April 13 -  African Cuisine
The Carefree Gourmet - by Joyce McCombs

Hold on to your spatula, because this week we’re leaving the snow and cool temperatures and scooting half way around the world to sample the warmth of the tropics and some regional African cuisine.
I was inspired to investigate this tasty topic by Delta’s own recently returned world traveler, Judy Dewar. She and her intrepid husband Steve, who looked mighty fine in his dashing safari hat, traveled through Kenya for an entire month and did everything from take a hot air balloon ride to sample giraffe meat. Last Friday evening, Judy presented beautiful slides of their trip to a very appreciative crowd at the Delta Library. For nearly two hours she held us spellbound as she shared incredible travel stories and showed beautifully crafted items made by the Masai people. We capped off the evening by sampling a few dishes I prepared after some careful research and a couple shopping challenges.

Learning about Kenyan cuisine was fascinating because it’s such blend of different cultures. Being close to India, there’s a strong tradition of curry and other deeply flavored spices, and being in the tropical zone means there’s an abundance of luscious fruit all year round.

Locally hunted game meat is a staple, and is often served as stews or kabobs, and is accompanied by plain rice, mashed sweet or white potatoes or a familiar dish known to all Kenyans as Ugali, a steamed corn meal dough. Fish is only popular on the coast and because of its mild flavor, is more likely to be served with highly spiced rice. Chapati, a sort of pancake type bread made of flour and water, is baked flat in a skillet and torn into pieces and shared. Judy told me school children are served Githeri for lunch which is a mixture of beans, rice, corn which may be their only hot meal of the day. Nuts are also prevalent, and a great source of protein and appear as a chopped garnish on top of stews and curries and soups, especially cashews, peanuts and pistachios.

Dessert is often tropical fruit, served sliced on platters or chopped into a salad. Pineapple, banana, papaya, mango, passion fruit, tamarind, coconut, guava, orange, lime, cherimoya, melon, watermelon are all popular. I also found out that the word “banana” in Swahili means "squeezed" so if you want a banana, you should ask for a “Ndizi” or you could get a big hug instead!

The national drink is tea, or chai, but in Kenya it’s prepared more like a bowl of soup. Sugar, tea, ginger, and milk are added to cold water and the mixture is brought to a boil and served piping hot. Strong Kenyan coffee (easily found here in the states) is served with steamed milk, and raw or brown sugar.
During the refreshment break, several people told me they didn’t like curry, but they sure loved this first dish. Judging by the lack of leftovers, I guess they really did! The nice thing about curry is that you can make it as strong or as weak as you like, very much like adjusting your chili recipe to suit your own taste. This version is fairly mild, and as it cooks overnight the initial sharpness fades to a sweeter kind of hot. Curry not only wakes up your taste buds, it heats your whole body up, causing you to perspire, which in turn causes a cooling sensation, which is always welcome in the tropical zone.

Vegetable Curry
Remember the spices fade a bit toward the end of the cooking time, so when the vegetables are just tender, taste the sauce carefully and add more curry or chili powder if needed, then cook for an additional 30 minutes.
Place in slow cooker or clay baking pot:
1 thinly sliced onion
1 small potato, sliced
1 sweet potato or yam in chunks
1 eggplant, sliced, salted and drained
3 carrots, thinly sliced
1 zucchini, halved and sliced
1 yellow squash, sliced into rounds
1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
¼ cup green peas
¼ cup corn
To 3 cups water, add:
½ cup chopped tomatoes or catsup
2 tablespoons curry powder
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon allspice
Mix well and pour over vegetables.
Cook on lowest heat for 12 hours or overnight, stirring and adding water if needed. Sauce will thicken as it cooks. Serve over rice and top with chopped peanuts. Good with a banana yogurt smoothie if you’re not used to the curry and want to ease the heat a little: half a banana, a small carton of fruit yogurt, half a cup of milk and two ice cubes in the blender.

Pumpkin Soup
If you can find a pumpkin to hollow out and serve this in, that’s the authentic way. Keep it warm in the oven on a cookie sheet at about 300 for up to 30 minutes before serving.
One yellow onion, finely diced
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
2 cups chicken stock
One large can pumpkin
2 cups milk, or half & half
Chopped pistachios, parsley, sour cream

Sauté the onion in the butter over medium heat until very tender, then sprinkle with curry powder. Reduce heat to low and simmer five minutes, stirring often. Add chicken stock and pumpkin, blending well and cook until bubbly. Add milk or cream and heat slowly until steaming. Top with chopped pistachios or parsley, or sour cream.

Chapati, Alaskan Style
I didn’t have enough time to make the traditional Kenyan bread, but on a web site I found that pita bread makes a good substitute. This simple version was a sell out at Judy’s show and nothing could be easier.

Preheat oven to 350 and have a cookie sheet ready
One package pita (Greek style pocket bread)
Butter
Salt, or onion or garlic salt or powder

Cut the pocket bread into wedges (four cuts on each circle) and carefully open each one. Brush with a bit of butter, sprinkle lightly with salt or flavoring as desired. Place on cookie sheet and bake for ten minutes until bottom is light brown, turn pieces and bake 8 minutes more until very crisp. Serve warm with soup or stew.

Mango Ice Cream
I was worried about this because it didn’t call for an ice cream maker, but it was very simple to make and the results were spectacular. Be sure to grate the lemon peel as small as possible and don’t get any of the white pith, as it will taste bitter. I used mostly fresh mangos and one jar of the kind packed in their own juice, which improved things considerably. I made a triple batch and used disposable flat pans with tight lids to freeze the cream and they worked great.

Whip together until stiff peaks form:
1 cup heavy cream
½ cup sugar

In a 2-quart bowl, combine thoroughly:
2 cups mashed, very ripe mangos
2 tablespoons finely grated lemon peel
¼ cup lemon juice
½ cup evaporated milk
½ teaspoon salt
Fold in whipped cream & freeze until firm. Top with toasted coconut or crushed pineapple. Makes one quart.

CREAMY LIME CONCONUT BARS
I’m including these for two reasons: First, because the lime and coconut flavors fit in with our tropical theme and second because I shamelessly begged Donna Morgan for the recipe after the Sportsman’s International Dinner last month. They are melt in your mouth fantastic and if you make some, lock them up and hide them someplace because I’ll be at your door begging for some in no time.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Have 1/2 cup coconut ready for final topping, and in the meantime, do this:
Filling: 1 cup lime juice
2 (14 oz) cans sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon freshly grated lime peel
1 to 2 drops of green food color
Combine all filling ingredients in large bowl and mix until smooth; set aside. (Mixture will thicken slightly)
Crust: 11/2 cups flour
½ cup sugar
½ cup slivered almonds, ground
½ cup cold butter
Combine flour, sugar and ground almonds in large bowl; cut in butter with pastry blender or fork until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Pat into ungreased 9 x 13 pan. Bake 16 to 18 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.

Pour filling over hot crust. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup coconut and continue baking for 15 to 17 minutes or until filling is set. Cool completely and cut into bars. Store refrigerated.
  

Index to Carefree Gourmet Articles

Sourdough Sensations June 29, 2007

Kitty Treats June 29, 2007

Dog Treats April 20, 2007

Sandwich Plan March 23, 2007

Carefree Wacky Ingredients March 8, 2007

Homestead Hearth January 25, 2007

Carefree Cooking 101 January 11, 2007

Holiday Punch December 23, 2006

Holiday Treats December 12, 2006

Thanksgiving II November 20, 2006

Standby Favorites October 16, 2006

Cabbage October 11, 2006

Apples September 22, 2006

Kids Cook July 6, 2006

Wacky Tips June 8, 2006

Graduation May 11, 2006

African Cuisine April 13, 2006

A Bit of Irish March 23, 2006

Crazy for Carrots March 9, 2006

February Vacation February 23, 2006

Easy Budget January 12, 2006

Christmas Treats December 22, 2005

Sweet Surprises December 8, 2005

Turkey Times  November 22, 2005

Grand Champions - Part 2 - October 13, 2005

Janet Boyer September 22, 2005

Grand Champions September 5, 2005

Blueberries  August 12, 2005

Halibut and Zukes July 28, 2005

Orange Juice July 14, 2005

Happy Birthday June 30, 2005

Honey June 9, 2005

Picnic Dishes May 26, 2005

Celebration Salads May 12, 2005

Kraft Foods April 21, 2005

Shrimp April 7, 2005

Carry on Airline snacks March 25, 2005

Sandwiches March 10, 2005

Back from Vacation February 24, 2005

Super Bowl Snack Attack  January 14, 2005

Ginger Snaps December 29, 2004

Christmas Memories - December 12, 2004

Thanksgiving November 23, 2004

Glen and Meat  October 29, 2004

Blueberry Pie Champion  September 30, 2004

Fair Winners  September 2, 2004

Glen's Knives June 11, 2004

Aunt Aggie Tells All... May 13, 2004

Crazy About Catsup April 29, 2004

Carefree Clearance Special April 8, 2004

Seattle Adventure March 26, 2004

Vegas, part 2 March 12, 2004

Vegas Wind February 12, 2004

Casserole Bonanza January 11, 2004

No Fuss Dishes  December 19, 2003

Fake and Bake Christmas  December 11, 2003