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!
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