabs

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This beef kofta recipe makes traditionalLebanese kafta – grilled spiced ground kebabs made throughout the Middle East. Cooked at home, served at restaurants, and barbecued in parks at family gatherings on weekends and holidays, these Arabic minced meat kebabs are one of the most beloved dishes of a region that loves its grilled meats.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Arabic, Lebanese, Mediterranean
Servings: 4
Calories: 400kcal
Author: Lara Dunston

Ingredients

  • ½ tsp ground cumin
  • ½ tsp ground allspice
  • ½ tsp ground cinnamon
  • ½ tsp ground coriander
  • ½ tsp ground cloves
  • ½ tsp white pepper
  • ½ tsp black pepper
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 500 g ground beef not lean, needs some fat content
  • 1 medium onion finely diced
  • 1 garlic clove minced
  • 2 tbsp flat leaf parsley finely chopped
  • 2 tbsp mint finely chopped
  • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Garnish
  • fresh mint or parsley sprigs
  • lemon wedges
To serve
  • warm pita bread
  • hummus
  • fattoush salad

Instructions

  • If using wooden skewers, soak in water; if using metal skewers lay them out on a tray and rub olive oil along the skewers. Ready a bowl of water for your hands, a raw meat-friendly plastic cutting board, and lightly grease another tray large enough for the raw beef skewers.
  • Lay out some pita bread on a tray and warm in your oven on low.
  • In a small bowl, stir the spices and seasonings together until well blended.
  • In a mixing bowl, use the back of a large serving spoon to combine the ground beef, spice blend, finely diced onions, minced garlic, and finely chopped fresh herbs until thoroughly incorporated.
  • Using clean hands, scoop out a handful of beef mixture, form it into a patty, roll it back and forth onto the raw meat-friendly cutting board until you have a smooth sausage shape, then carefully slide a skewer through the centre, squeezing and shaping the sausage-shaped raw kofta around it.
  • Lay the raw kofta skewer down onto the greased tray, and repeat until you’ve finished the mixture. Dip your hands into the bowl of water occasionally to prevent the meat mixture sticking.
  • Heat a griddle pan greased with olive oil over high heat, lay out the kofta skewers in a row from left to right and cook over high heat, turning them again a minute after laying them down to seal in all sides, then leave the kofta for a few minutes until one side is brown and has charred stripes, then turn them all over and then leave for a few minutes until the other side is brown and charred.
  • Check if the kofta are ready by pricking one with a skewer; if the meat juices run clear they're ready. Remove them in the order you laid them down. If you need to grill the kofta in batches, transfer the first batch to the pita bread in the oven, while you cook another batch.
  • When all the beef kofta skewers are ready, lay them to the warm pita bread, brush the kofta with extra virgin olive oil, and sprinkle with sprigs of parsley and/or mint.
  • Serve immediately with bowls of hummus and baba ganoush and salads of fattoush and tabbouli.

Nutrition

Calories: 400kcal | Carbohydrates: 4g | Protein: 22g | Fat: 32g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 16g | Trans Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 89mg | Sodium: 383mg | Potassium: 424mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 286IU | Vitamin C: 6mg | Calcium: 51mg | Iron: 3mg

Please do let us know in the comments below if you make Lebanese beef kofta recipe as we love to hear how our recipes turn out for you.

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About Lara Dunston

A travel and food writer who has experienced over 70 countries and written for The Guardian, Australian Gourmet Traveller, Feast, Delicious, National Geographic Traveller, Conde Nast Traveller, Travel+Leisure Southeast Asia, DestinAsian, TIME, CNN, The Independent, The Telegraph, Sunday Times Travel Magazine, AFAR, Wanderlust, International Traveller, Get Lost, Four Seasons Magazine, Fah Thai, Sawasdee, and more, as well as authored more than 40 guidebooks for Lonely Planet, DK, Footprint, Rough Guides, Fodors, Thomas Cook, and AA Guides.

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Lara and Terence are an Australian-born, Southeast Asia-based travel and food writers and photographers who have authored scores of guidebooks, produced countless travel and food stories, are currently developing cookbooks and guidebooks, and host culinary tours and writing and photography retreats in Southeast Asia.
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Still looking for Christmas cooking inspo? Check o Still looking for Christmas cooking inspo? Check out our seafood recipe collection, especially if you celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve with a fish focused meal in the Southern Italian tradition, transformed by Italian-Americans into the Feast of the Seven Fishes, or like Australians, who celebrate Christmas in the sweltering summer, feast on seafood for Christmas Day lunch, we’ve got lots of easy seafood recipes for you.

Our recipes include a classic prawn cocktail, blini with smoked salmon, a ceviche-style appetiser, and devilled eggs with caviar. We’ve also got recipes for fish soup, seafood pies and pastas, salmon tray bake, and crispy salmon with creamy mashed potatoes.

You’ll find the recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/seafood-recipes-for-christmas-eve-and-christmas-day-menus/
(Link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Merry Christmas if you’re celebrating!! 

#christmas #christmasfood #seafood #fish #recipes #christmasrecipes #foodstagram #foodblogger #food #foodlover #igfood #picoftheday #igfood #igfoodie #cooking #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #grantourismo #grantourismotravels #xmas #merrychristmas #happychristmas
If you’re still looking for food inspo for Chris If you’re still looking for food inspo for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day meals, my smoked salmon ‘carpaccio’ recipe is one of dozens of recipes in this compilation of our best Christmas recipes (link below). 

The Christmas recipe compilation includes collections of our best Christmas breakfast recipes, best Christmas brunch recipes, best Christmas starter recipes, best Christmas cocktails, best Christmas dessert recipes, and homemade edible Christmas gifts and more.

My smoked salmon carpaccio recipe makes an easy elegant appetiser that’s made in minutes. If you’re having guests over, you can make the dish ahead by assembling the salmon, capers and pickled onions, and refrigerate it, then pour on the dressing just before serving. 

Provide toasted baguette slices and bowls of additional capers, pickles and dressing, so guests can customise their carpaccio. And open the bubbly!

You’ll find that recipe and many more Christmas recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/best-christmas-recipes/ (link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Merry Christmas!! X

#christmas #christmasfood #recipes #christmasrecipes #foodstagram #salmon #smokedsalmon #foodblogger #food #foodlover #igfood #picoftheday #igfoodie #cooking #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #recipedeveloper #writingacookbook #grantourismo #grantourismotravels 
#xmas #merrychristmas #happychristmas
If you haven’t visited our site in a while, I sh If you haven’t visited our site in a while, I shared a collection of recipes for homemade edible Christmas gifts — for condiments, hot sauces, chilli oils, a whole array of pickles, spice blends, chilli salt, furakake seasoning, and spicy snacks, such as our Cambodian and Vietnamese roasted peanuts. 

I love giving homemade edibles as gifts as much as I love receiving them. Who wouldn’t appreciate jars filled with their favourite chilli oils, hot sauces, piquant pickles, and spicy peanuts that loved-ones have taken the time to make? 

Aside from the gesture and affordability of gifting homemade edibles, you’re minimising waste. You can use recycled jars or if buying new mason jars or clip-top Kilner jars, you know they’ll get repurposed.

No need for wrapping, just attach some Christmas baubles or tinsel to the lid. I used squares of Cambodian kramas (cotton scarves), which can be repurposed as napkins or drink coasters, and tied a ribbon or two around the lids, and attached last year’s Christmas tree decorations to some.

You’ll find the recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/homemade-edible-christmas-gifts/ (link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Yes, that’s Pepper... every time there’s a camera around... 

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#blackcat #blackcatsofinstagram #picoftheday 
#christmas #christmastree #xmas #merrychristmas #happychristmas #cambodia #siemreap
This crab omelette is a decadent eggs dish that’ This crab omelette is a decadent eggs dish that’s perfect if you’re just back from the fish markets armed with luxurious fresh crab meat. It’s a little sweet, a little spicy, and very, very moreish.

Our crab omelette recipe was one of our 22 most popular egg recipes of 2022 on our website Grantourismo and it’s no surprise. It’s appeared more times than any other egg recipes on our annual round-ups of most popular recipes since Terence launched Weekend Eggs when we launched Grantourismo in 2010.

If you’re an eggs lover, do check out the recipe collection. It includes egg recipes from right around the world, from recipes for classic kopitiam eggs from Singapore and Malaysia and egg curries from India and Myanmar to all kinds of egg recipes from Thailand, Japan, Korea, China, Mexico, USA, Australia, UK, and Ireland.

And do browse our Weekend Eggs archives for further eggspiration (sorry). We have hundreds of egg recipes from the 13 year-old series of recipes for quintessential egg dishes from around the world, which we started on our 2010 year-long global grand tour focused on slow, local and experiential travel. 

We’re hoping 2023 will be the year we can finally publish the Weekend Eggs cookbook we’ve talked about for years based on that series. After we can find a publisher for the Cambodia cookbook of course... :( 

Recipe collection here (and proper link to Grantourismo in our bio):
https://grantourismotravels.com/22-most-popular-egg-recipes-of-2022-from-weekend-eggs/

If you cook the recipe and enjoy it please let us know — we love to hear from you — either in the comments at the end of the recipe or share a pic with us here.

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I’m late to share this, but a few days ago Angko I’m late to share this, but a few days ago Angkor Archaeological Park, home to stupendous Angkor Wat, pictured, celebrated 30 years of its UNESCO World Heritage listing. 

That’s as good an excuse as any to put this magnificent, sprawling archaeological site on your travel list this year.

While riverside Siem Reap, your base for exploring Angkor is bustling once more, there are still nowhere near the visitors of the last busy high season months of December-January 2018-2019 when there were 290,000 visitors. 

Last month there were just 55,000 visitors and December feels a little quieter. A tour guide friend said there were about 150 people at Angkor Wat for sunrise a few days ago.

If you’re looking for tips to visiting Angkor, Siem Reap and Cambodia, just ask us a question in the comments below or check Grantourismo as we’ve got loads of info on our site. Click through to the link in the bio and explore our Cambodia guide or search for ‘Angkor’. 

And please do let us know if you’re coming to Siem Reap. We’d love to see you here x

#siemreap #cambodia #asia #travel #instatravel #traveldeeper #slowtravel #localtravel #experientialtravel #exploremore #neverstopexploring #goexplore #igtravel #angkorwat #angkor #temple #temples #angkorwithoutcrowds #unesco #unescoworldheritagesite #unescoworldheritage #archaeology #archaeologicalsite #traveladdict #beautifuldestinations #beautifulplaces #travelgram #wanderlust #picoftheday📷 #grantourismotravels.
Our soy ginger chicken recipe will make you sticky Our soy ginger chicken recipe will make you sticky, flavourful and succulent chicken thighs that are fantastic with steamed rice, Chinese greens or a salad, such as a Southeast Asian slaw. 

The chicken can be marinated for up to 24 hours before cooking, which ensures it’s packed with flavour, then it can be cooked on a barbecue or in a pan.

Terence’s soy ginger chicken recipe is one of our favourite recipes for a quick and easy meal. I love the sound of the sizzling thighs in the pan, and the warming aromas wafting through the apartment. 

It’s amazing how such flavourful juicy chicken thighs come from such a quick and easy recipe.

Recipe here (and proper link to Grantourismo in our bio): https://grantourismotravels.com/soy-ginger-chicken-recipe/

If you cook it and enjoy it please let us know — we love to hear from you — either here or in the comments at the end of the recipe on the site or share a pic with us x 

#recipe #recipes #chicken #soygingerchicken #asianfood #southeastasianfood #igfood #igfoodie #cooking #cookingtime #recipe #recipes #comfortfood #foodblog #food #foodstagram #healthyfood #instafood #healthy #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #recipedeveloper #writingacookbook #grantourismo #grantourismotravels
Who can guess the ingredients and what we’re mak Who can guess the ingredients and what we’re making with my market haul from Psar Samaki in Siem Reap — all for a whopping 10,000 riel (US$2.50)?! 

Birds-eye chillies thrown in for free! They were on my list but the seller I spent most at (5,000 riel!) scooped up a handful and slipped them into my bag. She was my last stop and knew what I was making.

My Khmer is poor, even after all our years in Cambodia, as I don’t learn languages with the ease I did in my 20s, plus I’m mentally exhausted after researching and writing all day. I have a better vocabulary of Old and Middle Khmer than modern Khmer from studying the ancient inscriptions for the Cambodian culinary history component of our cookbook I’m writing.

So when one seller totalled my purchases I thought she said 5,000 riel but she handed back 4,500 riel! The sum total of two huge bunches of herbs and kaffir lime leaves was 500 riel.

Tip: if visiting Siem Reap, use Khmer riel for local shopping. We’ve mainly used riel since the pandemic started— rarely use US$ now as market sellers quote prices in riels, as do local shops and bakeries, and I tip tuk tuk drivers in riels. I find prices quoted in riels are lower.

Psar Samaki is cheaper than Psar Leu, which is cheaper than Psar Chas, as it’s a wholesale market, which means the produce is fresher. I see veggies arriving, piled high in the back of vehicles, with dirt still on them — as I did on this trip. 

The scent of a mountain of incredibly aromatic pineapples offloaded from the back of a dusty ute was so heady they smelt like they’d just been cut. More exotic European style veggies arrive by big trucks in boxes labelled in Vietnamese (from Dalat) and Mandarin (from China), such as beautiful snow-white cauliflower I spotted.

Note: the freshest produce is sold on the dirt road at the back of the market.

#cambodia #siemreap #foodwriter #foodblogger #foodphotography #igfood #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #instadaily #picoftheday #market #siemreapmarket #psarsamaki #marketfresh #vegetables #healthyfood #marketshopping #traveltips #foodtravel #culinarytravel #localtravel #cooking #cookingtime #curry #homemade #currypaste #grantourismotravels
My Vietnamese-ish meatballs and rice noodles recip My Vietnamese-ish meatballs and rice noodles recipe makes tender meatballs doused in a delightfully tangy-sweet sauce, sprinkled with crispy fried shallots, with carrot-daikon, crunchy cucumber and fragrant herbs. 

The dish is inspired by bún chả, a Hanoi specialty, but it’s not bún chả. No matter what Google or food bloggers tell you. Names are important, especially when cooking and writing about cuisines not our own.

This is an authentic bún chả recipe:  https://grantourismotravels.com/vietnamese-bun-cha-recipe/ You’ll need to get the outdoor BBQ/grill going to do proper smoky bún chả meat patties (not meatballs).

My meatball noodle bowl is perhaps more closely related to dishes such as a Central Vietnam cousin bún thịt nướng (pork skewers on rice noodles in a bowl) and a Southern relation bún bò Nam Bộ (beef atop rice noodles, sprinkled with fried shallots (Nam Bộ=Southern Vietnam) though neither include meatballs. 

Xíu mại= meatballs although they’re different in flavour to mine, which taste more like bún chả patties. Xíu mại remind me of Southern Italian meatballs in tomato sauce.

In Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, home to millions of Khmer, there’s bánh tằm xíu mại. Bánh tằm=silk worm noodles. They’re topped with meatballs, cucumber, daikon, carrot, fresh herbs, crispy fried onions. Difference: cold noodles doused in a sauce of coconut cream and fish sauce. 

Remove the meatballs, add chopped fried spring rolls and it’s Cambodia’s banh sung, which is a rice noodle salad similar to Vietnam’s bún chả giò :) 

Recipe here: (link in bio) https://grantourismotravels.com/vietnamese-meatballs-and-rice-noodles-recipe/

For more on these culinary connections you’ll have to wait for our Cambodian cookbook and culinary history. In a hurry to know? Come support the project on Patreon. (link in bio)

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It is pure coincidence that Pepper’s eye colour It is pure coincidence that Pepper’s eye colour matches the furnishings of our rented apartment. So, no, I did not colour-coordinate the interiors to match our cat’s eyes. 

I keep getting DMs from pet clothing brands wanting to “partner” with Pepper and send her free cat clothes and cat accessories. Although she did wear a kerchief for a few years in her more adventurous fashion-forward teenage years, I cannot see this cat in clothes now, can you? 

#pepper #blackcat #blackcats #blackcatsofinstagram #blackcatsrule #blackcatsmatter #cat #cats #catsofinstagram #catstagram #catlover #catlovers #catlove #catoftheday #catphoto #catpic #catpics #cambodiancat #cambodiancatsofinstagram #catlife #catloversclub #catoftheday #catgram #catstagram #cats_of_instagram #catphotography #catsofig #catsoftheworld #catsofinsta #cats🐱 #siemreap #cambodia

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