Which one???

    



People are outraged/horrified/disgusted or even all three when we tell them we like to eat kangaroo steaks. Well really.... what's the difference between the lamb/beef/pork/fish we all eat and kangaroo? They all taste good, they can all be farmed and they are all animal meats. Well I have to tell you that for Australia the difference is actually enormous and here's why:

• kangaroos - for reasons unclear to me - produce very little methane gas. Something to do with a bacteria in the gut I think. They therefore have very little impact on the ozone layer! How 'green' is that?!
• kangaroos are native to Australia and do not have cloven hooves like the imported animals - again creating less impact on our environment 
• kangaroo meat is very lean - always a bonus from my point of view!  ;-)

Having said all that I was still a little dubious when H'o'M announced he wanted to swap all red meat for  kangaroo meat exclusively. I was sure this would create some issues with some of my recipes. I knew there would be no real issues with the quick cook dishes like stir fry but I wasn't too confident how it would stand up to the slow cooking. As it is such a lean meat I thought it might go all stringy and tough if left to simmer away for hours on end. The only way to answer this vexing question was to give it a go ...

so

...

I cooked 'cinnamon beef balti' a slow cooked Indian curry (recipe kindly donated by my little sis) which I have made many times.  I guess in this instance it should actually be called 'cinnamon kangaroo balti' right?

I'll let you know straight away that this dish was a success in that the kangaroo cooked beautifully in the sauce and tasted just fine!

This recipe calls for lots of spices, in particular garlic - 10 cloves in all - along with cinnamon, coriander, turmeric, paprika, ginger, chilli flakes, cloves and cumin! With a gravy base of whole chillies, red wine vinegar, tomatoes and water, the curry is simmered for 1-2 hours. Then to serve I sprinkled a stir fry of chopped tomatoes, red onion and fresh coriander over the curry and added some Naan bread to each bowl!


It tasted great and although I didn't take a photo - I have to get better at remembering I know - I think H'o'M might have something with this kangaroo idea!