Moroccan Chicken~Poulet à la marocaine

A recipe will follow....

Express Thiebou Yapp-(Sénégal)

 Express because it was a busy weekday dinner. No time for long marinade or lovely simmering but the taste was at the rendez vous. A fast Thieubo Yapp is always good for the soul. 

I especially made it  for our little American African French, who was missing his Senegalese grandpa. He said that Papi’s rices are the best but it was really good. Well, I took it as a compliment of course!!

For shortcut, I used a pressure cooker and the microwave. Yes!!!

It is not traditional but it tastes good! Of course, I prefer the long simmering version but sometimes, time is lacking , so shortcutting traditional ways is acceptable.

 The traditional recipe directs to cook the rice in the stew with the meat. However, I hate having a burnt sticking pot and it is harder to evenly cook rice.  Again, the traditional recipe calls for broken rice, but I am addicted to white jasmine rice. However, it is much easier to obtain a perfectly cooked rice with broken rice. So try if you can. Broken rice is cheaper too!  When I went to Senegal, I noticed that everybody loves the burnt crunchy rice like a delicacy served as a condiment with hot peppers.  My rice was not as red as it should because it is my express version with less tomato. Well, I must post a traditional version later…

Ingredients

3 cups of rice

2 pounds of meat cut in medium chunks

(beef ribs, beef stew or lamb/ it depends on which cut you like)

1 green cabbage

4 medium carrots

3 medium onions

1 Eggplant

1 medium cassava root if you like it.

( I usually use frozen cassava roots, but I did not have any)

1/3 cup olive oil or vegetable oil or palm oil

1 clove garlic chopped

Beef broth or Maggi cubes or Kub or  about 2-4 cubes

Salt, , pepper to taste

3 small bay leaves

1 tablespoon of tomato paste

3 tbsp Mustard

1tsp cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon of paprika

Instructions

In a mixing bowl, put meat, spices, mustard, salt, bay leaves, let blend in while chopping the rest of vegetables. Then, in a pressure cooker, bring to heat the oil and brown the meat cut into pieces for 10 minutes. With my little experience a good browning is the key so do not be afraid to let it brown.

Add sliced onions, let simmer about 5-10 minutes.

Add your Maggi cubes plus 6 cups of boiled water or your beef broth.

Cover with hot water up to the limit line, close your pressure cooker, cook to medium heat for 30 minutes.

Open your pressure cooker then put all your vegetables.

When your veggies are cooked, remove and set aside.

I cooked my jasmine rice in the microwave with boiled water+ some of the stew sauce +1teaspon of paprika for 20min.(exactly twice 10 min,I leave the bowl in the microwave until plating)I use a medium size ceramic bowl that I close with a small ceramic plate. It works for me. The liquids must cover one inch above the rice!

Keep on cooking meat in stew at medium heat (lid off )until meat falls off the bones!!

When everything is cooked, serve on a large plate and everybody digs in with spoons or  hands!!

Do not forget to put Maggi sauce for the purist. Enjoy...

Oven baked Makrout for tea!!!

These are oven baked Makrout!!
Oh yes!! With my last carrefour mint tea!:)
To be honest I used two recipes and changed it to fit my need.
The first is from Un amour de cuisine, the second les recettes de ratiba.
 I did a little bit like both and I need to find the piece of paper, on which I wrote my own measures!!!
Recipe is coming...

Mataba-Isombe- Saka saka-Cassava leaves

Here is one of my ultimate comfort food. The cassava leaves are called Mataba in Comoros, and Isombe in Burundi and Rwanda. In Congo, it is known as Pondu or Saka saka. It is the taste of my childhood.  They are healthy and high in protein. According to studies, consumption of 400g cassava leaves is equivalent to protein intake of 45 to 50 grams. In Comoros, it is often cooked with coconut milk, probably like Filipinos would cook it. However, I called my mother for her recipes. It takes a long time to cook this healthy green. It took me 3hours. So I did a big batch, and froze small portions.

Ingredients:

24 oz of frozen chopped cassava leaves

4 large leeks sliced
2 chopped garlic

5 medium onions sliced

6 Tbsp of olive oil

4 Tbsp of peanut butter
Salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper 

1.      Bring a large pot of water to a boil; add  Cassava leaves,  cook for 1h30

2.      Add remaining ingredients to the cassava leaves and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer.

3.      Simmer until the water is mostly gone

4.      Then taste if the leaves are still hard add water and keep on going until greens are really tender.  This is where, I become impatient.  Most of the water should be evaporated, to get a creamy green sauce.

I like to eat this with a side of ultra garlicky pan fried eggplants, large shrimps and brown rice.The taste is a mix of spinach and collard green with  the familiar taste of cassava root. I love it!!!

Cassava Leaves in my mind

Yesterday, I explored three Asian stores for frozen Cassava leaves!!! Tomorrow, I will try stores specialized in Filipino products. It has been years since my last plate of cassava leaves. In Comoros, it is called Mataba, home it is also called isombe or sombe, and commonly known as Saka saka or Pondu.  I did call my mother for the recipe!! It seems that a lot of people around here might be craving those leaves. Seriously three stores were out! Nevertheless, I did find grated cassava. It is perfect for a gluten free recipes:“Cassava Bibingka” a Filipino cake, or Bâton de Manioc steamed  in banana leaves, a sort of central African bread.

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) leaves contained a high level of protein. That is why they are so popular. They have a high content of protein, minerals and vitamins. In Humanity Development Library, it is said that "Eating 50 grams of cassava leaves-the equivalent of a large salad-or a mere three grams of red palm oil per day could prevent a child from going blind. Yet half a million children are destined to blindness, and two-thirds of them to die, for lack of a daily supply of the crucial amounts of vitamin A contained in such common tropical foods". According to studies, consumption of 400g cassava leaves is equivalent to protein intake of 45 to 50 grams. It is a smart addition to any vegetarian meals.  According to Wikipedia, the leaves are used to treat hypertension, headache, irritable bowel syndrome and pain. Personally, they are a taste of home loaded with protein and a souvenir of my childhood.

In pursue of Cassava leaves ...