The Halifax Donair

 The history of the donair depends on what source you are reading.  Wikipedia claims that it dates back to the 18th century in Eastern Turkey, while other sources state that the donar kebab was made in a Turkish Kebab house in Berlin in the 1950's.  I do not claim to be an expert of the history, but I find it interesting as to how it evolved, and how donair can take on many different forms and is seen in different cultures.  The Greeks have the gyro which has a yogurt based sauce (tatziki) and then there is the Arab Shawarma, a similar concept of meat roasted on a vertical spit, served on flatbread.

Fast forward to Eastern Canada, where the Greek gyro was introduced in the 1960's in Bedford, Nova Scotia.  It was the traditional lamb / yogurt-based sauce, which did not become popular until some changes were made to the recipe.  Lamb was changed to beef, and the yogurt / tatziki was changed to a sweet sauce.  It was the beginning of a beautiful and delicious creation, and depending on what or who you believe, it was debuted at the King of Donairs, in Halifax in the 1970's.   (I believe this, but I am a biased and proud Haligonian!)

King of Donairs.  The name says it all.  Sweet sauce, savoury meat roasted on a spit, fresh pita, tomatoes, onions, all wrapped up, and ready to devour.  When I moved out west in the early 1990's, it was hard to find this type of donair (which is now more vastly popular), so I learned to make them (or tried to make them).  Then, last summer, camping with my in laws and cousin-in-laws, they had made the traditional Halifax Donair for supper one night, sweet sauce and all.  O. M. G. Amazing.  Tasted like home at 2 am on a Saturday night.  

Tonight, I took on making them for dinner, and what a hit, AND super easy...AND....yes!  Leftovers in the freezer for another meal. 

Ground Beef "Loaves" as I have no vertical spit.  Looks....
unappetizing...but wait...there are more pics....

Slice it up once cool, and pan-sear a bit to crisp it up

Serve with raw veggies on the side...cucumbers, lettuce,
tomatoes , red onions and jalapenos are amazing!

Voila!  And yes, this is actually my picture from my plate.
A masterpiece to be savoured and enjoyed (twice)

For tonight's dinner, I googled "Recipe Halifax Donair" and found a lot of ways to make the meat and the sauce.  I settled on a couple different ones, and of course just modified it based on what I had in the kitchen. 

Donair Meat

2 packages of ground beef (I think they are ~ 2 - 3 lb each).  I did a lot so we could have leftovers

4 - 6 cloves of chopped garlic

6 teaspoons of flour

A few dashes of a Greek spice mix that I have

Salt and Pepper.

Mix all of the meat up, and as you are mixing it in a nice big steel bowl, pick it all up, and throw it into the bowl with lotsa force (yep....that's what I said).  Throw it about 20 - 30 times.  This gives the meat a consistency similar to the meat on the vertical spit.  I made 6 " loaves" and baked them on a cookie tray lined with parchment paper for about an hour and a bit on 375 convection.  

Sweet Donair Sauce

 2/3 cup evaporated milk (NOT the non-fat one)

2/3 cup sugar

1 - 2 cloves minced garlic

1/4 cup of vinegar.

Mix all together except the vinegar.  Once the sugar is dissolved, you can add the vinegar.  The trick with this is....the faster you add the vinegar and the less you mix it up, the thicker the sauce will be.  Trust me.  It works.  

End Result today?  Delicious, kid and adult approved (i.e., was yummy with leftovers for another day).  

Done like dinner....or should I say....donair!

 http://donair.org/content/king-donair-quinpool

http://greek.food.com/recipe/dash-riprocks-real-halifax-donair-90387

http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=263043

Caribbean Cookin'!

My mom sent this Youtube video from the show "Diner's, Drive-ins and Dives". The featured restaurant is "Pam's Kitchen" in Seattle (the food pic is from her website). It truly captures the type of Indian food I grew up with (which is not really Indian at all, but more Caribbean / Trinidadian!). I just had to pass this on, as even listening to the woman who owns the restaurant reminded me of my family, how they cook, how they talk, and I wanted to share a bit of my own heritage and culture. I can cook some of these traditional Caribbean dishes, but the food is never quite as good as when my gramma, my mom or when my aunties and uncles make it. If you live in Calgary, you can get this food at Joycee's Caribbean Foods in Bridgeland! My kids and my husband LOVE it! Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPWT87zxZEg&sns=em

Good Friday Meal

Got this recipe from my mother-in-law, and it is a traditional dish that she makes for Good Friday. In one of my previous posts ("Weight a Minute!") I talked about how I have been trying to avoid white carbs...ironically, this dish that I made on Good Friday was ALL white, and ALL carbs...but man was it delicious. Everything in moderation, and this dish is a great one for Good Friday. It is called Gnabe. They are little button-sized dumplings that you boil first, and then pan fry them with butter and cooked potatoes. You can serve it with either scrambled egg mixed in, or fry up some sauerkraut with it. Yum!

Gnabe

1 cup of flour

1 egg

pinch of salt

1 medium diced potato

*Note that for our family of 4 (2 kids, 2 adults) I tripled the recipe and we hardly had any left! Guess we were in carb-loading mood!

In a medium bowl combine flour, egg and salt. Add some water to slowly and knead into a hard dough. Break off into button-sized pieces. Boil for 5 minutes and set aside. Boil potato separately and sent aside. When ready to serve, fry up half of the boiled gnabe with butter, half of the potato and some egg (I used 3 eggs and cracked them right into the frying pan with the gnabe). Fry the other half of the gnabe with the rest of the potato with some sauerkraut. Serve with Cheese Whiz (I know, really???) or plain yogurt or sour cream. Then, work your ass off the next day for your workout. High carbs, but totally worth it.