Preparing tiffin for your child can be a daunting task especially if your child is a fussy eater. Moreover, tiffin can get really boring if the same tiffin is given every day. Children like variety and tasty food. However, as parents we don’t want to compromise on the nutritious aspect of our child’s diet either. As much as proper growth is important for our children it is also very important that the child is interested in eating as well. To opt for shortcut food we tend to give our child pre-packaged food or processed meat so that our child is eating properly. However, preparing tasty and nutritious food should not be a time consuming activity especially in this day and age where everyone is so busy.
Some pre-preparation is the key to preparing food in the shortest time. The following recipes use a key ingredient to prepare different types of tiffin dishes which are healthy, nutritious and fast.
Cold Beef
Cold beef is easy to prepare and can be stored for a long time. This can be used in multiple recipes like sandwich, wraps, noodles, rice, etc. It requires minimum spices and effort and can be prepared in the weekend.
Ingredients:
- 800 gm – 1 kg Beef Chunk/Beef Chaka (available in Bengal Meat or ask your butcher to cut the meat in Chaka)
- 1-tablespoon garlic paste
- 1-tablespoon ginger paste
- 1-tablespoon onion juice
- 2-teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1-teaspoon grated raw papaya
- 1-tablespoon salt
- 2-tablespoon Worcestershire sauce or soya sauce
- 2-tablespoon oil
- 1-cup water
Direction:
1. Make small incisions with a knife in the beef chunk to ensure that the spices get into the meat well. With a fork or meat tenderiser tool pierce the meat all through this will help tenderise the meat and prepare for cooking.
2. Marinate the meat with all the ingredients and refrigerate minimum overnight or for best results 24 hours.
3. In medium temperature heat a saucepan with oil.
4. Once the pan reaches the desired temperature, put the meat in the oil and fry till the meat changes col or on all sides.
5. Add 1 cup water and the residual juice of the marinate in the pan and reduce the temperature in very low heat. Cook the meat for 1.5 hours – 2 hours.
6. Throw the remaining water and let the meat cool.
7. Before slicing the meat, refrigerate the meat overnight and then slice.
The meat size will shrink as it will lose water.
I tend to marinate on Thursday night, cook on Friday night and slice the meat on Saturday.
The meat will store in the refrigerator for 1 month.
Although the preparation time is long, cold beef requires minimum attention. Marinating takes 5 minutes, frying the meat takes 10 minutes and slicing takes practically 15 minutes. After the cold beef is prepared, a door for preparing plethora of recipes opens.
Keep an eye on Champs21.com for the next article in the series where I will share some of the quick recipes that can be prepared using cold beef.