37 - Comoros

 The Union of the Comoros is an independent country off the south east coast of Africa. It is made up from 3 larger islands as well as many smaller ones and located north of Mozambique in the Indian Ocean. Its capital is Moroni. Its population is about 850,000.

Comoros was inhabited by many peoples prior to being colonized by the French in the 19th century. It gained its independence in 1975. Since then it has been politically unstable and now has the worst levels of income and inequality than any country. Over half the country live below the poverty line ($1.25 US a day!)

Comoros is one of the smallest countries in the world, but it is also one of the most over populated. Over half the population is under 15. 97% of the population is native Comorian with Indian and Makua (a Bantu ethnic group from Mozambique) making up the rest. The official religion is Sunni Islam. It is the only Arab nation in the southern hemisphere.

Comorian cuisine reflects the cultures of various inhabitants who have visited and settled in the islands, including Middle Eastern, Indian, Portuguese and French. Fish, especially lobster and crab are popular as well as cassava and green banana. 

Our Comorian meal was heavily influenced by the French in habitants. Soup Faux Pois with Comorienne Mkatra Fouta  followed by Langouste a la Vanille.

It's the lobster season on the South Shore of Nova Scotia so an ideal time for a small dinner party! 

I started by getting the ingredients ready for the pea soup. 
Onion, garlic, ginger, chopped tomatoes make the base and lots of peas!

After simmering for 25 minutes everything is blitzed with a stick blender.

Just before serving coconut milk is stirred in.

Now to get the bread ready.

I'm not usually very good at making yeasted bread, having more success with sourdough but we needed some bread to go with the soup and sourdough wasn't an option so I thought I'd give it a go.
Flour, yeast and salt are mixed together with coconut milk and left to prove for half an hour.

,

Hmmm! It doesn't seem to have risen much, just spread out a
bit and it's very 'wet'!

So you heat a pan and add oil then drop on a 1/3 cup of dough and push it flat with your wet fingers (being very careful not to burn them in the oil!).
While the first side is cooking you sprinkle sesame seeds over the wet dough.
Then you flip the flat bread and cook the other side.

I cooked all the breads and heated them in the oven just before dinner.

Now to tackle the lobsters!!!!!!

We got our two lobsters from a local fisherman.
They were very fresh and very lively! 😅

We cooked them and left them to cool while we ate the soup. 
Then it was time to free the meat from those hard shells!
Lobsters make such a mess! 😋
We also made a sauce to go with them - I forgot to photograph it.
Butter is melted with shallots and then wine and vinegar are added and then quite a bit more butter and a split vanilla pod.
We were surprised how little sauce there was but it was very nice!
Spinach and onion were sauteed to accompany the lobster.

                                                    The Meal

Mkatra Foutra

Soupe Faux Pois (garnished with a slice of lime)

Langouste a la Vanilla
(We had started eating before I remembered to take a photo!)

The Verdict

YUMMMY!

Once again we have been surprised. 
The soup was so good, the coconut milk really lifted the flavour of the peas and the cayenne pepper gave a surprise kick.
The flat bread were also very moreish - they will be made again.
As for the lobster, being very fresh and just lightly steamed the meat was melt-in-your-mouth. The vanilla sauce was extremely rich but gorgeously buttery with a small hint of vanilla.

What a awesome meal made extra special as it was
shared with some awesome friends!
Thanks for coming to Comoros with us Susan and Stephen.

36 - Columbia

The Republic of Colombia is in northern  South America, it is bordered by Venezuela, Brazil, Panama, Ecuador and Peru. The Caribbean Ocean is to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Its capital is its largest city Bogota. 

The country's population is about 50 million and it has been inhabited since about 12,000 BC, discovered by the Spanish in 1499 and colonized by them in the mid 16th century. It gained its independence in 1819.

Colombia is the third highest megadiverse country. That means it has the highest number of different plants and animals, only Brazil and Indonesia have more. 

More than 99% of the population speak Spanish but there are also 65 Amerindian languages, 2 Creole languages and the Romani language. The people are ethnically diverse: original native inhabitants; Spanish; Africans; Europeans and people from the middle east. Due to this diversity the influence on the cuisine is vast, the range of flora and fauna also impacts this.

We decided a few weeks ago what we wanted to cook but we needed pork belly with skin still on it. This is difficult to track down locally so we had to wait to source it from the excellent Osprey Roost butchers shop in Halifax.

Our menu is Chicharron Colombiano, Chupe de Papa and Ensalada de Frijol y Maiz. 

First we made the bean salad so that it could marinate for a while. The recipe called for a range of beans - black, red, garbanzo and white - if we had bought cans of all those beans we would have had a huge bean salad so we bought a can of mixed beans. The beans weren't the same but similar enough. We also used cooked sweetcorn, red onion and cilantro (coriander). The dressing contained lime juice white wine vinegar, olive oil, cumin powder and chili powder.

Ready to eat.

                                  

    Next on to the potatoes. 

The recipe reminded me of a slightly bland Dauphinoise potatoes - no garlic! 

The recipe said you needed 4 potatoes - no mention of size or weight! and said to slice them into 4 - which way? Lengthways? Who knows? Anyway, we decided we would slice them like we do dauphinoise just thicker.

We just used two potatoes as they were quite big but as we added the milk and water we decided to use the whole recipe measurement for the liquid. We added ground cumin and salt and pepper to the milk/water. The recipe also asked us to add 1/4 teaspoon of 'colour'!!!!!!! We googled this and found that it is a spice called annatto, which as an orangey red colour to the sauce. We used paprika just to give a similar colour.                      

                                                   

The potatoes were sticking out of the liquid so we had to turn them to make sure they cooked all over.

                         We had to cut the pork belly into pieces and cut through                       the meat and fat so that the skin held the pieces together. 

                                               

     The pork is then rubbed with baking powder and baking soda          and put in a pan with water and salt.                          

                                               

This bubbles away as the water evaporates.

Once the water had gone the pork started to crisp up. The fat spat everywhere and the kitchen filled with the smell of very hot oil! We forgot to take a photo of this - basically it got pretty dangerous to get too close to the cooker! 

Suddenly the pork is very crisp and very dark coloured!

                                                 

               As a final touch we sprinkled grated mozzarella cheese                           over the potatoes and melted it under the grill (broiler).                      

                                               

Then we ate it! 

                                               

We got some wine to have with our meal. For some reason we got Chilean wine - I think we got muddled and mistook Chile for Colombia - easy mistake! Same continent I guess! I'm not sure we would have got any Colombian alcohol in our local liquor store anyway!

The Verdict

It was delicious! The pork was so crunchy and crispy and a fun treat. The bean salad was very moreish and something we will make again.

The biggest surprise was the potatoes. They were really good. They were creamy and fluffy with a gentle hint of cumin. This is an easy way of making a dauphinoise style potato and an addition of garlic will definitely add to it!  

35 Chile

The Republic of Chile is a country in the west of South America. It is a long narrow country situated between the Andes and the Pacific Ocean. It is the southernmost country in the world and closest to Antarctica. It shares borders with Peru, Bolivia and Argentina.

Spain colonised the region in the 16th century and its national language is Spanish. Before this the country was ruled by the Incas. Chile gained independence in the 1818 and is now the most stable country in South America.

Chilean cuisine is a reflection of the countries diverse locations with an assortment of seafood, beef, fruit and vegetables. Traditional recipes include asado - a type of barbecue; cazuela - a type of stew; and empanadas - a baked or fried pastry filled with meat.

We decided to make empanadas - basically because Gary is Cornish and they are similar to the excellent Cornish pasty!

We wanted to make Chilean Pebre Salsa as an accompaniment - but an ice storm prevented our trip to the shops so we had to go without. It contains cilantro, tomatoes, onion, chili peppers, garlic and red wine vinegar.

For a change we also decided to make a dessert - the ice storm meant we had to put this off until we could get to the store to buy a tin of sweetened condensed milk to make Brazo de Reina, Chilean Dulce de Leche cake.

The filling for the empanadas has to be made the day before. You use ground beef, beef broth, onions, flour, red pepper and cumin. The meat and onion are fried until brown then the spices are added and finally the broth. This is simmered for 30 minutes, cooled and put in the fridge over night.

The pastry is made from milk, warm water, flour, salt, egg yolks and lard. It's quite firm. Once it is all combined you make even sized balls - we were making one third of the recipe and I made 6 balls. I even got the scales out to weigh them!

You also need an olive for each empanada - they are meant to be black but we only had green, 2 raisins and some slices of boiled egg.

                    The pastry is rolled into a 7 inch circle and the                 filling arranged in the middle.

                     The sides and bottom of the empanada                   are folded in and brushed with egg.

Then they are baked for 30 minute.

This is what they look like inside! mmmm

Finally we were able to get out and buy the ingredients for our Chilean dessert. Brazo de Reina is Chilean Dulce de Leche cake.

The tin of condensed milk had to be boiled for three hours.
I haven't done this since university when my flat mate used to do this regularly and then dunk a banana into it instead of using it to make banoffee pie!

To make the cake you whip the eggs whites to make stiff peaks and then slowly add them to the combined egg yolk, sugar and vanilla essence.
Then you fold in the flour.

I had a panic at this time as there didn't seem enough mixture
 to fill the pan. It spread very thinly.

While the cake was baking I braved opening the tin of condensed milk. It had turned a really creamy caramel colour and tasted very sweet.

The baked cake had to be cooled for 5 minutes
then turned onto a tea towel.
 I trimmed the edges

Then I carefully rolled it up and left the cake to cool.

The dulce de leche spread on the unrolled cake.

Rolled up again, sprinkled with icing sugar and ready to eat.

The Verdict

The empanadas were really good - not as good as Cornish pasties obviously, but still much more tasty than I had expected. It's a shame we didn't have the salsa to go with them - I think that would have added to the authentic taste.

The Brazo de Reina was surprisingly morish - but extremely sweet. We have loads of the dulce de leche left and I'm not quite sure what we are going to do with it! Haha. The actual cake wasn't too sweet so it offsets the cream a bit. I think I'll continue to just put strawberry jam in my Swiss rolls in the future!