40 - Costa Rica

The Republic of Costa Rica is in Central America.

It is bordered by Nicaragua, Panama, the Caribbean Sea to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It has a population of around 5 million. It is a long standing democratic country and the people are highly educated as the government spends 6.9% of its budget on education compared to most countries who only spend 4.4%.

Costa Rica was inhabited by indigenous people before being ruled by the Spanish during the 16th century. It finally became independent again in 1847. In 1949 Costa Rica abolished its army and is one of only a few countries that still do not have an army!   

Costa Rican cuisine is influenced mainly by Native American, African and Spanish traditions. Dishes like tamale are very traditional having been originally made by indigenous people, the Spanish introduced spices and meat from livestock. The 19th century saw influences from Africa and the Caribbean.

For our Costa Rican meal we decided to make their national dish Gallo Pinto, peas and rice (literal translation is spotted rooster). It is usually served for breakfast but can be eaten at every meal. 

We had our Granddaughters staying with us and so we decided to make our Costa Rican meal for brunch.

To accompany the Gallo Pinto we made scrambled eggs, fried plantain, avocado and corn tortilla.

To make the Gallo Pinto first saute the peppers, onions and garlic.

Then add the black beans

Everything is stirred together with something called Salsa Lizano.
We couldn't find it anywhere but apparently you can substitute Worcestershire sauce or HP sauce, so we did!

Sprinkle over chopped coriander/cilantro leaves.

Finally add the rice and some liquid.

We had two helpers to make the corn tortillas.

The tortillas are made from corn flour and water

Make into small balls

and flatten them using the tortilla press.

Then dry fry until cooked

They can be kept warm until the rest of the meal is ready.

Serving the scrambled egg.

We also had avocado, sour cream (made from Greek yoghurt and lemon juice) and fried plantain

The final meal.

The Verdict

It was ok!

The avocado and scrambled eggs disappeared very quickly. 

The children weren't as keen on eating the corn tortillas as they had been making them, we have them quite often so were used to the taste. The rice was interesting, I think it will go well with some chilli during another meal. We probably won't make it again though.

38 and 39 - Congo-Brazzaville and Democratic Republic of Congo

There are two countries with Congo in their name. We have decided to combine them on our food journey because the food is pretty much the same. However we are aware of the many differences between these countries.

Congo-Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo, or The Congo, is a country situated on the western coast of Central Africa, to the west of the Congo River. It is bordered by Gabon, Cameroon, Central African Republic and Democratic Republic of Congo. It was formally part of the French colony of Equatorial Africa.

Democratic Republic of Congo, was know for a time as Zaire. It is in Central Africa and is the second largest country in Africa. It is bordered by, Congo-Brazzaville, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia, Angola and the South Atlantic Ocean. It was first inhabited 90,000 years ago, more recently it was a Belgium Colony.

The cuisine of Congo-Brazzaville and Democratic Republic of Congo represents food of all the indigenous peoples. Cassava, fufu, rice, plantain and potatoes are the main staple foods. Congolese meals usually comprise of a starchy food along with vegetables and meat in the form of a stew. 

For our visit to these two counties we decided to make Moambe Chicken with rice and fried plantain. Moambe is both countries national dish. 

The ingredients included, chicken, onion, garlic, tomato sauce, cayenne, paprika and bouillon.
You add peanut butter later.

After sautéing the onion and garlic and adding the spices you put in the chicken and tomato sauce.

This is brought to the boil and cooked for 15 minutes.

Now the peanut butter is stirred in and it's
cooked for another 10 to 15 minutes.
I put it in the oven to finish cooking.

Meanwhile we prepared the rice

and the plantain

You slice the plantain and gently fry it (we used avocado oil) until caramelized on each side.

Then you are ready to serve the Congolese food.

Chicken Moambe

Fried plantain

Plain rice

The complete meal.

The Verdict

We really enjoyed this meal. It had a lot of flavour and the plantain was very ripe so they had a slightly sweet taste which made them delicious.

We made something similar to this from another country. The traditional recipe calls for palm oil to be used. We found this oil had such a strong and unusual taste that it spoiled the food for us, it is also usually unethically harvested, so we used our usual choice of avocado oil.