New Zealand Venison

Tea smoked venison

Serves: 4     Preparation: 3-4 hours     Time to cook: 20 minutes    

Ingredients

Coconut and tea smoked cervena

500 grams of cervena loin or fillet
small handful of black tea leaves or jasmine tea
1 cup shredded coconut
2 handfuls of wood shavings

Marinade

Rice cakes

1/2 cup cooked jasmine rice
kaffir lime leaves
green ginger root
1 cup of water
1 teaspoon salt

Mango salad

1 green mango peeled and cheeks removed from stone and sliced into matchsticks
½ small red onion sliced very thin
1 tsp of thinly sliced julienne of green ginger
juice and zest of 1 lime
handful of fresh coriander leaves
few drops of sesame oil

Marinade

Place the meat in the marinade for 3-4 hours. Remove and allow to dry for 1 hour, then place in smoker with the tea leaves, coconut and wood shavings. Allow to stand in the smoke for as long as there is smoke. Remove and sear the outside to a nice brown colour, then cool thoroughly and slice as required.

Rice cakes

Place ½ a cup of cooked jasmine rice with kaffir lime leaves and green ginger root in 1 cup of water with a teaspoon of salt. Allow to cool after sprinkling on some rice vinegar. Spread into a tray about 1 cm deep and cool completely. Cut into squares about 3x3 cm and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.

Mango salad

Combine all ingredients and chill for an hour.

To serve

Place the salad on top with some sliced cervena and garnish with freshly chopped coriander. As an option, sprinkle on refried cooked yellow split peas or beans. Serve with a light shoyu sauce on the side.