Sierra Leone

 Welcome to Sierra Leone!  Sounds like it should be in the mountains of California, but it is actually a country in Africa!  According to Google, the population is 8,184,889 people, and the capital is Freetown.  It is also home to the third largest harbor in the world!  It's national dish is...

Cassava Leaves!

What do you do with cassava leaves?!  From what I read, the people in Sierra Leone often make stews and soups with cassava leaves, so that's what I opted to do.  However, I could not find cassava leaves anywhere!  I could find the rest of the plant, but not the leaves.  The recipe said that if you couldn't find the leaves, to use spinach leaves.  Spinach to the rescue!  To complement the soup, I also made Ginger Cake.  Apparently ginger is grown en masse in Sierra Leone, and the ginger cake is a common street food.  Here's what I did:

CASSAVA LEAF SOUP

3 pounds spinach, put in a blender until the consistency of sand - I used frozen (a substitute for cassava)

1 pound beef, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 pound smoked turkey (Costco for the win!)

1 onion, chopped

1/2 C olive oil

1 tbsp shrimp paste

4 tbsp peanut butter

2 C chicken stock

1 habanero pepper, diced

1 pound shrimp

Salt and pepper, to taste

1. In a large saucepan, heat the chicken stock and add the onions and beef.  Cook the beef for about ten minutes.
2. Heat the oil in a large stock pot, and pull the onions out of the beef sauce pan, and add them to the oil (I used a slotted spoon).  Add the shrimp paste and pepper, and sauté until fragrant.
3. Add the beef and the smoked turkey.
4. Add the peanut butter and mix well.
5. Add the stock, and cook for about five minutes.
6. Add the spinach, and let it cook for about 25 minutes.
7. Add the shrimp, and cook until shrimp are pink.
8. Serve over rice.

(Source: Cassava Leaf Soup)

SIERRA LEONE FRESH GINGER CAKE

2 1/2 C gluten free flour (I used Cup-4-Cup)

2 tbsp fresh grated ginger

1 C butter

3 eggs

1 C whole milk

1 C sugar

1 C brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1. Grease and flour a 8x8 pan.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
3. In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, ground ginger, cinnamon and salt.
4. In another bowl, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
5. Mix the eggs, grated ginger, and vanilla into the butter mixture. 
6. Add milk to the butter mixture.
7. Add the flour mixture and mix until incorporated.
8. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
9. Bake 50 minutes, until a knife comes out clean.
10. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then flip onto a cutting board.
11. Dust lightly with powdered sugar and ginger, and enjoy!
    

(Source: Sierra Leone Fresh Ginger Cake)

The verdict?  There were SO many things I would do differently.  Let's start with the soup.  If I were to make it again, I would leave out the beef and add extra smoked turkey.  The recipe said it could be any type of smoked protein (fish, chicken, turkey), and it really added a lot to the flavor.  The smell, however, was not good at all.  So much so that I couldn't eat it all.  It was a very earthy smell.  Handsome Husband likened it to the smell of freshly-cut wet grass.  I couldn't argue. The recipe also said to season with salt, pepper, and oil.  It needed A LOT of salt.  It was quite bland without it.  Handsome Husband tried it with the oil and said it did make a difference in a good way.

For the cake, the recipe said to use two loaf pans, and to split the batter.  Because I cooked it in an 8x8 pan, it took twice as long to cook.  It worked, but I cooked mine for about 100 minutes. It tasted pretty good for a gluten free cake.  It had a very strong ginger taste, but it was a good-strong.  

  

ME

Taste of Cassava Leaf Soup (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 3

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 0

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 4

 

HANDSOME HUSBAND

Taste of Cassava Leaf  Soup (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 5

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 0

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 4

ME

Taste of Sierra Leone Fresh Ginger Cake (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 7

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 0

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 6

 

HANDSOME HUSBAND

Taste of Sierra Leone Fresh Ginger Cake (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 7

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 1

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 5

Another down!  Hard to believe we've been doing this for more than a year!  Join us next time in Cambodia!

Republic of Congo

  Welcome to Republic of Congo! According to Google, Republic of Congo has 5.12 million people and the capital is Brazzaville.  This country should not be confused with DR Congo (as I did as I was typing this blog...).  This is the country that you think of when you think of gorillas, and apparently is one of the most resource-rich countries in the world!  And yet, it is one of the poorest countries in the world.  I remember growing up telling my parents I wanted to visit Congo - I wonder what they thought of that!  Their national dish is...

Poulet à la Moambé

Peanut chicken! Peanuts again - are you seeing a theme?!  My nephew shouldn't ever go to Africa...it may kill him!  We also did a Peanut Butter Mousse - that was an experience.  Here's what I did:

Poulet à la Moambé

3 lbs chicken thighs

6 tbsp peanut oil, divided 

2 onions, chopped 

4 C tomato puree 

6 oz tomato paste 

6 cloves garlic, chopped 

3 green onions, chopped 

1 tbsp ginger, grated

1 tsp red pepper flakes 

Salt to taste 

1 C water 

1/2 C natural peanut butter

1.  Heat 4 tbsp peanut oil in a large pot over high heat.
2. Brown the chicken on both sides, and set aside.
3. Add the remaining oil, and turn heat to medium-low.
4. Add onions and saute until golden.
5. Add tomato puree, tomato paste, garlic, green onions, ginger, red pepper flakes, salt, and water.  Mix well.
6.  Return the chicken to the pot and mix
7. Turn heat to high, bring to boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer for around 20 minutes.
8. Remove 1 cup sauce from the pot and mix with the peanut butter.
9. Return the peanut butter mixture to the pot and mix well.
10. Cook uncovered until the chicken is done.

(Source: Poulet Moambe)

 

 Peanut Butter Mousse 

5 oz. peanut butter 

¾ C sugar 

3 tbsp agar-agar

6 egg whites 

1 C heavy cream 

Cocoa powder and/or chocolate chips for garnishing

1.  Beat the egg whites until stiff while gradually adding sugar.
2. Dissolve the agar-agar in water, according to directions.
3. Melt peanut butter over low heat and stir in agar-agar.
4. Let the mixture cool for 10 minutes.
5. Whip the heavy cream.
6. Stir in the peanut butter and agar-agar mixture into the whipped cream and beat for 2 minutes.
7. Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the whipped cream/peanut butter mixture.
8. Refrigerate to set, at least 6 hours.
9. Sprinkle with cocoa powder and chocolate chips for serving.

(Source: Peanut Butter Mousse)

The verdict?  We liked the other recipe I have for Peanut Butter Chicken better than this one (if you want that recipe, let me know!).  This one had some heat from the pepper flakes, and was good, but not great.  Adding a significant amount of salt helped a lot!  I think it would be good with rice, as it was pretty saucy.  It was a very strong, rich peanut butter taste, which I thought was a bit over powering.  The Peanut Butter Mousse was terrible.  At least I thought it was terrible.  But I have texture issues.  I didn't think that it had a good taste either.  I liked the chocolate chips though!  Handsome Husband didn't think it was terrible, but we didn't keep the leftovers and ended up eating creme brule for dessert instead :-)

   

So the rating.  We are both going to rate the dishes on a scale of 1-10.

ME

Taste of Poulet à la Moambé (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 5

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 2

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 5 

 

HANDSOME HUSBAND

Taste of Poulet à la Moambé (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 6

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 3

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 5

 

ME

Taste of Peanut Butter Mousse (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 0

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 0

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 2

 

HANDSOME HUSBAND

Taste of Peanut Butter Mousse (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 3

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 0

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 4

Another one down!  Hope to meet you next time in Sierra Leone!