Savoury Minced Beef + Spinach Crepes
A couple of years ago, before I moved back to my hometown, I used to buy my crepes from a great West Indian chef - who's name really was Elvis and was trained in England. Elvis had a booth at the local Farmers Market and made an incredibly taste crepe stuffed with chicken and a thick cream of mushroom sauce. He'd also sell his crepes individually, so every Saturday morning, I'd go visit him and buy a small stack of his savoury crepes. Depending on what other purchases I made that day at the market, I'd try to make different fillings and test them out on myself and my upstairs friends/neighbours, the Leslies. The filling that I personally liked best was a savoury minced beef curry variation of a dish my mother made often. It worked wonderfully with the Elvis' savoury crepes.
Ingredients and Preparation
Now I'm cheating in this post by building on a recipe for a spicy minced beef curry posted over in my HotHead/ ChiliMonster post. For the crepe stuffing, however, follow my other recipe but remove any hot ingredients that you don't want. Keep some of the curry powder and/or cumin, but feel free to reduce the quantity. Add 1 cup of fresh spinach leaves in the last 5 minutes of cooking time. Add a1/4 cup of water and let simmer on medium high. At the very end of the cooking time, add 1 level tbsp of corn starch diluted in 1/4 cup of water. Gently blend the starch solution into the curry. You want the dish not to be runny if you plan to stuff crepes with it. So simmer for another minute or two on medium or lower heat, until the liquid thickens. Remove from heat and fill crepes to serve immediately.
Here's a basic crepe recipe. For a bit more savoury flavour, add finely chopped chives and a sprinkle of fresh ground black pepper. For something like the minced beef stuffing, thicker crepes work better, but thin crispy ones are okay, too. What I found, however, was eating cold, thick crepes with the warm minced beef stuffing add yet another dimension of texture.
(c) Copyright 2005-present, Raj Kumar Dash, http://curryelviscooks.blogspot.com
Ingredients and Preparation
Now I'm cheating in this post by building on a recipe for a spicy minced beef curry posted over in my HotHead/ ChiliMonster post. For the crepe stuffing, however, follow my other recipe but remove any hot ingredients that you don't want. Keep some of the curry powder and/or cumin, but feel free to reduce the quantity. Add 1 cup of fresh spinach leaves in the last 5 minutes of cooking time. Add a1/4 cup of water and let simmer on medium high. At the very end of the cooking time, add 1 level tbsp of corn starch diluted in 1/4 cup of water. Gently blend the starch solution into the curry. You want the dish not to be runny if you plan to stuff crepes with it. So simmer for another minute or two on medium or lower heat, until the liquid thickens. Remove from heat and fill crepes to serve immediately.
Here's a basic crepe recipe. For a bit more savoury flavour, add finely chopped chives and a sprinkle of fresh ground black pepper. For something like the minced beef stuffing, thicker crepes work better, but thin crispy ones are okay, too. What I found, however, was eating cold, thick crepes with the warm minced beef stuffing add yet another dimension of texture.
(c) Copyright 2005-present, Raj Kumar Dash, http://curryelviscooks.blogspot.com
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