After the success of the last chinese style ostrich fillet I made, I decided to try a similar thing again with a different sauce. Months ago, I remember buying a jar of Tesco Finest plum sauce and not being too impressed. Since plums are in season, I thought it was about time I had a go myself.
It seems that the supermarkets only stock plums that “ripen at home” and most of the packs looked like they’d be spending a good four or five days doing that. Grrr! I had to hunt around for a pack which looked dark enough for my sauce and even then I was a bit worried they’s be a bit tangy. They were fine in the end, although I think a bit of extra sugar in the sauce may have helped.
I used the same trick as before to cook the ostrich, cutting it into inch thick slices and searing on a high heat for about 45s on each side, then stirring it into the hot sauce at the end. I made the sauce by simmering the chopped plums with sugar in just enough water to cover them until they disintegrate into mush. Then I added crushed ginger, freshly ground cinnamon, light soy, dry sherry and a touch of honey at the end. When all the liquid had simmered away, I strained the sauce and thickened it with a bit of corn starch before adding the ostrich.
At the same time, I had another go at making crispy seaweed by deep frying fresh greens. This was successful apart from the moment when the oil bubbled over the entire hob. I was actually quite scared I was going to set the flat on fire! A word of warning to all of you -USE A DEEP PAN TO MAKE CRISPY SEAWEED. The water from the cabbage reacts violently with the hot oil and it bubbles everywhere!
Once I’d saved the hob from a fiery end, I had my ostrich and plum sauce with egg fried rice and the crispy seaweed of doom.
Yes, that is far too much egg fried rice. My arteries will be totally clogged up by the time I’m thirty but at least I’ll be able to say I had some damn good dinners. 
Here is the crispy seaweed recipe, the egg fried rice recipe and the ostrich with plum and ginger sauce recipe.
After the success of the last chinese style ostrich fillet I made, I decided to try a similar thing again with a different sauce. Months ago, I remember buying a jar of Tesco Finest plum sauce and not being too impressed. Since plums are in season, I thought it was about time I had a go myself.
It seems that the supermarkets only stock plums that “ripen at home” and most of the packs looked like they’d be spending a good four or five days doing that. Grrr! I had to hunt around for a pack which looked dark enough for my sauce and even then I was a bit worried they’s be a bit tangy. They were fine in the end, although I think a bit of extra sugar in the sauce may have helped.
I used the same trick as before to cook the ostrich, cutting it into inch thick slices and searing on a high heat for about 45s on each side, then stirring it into the hot sauce at the end. I made the sauce by simmering the chopped plums with sugar in just enough water to cover them until they disintegrate into mush. Then I added crushed ginger, freshly ground cinnamon, light soy, dry sherry and a touch of honey at the end. When all the liquid had simmered away, I strained the sauce and thickened it with a bit of corn starch before adding the ostrich.
At the same time, I had another go at making crispy seaweed by deep frying fresh greens. This was successful apart from the moment when the oil bubbled over the entire hob. I was actually quite scared I was going to set the flat on fire! A word of warning to all of you -USE A DEEP PAN TO MAKE CRISPY SEAWEED. The water from the cabbage reacts violently with the hot oil and it bubbles everywhere!
Once I’d saved the hob from a fiery end, I had my ostrich and plum sauce with egg fried rice and the crispy seaweed of doom.
Yes, that is far too much egg fried rice. My arteries will be totally clogged up by the time I’m thirty but at least I’ll be able to say I had some damn good dinners.
Here is the crispy seaweed recipe, the egg fried rice recipe and the ostrich with plum and ginger sauce recipe.
You cook some of the most exotic stuff! =) I’ve had ostrich, but I’ve never cooked it… what does it cook like? That looks soooo yummy btw!! I’ve always been too chicken to try to make crispy seaweed!
Comment by Lea — October 12, 2006 @ 2:16 am
As with all meats, it depends on the cut really. The stuff I buy is usually the prime fillet because it is so unbelievably tender. If you treat it just like beef fillet steak it works very well. It tends to be sold in very thick slabs so you would need to take that into account. Also, since the meat is so dark (almost purple in colour) it is easy to think it is undercooked when it isn’t really.
I find searing thin slices of it is the best way of cooking ostrich fillet. The meat just melts in your mouth then!
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The rump steak, which I tried once, had a tendency to dry out easily so I’d give that a good soak in oil before frying it.
I’ve probably put you off trying to make seaweed for life now! It isn’t really at all hard, unless you are really dumb like me and use a tiny pan for deep frying!
Comment by ros — October 12, 2006 @ 3:12 pm