TUNISIA: THE FOOD

So, I finally got a new vehicle. I was afraid that my old one was having transmission issues and it was discontinued anyway. So, I ended up opting for a brand new vehicle. Like, it had 22 miles on it when I got home. I’ve never had a brand new one, just ones that are a few years old. I’m still in sticker shock, but now maybe we can go check out some state parks while staying away from people.

I thought this was a tasty sandwich, even worthy of breakfast.

But today is not that day. Today is Father’s Day for one, and today is also a day for making Tunisian food! I started out making Fricassee. I’ve always thought fricassee is a different kind of meal, but this is different. It starts out with stirring together 1 ½ packets of yeast, about ½ c of water, and 1 Tbsp of flour together and let it sit for about 10 minutes until it was frothy. Then I added in 3 ¼ c of flour, 1 egg, 3 Tbsp oil, and a little bit of salt. I mixed it together and after I got it to the right consistency (I had to add a little more water and flour), I formed it into small oval-shaped buns and let it rise until it was doubled in size (about an hour?). Then I heated some oil in a skillet and fried them until they were golden. Once they cooled, I slit them open lengthways and filled them with tuna, Israeli salad (diced tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, green peppers, and feta cheese topped with a lemon juice/olive oil mixture with a bit of salt and pepper), hummus, and hard boiled eggs. I really liked this sandwich. My husband was sort of meh about it because he thought it would be better on a thinner bread. (But he loved the Israeli salad, though!) I thought it was like a fancy tuna salad sandwich, but the kids were also indifferent to it. Hm.

The green harissa sauce really made the dish. I love this stuff so much.

The main dish today is Tunisian Tagine, Couscous, and Green Harissa Sauce. This dish was originally made with chicken, but I opted for the vegetarian version today. In a large pot, I heated a bit of oil and added in two cans of chickpeas (or garbanzo beans, it’s the same thing) and some cauliflower that I broke up into small pieces. I sauteed them for a few minutes and then sprinkled it with a bit of salt, pepper, chili powder and sauteed it for another minute. Then I added in some diagonally sliced carrots and onions to the pot and let it saute until the onions were soft before adding in some minced garlic and ginger (I had to use ground). I kept sauteeing this for a few minutes. Then it came time to add in my spices: cumin, ground coriander, turmeric, cinnamon, and caraway seeds. After they have sauteed for a minute, it was time for the salt, sugar, diced fire-roasted tomatoes, some chopped dried apricots, and a bit more water. I brought it all to a simmer and stirred it a bit. Once it was simmering, I stirred in the couscous and mixed it into the vegetables and spices. Because I had instant couscous on hand, I skipped putting it in the oven for 15 minutes, I just kept it on the stove for about 10 minutes (which I forgot to turn my heat down and the bottom scorched a bit). While that was simmering, I made the harissa sauce. I placed some fresh parsley, garlic, and a jalapeño (with seeds removed for a milder heat level) into a blender and blended it until it was well processed (I added a bit of water, but then I realized I added a bit too much). I placed this into a bowl and added in a bit of plain yogurt along with a bit of paprika, ground coriander, and salt and stirred well. Once it was done simmering, I took it off the heat, garnished it with mint leaves, and served with the green harissa sauce. I actually thought this was really tasty and filling, a great vegetarian dish full of flavor. No one else had the same opinion. It ranged from “I don’t like the chickpeas” to “It was alright” to “Bye.” Everyone’s a critic.

I think I drank too much of this. So, so good.

Finally, I made a drink called Tunisian Citronnade that is perfect for this hot summer day. I peeled and deseeded about five lemons, sliced them into quarters and put them in a large bowl with a bunch of sugar and let it sit in the fridge for 4-6 hours. Then I took some of those lemons (with some of that syrup that formed) in a couple batches and blended them with some water and strained it into a pitcher. Then I took the juice of half an orange (in lieu of orange blossom water) and muddled a handful of mint leaves in it a bit. I added the orange juice and mint leaves to the lemonade and stirred everything together. The second batch didn’t get quite as blended as the first, so it was a little pulpy over all. I couldn’t taste the orange at all, but the mint was a nice addition. (Imma bout to add some tequila to it in a bit.)

I thought this was fantastic, even if I was in the minority on that opinion.

So, I was thinking about today’s youth while I was chopping vegetables. I wrote about how Tunisian youth are setting up their own radio programs to address issues that affect them. They’re taking control of things they can, and effecting change where they can. They’re voicing their opinions and learning the art of defending their position. Last night I read how a bunch of teens reserved tickets for the Trump rally today, but they had no intentions of going. There were huge sections filled with empty seats, and the venue was only about a third full to hear his racist rhetoric. Teens and twenty-somethings are going to take over this world and are determined to be heard. So, here’s a high-five to the tech-savvy teens out there making the world listen, fighting to good fight, and bringing us all together. I see you.

Up next: Turkey

BURKINA FASO: THE FOOD!

I’ve learned my lesson. Ok, probably not. But I did find out the hard way that grocery shopping on a Saturday night is the worst time if you’re aiming at getting decent fresh vegetables.  The only eggplants and sweet potatoes left to choose from were the miscreants of the produce world. But I gathered up what ones there were and whipped them into shape in the only way I knew how. I went at their worst parts with a sharpened knife. (It’s starting to sound like a bad horror film. Hey, producers of Saw, call me.)  But it was all worth it on this one-year anniversary of the first meal I made for this blog. When we sat down for food from Afghanistan, I knew this was going to be an addictive project.

The first recipe I made today was called Munyu Caf Couscous. It’s a stew of “assorted meats” (I chose chicken and thick-cut bacon), onion, tomato, peanut butter, shredded cabbage (I cheated and found a bag of cole slaw mix that was just green cabbage), and aubergines (which I found was another word for eggplant, and I went with baby eggplants which are supposed to be milder). I mixed everything in a skillet and left it to simmer for an hour. I should’ve stirred it a few times because the bottom got a little scorched, but sometimes I kind of like it like that. It all goes on top of couscous. I just bought a box of ready-made couscous and made it like the box said. It was so good together; it was practically perfect.

Not the most flattering picture, but my mouth thought it was more awesome than finding my favorite beer on sale. 

To go with it, I made krakro (or, sweet potato fritters). My husband thought I was making sweet potato pone, but when I told him there wasn’t sugar in the recipe, he went straight to the cabinet and added a ton of sugar to it. So, ok, it wasn’t authentic, but it did taste good. The recipe called to mash the sweet potatoes, dip them in egg, then in breadcrumbs and fry it. But it just wasn’t setting up.  It’s kind of hard to fry something that’s the consistency of paste.  So, I skipped on the egg, and it seemed to work better. I also tried not to flip them too soon, but I still don’t think it ended up like how it was supposed to. However, the taste was really good! So, it wasn’t all bad.

It had so much potential. I still liked it though. Some mess-ups aren't that bad. 

Finally, after we ate the meal, I made the bread. For this, I chose the Banfora Welshcakes. It called for butter to be cut into the flour with a little salt and a half-cup of sugar. Although it called for a little bit of diced dried pineapple, I read someone’s blog who made this that it probably wasn’t the best option. So, I went with an 8 oz can of crushed pineapple (and probably way more than I needed). The recipe called for it to be rolled out and circles to be cut out of it, but it was way too moist and sticky for that. I just dropped it in the hot oil almost like a drop cookie. It actually turned out more like small pancakes. The flavor was really good, although some of them were a little on the thick side and was still gooey in the middle (although I wasn’t sure if it was the pineapple or that the dough wasn’t cooked through).  The best part – of course – was the powdered sugar topping.

I might try to make these with bananas too. Because... why not?

I really enjoyed this meal. But then again, I really enjoy West African food in general. And my husband’s birthday is tomorrow (even though he's not acknowledging it because he doesn't want to get another year older), so this was sort of his birthday dinner (who else cooks a Burkinabé meal for their husband? This girl does.).  I also couldn’t help but thinking of how I’ve been doing this blog for a year now. It’s not my first blog, though. My first blog was for some site (I forget the name) where I was blogging about my city of Indianapolis. Then I had a blog that lasted for about five posts that was about places in Indiana. I had to leave that one alone because I realized I never had enough money to travel around, even if it was traveling around my state. So then last year, as I was driving to work, I lamented to my husband that there wasn’t a bread store that made breads from all over the world, because I would want to try a different one each time I visited. He suggested that I do it myself and write about it, even though I made amateur chefs/bakers seem like professionals compared to my kitchen skills. So that’s what I’ve been doing for the past year. And I don’t know about you, but I’ve certainly learned a lot, and this has definitely opened my eyes to a lot of world history, culture, and the influences and impacts on global cuisine. And yes, I’m making my way around a kitchen a little easier, and like tonight, making really awesome meals as well.

Krakro and munyu caf couscous. My husband's non-acknowledged-birthday birthday dinner. 

Up next: Burundi

ALGERIA: THE FOOD

I started with the flatbread for this one.  Because it took the most time to do, I did it the night before. This flatbread was an adventure for me.  I have to say it didn’t go 1-2-3, starting with the fact that I think I bought the wrong kind of flour. The recipe called for fine whole-wheat flour, and since all I could find at the international supermarket I was at was fine cracked wheat flour, I went with that. I ended up adding what seemed like a lot of regular white flour to it to make it dry enough to knead. And I had to invent some different ways to make it work, all the while I’m thinking, “I’m REALLY not sure this is right.” 

After I let it rest for an hour (let me tell you, I was already ready to rest too), I rolled it out and rubbed it with a turmeric-paprika-cumin-olive oil concoction. I was excited to use turmeric for the first time, but I realized later that it’s the spice that gives mustard its yellow color. It also stains, so be careful using it.

Anyway, I then rolled it into a tube and formed the tube into a spiral. 

After that, I took the spirals, patted them more or less into a ball and rolled them out again.  I cooked them in a hot iron skillet, kind of like you would a pancake.  This bread caused me open my eyes. Here’s what I learned: 1) making bread is NOT for people who want instant gratification and are impatient (like me), 2) my husband, the artist and mechanic, knew a little more about working with dough than I did, 3) sometimes you have to wait for things to set up and happen, and sometimes you have to do things over and over again in order for it to work, and 4) sometimes you just have to make it up as you go and pretend you knew what you were doing the whole time. Kind of like parenting. 

It took forever to cut up all the vegetables for the chicken couscous. Seriously, I swear it took about 6-8 weeks. At least that’s how my feet felt at the end of it all. I could’ve applied and received my passport before I was finished. And even though I’m not a huge fan of cauliflower or turnips, I did cut up a little of each and throw it in the skillet.  I realized it just added to the complexity of the entire dish.  (I had to omit the zucchini because I apparently married a belligerent in the war against the squash family. Having zucchini in the house would have completely violated the terms of war.) One thing that I’ve found with the Algerian recipes I looked through, including this one—and this may be indicative throughout northern African cooking—is that they tend to mix fruits and meats together (like ground beef with peaches), or sweet spices with stronger or spicy ones together (like cinnamon with cumin and cayenne pepper, as in this recipe). I even found that the choice of vegetables also contains these extremes: combining red bell pepper with turnips and/or the cauliflower. It’s this dichotomy of flavors that creates such vim in everyday cuisine. If I stop and really think about what I was eating, I could almost pick out of the cinnamon, the cumin, the garlic, etc. It reminded me of that scene in the film Ratatouille where Remy was trying to explain to his brother what happens when you mix different flavors together to create new ones. Minus the psychedelic clouds of color and food above my head.

I had two other items on the menu that didn’t get made: shrimp charmoula (it required marinating it for at least 8 hours, and I just didn’t have the time or energy to get it done) and mint tea (etzai).  The main reason I didn’t do the tea is because I really wanted to try to go buy a regular teapot (or better yet, perhaps a samovar) before I try to make tea again. This mint tea called to be poured from a height of at least 12 inches, and I really can’t do that from a pot on the stove (well, cleanly, that is).

I think overall, my husband and I liked it more than the kids. My son had been sick for the past couple of days, so I kind of understood if he didn’t eat much.  My daughter said she liked it, but only ate about half.  However, they liked the plain couscous.  That’s good, since it was my first time eating couscous too, much less making it! I bet this would also be good with shrimp or both shrimp and chicken. We are having some unseasonably warm weather in Indiana, so in a way, it sort of acted as a wonderful background to eating Algerian food.

Next up: Andorra

Resources:

Algerian flatbread: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Algerian-Flatbread-241505

Chicken couscous: http://recipes.wuzzle.org/index.php/31/146