MADAGASCAR: THE FOOD

So, the kids are finally on spring break, and the weather is warming up. More or less. The job is going well, and my husband got 80% of the noise my car was making to go away. For the moment, life is good. But what’s better is food from Madagascar. 

Mofo Gasy in batter only. It's a 2D version of the real thing.

Today, I started with a challenge. Initially, it didn’t seem so. I went with a type of street food-slash-breakfast food called Mofo Gasy. It’s a type of pancake ball that looks similar to either Danish aebleskiver or Japanese takoyaki. I started out mixing ½ c flour, ¼ c + 2 Tbsp of cream of rice, ½ tsp of yeast, 1 tsp sugar, and ¾ c of lukewarm water and stirred this until it came together as a batter. Then I let it sit for about 2 hours. After this, I added in 1 Tbsp + 2 tsp sugar, 1 ½ tsp of sweetened condensed milk, and 1 tsp of vanilla extract, and stirred it again. This time, I just let it sit for about 45 minutes. Now here comes the hard part. I was supposed to use what’s called an aebleskiver pan. It’s like a cast iron pan with deep wells in it, kind of like a giant poached egg pan. So, since I didn’t have one, I thought I’d improvise. According to the Internet, it was advised NOT to put a muffin pan directly on the flame. So I put my cast iron griddle on the flame and put my muffin pan on top of it. I put my oil in the bottom of each cup and spooned a little batter in it. It did get hot, but perhaps there wasn’t enough oil because they started to smoke and it barely cooked. Or maybe my heat was up too high. Anyway, my smoke detector told me to just give it up. So, I ended up making pancakes out of the rest of the batter. They tasted good, although not as good after they sat on the counter for a while. I bet they would’ve been good with jam and cream cheese. The pans aren’t terribly expensive, so perhaps I can get one and try this again. (The pans would also be perfect for making Japanese takoyaki!) 

One of the best things I've made in a long time. This is the type of dish you make to impress people.

My main meal for today was Coco Crevettes, or prawns in coconut sauce. I started out melting my butter in a large skillet. Then I added in some diced onion and let it sauté until they were translucent. Next went in some minced garlic and ginger and finally the shrimp (it’s easier to find shrimp rather than prawns) with some salt and pepper. I poured a little lemon juice over the shrimp before adding in most of a can of coconut milk, a little tomato paste and brown sugar. I stirred everything together and let it simmer for about five minutes and served this on top of steamed rice and garnished with dried parsley. This was absolutely incredible! My daughter and I loved this so much. My son gave the “thumbs sideways” sign to me. This is definitely a dish to make again. 

I wish avocados were super cheap because I'd make this all the time.

To go with this, I made Lasary Avocat. I’ve made something similar in the past, but this one was better. I started with making the sauce/salsa/salad part. I took some diced tomatoes (I picked a can with added green chilies and cilantro), and put part of the can in a bowl along with some chopped green onion (only the green part), a little olive oil, lemon juice, a touch of apple cider vinegar, and some salt and pepper. I mixed this until everything was mixed consistently. Then I took my avocados and cut them lengthwise, removing the pits. I scooped out a little more of the avocado to make a larger hole, and spooned in a bit of the tomato mixture into the avocados. I liked this very much! It was so simple, and I think it would make a good side for a summer lunch or something. Definitely going to repeat this over the summer. 

All in all, this was a pretty fabulous meal.

I learned so much about Madagascar that I didn’t know before. But to answer my original question: did the movie Madagascar give the country credence? It’s hard to tell. As far as I can tell, at least they tried to make it appear true to the island. Minus the talking animals. (Pretty sure King Julian is fictional.) The music was definitely not Malagasy. But it’s an island that I would like to visit. One more place to add to my bucket list – although I might need a bigger bucket.

Up next: Malawi