This has been a great week for me as I have been writing several blogs and this is truly what I love doing best; reflecting on life and adding my two pence worth on paper, that and cooking!

Love seems to be topical for me as well as many close to me currently. Truly I think it is indeed love that makes the world go round, provides the meaning for our existence, and the strength to fly. If you would like to read more please follow these links http://andrea-cullen.com/2014/09/06/what-love-means/ and http://andreacullenhealthsolutions.com/2014/09/12/love-with-abandon/ there are many more musings to be found on this blog site. Please send a little time getting lost in thought here.

Before we kick off into the curry recipe maybe stop a moment to fill your heart with gratitude for all that blesses your day; what we are thankful for grows.

Gratitude

I cannot express in words the full extent of how my gratitude to the Universe feels within me.
And of her comfort in the form of the loving people in my life now.
Nature and her nudges and daily embrace in the smallest of things;
I notice them now and they are wondrous!
Spirit and her messages and intuitions,
The magic of dream world,
The power and clarity in my visions,
The awe I have for how everything supports my every step forward.
Love in every crevice and corner, smile and moment.
When you let go and trust; you don’t fall and then hope to find support;
you instead fly with the winds of time under your wings.

Ok folks, here is a recipe using tongue meat.

This recipe links in with my previous blog on offal meats as found here. There is a PDF listed at the bottom for the entire article and I recommend that you download this for a treasure trove of all resources offal!

Yes tongue; turns out that it is not so euuuwww or icckkkk and once I had a real go at preparing it and cooking with it I discovered that it is a delicious, affordable, simple to prepare meat that goes a long way with minimal effort. I made a giant curry and still had some meat left over to freeze for another day. I preferred to use the cooked tongue in curry as I am struggling with meats a little lately given my energetic sensitivity to all things. So for me a curry with a heap of vegetables worked well and tasted delicious.

I tossed in a dollop of my herb blitz before serving to add extra vavavoom.

Not sure that you like beef tongue and afraid to take the plunge?

If you wanted to trial tongue before you venture to the butchers then most good meat delicatessens sell cooked and sliced beef tongue; although it can be a little on the pricey side.

Where can you buy raw beef tongue?

Any good butcher that rears and slaughters their own meat should supply fresh beef tongue or at the very least be able to order it in for you. I purchased mine from the Butcher Boys in Limerick. I had a good chat with the farmer and owner and I was satisfied that he was a kind man, running a clean and ethical business. Here are his contact details.

I also recommend Flavins and Garretts for quality meats local to Limerick.

Firstly you must cook your beef tongue.

I used the following blog as a guide: http://thecuriouscoconut.com/blog/how-to-cook-beef-tongue

Basically I did the following:

1. Rinsed and patted dry the beef tongue; it was already very clean.
2. Placed the beef tongue in a large saucepan and covered with water.
3. Added cut leeks (I didn’t have any onions), carrots, dried oregano and black peppercorns.
4. I brought the pot up to temperature, and then simmered covered while keeping an eye on it for 2 hours.
5. I removed the tongue from the pot and once it was cool enough to handle I used a sharp knife to remove all the hard skin encasing the tongue. This took a bit of skill as the hotter the tongue then the easier the skin comes off.
6. Allow the beef tongue to cool and use as is, slice, dice or add to casseroles, bolognaises, curries, enjoy cold with a salad, or as you prefer!

Here is my beef tongue (left) and beef heart (right) from the butchers

Beef tongue and heart

Beef tongue and heart beside my hand

Raw clean beef tongue

Beef tongue in the pot

Cooked, peeled, cooled tongue

Beef tongue curry

Ingredients:

• Fat/ oil: butter, extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil or bone marrow fat
• 1 onion – diced
• A good chunk of fresh root ginger; at least 1-inch in size – finely sliced
• A good chunk of fresh turmeric (if available); at least 1-inch in size – finely sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic – crushed or minced
• Spices – you could use a pre-mixed blend of spices or curry paste; I used what I had available which was curry powder mix, dried cumin, ground turmeric, ground coriander and the remains of some garam masala. I use a lot, like tablespoons, because I like a good deep flavour. You can actually use far more than you think to create a tasty curry.
• 1 aubergine – diced into 1-inch cubes
• 1 courgette – diced into ½ inch cubes
• Vine tomatoes; I used 6 – diced
• Cooked beef tongue; I used approximately half of the cooked tongue – diced into ½ to 1-inch cubes as preferred.
• Water or stock
• ¾ can full fat coconut milk
• Season to taste with Celtic, Atlantic or Himalayan salt and freshly cracked black pepper
• To serve:
  • For lean string skinny beans serve on steamed leafy vegetables, root vegetables or cauliflower rice. Or stuff into cabbage or lettuce leaves as a cabbage wrap.
  • For mighty warriors serve on cooked grain such as basmati, wild or brown rice, quinoa, or millet with a side of vegetables or salad.
  • I served this with a generous few dollops of my herb blitz; wow.
  • This will work well in a baked potato; leftovers especially will rock this way.
  • I also often use left-overs to fill Sushi Nori wraps along with mango chutney or hummus.   

Ginger, garlic, turmeric

red onions sauteeing

Diced beef tongue

Aubergine, tomatoes and courgettes

Directions:

1. Sauté the onions in your choice of cooking fat until starting to go translucent.
2. Add the garlic, turmeric, and ginger and cook for a further few minutes.
3. Add your spices of choice and brown for a minute or two.
4. Add the chopped tomatoes, aubergine and courgette and toss with the spices and onion mix.
5. Add your beef tongue, water or stock and coconut milk and simmer for approximately 40 minutes or until all the vegetables are tender and you have a nice curry sauce simmering.
6. Season to taste and serve as preferred with vegetables or cooked grains. I added a generous dollop of my herb blitz; freshly torn coriander will also taste divine with this curry.
7. This makes a lot of curry so you may like to freeze some portions for a later busy day.

Enjoy,

Love

Andrea

Vegetables coated in spices

Simmering away

Finished curry