cameroon diaz? ugh.

One interesting thing about Cameroon is that when you start to type it into a Google search, it auto-fills “Cameron Diaz.” One person supersedes an ENTIRE NATION. Yeesh, that’s disturbing.

Isn’t this better than Cameron Diaz?!?

thanks, wondermondo.com!

But also interesting is how diverse it is, both culturally and geologically—this central African country has something like over 200 languages (though French and English are the official languages, because colonialism… although Germany was definitely a primary colonizer here, too). It also has deserts and forests and cities and rural plains and everything in-between, including coast line. So it doesn’t do too badly, food-wise.

Another thing it seems to have is a fair amount of refugees from neighboring countries, where war and famine are continuing issues, especially from the Central African Republic.

But onto the food! We’re going to make something pretty darn representative—a stewy thing, often served with plantains or something else starchy-like. Makes sense to me, right? So, onto the ndole, a stewy thing involving plenty of greens and ground nuts and deliciousness.

 the stuff

1 lb-ish leafy greens (supposed to be bitter leaf, but good luck finding that! We used bok choy and spinach)
1 lb lamb, cut into pieces/chunks (or beef or something)
1 lb fresh shrimp, cleaned & de-shelled
3 large yellow onions, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
2 Maggi cubes
6 cloves of garlic
1 – 2 cups peanuts (fresh, not roasted)
½ cup chopped green onion
¼ habanero chili, minced
salt
pepper
½ cup peanut oil
3 cups of beef stock

the moves

1. Brown your meat over med-high heat in a big pot. If you have to do it in batches, put it all back in when done and cook over medium heat with 1/3 of the onion, salt, pepper, and a Maggi cube. Remove from heat when tender.
2. Blend (like, in a blender blending) the peanuts, ginger, 1/3 of the onion, habanero, green onion, celery, and garlic into a paste. Mmmmm.
3. In a big pot (re-use that meat one, really) over medium heat, heat the peanut oil and saute 1/3 of the onion, meat (leave juices behind—we used ours to cook some rice), and the peanut paste. Cook for ~25 minutes, poking and stirring occasionally so you don’t burn your house down.
4. Taste it, because how else will you know it’s tasty enough?! It may not be, so add that extra Maggi cube if you need, maybe some salt and pepper.
5. Add the shrimp, cook for 3-5 minutes.
6. Add the leafy greens and cook another 10 minutes. When you’ve got a yummy pot of pasty stuff, it’s time to SHOVE IT IN YOUR FACE.

We made some rice, and some yummy plantains, too!

mmmm, with yummy rice and plantains!

thanks, operationworld.com!

Burkina Faso what?

FACT: If we were doing this project before 1984, we wouldn’t be on Burkina Faso. We wouldn’t be addressing this particular West African country for quite a while, in fact. Not until we hit “U,” and Upper Volta, to be specific.

But today it is Burkina Faso, which the BBC told me translates to “land of honest men.” That sounds nice. I don’t think the French colonization of yore followed by independence in 1960 followed by a series of many coups since the 1980’s sounds as good as the name, though. And as recently as, oh, literally TODAY, there are still major shifts in leadership happening. It’s a bit unstable, and pretty poor, which never helps matters.

However, let us step away from political unrest and over into the cozy embrace of food. Because food is comforting and beautiful. Here is a market in the BF capital, Ouagadougou to prove this point:

thanks, worldbeautifulcities.com!

Being a landlocked West African country, we’re talking about a lot of the staples we’ll see as recurring regional themes, especially in poor, agriculturally dependent places like BF. So we chose something simple but delicious that seems like to be a tasty way to feed a lot of people generously and cost effectively: riz gras. Fat Rice.
We’re off to a good start with the name there, eh? Let’s go.

the stuff

1 lb goat or lamb meat, cubed (or a sub if goat doesn’t do it for you/is hard to come by—beef, mutton…)
1 large onion, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
½ head of cabbage, shredded (less if it’s a big head!)
3-4 carrots, peeled & chopped
1 ½ cups of rice
1 Maggi chicken bouillon cube (almost feels like cheating…but we’re gonna go ahead and cheat)
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 ½ cups water
1-2 cloves smashed garlic
Salt & pepper to taste
vegetable oil (for browning and such)

 the moves

1. Heat oil in a large pot – we’re going to start by browning off the meat.
2. Hit the meat with some salt & pepper, and when the oil is hot brown the meat on all sides (do it in batches if you need too—crowding this process = steamed meat. No thanks.).
3. With all the meat in the pot, add the garlic, onion, and tomato and let them get happy for about 5 minutes. This should be smelling awesome, by the way.
4. In a small bowl, mix the Maggi cube & tomato paste with a smidge of hot water to create this super tasty flavorbomb.
5. Add your flavorbomb, carrot, and cabbage to the pot with the water and bring to a boil.
6. When it’s boiling, add the rice, bring to a simmer and cover, cooking until the meat is super tender and the liquid all absorbed by the rice. This could really be anywhere from 30 minutes (if using beef in small cubes), to 2+ hours (larger cubes of lamb). Keep tasting/testing—when the meat is fally-aparty, and the salt/pepper right, you’re in good shape!

VOILA! Simple, hearty, and pretty tasty. It’s also very easy (as we found out by mistake) to make a whoooole lot of this at once. PARTY FOOD.

We served with a little side of bean cakes, because who doesn’t love CAKES OF BEANS? FRIED? Only people who cannot be trusted.

thanks, worldatlas.com!

Bosnia and Herzegovina: the unpunnable pair

thanks, sites.google.com!

I was pretty excited about doing Bosnia & Herzegovina. For a few reasons:

1. The Balkans is a tasty place.
2. When I was a young lass, there was a lot of stuff going on over there. Of which I heard much, and understood none. I WAS A YOUNGIN.
3. A co-worker of mine actually spent a decent amount of time in BiH on several trips, and had some definite opinion on what some good food ideas were the best. I wrote said things down, then took a picture and emailed it to myself so I’d remember:

And she was on point! (At least with the Ćevapi, which is what we made.)

So, yeah! BiH has some… rough patches. Part of the former Yugoslavia, it’s been caught up in a lot of conflict since the ‘90’s. I remember the news a bit, burning buildings and such. But being around 8, I was definitely way more interested in Stephen King books at the time and didn’t yet listen to NPR. ANYWAY, since then, it turns out that BiH is the most visited country in the region (?!?!?), and is ranked 8^th friendliest nation toward tourists.

Interestingly enough, food isn’t really considered in these rankings, in terms of assessing how well a country is doing in tourism, which seems bananas. They use the total known species in a country, but not whether any of them are delicious. I’m dubious.

Speaking of food: even though BiH is mostly landlocked (only 12 miles of coast line! Random!), it’s got a Mediterranean vibe and uses a lot of the same spices and base ingredients, which we all know I can get behind. So. Good. So we heeded my colleague’s advice and made delicious little sausagey-kebab type things, which are devoured with a tasty red pepper sauce and Greek yogurt. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that you shove this in your face!!

the stuff

6 garlic cloves, chopped
salt
1/3 lb ground chuck
1/3 lb ground lamb
1/3 lb ground pork
2 tbsp paprika
1 2/3 tsp savory
½ tsp cayenne
1 yellow onion (½ grated, ½ sliced thin)
ground white pepper
¼ cup seltzer
3 red bell peppers, halved & seeded
1 eggplant, halved
olive oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp sugar
pita
Greek yogurt

the moves

1. Using the flat part of your knife, mash about 2/3 of the garlic with ½ tsp-ish of salt until it makes a paste (OR use your handy-dandy mortar & pestle!!!).

2. Mix beef, lamb, pork, savory, cayenne, garlic mixture, ½ the paprika, GRATED onion, ~2 tsp salt and pepper in a bowl. Add seltzer and kinda mix with a spoon until you realize that’s not going to really get the job done, then knead with your hands for 3 minutes; cover and refrigerate 2 hours.
3. Take out your meat mixture and knead it for another minute or so, then shape into cute little 3″ long sausages. Lay ‘em out on a sheet pan, cover, and pop back in the fridge for another hour.

Now let’s make the sauce!!
4. You want to roast the peppers and eggplant. If you’ve got a broiler that actually works, woohoo! If not, you can use your oven. Rub the pepper & eggplant halves with some oil, and lay them cut side down on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt, and stick in the broiler. Turn at least once, and cook until they smell amazing and look kinda charred/are nice and soft. ~15 min. in a broiler, more like 40 min. in an oven.

5. Take off the skin from the peppers and toss into a food processor. Scoop out the eggplant yum and throw it in with the pepper. Pulse it nice and good with ~4 tbsp of olive oil, into a tasty paste.

6. Stir remaining paprika, vinegar, sugar, and some salt and pepper into the paste. You have made something delicious! Go you!

Now we cook the sausage!

7. Heat some olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the sausages (probably in batches! Makes a bunch!), turning them from time to time, until browned—probably around 6-8 minutes.

8. Serve with sauce, Greek yogurt, and pita.

I mean… so GOOD. Even if the sausage-kebab type things came out a little squat (heehee)… just SO GOOD.

azerbaijan is difficult to pun, so instead let’s just make yogurt soup? i guess?

My brain may not have a lot going for it at the moment, but I assure you Azerbaijan actually has a lot going for it food-wise. Also folk-dancing wise, which I find fascinating. The traditional stuff is amazing, complete with outstanding costumes and mustaches!! But even plain-clothed folks get into it. Because I’m easily distracted, check out how Azerbaijani get down:

thanks, natgeo.com!

Fun Fact: I posted this picture on Social Media™ because I enjoyed it so much when we were actually making this dish and I was finding out neat stuff about Azerbaijan, and my Good Friend was all like, “nbd but I have stood in that exact spot before because I’m truly the coolest and hang out in eastern Europe all the time, and also you miss me because I’m a loser (not at all) who lives in DC instead of near you,” and sent me photographic evidence:

thanks, WBS!

Jerk. (Not at all.)

But seriously: Azerbaijan is unique in that it has just about everything food wise, because this ONE country contains 9 out of 11 climate zones. IMAGINE THE PRODUCE. (Imagine it!)  So to honor that, we decided to make dovga, which is a yogurt soup (new territory for my cooking, yay!) freaking jam-packed with herbs and greens. I mean, you don’t HAVE to be crazy-go-nuts and use every herb ever, but… why wouldn’t you?!? Granted, the labor in preparing all the herbs is a little obnoxo, but if you throw on some tunes, make really bad puns (“I dill believe we’ll finish soon! HYUK!”), maybe dance a little… it’ll be done in no time. But you can whittle down the list and still have a yummy soup.

This can easily kick it as a veg dish suitable for your strange friends that don’t eat meat, but naturally it just didn’t feel quite right ‘til we threw some balls of meat in. The choice, of course, is up to you (GO WITH THE BALLS OF MEAT).

the stuff

le soup
1 qt (32 oz!) plain yogurt
1 qt (32 oz!) water
½ cup short grain rice
1 egg, beaten [insert poor joke about being mean to the egg here]
1 bunch scallions, chopped
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 bunch dill, chopped
1 bunch parsley, chopped
1 bunch arugula, roughly chopped
1 bunch spinach, roughly chopped
½ bunch mint, chopped
pepper
salt

le balls of meat
½ lb ground lamb
1 onion, chopped pretty finely
2 cloves garlic, minced
pepper
salt
smidge-o-oil

the moves

le soup

1. Put the yogurt in a large pot. Add beaten egg and water and mix well.
2. Add rice.
3. Over med-high heat, bring it all to a boil. Here’s the thing with this part: you simply have to stand over it, stirring, basically the entire time you’re waiting for it to boil. You don’t want it to get a separated and blobby and gross.
4. As soon as a coupla bubbles fight their way to the surface, throw in ALL the herby deliciousness, and pepper to taste.
5. Simmer for about 15 minutes, uncovered, stirring super super frequently. Seriously, just give in and camp out next to the stove. Maybe get some tunes going, do a little dancing… that’s what I did.
6. When the rice is done cooking, SO ARE YOU. Throw in a little salt, to taste, and DONEZO. (Unless you want to add meatballs, in which case look right below for some magic!)

Two quick things:
Thing 1 – This can be served warm OR cold. So get crazy & do what feels good.
Thing 2 – Don’t salt during the cooking process as it can make the yogurt funky (aka curdle) and that’s no fun for anyone.

le balls of meat

1. In a bowl, combine the lamb with onion, garlic, salt & pepper and mix well. Just get in there with your hands, savory meat between fingers… YUM, right?!?
2. Form small balls—I recommend the small size so each easily fits on a spoon with some soup. Thinkin’ ahead.
3. In a pan, heat up a smidge-o-oil med-high and quickly sear your little balls (teehee)—this worked better for me in terms of keeping them formed.
4. Finish cooking your little balls (teehee) by adding some water or broth, ‘til just cooked through.
5. Throw ‘em in your dovga and SHOVE IT ALL IN YOUR FACE.

thanks, caspianttc.com!

armenia! or shall we say: arWOmenia? eh?!?

So Armenia, huh? I feel bad—I have typically spent more time thinking about Armenia’s neighbors (Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Iran…) than Armenia. Let’s change that today!

thanks, nationalgeographic.com!

An interesting thing to know about Armenia is that its population is about 3 million, but its diaspora is estimated to be around 8 million. That’s a whole lotta Armenians all over the place!! The US and Russia supposedly have over a million Armenians apiece.

Here’s another fun thing about Armenia: THEY LOVE TO STUFF FOOD INTO OTHER FOOD AND SHOVE IT IN THEIR FACES.

This I can get behind. Armenia has been around since like the 6^th century BC, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve been stuffing yummy food into other food and eating it for as long. It’s genius!

Dolma, or Armenian stuffed vegetables, is a wonderful thing. Got some veg? Hollow it out, stuff delicious in it, bake, eat. Wonderfully flex, you can also choose to roll the filling in veg not suitable for hollowing—grape leaves, or cabbage, for instance.

the stuff

assortment of veg – this can really run the gamut. Stuff whatever you want! We did: peppers, tomatoes, onions (not the best), and cabbage (more of a rolling process).
14oz  can broth – beef is probably a good one here
8oz crushed tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, smashed
plain yogurt – get the Greek; enough to put a nice dollop on top of your veg

filling
1 1/2 lbs ground meat – lamb is probably the way to go
1/2 cup rice & cracked bulgar wheat (some combo of the two)
1/4 cup green pepper, chopped
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
¼ tsp cayenne pepper (or more if you like it hot, as some do…)
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tsp basil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper

the moves

*pre-heat your oven! 350 degrees*

1. Prepare your veg to be stuffed – wash it, slice the tops off, and scoop out any innards (save the hat!). Onion was the most difficult; peppers the easiest. (We made a bunch of filling and used it over the course of a few days to stuff a different vegetable each night—meant dinner prep was pretty easy, but the product still fresh.)
2. Soak the rice/barley in hot water for about 10 min. Drain afterwards.
3. Combine all the filling ingredients in a bowl. Just use your hands, man—get in there and really go at it.
4. Stuff your chosen veg with the filling, and top with its respective hat.
5. Put your veg upright in a suitably sized casserole dish or similar (since we were just making 2 at a time, I actually used a loaf pan—then you need less broth to sufficiently cover!)
6. Pour broth in the dish so it’s fairly covered. Spread tomatoes on top of the veg. Throw in the smashed garlic, cuz why not?
7. Cover, cook in 350 degrees for like 45 – 60 minutes-ish—this is going to vary. Tomatoes cook more quickly than peppers, and peppers cooked more quickly than the onions, etc etc. So you’re going to have to keep an eye out and do some poking til the veg is cooked to your liking.
8. When done, serve with a little dollop of yogurt—refreshing and tasty!
9. SHOVE IN YOUR FACE.

thanks, geography.com!

albanian party food, part 2

I sure hope you are excited about part 2 of our culinary visit to Albania. Do you like lamb? Do you like meatballs? Do you see where I am going with this? (Besides… to Albania.)

Thanks, wikimedia!

Fun fact: according to wikipedia (linked above), Albania was designated as the #1 destination in Lonely Planet’s list of top 10 places to travel in 2011. Who knew?!? Now that I know Albania is so delicious, however, I can better understand. To illustrate this point, today we will demonstrate yum in the form of lamb meatballs!

In part 1, we made tirana furghes with peppers. Since we made these two dishes at the same time, I’ll admit we smeared the delicious feta concoction on the meatballs. NO REGRETS. We also roasted another couple of peppers and some onions until they blackened some in the oven, which turned out to be an excellent compliment to both dishes.

the stuff

¼ cup rice
1 lb grams ground lamb
Several handfuls chopped fresh parsley
1/2 tbsp black pepper
2 tbsp salt , divided
1 large onion, chopped
dried parsley (to roll meatballs in)
1 tbsp butter (or oil)
1-2 cups of water

the moves

Meatballs are a classic, as ubiquitous as dumplings and so basic in their premise, yet so delicious and potentially complex in flavor. The lamb makes for a particularly meaty tasting ball [teehee].

1. Cook rice according to the instructions particular to your kind of rice, ensuring that it is al dente! Don’t overcook!! Please please please!

2. Add onion, rice, black pepper, fresh parsley, and 1 teaspoon salt to the ground meat and knead until well mixed.

3.  Pour the dried parsley in a bowl

4. Moisten hands and form small balls (1-2”) of the meat, then roll them in the dried parsley.

5.  Heat the butter or oil in a large pan, sprinkle in remaining salt, add meatballs.

6. Once the meatballs have sealed in their delicious flavor, add a little water, cover, and let cook for 20-30 minutes, until meatballs are cooked through. Gently turn them over part way through cooking, and if the water evaporates too much go ahead and add a bit more.

Thanks, wikipedia!

a is for afghanistan, part 1

Ahhh, we begin with a country with whom we have, as Americans, engaged in shenanigans for many decades: Afghanistan.

Thanks, National Geographic!

What can I say? Political turmoil aside, Afghanistan is pretty delicious. This isn’t surprising, considering its role in the Silk Road and the area in general as a place where people have been for ages and have traded many tasty things over the years. That means you can find all sorts of yum, with spices, lamb, onions… all of our faves!

For our Afghan feast, we chose Aushak (dumplings with lamb sauce) and Qabili palau, considered a national dish. It should be noted that qabili palau is similar to the Sunday gravy: it’s a whole day thing, and meant to feed an army (no pun intended, but certainly appreciated). We didn’t pay much attention to the timing, thus ended up on some crazy 5+ hour cooking marathon on a steamy Monday after work. Note: 11pm feasts are ALSO delicious.

For today, we’ll start with the ubiquitous DUMPLING– tasty stuff packed into some kind of dough and cooked, often served with a sauce of sort. Our selection involves scallion dumplings and a lamb sauce, balanced with garlic mint yogurt. YUM.

the stuff

Aushak

4 tbsp. olive oil, divided
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb. ground lamb
1 cup tomato sauce or chopped tomato
1 ½ tsp. paprika
1 ½ tsp. ground coriander
3 teaspoons Kosher salt, divided
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 lb. green onions, washed, stems removed, chopped (use right down to the bulb head!)
½ teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
1 package won ton wrappers (in another world, we’d make ’em… but that’s just not so realistic for most)
1 tsp. vinegar

Garlic Yogurt Sauce

1 cup plain yogurt (we like Greek)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp. mint, chopped (or to taste–we went printy minty & garlicy)

the moves

The basic idea is pretty simple: the dumpling is filled with scallion yum (we added some yellow onion too because that’s how we roll), then topped with an amazing lamb sauce that I pretty much want to smother on everything ever. Here’s the step by step:

1. Saute onions in some oil. Add the garlic up in there, saute another minute. (It should be smelling delish.)

2. Add the lamb (which I first typed as “lamp” so if I make that mistake again, please DON’T add a lamp), break it up so it’s like mince meat and saute until brown & cooked through.

3. Add tomato sauce, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, paprika, coriander and pepper.  Cook over low heat, stirring regularly for 15-20 minutes.

This will be your awesomesauce.

While the sauce is getting happy… work on your dumplings!

1. Heat some olive oil, then saute the scallion, 1 tsp. salt, and red pepper. You can throw the burner on low and let it get happy and tender for 5-10 minutes.

2. Create a non-stick work surface (throw down some wax paper, or foil or something–you don’t want the wrappers sticking to your counter is all) and get a little bowl of water.

3. Place a wrapper on your work surface and plop a spoonful of filling on the center–try to resist the urge to pack TOO much in there, because you want to be able to seal the wrapper on all sides so your goodies don’t tumble out whilst cooking (how embarrassing!). Wet your finger in the bowl and run it around the edge of your wrapper so it’ll stick. Fold your wrapper in half so as to make a triangle, and press down on the point to seal. Gently press around the edge (herd your innards so they stay nestled in the middle and not poking out the sides), creating a seal all the way around. Fold up the two longest points and seal their tips together so it looks fancy. Do that a whole bunch of times.

NOTE: If you are making dumplings that you want to freeze, NOW’S the time to do it!!! Don’t freeze cooked dumplings. Instead, place them on a tray or something so that they stay relatively flat in a freezer bag and put them in the freezer–once they are frozen you can remove the tray; it’s just a measure to keep them from freezing together. They keep amazingly well, and still take a matter of minutes to heat in water!

4. Bring a large pot of water to a gentle boil (so it doesn’t beat up your dumplings), add vinegar, and put in your dumplings. Cook for about 4 minutes, or until the wrapper is cooked. When done, scoop them out gently (slotted spoon is your friend).

5. Either while the dumplings are cooking, or whenever you get a chance, whip up that garlic yogurt sauce by throwing your minced garlic and mint into the yogurt.

Serve the dumplings topped with the lamb sauce and a dollop of yogurt, and voila: SUPER delicious!! I mean, everyone loves a dumpling, right? Even terrorists.

Thanks, cnn.com!

Next time, we’ll get to the goods in part 2: the chicken-rice-carrot-raisin deliciousness that is qabili palau.