[Sca-cooks] mongolian meat cakes

[hlaislinn at earthlink.net]

This dish was served at a winter event in my kingdom a few years ago. I cannot make
any claims for its periodicity because all I have is a copy of what was used in 
the kitchen to make the dish. A Google search of "mongolian meat cakes"
brought up nothing, so it must be from a book. I do remember it was good and well-received.

MONGOLIAN MEAT CAKES

Mongolian meat cakes from the Yuan Dynasty 1274-1256 C.E. or earlier are rough-and-ready
affairs with no pretensions to haute cuisine whatever. Quantities cooked at one 
time were very substantial and meat cakes would be about 1 1/2 inches thick and 
1 foot across. However, a more practical and civilized version of the recipe can
be based on the following quantities.

1# lean lamb
1# lamb's liver and kidneys
1 large onion
1 1/2 # potatoes or yam
2 slices root ginger
4 level T cornflour
2 level teas salt
pepper to taste
3T butter or lard
2T soy sauce
2T vinegar
4T breadcrumbs
4T grated goat or cow's milk cheese (use cheddar or parmesan)
2 level teas sugar
2T sesame seeds
6T sesame oil

Trim and chop the lamb's meat, liver and kidney. Peel and chop the onion and
potato and chop the ginger. Mix these together with the beaten eggs, cornflour, 
salt, pepper, butter/lard, soy sauce, vinegar, cheese and sugar. Mix the ingredients
together thoroughly. Form the mixture into 2- 2 1/2 inch thick meat cakes. Sprinkle
the top of the meat cake with sesame seeds and press well into the cake with the
palm of the hand or the fingers.

Heat some of the sesame oil in  very large flat frying pan and tilt the pan so that
the oil runs evenly over the surface. Place the meat cake gently in the pan. Fry
over medium heat for 6-7 minutes. Spoon the remaining sesame oil evenly over the
meatcake. Place the frying pan under a fairly hot grill for 6-7 minutes. Transfer
the meat cake with the aid of two spatuals to a roasting tin. Set in a preheated
oven (425 deg. F or Gas No. 7) and bake for 30-35 minutes.

To serve, cut the 'cake' into slices, there should be sufficient for 5-6
portions. The blending of cheese, meats, onion, sesame oil and seeds should remind
one of the flavours and aromas of the steppes of Central Asia.
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I left the odd measurements and exact wording in the hopes that someone might recognise
what book this came out of. I believe it is a British recipe, esp. because of the
spelling of 'flavours'. For feast, we used yams and parmesan cheese, and
omited the liver and kidneys, due to limited availability IIRC. Does sesame oil 
come cold pressed vs. roasted? Roasted has a very strong flavor, and the feastcrat
cut what she used with sunflower oil. I would imagine there would be a great difference
in the flavor of roasted vs. unroasted sesame oil.

~Aislinn~