Central African Republic

Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked country surrounded by 5 different countries. It is considered one of the poorest country in the world and it tops the ten of the poorest country in Africa. Much of the country consists of flat, or rolling plateaus with 8% of it covered by forest.
CAR is slightly smaller than Texas. The climate is tropical with hot, dry winters and mild to hot, wet summers. There seems to be not so much information about this country. Even when I did a search on Wiki, there was not that much history about the country. In terms of cuisine, this country tends to be very traditional and does not have too much influence from the Western world. They use the cassava, plantains and peanuts a lot in their meals. Some of their dishes are very similar to Congolese food. I tried to stray a bit away from it this time and only cooked two dishes made of their commonly used peanut butter stews.

Kanda ti Nyma Recipe (Beef Meatballs with Peanut Butter Stew)



Ingredients
450g minced beef
2 large onions, finely chopped
2 eggs, beaten
1 chilli, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves ,finely chopped
2 tbsp palm oil or groundnut oil
12 okra, sliced into rings
100ml peanut butter
200ml warm water
Preparation:

Mix the beef, half an onion, chilli, garlic and eggs together, Shape into small balls and place in the fridge to set.

Fry the remaining onion in the oil until browned then add the okra and fry for a few minutes. Mix the peanut butter and water together and blend to a smooth paste. Pour into the pan, bring to a simmer and add the meatballs. Continue cooking for abut 25 minutes until the meatballs are cooked through and the okra is tender. Serve with rice.

Honestly, this dish was delicious. Besides the weird peanut buttery sweet with the savory taste, the meat balls were divine. It was my first time ever making meat balls from scratch and now I am encouraged to make it more in other forms of dishes. I can not wait. The peanut sauce was pretty good except that I did not follow the complete directions from the recipe. I added only a small amounts of the peanut butter sauce as I did not want it to be too sweet. I suggest doing that from experience. The cassava with peanut butter from the Congo recipe was way too sweet that I did not enjoy the dish. I was very glad I made this dish and it was delicious.

Spinach Stew (recipe byEsther Westerveld westher)



Ingredients:
2 small onions, finely chopped
2 tablespoons oil
2 tomatoes, peeled, and sliced
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 pounds fresh spinach, chopped,
OR
2 small packages frozen spinach
1 teaspoon salt
2 chili peppers,
OR
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 tablespoons peanut butter

Preparation:
In a heavy skillet or stew pot, saute onions in moderately hot oil until golden. Stir in tomatoes and green pepper. After a minute or so, add spinach, salt and hot pepper. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 5 minutes. Thin peanut butter with several tablespoons of warm water to make a smooth paste. Add to the pot. Continue cooking for another 10 - 15 minutes, stirring frequently, and keeping a close watch to prevent burning. Add small amounts of water as necessary so that the stew doesn't stick to the pot bottom. Serve with rice or a stiff porridge.

The spinach stew was decent. Greg enjoyed it thoroughly. I thought it kinda of had a hint of the cassava peanut butter dish from the Congo. It was not as harsh with the peanut sauce because I did cut my use of it, but it still had that vibe. I can live without the dish. BTW, I went to Safeway to get my ingredients and it was freakin' expensive. I am now trying to stay away from that supermarket for now on. They are a rip off.

As much as I did not want to cook African food this week, I was satisfied with it. I think partly because I have not eaten African food for awhile. Let's see how long this will last. I let Greg pick the next one as he commonly rubs it in that he never picks countries in Africa! Well, guess what he picked this time?



South Africa....Well, at least he had good timing because it is where the World Cup is being held. I guess we'll celebrate to that.

Bosnia and Herzegovina: from actual experience!

Bosnia and Herzegovina is situated between Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro; it is almost a landlocked country. There is one little area in between Croatia, where Bosnia jets out into the Adriatic that splits Croatia into two. In the 1990's and before, Bosnia used to be part of Yugoslavia. I remember hearing about the horrific wars that occurred there. Remember the Olympics in Sarajevo? When looking at their cuisine, it does not seem to have too much seafood although it is right next to Croatia where seafood is plentiful. Having an almost landlocked country, a lot of the food consists of meat, bread and vegetables. Their food is very Middle Eastern mixed with Turkish and Mediterranean influences. They seem to have lots of spices, but they are not overwhelming.

The funny thing was that I had cooked Bosnian food six months ago with some friends, Kevin and Laura, and honestly I loved the food. I never wrote about it as you all know I took a hiatus from this food blog. To my surprise, last month I went to Neum and Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I was able to experience the foods I cooked and the foods cooked from that nation. It was my first official connection from when I started this blog! Of course my food was not as great as the ones I tasted when I was there, but I mimicked it quite well. I must say so myself.
Bosnia started to be an area that seemed to be thriving especially with tourism. It was quite awesome to see the remnants of the old Bosnia with buildings covered with bullet markings, and the contrast just across the river that demarcated the separate religions. There was a huge religious war that caused so many deaths and damage to such an amazing city. Religion... That is another story that which I will not bother you with....

Burek (Recipe by Assalam Mualaikum)
(http://muslimvillage.com/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t4588.html)



Ingredients for pastry:
500g of Plain flour
25g of butter
Salt
Warm water

Ingredients for filling:
500g of minced Veal
250g of minced beef
4 onions, 25g of butter
2 egg yolks, Salt and Pepper

Preparation:
Mix flour, melted butter, salt and warm water to prepare the pastry. Cut the pastry in four equal pieces. To prepare the filling mix the meet, melted butter, chopped onions, egg yolks, salt and pepper. Roll the pastry out on the table until very thin and leave for few minutes to dry.
Cover the pastry thinly with melted butter. Put the filling at the edge of one side of the pastry and roll it up to create sausage roll like pastry. Take the round dish and create the spiral with the pastry starting from the middle of the dish. Before completely baked pour either the double cream or butter melted in warm water.

I was completely running late when making this dish as an appetizer that Greg had to help me make the dough. Don't add too much water, but slowly add it to the flour until it becomes a nice consistent dough. In Bosnia, they actually used filo dough which you can buy at any supermarket which will make this so much easier. Just remember that when you use filo dough it will be thinner and so you might want to stack several together. The meat is a little juicy and so it can cause the dough to get too soggy. In the end, my friends, Greg and I loved this dish. I even made this dish a couple weeks later because it was that good. This dish was very much like a Stromboli without the pasta sauce, but filled with yummy meat. I'll be making this dish for my kids and my grand children. In Bosnia and Croatia, I seriously at this every day for breakfast. It is that good!

Musaka(Recipe by Assalam Mualaikum)
(http://muslimvillage.com/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t4588.html)



Ingredients
1 kg potatoes
400 gr ground beef meat
1 large onion chopped
4 eggs
3 dl milk
salt
pepper
Oil

Preparation
Heat oil in a pan. Add onion and cook untill it gets golden brown. Add meat, salt and a lot of pepper. Fry it until meat gets brown. Remove the pan from the heat.

Cut potatoes in slices similar as for chips but not that thin (about 2-3 mm). Put 2 teaspoons of salt in potatoes and mix it well. In casserole put oil, than potatoes until it covers the bottom. Put meat to cover potatoes and than potatoes again. Mix 4 eggs in a bowl, add milk, mix well and than pour over potatoes and meat and put in owen for about 40 minutes or until potato on the top gets brown.

This dish was very much like a meat lasagna sandwiched with potatoes. My potatoes were not cooked completely so it was a bit hard. The seasoning from the recipe really needed more salt. I can see it tasting very delicious as I am a meatatarian, but somehow this dish was not impressive the night I made it. I was almost thinking of having mash potatoes on top and bottom and the meat in the middle... kind of like a Shepard's Pie. Overall, I want to make this again some day and just cook the potatoes more and add more flavor to the potatoes.

Japrak (Recipe by Assalam Mualaikum)
(http://muslimvillage.com/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t4588.html)



Ingredients:
½ kg of mutton
½ kg of veal
100g of rice
50g of onion
1 egg
2 cloves of garlic
100g of butter or cooking oil
250ml of double cream, Pepper
salt
paprika
fine chopped parsley
100 grapevine leaves
Beef stock

Preparation:
Boil the grapevine leaves for 20 minutes in salty water. Drain the leaves and leave to cool. Melt the butter in the frying pan and then fry garlic and parsley and add it to the meat, rice, egg, pepper, paprika and salt. Mix it thoroughly and gradually add 100ml of cold water. Fill the grapevine leaves with the mixture creating small cylindrical parcels. Fill the dish tightly with the parcels and than add beef stock until all the parcels are covered with it. Cook slowly for few hours. Serve with it's own stock and double cream.

This dish can also be called Dolma in Mediterranean food. It has meat this is wrapped with a grape leaf that is edible. It was tons of work to make this, but in the end it was all worth it. I did not use mutton or veal, but I used ground beef instead. It was hard to find ground mutton and veal anywhere. The other thing I would substitute in the future is the beef stock. Use chicken stock! The beef stock was way over powering where it made the dish very heavy. I thought the dish turned out spectacular. When we were in Bosnia, they did stuff the grape leaves with more stuffing which made it even better. Next time, that is what I'll try to do. Great dish, but lots and lots of work wrapping this stuffing.

Baklava (Recipe by Assalam Mualaikum)
(http://muslimvillage.com/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t4588.html)



Ingredients:
1 lb. Phyllo dough. 4 to 5 cups walnuts, chopped coarsely. ½ cup sugar. ¼ tsp. ground cloves. 1 tsp. cinnamon. ¾ lb. sweet butter.

Preparation
1. Combine nuts, cinnamon, cloves, and sugar.
2. Melt butter in a saucepan.
3. Use pastry brush to brush inside of a 14 X 10 ½ inch pan with melted butter.
4. Line bottom of pan with one piece of Phyllo dough. Fold under excess Phyllo.
5. Alternate sides with each piece of Phyllo, brushing the top of each layer with melted butter.
6. Repeat five (5) times, making five layers.
7. On the 6th sheet, sprinkle evenly with nut mixture.
8. Continue until all nut mixture is used and last six (6) buttered sheets of Phyllo form top crust.
9. Use a sharp knife to cut into diamond shapes.
10. Bake at 300° F for about 1 ½ hours or until lightly brown.

The Syrup:

2 ½ cups of water.
3 cups sugar.
3 tsp. lemon juice.
1 tsp. vanilla.

1. Combine syrup ingredients. Boil syrup for about 10 minutes and then allow to cool.
2. Pour cooled syrup over hot pastry.

This dish was tons of work, but man was it worth it. Remember to get Filo dough that is bigger than the pan. I tried making this at home again and it did not work because it was too small and the Baklava just broke apart. The crunchiness of the nuts and dough mixed with the mildly sweet flavor made this a perfect end to the night. The baklava turned out heavenly and I will be sure to make this again!

Bosnia had excellent food in general. I will always remember this as the first place where I have cooked and visited from this blog. As for our next country, we had Laura pick it for us and of course you know where it took me....hence my break from doing this blog for so long.




Central African Republic

I am BACK!

I am finally back after a 6 months vacation from this blog. Part of the reason for this long delay is that I gained so much weight eating all this food every week. I realized that I have to portion control the foods I cook now. Eating the same fatty left over foods for the next week does make it so hard to keep my awesome figure! The other reason is that I just got sick of cooking African cuisine. It tended to be very monotonous. The last meal I did cook was from Bosnia and I had not written anything about it yet. BUT, within the last 6 months I was able to visit Bosnia though, so be prepared to hear what I say. It was such an awesome experience to have cooked the food that I ate in the country that it was from. It really got me excited to continue this journey. After I finish all these dishes from each and every country, no matter where I go, I'll have this special connection to the country already. So hold on to your hats as we continue on my journey around the world!

Madagascar

Madagascar is a large island South East of Africa. It is the 4th largest island next and contains 5 % of the world's plant and animal species. 90% of it's plant population species can only be found in this island. Very cool! Madagascar is actually the largest exporter and producer of vanilla. The majority of the population is Austronesian (South East Asian/ Pacific Islander) and African. Malagasy is the main language spoken on the island, which has an influence from Malaysian and Polynesian dialects. French is the secondary language. The food in Madagascar seems to embody a lot of fresh vegetables and meats. It kind of reminds me a lot of Comoros food.

My search for recipes this time was actually simple. I was lucky enough to have met a friend, Tonny, from Madagascar on my China trip last year. He and his partner are two wonderful guys and so of course I had to ask him for help. Not only did he help me, he wrote this long e-mail detailing the recipes, etc. I must thank him this time for helping me out with these dishes this time. Below are recipes I copied from Tonny's e-mail to me.

Romazava



beef or chicken (I prefer chicken) cut into small pieces (I used about 4 pieces of breast meat chicken)
1-2 chopped onions
crushed garlic with a big chinese knife
1-2 cut tomato
salt
black pepper
brazilian cress, washed and drained

Under high heat, poor some oil into a stew pan (or cauldron), when hot, add onions and garlic, let it melt a little bit (3 to 5 minutes), add tomato, stir another 2 minutes, then add meat, stir until meat get brown, add water to cover well over the meat, and cover the pan. Bring to boil, then turn heat to simmer. Add salt, pepper, and I used to add a little bit of sugar in most of my cooking, to soften the taste. Cook for 1 hour or until desired consistency. Then add the cress. Turn the heat to medium. And after the liquid get to the boiling point again, wait for 3 to 5 more minutes, and that's it. We eat romazava with rice, and the broth can be served apart in a bowl or poured on the rice. Serve with extra grounded hot chili for spicy tongue.

Unfortunately, I was not able to use Brazilian cress because I couldn't find it. I had to end up using spinach. Sorry Tonny! The dish was not heavily spiced, but very natural. I loved it. It reminded me of home cooked chicken soup without the noodles---similar to my mwamba from the Congo. I loved the natural flavors of the spinach, tomatoes and onions with the chicken. On
top of rice, it was very tasteful. The soup on the side was fresh.

Ravitoto



beef or pork cut into small pieces
1-2 chopped onions
crushed garlic
salt
pepper
grounded manioc leaves
coconut milk

The first part is the same as for the romazava, except you add the grounded manioc leaves half way of the meat cooking. For 1kg of meat, you can use 2 pack of manioc leaves. At the end, add the coconut milk and stir well. Bring to boil again before turning the heat off. Serve with rice.

Manioc leaves are the same as cassava leaves or tapioca leaves. I used beef instead of pork, and it was great. Remember the time I made Saka Saka from the Congo? Well, I was not a big fan of saka saka. This time, I did cook the manioc leaves for about 2.5 hours and the leaves were a lot more mooshy---which was more like the creamed spinach. Honestly, it still had the taste of leaves even after the salt and pepper and coconut milk. I think I'm just not a big fan of cassava leaves. Greg loved the dish. He had it the next day and if I had made more, he probably would have eaten it all week. I must admit, this dish was by far better than Saka Saka.

Chicken Curry



Chicken
Curry powder (quantity depends on you, you put more if you like it stronger, and it depends also on curry quality)
1-2 chopped onions
crushed garlic
1-2 cut tomato
salt
pepper
some potato, cut into pieces
coconut milk

Under high heat, poor some oil into a stew pan (or cauldron), when hot, add onions and garlic, let it melt a little bit (3 to 5 minutes), add curry powder (I use 3 to 4 table spoon for 1.2kg of meat) and tomato and stir 3 minutes, then add chicken, stir a few minutes, add water, and cover the pan. Bring to boil, then turn heat to simm. Add salt, pepper, and a little bit of sugar. Cook for 30 to 40 minutes. Then add the potato. Simmer for another 20 minutes. Serve with rice.

Great dish! I can eat this every day. It is pretty much the same dish as the Comoros curry dish-- a lot of influence from the South East Asian area. On top of rice, I definitely enjoyed this dish. Madagascar food turned out to be excellent.

I am off to another country next week and I am letting Greg choose as I found out that he tends to get me off the African continent. As I leave my current country, I would like to thank Tonny for this awesome adventure. It was delicious.

My next country is:



Bosnia and Herzegovina! Woohoo!

As I am off to another country, I would like to say

Bon Apetit! (unfortunately, I could not find the translation in Malagasy)

Netherlands---Hearty and Heavy

The Netherlands is the first European country that I am going to embark on. It's so exciting. It isn't one of those popular countries where everybody visits and knows its cuisine, but we are somewhat familiar with it because of Amsterdam. I did find out that the Netherlands is sometimes called Holland, but actually it makes up only the western part of it. Famous artists from this area include Vincent van Gogh, Piet MOndriaan and also M.C. Escher. That is quite amazing. The main ingredient of Dutch cuisine seems to be potatoes. It honestly is the first time I'm actually using potatoes in any of my dishes. Weird huh? It was interesting that during the turn of the 20th century, many of the Dutch girls were sent to Huishoudschool (housekeeping school). They were taught to cook cheap and simple meals which influenced a lot of their meals of today. A lot of these foods include potatoes, carrots, cabbage, brussel sprouts, cauliflower and of course the meats---very heavy, but probably because of the weather too. The weather is temperate and does not get really hot; but it does get pretty cold in the Netherlands. One famous thing that did come out of Dutch cuisine is the cheese---like Gouda. I'm glad it got cold in the Bay Area as the dishes I prepared completely catered to this winter weather.

SLAW MET AARDAPPELS--Dutch Mess (Lettuce)
By: Jo Harmeling & Jenny Messer
http://www.pellatuliptime.com/historical-village/history/recipe/recipes.html



6 servings of Fresh Leaf Lettuce, coarsely cut up
4 - Hot chopped hard – boiled eggs
6 strips Chopped crisp fried bacon
1/3 c. Chopped green onions
6 servings - Hot boiled potatoes
1/3 c. vinegar
1/3 c. water

Sauce
1 T. butter
1 T. flour
½ c. water
2 egg yolks (or 1 whole egg)
½ c. sugar
½ c. vinegar

Melt butter, add flour; when well blended, add water and bring to a boil while stirring. Beat egg yolks, add sugar and vinegar; blend egg mixture and stir into hot sauce. Let mixture come to a boil. Have ready potatoes, eggs, lettuce, and onion. Cut bacon into small pieces, fry in skillet until nicely browned. Add 4 T. of above sauce to bacon grease. (The remaining sauce may be refrigerated for several weeks). Bring to a boil in skillet and keep hot. Place a layer of hot potatoes, mashed with a fork in bowl; then a layer of lettuce, 2 sliced hard boiled eggs, bacon, a layer of lettuce and 2 - 3 Tablespoons of hot bacon dressing. Add remainder potatoes, lettuce and slice eggs. Pour remainder of hot dressing over and serve immediately.

This dish seemed very familiar, but I still can not put my fingers on it. They call it a salad, but I must say with the potatoes in it, it was really really heavy. The sauce was like a hollandaise sauce, rich and creamy. I didn't salt the potatoes enough so remember to do that or it'll taste a bit bland.

Hutspot
By: Jessica Ashurst
http://www.tastebook.com/recipes/733652-Hutspot



This is a legacy of the Spanish invaders, who, according to legend, left a pot of this stew behind in their abandoned trenches when the town of Leiden, which they had been besieging, was liberated in 1574 – so this hutspot was one of the first foods its starving inhabitants found. Before potatoes were introduced in Europe hutspot was made from parsnips, carrots, and onions.
This dish is a Dutch favorite that will heat you up in the cold winter months. I definitely enjoyed this dish, but it was kind of like mash potatoes, mixed with onions and carrots and chunks of meat. I can see myself being in a winter storm eating this dish...so hearty!

1 lb boneless Chuck, or Polish Sausage
5 medium Potatoes
1 lb Carrots
½ cup Onion
4 Tbsp Butter
Milk
Salt and Pepper

1. Cook the meat in any way you would like
2. Peel and cut Potatoes
3. Dice Carrots, and cut Onions
4. Boil Potatoes, Carrots, and Onions for 20-30 minutes, until tender.
5. Drain the vegetables.
6. Mash the vegetable, and add Butter, and Milk.
7. Add Salt and Pepper to taste.

Weener Taart (Dutch Apple Tart)
By: ElleFirebrand
http://www.recipezaar.com/Dutch-Apple-Tart-305551



Ingredients

2 cups flour
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 lemon, zest of
4 apples, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons jam
1 egg, beaten

Directions

1. Combine flour, butter, 1/2 cup sugar and lemon zest, using pastry cutter. Dough will be very soft.
2. Roll to fit a 9-inch round cake pan, but large enough to trip for top strips.
3. Combine sliced apples, raisins (if using), cinnamon and jam, and fill the pastry.
4. Roll out dough trimmings and cut strips for top of tart.
5. Brush crust and strips with beaten egg.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Hands down, one of the best desserts I've ever made. This apple pie dish was delicious. I followed the recipe to the point and it was excellent. I didn't know what jam to use, so I used grape jam and it was awesome. I baked the pie for only 50 minutes, so the apples were not completely softened, but I liked it that way. If you want the apples to be completely cooked without the crunch, that extra 10 minutes would've been perfect. I think I'll be making this pie during Christmas....yes, it was that awesome!




Next off is Madagascar. We are going back to Africa. The good thing about this place is that I have a friend from Madagascar, so I am looking forward to getting home recipes from him.

Comoros-- yummy!

I didn't think I have ever heard about this place, until Tim, my cousin's fiance, reminded me last night about the plane crash that occurred not too long ago where there was that teenage survivor. Not that it helps me understand the country any more, but hey, there is my connection to Comoros. Comoros consists of four islands off the east coast of Africa and right above Madagascar. The country was inhabited by Africans, Swahilians, Arabs, and the French. It also was where merchants stopped by boat before the Suez Canal was built. It's influence by so many different cultures probably is why they are also well known throughout Africa for their excellent cuisine. In turn, Comoros food turned out to be my favorite meal I have so far cooked. You can see the South Asian influence and spices with the mix of the African/island style food that blends together so well.

1. Poulet au Coco
http://www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/miscellaneous/fetch-recipe.php?rid=misc-poulet-au-coco



Ingredients:
1kg chicken meat, diced 30ml butter 2 medium onions, chopped 4 garlic cloves, chopped 2 tsp curry powder 300ml coconut milk 1 tsp fresh thyme 6 spring onions, chopped 1 bunch parsley, finely chopped
Method:

Fry the chicken in the butter until golden brown on all sides then add the onion, garlic and curry powder. Stir-fry the mixture for 5 minutes then add the coconut milk, thyme, spring onions and parsley. Season with salt and pepper, stir well and allow to simmer for 20 minutes. Serve on a bed of rice and squeeze lemon juice over the top.

This dish was actually really easy to make, and it was delicious. It did not taste like any African foods we have had, but instead it had a very Indian-island-like flavor. The flavor was like Indian curry, but without the heat and a lot of fresh veggies. It was excellent on a bed of white rice. The recipe was direct and simple. I am already craving for this dish.

2. Le Me Tsolola
http://www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/miscellaneous/fetch-recipe.php?rid=misc-le-me-tsolola



Ingredients:
2 green bananas, peeled 300g fish, cut into pieces 300g meat or tripe (or a mix) cut into pieces. 2 onions, finely chopped 4 tomatoes, chopped 400ml coconut milk salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper to taste

Method:

Fry the fish, meat (and/or tripe) in a little oil until well browned. Add the bananas to a pot and add the fish and meat to them. Add the onions and tomatoes, pour-in the coconut milk and bring to a simmer. Season well then cover and allow to simmer for an hour (add a little water if it becomes too dry). Serve immediately on a bed of white rice.

The coconut milk, tomatoes and meat made this dish hearty. The mixture of fish and chicken makes it a surf and turf stew--sort of like Carribbean food. One thing you must do is cook down the tomatoes for the 1 hour. It really infuses that tomato flavor into the coconut sauce and it gave it this milky-thick and pink consistency. If you like a tomato alfredo sauce, you'll like this. Because I used Orange Roughy, a very tender fish, I had to fry the fish beforehand, but did not place it back into the stew until 30 minutes into cooking the dish. It kept the fish tender, but not too flakey where it would fall apart. Otherwise, just follow the instructions and you will have yourself a very easy to cook, but delightful meal.

Although I did have such a surprise with preparing this dish and eating it, I must admit my excitement was not there anymore. I believe it is because I consistently keep getting African cuisine and I really wanted to branch out into other areas of the world. If this continues, I'm not sure how long I can last blogging about this. I might need to take a break or something. So I let Greg pick my next country and guess what? We are going to the Netherlands! Finally! Thank you someone up there. I needed this break. Finally, a country I actually know.

See you all in the Netherlands!
Arabic is the common language of the Comoros Islands and as they would say:

أ.ن. وجبة شهية.

Gambia--simple but delicious

Gambia is situated in the western part of Africa surrounded by Senegal to the north, east and south and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. It is the smallest country on the African continent. Being the smallest country makes you think how little resources the country has, hence the limitation in their cuisine. Actually, it is an agriculturally rich country because of the river that flows right through the country, allowing easy access of goods, fishing and agriculture to the people. One cool information is that they are well known for their music and dancing in Africa.

To join me on my experience this time was Mike and Nidhi and of course Greg. I forgot to mention that Greg has been the DJ for most of our dinners. He actually finds the station online that plays that country's music and basically it is our background music for our dinner. It even more enhances the ambiance for our dinners. Plus, he also helps me with some of the pictures of our food.

Researching the dishes of Gambia got me a bit excited just because everything sounds so flavorful and fresh. This will also be the first time I actually make a dessert for the country.
So, let's start!

Chicken Yassa to Die For: (recipe by Linda Voychehovski)
http://www.africanculture.dk/gambia/yassa.htm.



Ingredients
* 8-10 skinless chicken breasts (or their equivalent)
* For the marinade
2/3 c. oil
1 c. red wine vinegar
1 c. freshly-squeezed lime juice
6 chicken-bouillon cubes, crushed
24 small garlic cloves, mashed
6 tsp. fresh ginger, grated
2 tsp. salt (or to taste)
12 tsp. coarse black pepper
3-4 tsp. red pepper (ground or flakes)

Directions
The Night Before:
* Make the marinade by combining all the ingredients (except the chicken)
* Clean the chicken breasts. Place the chicken in a large glass baking dish. Pour about 1/3 to 1/2 of the marinade over the chicken, and let it marinate overnight. Reserve the rest of the marinade. At some point, turn the chicken over.

The Big Feast:
* Next evening, turn on the broiler in the oven. Put the rack on the 2nd rung from the top. Broil the chicken 15-20 minutes on each side. (In my oven, 15 minutes usually does it.) The chicken should look crispy but not burnt. If you're really ambitious, when the top side of the chicken is under the broiler, take it out & baste it after 5 or 6 minutes. Then finish broiling.
* While you're broiling the chicken (or even before), saute a lot of thinly-sliced onions in a non-stick skillet. Cook slowly over medium-low heat till golden.
* Heat the reserved marinade in the microwave. If you don't have a microwave, add toward the end of the cooking time in the oven. You have to do this because otherwise, all the marinade will evaporate at broiling temperature.
* Heap the sauteed onions over the chicken. Serve with warm French or Italian bread which is great for mopping up all the marinade. Also serve with a good salad of greens.

I must admit Linda's recipe was perfect. It was very thorough and to the point. I didn't have problems following this recipe. This chicken marinade was great. The only problem was that I left it in the oven for so long that the chicken dried up a little. I would probably only cook it for like 20 minutes next time and it should be good enough, allowing the chicken to taste more moist. Other recipes call for the chicken to be grilled and I think it might make the chicken taste even better. I'll have to try that next time.

Chicken and Beef Benachin (recipe by Adele Faye Njie)
http://www.africanculture.dk/gambia/benachin.htm



Ingredients
1/2 chicken
1/2 lb beef
4 onions
2 slices yate
1 teaspoon pounded fresh peppers
2 large fresh tomatoes
3 dessertspoons tomatoe puree
3 cloves garlic
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 cigarette cups oil
1/2 small cabbage
1 large bitter tomatoe
1 large aubergine
1 slice pumpkin
2 big peppers
black pepper to taste
2 or 3 cigarette cups rice (1 lb)
6 cigarette cups water
salt to taste

Directions
1. Prepare, wash and cut chicken into portions. Remove gristle, etc from beef, wash and cut into equal portions.
2. Mix chicken and beef together. Season with salt, black pepper, pounded garlic and vinegar. Allow to stand for 1/2 hour before cooking.
3. Prepare vegetables accordingly.
4. Peel, wash and slice onions thinly.
5. Fry the chicken in hot oil until brown, turn over and fry likewise. Remove from pan and put aside.
6. Add beef and fry until quite brown. Add the sliced onions and fry until golden brown.
7. Placed the washed, scalded skinned and sliced tomatoes to rest of ingredients in pan.
8. Put the tomato puree and pounded fresh peppers into saucepan. Cook gently for 15 minutes.
9. Pour in measured water.
10. Bring to a boil, add all the prepared vegetables, fried chicken, bay leaves and salt.
11. Remove the chicken and vegetables when cooked and keep in a warm place. Taste seasoning.
12. Add the washed rice to cooking pot. Put the big sliced peppers and bring to a boil.
13. Reduce heat and cook under low heat until most of the liquid is absorbed.
14. Serve. Pile the rice on an oval dish, place the vegetables and chicken on top.

Adele's recipe was actually really difficult to follow. I must say the food turned out delicious, but her directions were so confusing. I actually had to compromise a bit with her recipe to get it right. There are so many vegetables and meat in this dish, I strongly recommend having everything diced and cut. I did not buy the yates, which is a taro root, for my recipe. I instead substituted it by adding more pumpkin (butternut squash). I also did not marinade my chicken and beef together as Adele asks you to separate it later when you have to cook it. I have no idea what she is talking about. Instead, saute the chicken first with some onions then take it off the heat. Then saute the beef and also remove from the heat. I only say this because again later she wants you to separate the meat with the veggies which is hard to do. Afterwards, in the same pan, I would saute the onions, tomatoes, pumpkins for a bit. Add the water to the dish and bring to a boil. After that add the aubergine (eggplant), the bay leaves, the cabbage and the chicken and cook it. Remove all the veggies and chicken from pot with a strainer and keep it warm. At this point to the soup base, add the rice, bell peppers and beef into the pot. I used brown rice so it would take about 1 hour to cook. In around the 40 minute mark, I decided to add the veggies and chicken back in to cook completely. Once the rice is all cooked, you are done. This officially is my favorite African dish. It reminds me of Spain's paella. It was so tasty. I even craved for it the next day. I highly recommend anybody to prepare this dish.

Chakery (http://recipes.wikia.com/wiki/Chakery)

Ingredients
1 pint of vanilla yogurt
8 ounces of sour cream
12 ounces of evaporated milk
1 can of crushed pineapples
dash of nutmeg
splash of vanilla flavoring
3 cups Couscous
1/2 water
1/2 stick of butter

Directions
1. Mix the yogurt, sour cream, evaporated mike, pineapples, nutmeg and vanilla flavoring together in a big bowl.
2. Take the couscous, butter, and water put them in a bowl and stick in the mic until the butter is melted. Then mix really good.
3. Then you can mix them together or you can put the first mixing on top of the couscous.

So, this is my first dessert and it tasted okay. I'm not sure if the Gambian's eat it cold or room temperature, but I definitely prefer it to be cold. This dish was very similar to rice pudding, but definitely a lot less flavor. It's missing something, but I can not get my finger on it. Maybe it needs more sugar?

Gambian food was one of my most successful meals. Their dishes had very simple and natural ingredients, but it was full of flavor. I will be sad to leave Gambia, but for sure I will be coming back to this cuisine. I had our friend Nidhi pick the new destination and it was:



The next destination is Comoros. Yes, another African country! I must admit that I am tired of getting Africa. I don't know how long I can continue this journey if I keep cooking African cuisine. I feel like I need a change. When is it going to happen? I guess looking at the bright side, Comoros is not on the African continent, but is an island off the coast of Eastern African and in between Madagascar. I am hoping for something a bit different and we'll see. See you all soon! The official language in Gambia is English, so I will leave today by saying:

Enjoy Your Meal!