Biltong Bowl  #2

 Mixed Grains with Biltong, Avocado, Oyster Mushrooms and Toasted Almond Flakes, Finished with a Sweet Truffle Yogurt Dressing and Smoked Sea Salt

About the Challenge

Growing up, winter has always been hunting season in our house. By July we would have inordinate amounts of biltong, droëwors and fresh game, filling refrigerators and freezers to the brim. This year, as the season draws to a close, and our stock-pile dwindles, we decided to conclude the season with a ‘biltong-off‘.

A variety of biltong entrees, snacks, salads and even biltong sushi can be found at local restaurants and eateries, but we have never seen a biltong bowl. Not even Google could help us out here. Based on this find- or lack thereof- we thought we’d help out . To kick off, our biltong-off,  we’re going to build 3 individual biltong bowls, based on our favourite biltong combinations.

PS. If you have no idea what we’re talking about, Wiki says

• Biltong is a form of dried, cured meat that originated in South Africa. Various types of meat are used to produce it, ranging from beef and game meats to fillets of ostrich from commercial farms. It is typically made from raw fillets of meat cut into strips following the grain of the muscle, or flat pieces sliced across the grain. It is similar to beef jerky in that they are both spiced, dried meats, however the typical ingredients, taste and production processes differ.
• The word biltong is from the Dutch bil (“rump”) and tong (“strip” or “tongue”)

• Droëwors (/ˈdruːəvɔːrs/; Afrikaans literally “dry sausage”) is a Southern African snack food, based on the traditional, coriander-seed spiced boerewors. It is usually made from dun wors (Afr. “thin sausage”) rather than dik wors (“thick sausage”), as the thinner sausage dries more quickly and is thus less likely to spoil before it can be preserved. If dik wors is to be used, it is usually flattened to provide a larger surface area for drying.

Biltong Bowl #2

Serves 2

Preparation time: 45 minutes

Avocados are in stores all over, and they are most certainly playing the supportive role in the challenge. Biltong Bowl #2 is packed with biltong, avocado, oyster mushrooms and toasted almonds, all dressed in a sweet truffle yogurt and smoked sea salt.

Biltong bowl #2 | Mixed Grains

Biltong bowl #2 | Oyster mushrooms

Biltong bowl #2 | Almond slivers

Biltong bowl #2 | Avocado

Biltong bowl #2 | Main ingredients

Biltong bowl #2 | honey, yogurt and truffle flavoured olive oil

Ingredients

• 1 cup cooked mixed grains  (I used a 7 grain mix of brown & wild rice, bulgur wheat, spelt, barley, brown lentils and white quinoa)
• 1 cup sliced moist biltong
• 1 punnet oyster mushrooms
• 1 avocado
• 200 ml thick plain yogurt
• ¼ cup honey
• ¼ cup truffle flavoured oil (my favourite brand truffle flavoured oil is Pietro Coricelli, it’s super truffley and reasonably priced. Once you’ve paired mushrooms with truffle, you’ll never be the same again)
• ¼ cup Almond flakes
• Smoked sea salt
• Olive oil
• Sesame oil
• Flat leaf parsley to garnish
• Lemon/ lemon juice to coat the avocado with

Method

Cooking The Grains

• If you are using uncooked grains, follow the instructions on the packaging.
• Typically, ½ of grains, and 2 cups of water with a dash of salt.
• Cook for 15 minutes, or until tender.

Cooking The Mushrooms

• Cut mushrooms into 1 cm slices.
• Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a large pan and add a drop of sesame oil.
• Sparsely arrange a portion of the mushrooms in the pan.
• Do not stir or flip the mushrooms over until they are browned on the bottom.
• Once the mushrooms have begun to change colour, flip them over.
• Once cooked, spoon mushrooms into a separate bowl, and brown the next batch of mushrooms.
• Add olive oil and sesame oil as needed.
• Repeat the process until all the mushrooms are cooked.

Biltong bowl #2 | Oyster mushrooms

Biltong bowl #2 | oyster mushrooms

Biltong bowl #2 | 1cm slices oyster mushroom

Biltong bowl #2 | frying oyster mushrooms

Preparing The Almonds

• Heat a dry, clean pan on medium heat, and add the raw almond flakes.
• Constantly move the flakes around in the dry pan to distribute the heat evenly.
• Once you can smell the flakes and they begin to change colour, you need to pay close attention. These thin slivers burn in seconds!
• Turn off the heat and continue to swirl the almonds around in the pan, until you are satisfied with the colour.
• Transfer into another container (I have burned almond slivers a number of times, after removing them from the stovetop, as the residual heat from the hot pan kept toasting the almonds)

Sweet Truffle Yogurt Dressing

• Mix the thick yogurt with the olive oil and honey.
• Stir until the ingredients are well integrated.
• Top with a sprinkle of smoked sea salt.

Avocado

• Peel and slice avocado into the shape of your preference- I like bite sized cubes.
• Coat with lemon juice to avoid browning.

Composing Your Dish

• Start by dishing your grains.
• Arrange your mushrooms on the plate, followed by the biltong slices.
• Next up, the avocado.
• Sprinkle with almonds, flat leaf parsley and smoked sea salt .
• Serve dressing on the side.