Halal Cuban Sandwich

Not every day is your day. Not every day is my day but me and you both can try our best to make it our day.

Right before I started this blog (all thanks to Syed Shumail's suggestion) I watched a movie that really inspired me to make everything I cook more presentable. That movie was Chef and it had two recipes that caught my eye. Pasta Aglio e Olio which I have made previously and the Cuban Sandwich which I could not make due to pork meat and Cuban bread.

Many times people (most recently Myla Babar did) have asked me to try and make it's halal version but I just did not bother to be honest but the idea of a Halal Cuban Sandwich has been itching me since quite some time now.

So, I sat down one day watched a couple of recipes and thought HEY! I could replace the pork with beef and add chicken or turkey deli slices like Mortadella Slices to assemble a Halal Cuban Sandwich.

Finally planned everything, started using my vivid imagination and formed everything in my head.

Now the Cuban Sandwich has 3 steps.

Marinating the beef.

Cooking the beef.

Assembling the sandwich, which is a task in itself. I thought it was easy but when I was done with it I could not believe that I did it without breaking the whole thing.

The result as follows

But before all of this started, even before I marinated the beef I bought cucumbers, vinegar. Added these both things in a jar with a little bit of salt and sugar to make pickles for the Cuban Sandwich.

Now, let me tell you how to make this beautiful and scrumptious treat.

Ingredients for Beef Marinade:

3  pound boneless beef (shoulder or thigh preferably)

6 large garlic cloves

1 cup fresh orange juice

3/4 cup of fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoon dried oregano (if you have fresh oregano then its even better)

2 teaspoon cumin powder

3-4 tablespoon oil

3 tablespoon red grapes vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

Add the garlic, cumin powder, oregano, oil, salt and pepper in a blender. Blend it till everything is chopped finely.

Mix the orange juice, lemon juice and red grapes vinegar together.

Now put the beef in a container and make slits in it using a knife.

Apply the oily garlic mixture to it properly.

Add the juices.

Close the container and let it marinate overnight in the fridge.

I had the cucumbers pickled on Monday and by today which is Thursday they are all done. I've sliced them to fit into the sandwiches.

Time to cook the beef.

Put the beef in a non stick pan, with all the marinade and the juices. Add a cup of water and cover it.

Turn the heat on low.

Cook it for 3 hours minimum. I cooked it for about 3 hours 15 minutes. Keep a check on it and if you think it needs more liquid then please add another cup or half of water.

Now the beef is cooked, it will be a little dark and charred no need to worry it's not burnt.

Slice it up just like in the pictures below.

Now we come towards sandwich assembly.

Cuban bread is even hard to find in some areas of the US so any long bread would do.

I got Garlic Bread from Jalal Sons and Sub Sandwich Bread from Bread and Beyond.

Ingredients for Sandwich Assembly:

Classic yellow mustard

Butter or margarine

Pickled cucumber

K & N's Chicken Mortadella Slices

Cheese slices

Slice the bread up and apply butter on it.

Heat for a while and add a layer of mustard to the sandwich base.

Now steps wise:

1. Add a layer of the sliced beef.

2. Add a layer of mortadella slices.

3. Add a layer of cheese.

4. Add a layer of pickles

5. Put mustard on the other side of the bread and assemble your sandwich. (see the pictures below)

This does not end here. The Cuban Sandwich has a special sandwich make which we unfortunately do not have here but HEY! we can make that press in the Desi way.

You just need 2 things. A non stick tawa and a non-stick frying pan.

THIS PART IS DIFFICULT AND YOU NEED TO DO THIS VERY POLITELY.

Turn your stove on low heat and place the tawa.

Put the Cuban Sandwich on the tawa and press it with the base of the non stick pan for 30-50 seconds.

Then flip your sandwich very carefully and press the other side with the base of the frying pan again for a 30-50 seconds.

The Halal Cuban Sandwich is ready.

I WAS SO HAPPY I MADE A FREAKING VIDEO IN THIS MOMENT OF FAKE ACCOMPLISHMENT

Just slice the sandwich in half and your Halal Cuban Sandwich is ready to serve.

Ladies and gentlemen, the much awaited and requested Halal Cuban Sandwich.

Kung Pao Spaghetti

I previously made Kung Pao Chicken with fried rice and in the recipe I replaced peanuts with cashews but I only did it because I made it and I can do whatever I want to my recipes because mAh lyF, mAh rUlx.

I heard from someone that somewhere in California, USA there is a restaurant named California Pizza Kitchen which serves Kung Pao Spaghetti. So, I said HEY! let's try that out and I did some research and finally found the perfect HALAL ingredients for this delicious thing.

Ingredients:

450 grams of spaghetti or pasta of your choice

3 chicken breasts cut into strips

1/2 cup dry roasted peanuts

salt and pepper to taste

2 tablespoons of garlic paste (one for the chicken and one for the gravy)

2/3 cup soy sauce

1 cup chicken stock

2 tablespoons of red grapes vinegar

2 tablespoons red chili paste
(if you cannot find it in the market I will tell you how to make it in this recipe)

1/4 cup of brown sugar

2 tablespoons of cornflour

2 spring onions finely chopped

First of all let me teach ya'll how to make red chili paste if you cannot find it in the market.

Just take approximately 50 dried long red chilies, remove there stems and soak them in hot water for 30 minutes.

Drain them and if seeds come out then drain them as well.

Now blend the soaked red chilies with 4 tablespoons of white vinegar and stop when you it becomes a red paste.

Heat 4 tablespoons of oil in a non stick pan and on low heat stir that paste in that oil, sprinkle some salt and a teaspoon of garlic paste. Mix it all together and take off heat.

Store in a jar.

That's it. Okay?

BEWARE! this red chili paste will burn the world down.

Now let's get down .... to business.

Cook the spaghetti or the pasta according to the instructions on the packet. I am using whole wheat linguine. I am not dieting, I exercise and eat what I want.

Put some salt and black pepper on the chicken according to your ungrateful taste-buds. Add some garlic paste as well. Mix it well and keep it aside.

Now, we prepare the gravy.

Put 2 tablespoons of cornflour in a bowl and whisk it with chicken stock. Then add garlic paste, chili paste, soy sauce, red grapes vinegar and brown sugar.

Now we cook.

Add 2-3 tablespoons of oil in a non stick pan and fry the chicken until it's completely cooked.

Add the gravy mixture in the chicken and cook it for 2-4 minutes until your desired thickness is achieved.

Now if the gravy is thick enough as per your liking add the spaghetti or pasta whatever the hell have you decided along the peanuts and spring onions.

Mix it well and your Kung Pao Spaghetti is ready to be served HOT.

Ladies and gentlemen, do whatever you want but you're not gonna get to taste this. 

KUNG PAO SPAGHETTI !!!