Walk...In The Rain...

Today it was raining, and I was at a friends place. I walked home in the rain. No umbrella, no raincoat. I just walked home in it. And you know what? It felt good. Very... I dunno...cleansing in a way. I was drenched when I got home, but it felt good.

Halfass Recipe: Marinated Kangaroo Steaks

Yep, that's right, I said Kangaroo! While my housemates were gone (and they are now back...BAH!), I found myself with the luxury of being able to eat what I consider to be real food (as opposed to the usual dreck of sausages, sausages and more sausages). So while in Coles one day, I was looking in the meat section, and saw that they had Kangaroo available. I hadn't eaten kangaroo in years, not since I was a kid, and decided to be daring and give it a go. They had sausages (which I tried first and thoroughly enjoyed), steaks and seasoned mini roasts. New Year's I had one of the mini roasts, which was delicious... it could have been cooked a little bit longer, but I was hungry. The meat was sweet and tender, and it fed Frosty quite well indeed.

So anyway. Back to the recipe bit. Kangaroo steaks are available here in packs of three, usually 2 bigger steaks and a smaller one. They have a very strong smell, but don't be put off by it.

Ingredients for Marinade for 3 steaks:
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1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp garlic salt (you can also use fresh garlic if you wish, just make sure it's grated/crushed)
1 tsp barbecue spices (McCormick's or other)
1 tsp smoked paprika (McCormick's or other)
2 tbsp olive oil (or avocado oil if you have it)

To this you can add whatever suits your taste, such as chili powder, lime juice, lemon juice, etc. Basically mix all the ingredients together in an airtight container, put the steaks in and put the lid on the container. Then shake up the container to mix, and then store the container in the fridge until ready to cook, shaking occasionally.

The steaks are best prepared in a non-stick frying pan on a high heat... I fry them for 2 minutes on either side, so they are brown on either side, but still pink in the middle (medium rare). Do *NOT* overcook it, otherwise the meat will become tough and it will not be as enjoyable.

Kangaroo sausages you can cook just like normal sausages. They are smaller, but very much tastier. For those who wonder what kangaroo tastes like, it's like beef, but with a much stronger flavour. In fact, I'm pretty sure you could serve it up AS beef, and no one would know the difference.

Enjoy.

Happy 2008 and a Product Review

Hello and Happy New Year to all the readers (all..what.. 5 of you? lol) of TFP. For the first post of 2008, it's the return of the food review. Tonight's guinea pig product was Ayam Brand Asian Meal: Sweet + Sour Tuna and Rice. I picked this one up for 2 reasons... the first being I couldn't bloody decide what else to have for dinner, and the second being it was on sale at $2.99. Clearance sale, no less, which means it's probably not going to be on the shelf for much longer.

And with GOOD FUCKING REASON! This was your usual "nuke for a couple of minutes in the microwave" job, and to it's credit, it came with a fork AND a serviette, which i didn't use, but I thought it was cute. The downside though, was half of the actual product itself. Ok, I'll be honest, 75% of the product. I didn't take pics of the sachets and everything, but I will relate my experience.



Here's the box itself. The box is more a cardboard wrapper surrounding the actual plastic box. The rice and sauce/tuna came in separate sachets. Now here's where the first dubious snag occured. With packaged, pre-cooked rice, I almost always squeeze the packet first before opening it, to sort of "fluff" the rice and separate it. This rice must have been packed too airtight or something, cuz the fluffing just wasn't happening. I took it out of it's sachet, and it was ROCK hard. I added a little water when I put it into the plastic container, and then emptied the sauce/tuna sachet on top. After nuking it for a few minutes, I took it out to stir, and attempting to stir the rice was like attempting to stir rubber. Almost impossible. I gave it the benefit of the doubt, and sat down to eat.



I tried to stir the rice up as much as possible, but some of it still remained rubbery. After a few forkfuls, I discovered the chili.



Now, on the box it said "MILD" (and I stress MILD). There was nothing mild about it. I was about as MILD as the Pattu Paneer Butter Masala product I had a while ago. The chili that was in it was small, and still had all it's seeds in it. Chilis are more spicy the smaller they get, and the seeds are the spiciest in the chili itself.

An overly generous 2 chomps out of 5. In spite of the rubber rice and the overpowering chili.