Picked because of its name! (Week 14 - Chad)

OUR EXPERIENCE

I think my husband and son were slightly bemused when I asked them to put a blanket on the lounge flour when we had dinner one evening. They were even more bemused when I put three bowls of food down and just gave out little ‘holding dishes’ with forks. But, it was a lovely experience as we were all sat together sharing a meal in the truest sense; and it was a lovely meal too. Broiled fish, doesn’t sound too exciting but it tasked wonderful, and my husband loved the Njamma-jamma with it – which I had picked because I liked the name!  I also did a spicy couscous, as it seemed appropriate. For our pudding we had the Soet Koekies, which were different, but still nice. I think I made them too big, or not cooked them for long enough. The flavour was nice, but the texture was a little too doughy for a cookie. Still, we enjoyed the food we had, in a way I wish we had longer to explore Chadian food, but we were off on holiday. When we return it will be Chilean food.

Cooked with score (out of 100):

Broiled Fish……………………………………………………………83

Njamma-jamma…………………………………………………….80

Soet Koekies …………………………………………………………70

Source for all recipes: www.wikia.com 

Broiled Fish

6 Fish
2 cloves of garlic
2tbsp flour
5 tbsp oil
3 tomatoes, sliced
Salt, pepper and chilli
 

1. Cut the fish in pieces and dry. Spread the garlic in the flesh.
2. Dip the fish in seasoned flour, and heat the oil until hot.
3. Add fish, and when brown add the tomato. Add enough water to cover, bring to boil and then simmer for 40 mins. 

Njamma-jamma

Oil

Garlic,

1 onion

½ tsp cayenne pepper

2 or more lbs of greens (chard, kali)

1 cup water / chicken stock 

1. Heat the oil and sauté the onions and garlic, then add the pepper.
2. Reduce the heat and add the greens, cook for several minutes – stirring often, but keep covered.
3. Add water/stock and cook until tender.
    
   
   

Soet Koekies

2 cups flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
1 cup brown sugar
4 oz chopped almonds
½ cup butter
2 eggs, beaten
¼ cup sherry (I used milk)

1. Combine all except the butter, eggs and sherry (milk)
2. Add the butter, then the beaten eggs and red wine and mix in to a ball. Pre-heat the oven to 350C.
3. Roll out the dough to ¼ inch and cut into 2 inch rounds. Bake 1 inch apart for 10-15 minutes.
    

Country

Chad is a landlocked country in Africa, despite its diversity in ethnic groups the main language spoken is French or Arabic. They gained their independence from France on 1th August 1960. About a third of Chad is covered by the Sahara Desert in the north, making it a very inhospitable place to live. Lake Chad was once believed to have been a large inland sea, yet has diminished in size over the centuries. It is believed, however, to have always maintained a shallow depth of between 30 – 40 feet.

 

CUISINE

Chad is made up of over 140 different ethnic groups, so it has diverse food. There is no shared "national food culture," although the one dish fairly common throughout the country is a kind of set grain porridge, made of sorghum or millet flour, served with sauces that contain meat, dried fish, tomatoes, onions, and good spices. Some north-south divide is apparent in food traditions. In the south (in contrast to the north) there is no fish in the diet, and there is less consumption of milk products from livestock herds. The diet of southern peoples also shows more variety in the forest products, tubers, spices, and fruits that are consumed. Staple foods, apart from sorghum and millet, are maize, manioc, potatoes, rice, sesame, and some bean species. (Source: www.everyculture.com). The men and women eat separately, except for their main evening meal which is eaten from shared bowls on the floor.