Written by Barbora Hanzlovska
Pork strips and vegetables with potato pancakes is a traditional Czech dish. It is known as Katuv sleh, literally translated as executioner’s whip. The dish is sometimes called Certovo tajemstvi (Devil’s Secret) or Pekelne nudlicky (Hellish meat noodles). These names are suitable for the dish because it has a spicy meat sauce. Preparation of the dish is fast, easy, and inexpensive. It is available in some traditional Czech pubs or restaurants or wine cellars, which are not necessarily fancy. Let’s see how to prepare it.
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Pork strips
1 lb pork meat noodles
1 red onion
1 red paprika
1 pickle
chili pepper
hot pepper
1/2 lb leco sauce (leco = sauce made of paprika, tomatoes, onions)
2 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
4 Tbs ketchup
salt to taste
ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic
2 Tbs oil
Potato pancakes
2 large potatoes
3 cloves garlic
2 eggs
1 Tbs of marjoram
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
1 Tbs of Wondra instant flour
leek (optional)
Katuv sleh
Cut the meat to form noodles, add salt, ground black pepper, pour the Worcestershire sauce over, and add oil. To make the meat spicy, add fresh chili pepper (fresh chili can be replaced with dried chili pepper). The spiced meat is prepared.
The second step is to prepare the vegetables. Peel off the onion and chop it to small pieces. Remove the core from paprika and cut it into strips. Chop hot pepper in tiny bits. Lastly, chop a pickle into cubes and put the pickle in the leco sauce.
When all the ingredients are prepared, it is time to take out the frying pan. Put oil or fat in and let it heat up. Add the meat mixture and let it fry over high heat for about 5 minutes. After the 5 minutes time, decrease the heat a little and add onion, hot pepper, sliced garlic, and paprika to the pan. Let the mixture cook for another 5 minutes.
Make sure you stir the mixture for a while.
Lastly pour the liquid ingredients, leco sauce, and ketchup and let it cook for a few more minutes. Add salt and ground black pepper according to your taste. Katuv sleh is done.
Potato pancakes
To make the potato pancakes, wash all the potatoes, peel the skin off, and grate them finely. Add roughly chopped leek (optional), grated garlic, marjoram, salt and ground black pepper. Mix the dough and finally add the flour and eggs. Stir the mixture until it has a smooth texture. Put oil or fat on the frying pan and let it heat up. Pour a part of the dough on the pan and spread it over the surface. When one side is ready, turn the potato pancake around and let it fry from the other side.
Take friend potato patties out and serve them with Katuv sleh.
Katuv sleh can be served with other side dishes, like rice or French fries.
Tip: Put a paper napkin on a plate and let the napkin soak in most of the additional fat or oil from the potato pancake. Once the oil is soaked, you can put the pancake on a different, non-greasy plate and serve it.
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