An introduction to Guptas – nostalgia on a sword

To quote Alanis Morissette, “isn’t it ironic”, that I write so much about doing the right thing, and good corporate governance, and then name a dish we were first introduced to in Turkeia, as Guptas?

The reason why, is because the husband likes to replace words with similar sounding, often used words, regardless of their meaning. So, Koftas became Guptas. Because we talk so much about corruption…..

By the way, I have discovered the reason why one must knead bread, specifically sour dough bread, twice. Some would say I can call this experiment “rock bread”, Being a lifestyle optimist, I prefer to say that I have discovered the perfect way to make melba toast. This post represents a test to “the husband”, to see how long it takes him to read my posts. Because I am sure I am going to get a picture from him enjoying his “lightly toasted lunch” before even reaching the office. And once he reads this post, I will get some commentary about the standard of today’s fare.

Anyway, I promised the recipe for the Guptas:

Mince	Maybe about 500g, which should make about 10-12 Guptas
Onions	Grate the onions, or even better, use caramelized onions. Did you know you can make caramelized onions in the slow cooker? And you do not need to use sugar! (Thanks for that inspiration Neil)
Slice of bread	To bulk the mince a bit, I like to soak a slice of bread in milk. In this specific case, we did not have any, so I used about half a cup of Jungle oats, which also acts as binding agent.
Binding agent (egg or Jungle Oats)	Use an egg, maybe two for firmer kebabs. Or, if you soak half a cup of Jungle oats in warm milk, stirring well to create that glue texture, that worked very well. That is something we often must do at the farm, replace a missing ingredient. Did you know, you can use mushed butter beans instead of butter? Great keto recipes to be had there!
Sunflower seeds	Yes, you read right. Sunflower seeds give a really good texture to the kebabs. Maybe about half a cup or so. There is the story where our travelling troupe of 3 ended in an anonymous village in Turkeia. We had settled into our family room “pansione” and heard loud music. We traced the music to the square, where a traditional wedding was taking place. We were invited to join the peasant “tannies” on their chairs, shelling and snacking on sunflower seeds. I can’t remember, Anthony, did you take the bride for a spin on the dancefloor?
Baking powder	No more than a tablespoon. It makes the gupta’s a little lighter.
Spices	Here I use what comes to hand first. Usually Paprika (including smoked Paprika – gives a nice tang) Curry Salt (depending whether you also add Soya), Worcester sauce etc. Any of the “black sauces“ that are usually left in the door of the fridge.
Secret ingredient	Fish sauce. I know, smells terrible, but the Umami that brings, is incredible. I previously described Umami as the “Aromat” of flavours. It is defined as one of the basic 5 flavours, and it is the one that brings everything together quite nicely. It has also been described as the flavour that develops with leftover lasagne, or braaivleis that you find in the fridge the next day.

Mix all of these ingredients really well, targeting even distribution of the myriad of flavours and textures, and form rugby ball type shapes on pre-soaked wooden sticks, or if you happen to have those dramatic Turkish swords, nice! Layer them on oiled tin foil. The reason will be apparent shortly.

Make these earlier in the day, so that they can settle in the fridge. But if you are pressed for time, leave them in the deepfreeze while the fire is being prepared.

Now you can braai them on the normal grid, which is ideal. But if the mince did not “settle in”, you may find they fall apart in the process. That is why I use tinfoil. I transfer (or more correctly, I have The Husband transfer) the batch on its tin foil to the grid. Once the tin foil side is nicely done, flip over the grid to the open side, to develop that “braai” flavour. You may choose to remove the tinfoil now, and “smoke” both sides.

The base case side dish was a butternut-based recipe.

Cube the butternut. Small pieces work well, because they provide flavour bursts in the salad.

Roast in the oven with olive oil, spices (salt & pepper, a dash of cayenne pepper). No, caramelize in the oven is a better description.

Toss together with prepared Cous-Cous (another staple base case ingredient).

Add something sweet (Dried cranberries – an excellent super food, or chopped dates).

Add a zing. Always, a zing for the base case salad. I have not tried fresh or pickled ginger in this version, but there is no reason it cannot work. Here, I added mint from the garden.

Likely, you do not even need a salad dressing for this one.

This was going to be another test, to see if I could write and load a post within half an hour. But I am having too much fun, and I do need to run a spell check, and my lift to the office is about to leave, so I guess this blog wont make it to live status today.

Oh well, hope you get it in time to plan your weekend menu!

PS – serve with “uch effes” – Try ordering that in Turkeia, and see what you get….