Cachupa is the quintessential Cape Verdean dish. While there are countless variations, almost all Cachupas have hominy, beans, and potatoes. Some add yucca. Any assortment of vegetables and legumes can be added, depending on availability. For those who can afford it, dried and smoked Portuguese sausages are also added for tremendous “stick to your bones” flavor. Fish, such as tuna and wahoo, is a little more attainable for the average citizen. Our version is vegan and more affordable.
In cooking, en brochette refers to food cooked, and sometimes served, on brochettes, or skewers. The French term generally applies to French cuisine, while other terms like shish kebab, satay, or souvlaki describe the same technique in other cuisines. Food served en brochette is generally grilled.
The skewer itself, the brochette, can also be used to dip pieces of food in a fondue. In those cases it normally takes a slightly different form and is sold as a brochette de fondue or as a set along with the fondue pot.
Typically, meats and vegetables are put on a brochette, but small pieces of bread can also be skewered along with the other ingredients.
Chicken Yassa is a Senegalese stew which is also known as Yassa au poulet.
The chicken is marinated with lemon and mustard for hours before it been cooked. This sauce is popular all over West Africa, it can be found in Gambia, Guinea, Ivory coast and many other African countries.
Yassa can also be made with beef, Lamb or fish. The sauce mainly consists of onions.
Moambe is a traditional African stew. The thick red sauce is made from the fruit of the African oil palm. Chunks of beef, mutton, or chicken are then added to complete the dish.
To make moambe, the marinated meat and chopped onions are put in a Dutch oven. The meat is then left to simmer until it becomes golden brown. A few cups of water and cut tomatoes are then added before putting in the palm oil sauce. The dish is then left alone for an hour for the meat to tenderize before serving it on a plate with fufu or chikwanga.
Chad is a large landlocked country in Central Africa. It is one of the poorest and most corrupted countries of the world and most Westerners probably know nothing about it. As is common in Africa, it is home to over 200 ethnic groups and like many African countries, it unfortunately has a history of civil wars, attempted coups, messy politics and such. Over half of the people are muslims, though about 1/3 are Christian. Polygamy is very common. The country has a rich cultural heritage, especially around music. There is only one cinema in the country, but very small scale movie production still exists.
The main staple food of Chad is millet, usually formed into balls which are dipped into sauces. It is also made into various alcoholic drinks. Other starchy foods include sorghum, corn, rice, manioc, and potatoes. Other popular ingredients include fish, yoghurt, various beans, bananas, some nuts, peanuts, sesame seeds, dried fruit, sweet potatoes, onions, tomatoes and okra. Foods may be seasoned with e.g. lemon juice and zest, chili, coriander, cardamom, cumin, garlic, cinnamon, cloves and honey.
Egusi is one the most widely consumed soups in Nigeria, it’s prepared by most tribes. Egusi is ground up shelled melon seed. Its dry milled and combined with a little water to form a paste. The paste is then combined with seafood and cows meat to make the soup.
Egusi is traditionally served with a starch. Possible starch options include Iyan (Pounded yam), Garri (fermented cassava), elubo (fermented yam) or semolina. The vegetable used in egusi preparation is also very important, it goes a long well in defining the taste of the soup. Great choices are tete (calallo), spinach, ugu (fluted pumpkin leaf), ewuro (bitter leaf), Gbure (water leaf), amunututu (malabar spinach), kale, collard and or scent leaf (efirin).
The main factor that set Yoruba style egusi soup apart is the presence of clumps/lumps . According to my grandmother, egusi is just as delicious as meat in this lumpy form. There are different methods to getting and retaining lumps in the soup, I will be using the frying method which happens to be most straightforward . Yoruba style egusi is also cooked with stew base (sans tomato) and contains iru. The recipe can be modified without these ingredients.
Ndolé (or N'Dolé, or Ndole) is a hearty soup from Cameroon. It is made from a variety of ingredients that, for the non-African, might seem to be an odd combination. Look for bitterleaf and dried shrimp in international grocery stores. As the name implies, the bitterleaf (also called bitter leaf) adds a distinctive flavor to the soup, but if none is available substitute spinach or other greens. Skip the optional ingredients to make the most basic Ndolé soup.
In the North of Portugal we see animals as a whole and, therefore, it is possible to find dishes that honor all cuts of meat, ranging from the noblest ones (loin, belly, ribs) to the “inferior” ones (tongue, heart, blood). This comes from our earliest origins back in the time when the Iberian Peninsula was occupied by Suevian and other tribes, which were used to eating what is now considered to be inferior cuts.
These dishes are prepared mainly using pork and chicken and their common denominator is their ability to make unusual cuts shine, either through flavor or consistency. They are part of our rich cultural heritage, and in Porto, we take pride in this and even call ourselves tripeiros, which literally translates into tripe eaters!
In order to introduce you to the gastronomical culture of Northern Portugal, we are starting a recipe series called Tripeiro, which is dedicated to tripes! Think about stomach, heart, tongue, liver, blood, etc. the possibilities are immense, as is the pleasure of discovering all of them!