Eating Around the World (From Home....And Gluten Free...): Sudan

Welcome to Sudan! We had a friend (Fun Friend) eat dinner with us, and between Handsome Husband and he, we learned a lot about the country! It really is a fascinating place, but not one I would like to visit. For example, Sudan has more pyramids than Egypt! They're not as old, but there are more of them. Their main export is oil, and they are one of the poorest countries in the world. The average life expectancy is 61 years old, and their country is mostly sandy desert. According to Google, their population is 41.59 million people, and their capital is Khartoum. Their national dish is...

Kisra or Ful Medames!

Depending on what I looked at, the national dish was one of these two dishes. Kisra is almost like a fermented tortilla, and Ful Medames is a Fava bean dish. Bummer - I couldn't try that one. But I did make it! I also found recipes for Sudanese Addas (red lental soup), Sudanese tomato salad and Ful Sudani, which is a peanut macaroon. What I found fascinating, given their landscape, was that three of these four dishes included tomatoes! Here's what I did:

FUL MEDAMES

1 C dry Fava beans

1 tsp salt, to taste

1 tsp cumin

1/2 C beef broth

1 tomato, diced

1/2 red onion, diced

Feta cheese crumbles

Baby Arugula

2 hard boiled eggs

Sesame oil

Soak the beans in water overnight, and drain.
In a pot, add the soaked beans and cover with water.
Bring to a boil, and then simmer until the beans are soft. Drain the beans.
Bring beef broth to a boil, and add the drained beans.
Remove from heat, and mash the beans (I used an immersion blender).
Add the salt and cumin, to taste.
Put the beans in your bowl and top with tomatoes, onions, cheese, arugula, hard boiled eggs, and sesame oil.
You can eat it plain, or with warm Kisra.

(Source: Ful Medames)

KISRA

1 C gluten free flour

2 1/2 C water

1/4 C plain yogurt

Mix the flour and water to get a very thin consistency.
Add the yogurt and mix well.
Leave covered in the fridge for 3 days to ferment.
Heat the pan and lightly grease with oil.
Pour about 1/4 C of the dough on the pan and spread evenly until you get a thin sheet.
Cook for 1-2 minutes and flip and cook another minute.
Serve warm.

(Source: Kisra)

SUDANESE ADDAS

2 C red lentils

1 onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, smashed and roughly chopped

1 tomato, chopped

1 tsp coriander

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp pepper

Avocado oil

Salt, to taste

Wash the lentils and soak for 30 minutes.
Drain the lentils and add them to a pot and cover with water.
Bring the lentils to a boil, and cook until they turn soft.
Meanwhile, heat oil in a pan.
Add the onions and garlic and cook until onions are soft.
Add the tomatoes to the onion mixture, and cook about three minutes.
Add a half a cup of water to the onion mixture, and bring to a boil.
Add the onion mixture to the pot of lentils, along with the coriander, cumin, pepper, and salt.
Cook until the lentils are completely cooked.
Enjoy!

(Source: Sudanese Addas)

SUDANESE TOMATO SALAD

5 tomatoes, seeded and diced

4 green onions, diced

1 Serrano pepper, diced

1/3 C avocado oil

1/4 C peanut butter

Juice of two limes

1/2 tsp salt, to taste

Combine the tomatoes, green onions and Serrano pepper in a bowl.
In a separate bowl, whisk the lime juice, peanut butter, oil, and salt until smooth.
Pour the dressing over the tomato mixture, and combine until covered.
Serve and enjoy!

(Source: Sudanese Tomato Salad)

FUL SUDANI

2 C roasted unsalted peanuts

3 egg whites

Pinch of salt

1 C powdered sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Grind the peanuts until they are grainy, but not a powder.
Mix the vanilla with the ground peanuts.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff.
Slowly add the powdered sugar to the eggs while beating.
Gently fold in the peanuts.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place spoonfuls of dough on the baking sheet.
Bake for 17 minutes, until lightly colored (they will be soft).
Enjoy!

(Source: Ful Sudani)

The verdict? This was a very interesting meal. I didn't get to taste the Ful Medames because of the beans, but I can tell you that the Kisra and the tomato salad were not my favorite. However, when you ate them together, it worked much better. I did really enjoy the Addas - this was my main course! It seemed very salty and watery - I think that I would put less salt in, and less water next time. The tomato salad just didn't taste quite right. As I was making it, before the dressing, it felt like I was making salsa. Then add the peanut butter. As the Fun Friend said, it was almost like Mexican meets Thai meets Sudan! This was also true of the Ful Medames, but I'll let Handsome Husband tell you about that:

HH here. The Ful Medames felt very disjointed, with lots of different flavors that didn't really combine. It was still pretty tasty, and was definitely better with the kisra bread, but it seemed like everything that was added to the mashed beans needed to be blended up a little bit, or something else to let the flavors work together. It was very interesting the way the flavors hit the palate though, you taste the beans, then tomatoes, then onion, then sesame oil. A bit strange, but I would eat it again.

The Ful Sudani were good. I wasn't super impressed by them, just because of texture, and I'm not a huge fan of peanuts, but they were definitely good! And easy to make!

Overall, the meal just felt like it lacked cohesion- there were so many flavors and textures and strange combinations. Not one that I would make all together again, but will be making the Addas again!

Taste of Ful Medames (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): NA

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

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

HANDSOME HUSBAND

Taste of Ful Medames (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 4