Cameroon

 Welcome to Cameroon!  I attended a webinar at work, and the speaker was from Cameroon.  His presentation was on leadership, and he was hilarious.  But he talked about growing up in Cameroon, and I decided to cook their national dish.  Cameroon is home to the world's largest frog, the Goliath Frog, which can get up to seven pounds!  Cameroon has a lake that is poisonous due to volcanic gas that builds up under it (they now have pipes to vent the gases from the lake).  According to Google, the population is 3.6 million people and the capital is Yaounde.  Their national dish is...

Ndole!

Ndole is a beef and shrimp and bitterleaf stew.  Since I am fresh out of bitterleaf, the recipe said spinach was an acceptable substitute.  Apparently there is a big population of shrimp in Cameroon, which makes sense why it was in the national dish.  I was hoping it wasn't similar to Sierra Leone's Cassava Leaf Soup... which in our house we call "grass soup" because of the taste and the smell. I had my doubts.  Here's what we did:

NDOLE

20 oz spinach

2 C peanuts

1lb beef stew meat

1lb jumbo shrimp

1 onion

1/2 red onion, sliced

6 garlic cloves

2 1-inch pieces ginger

2 sprigs parsley

2 tbsp smoked crayfish

6 C beef broth, divided

2 plantains

1. Wash ripe plantains, cut the tips off and slice into halves. 
2. Using a large enough pot, submerge plantains, bring to a boil and cook until plantains are soft and some of the skins split. 
3. Transfer into a cold water bath and peel off plantain skin once cool enough. 
4. Blend 1/4 of an onion, parsley, 1 garlic clove and a 1-inch piece of ginger. 
5. Put the stew meat in a pot, season with salt and add in blended spices. 
6. Add 3 cups of beef broth to the pot.
7. Bring to a quick boil and simmer for 2 hours. 
8. Boil peanuts for 7-10 minutes. 
9. Blend peanuts (including the water the peanuts boiled in) with half of the onion, remaining ginger and garlic into a paste. (Not too smooth, just a little grainy).
10. Add the smoked crayfish to the peanut blend and add to the pot with the beef.
11. Add the spinach and cook until wilted.
12. Meanwhile, heat oil in a separate pan and pan fry the shrimp until almost cooked. 
13. Remove the shrimp from the pan, and add to the soup pot.
14. Add the remaining red onion slices to the pan and fry until caramelized. 
15. Serve the soup in a bowl with the caramelized onions on top, and the plantains on the side.
16. Enjoy!

(Source: Ndole and Ndole)

The verdict?  It wasn't bad!  I wasn't sure I was a fan of it (it has a strong smoked crayfish smell), and the grainy texture of the peanuts was weird.  But the more I ate it, the more I liked it.  Surprisingly, I really enjoyed it with the plantain - and I don't like plantains!  It gave the soup a sweetness that cut the smoked crayfish smell and taste.  Handsome Husband said it was OK, and agreed the more we ate, the better it got.  Overall good, but not great.

ME

Taste of Ndole (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 6

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 Ndole (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 6

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

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

Join us next time in Cabo Verde!