Goi Ga (Vietnamese Chicken Salad)

 Ăn uống hài hoà 

(Eat and drink harmoniously)

Balance is important in every aspect of one's life, including what one cooks and eats. As I continue to explore the cuisines of cultures around the world, I have noticed a current that runs through the recipes and dishes of many cultures, including, by way of example, Vietnamese, Chinese, Thai, Indian and even Native American. It is balance. This balance may take many forms, such as a balance of ingredients or a balance of cooking methods. Nevertheless, it is still there. 

More recently, I found this balance in Gỏi Gá, a chicken salad that is commonly prepared in Vietnam. From what I could find, the salad originated in the north of the country. However, it is dish that is popular throughout Vietnam. Goi Ga is often served at home for family gatherings; but, people can also find the salad being served at festivals and even as street food. When one peruses the ingredient list, they will find a recipe for a light salad that incorporates chicken, fresh vegetables, fresh herbs and a dressing that features one of my favorite ingredients, fish sauce. 

Yet, there is something more fundamental about Goi Ga. It represents balance, or as the Vietnamese would describe it, "Ngũ Hành" or "ngũ vi." I have previously explored the multiple levels of balance in Vietnamese cuisine. For example, there is the balance among the five tastes: spice, sour, bitter, salty and sweet. There is also a balance in texture: crispy crunchy, chewing, soft and silky. There are even further levels of balance, such as in cooking methods. 

Balancing "Ngũ Hành" or "ngũ vi" on multiple levels can seem somewhat like a culinary game of 3-D chess. Gỏi Gá achieves that balance. The ingredient list illustrates the balance across all five tastes: peppers (spice), lime juice and vinegar (bitter), sugar (sweet), and fish sauce (sour and salty). It similarly shows a balance with respect to texture, with crispy elements (fried shallots), crunchy (peanuts), silky (olive oil), soft and chewy (chicken). 

Each bite of the Gỏi Gá brings with it a sense of harmony, and, along with that, a sense of happiness. This recipe is a call to be mindful of ingredients and how they interact. It is a mindfulness that I lack and have struggled to develop, especially given the lack of balance elsewhere in life, such as the work-life balance.  Still, If I can make this dish every once in a while, it will serve as a necessary reminder to take a moment and think more about what I prepare, eat and serve to others.

This may be the reason why I subconsciously keep coming back to dishes from Vietnam or elsewhere, such as China's Sichuan province. It is my own little nudge to find my some balance, even if it is only of the culinary kind. 

GOI GA (VIETNAMESE CHICKEN SALAD)

Recipe from Food & Wine

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon fish sauce
• 1.5 tablespoons fresh lime juice, plus lime wedges for serving
• 1.5 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 serrano chile with seeds, minced
• 1 small garlic clove, minced
• 1 cup vegetable oil for frying
• 2 large shallots, thinly sliced
• Kosher salt
• 4 cups green cabbage (from 1/2 small head), finely shredded
• 2 carrots, finely shredded 
• 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped cilantro
• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped mint
• 3 cups chicken (from 1/2 chicken), shredded
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons coarsely chopped unsalted roasted peanuts

Directions:

1. Prepare the dressing. In a small bowl, combine the sugar, fish sauce, lime juice, vinegar, water, chile and garlic. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Let the dressing stand for 5 minutes.

2. Fry the Shallots. In a small saucepan, heat the vegetable oil until shimmering. Add the shallots and cook over heat heat, stirring constantly, until golden, 3 to 4 minutes. Drain the shallots on paper towels. Reserve the oil for another use. Sprinkle the shallots with salt and let cool.

3. Finish the dish. In a large bowl, toss the cabbage, carrots, red onion, cilantro, mint and shredded chicken. Add the olive oil and the dressing and toss. Sprinkle with the peanuts and fried shallots and serve the chicken salad with lime wedges.

PEACE.

Around the World in 80 Dishes: The Gambia

My Around the World in 80 Dishes challenge reaches another milestone ... the fiftieth (50th) challenge. This particular challenge takes us to The Gambia, which is the smallest country by square mileage on the African continent. A narrative would describe this country as a sliver of land, beginning along the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, at the estuary of a river that shares the same name as the country. That river, the Gambia River, snakes its way inland, as does the country, which extends from north and south along the river. Yet, at its widest point, The Gambia spans only thirty-one (31) miles from north to south. To put that in some perspective, that distance is shorter than the drive down Interstate 95 from Baltimore, Maryland to Washington, D.C.

Agriculture figures prominently in The Gambia. Around seventy-five percent (75%) of the population is involved in one way or another in agriculture, and, their combined effort results in agriculture constituting twenty-five percent (25%) of the country's gross domestic product. One could find a wide range of crops grown along the Gambia River, such as cassava, yams, tomatoes, rice and lentils. However, if you truly want to know more about The Gambia, you need to know more about gerte ... or peanuts. Those groundnuts play an important part in the economy, the culture and the cuisine of the country. 

Source: Aramco

The Portuguese originally introduced the peanut to the region during the sixteenth century. But, it was the British turned who turned it into a cash crop, Today, with the shackles of colonialism long gone, peanuts continue to be the cash crop of The Gambia, grown on one-third of the country's arable land. Those crops support approximately one-quarter of The Gambia's population. It is not just growing the crop, but also processing the peanuts into goods for sale, namely, peanut butter. 

"Every child in The Gambia learns that we depend upon groundnuts." -- Musa Loum

Yet, despite the rather heavy emphasis on agriculture, the country produces only about half of the food its people need to eat. Moreover, food insecurity. poses a significant threat to the people of The Gambia. There are many reasons to explain why there is not enough food, from low crop yields to the exports of the production to countries like the United Kingdom and the United States. For example, approximately sixty percent [60%] of the groundnut production is exported.) According to the World Food Programme, about twenty-seven percent (27%) of the population faces food insecurity, and nearly double that percentage -- 53.4% -- live in poverty. 

There is a even larger threat looming on the horizon ... climate change. Groundnuts, like peanuts, require a certain amount of water. That means there needs to be a certain amount of rain or precipitation. However, growers in The Gambia find that total rainfall has decreased by 8.8 milliliters since 1960. That may not seem like a lot. But for a grower of a subsistence crop, or even a crop destined for export, that change in the amount of rain means something. The reduction in rain has resulted from more erratic rain patterns. Those uncertain patterns result in smaller peanuts and, by extension, smaller yields, creating greater issues for a very small country and its people. 

MAIN COURSE

For this challenge, I draw my inspiration from the peanut. I prepared the national dish of The Gambia, which is known as Domada. The name -- Domada, or perhaps more appropriately Domodah or Tigadena -- means peanut butter sauce. That is an apt description of the reddish-orange stew, whose aroma and taste feature peanut butter. Domoda is typically prepared with whatever vegetables are available, along with tomato paste, chicken stock and maggi cubes (bouillon cubes). It also features some protein, usually beef or chicken.   

DOMADA (GAMBIAN PEANUT STEW)

Recipe from Daring Gourmet

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 pound beef steak or chicken breast, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 Roma tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 can (3 oz) tomato paste
• 3/4 cup of natural, unsweetened peanut butter
• 4 Maggi or Knorr tomato bouillon cubes
• 3 cups water
• Scotch bonnet chiles, diced, according to heat preference
• 4 cups pumpkin or sweet potato, diced
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Prepare the stew. Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven. Sauté the onions until golden. Add the beef (or chicken) and garlic and continue to sauté until the beef is no longer pink (or the chicken is browned). Add the tomatoes and cook for 3 minutes.  Add the tomato paste, chiles, peanut butter and stir to combine. Add the water and bouillon cubes.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add squash, cover and continue to cook for 35-40 minutes or until the pumpkin or sweet potato is tender, stirring occasionally.  Season with salt and pepper.

2. Finish the dish. Serve hot with rice.

*    *    *

The preparation of Domada was fairly easy and the resulting dish is very delicious. The hardest part of this challenge is preparing the national dish of The Gambia while knowing that so many Gambians live in poverty and suffer from food insecurity. That knowledge has been weighing a lot on me lately as I explore cuisines and cultures where the people are struggling to survive. Until next time ...

PEACE.

Chengdu Chicken with Black Beans, Chiles, and Peanuts

There are only a small number of chefs that I follow on social media or the Internet; and, I follow them for very specific reasons. For example, I follow chef Sean Sherman, who is reviving Native American foodways through education and, more recently, through practice with his restaurant, Owamni. I also follow chef Michael Symon because, at first, he is a home-town chef, but, in recent years, he has been doing great work in promoting anti-inflammatory recipes and cooking. And then there is chef Andrew Zimmern, whose work on television and in the kitchen helped to expand my thinking about exploring new cuisines. These opportunities led to my desire to also learn more about the cultures in which those cuisines arise. And, for the few who follow this blog, it may explain much of what I post and why.

So when I get recipes from Andrew Zimmern, especially those involving dishes from around the world, I take notice. One particular recipe caught my eye: Chengdu Chicken with Black Beans, Chiles and Peanuts.  I got that recipe from Zimmern's weekly newsletter back on October 16, 2018. I bookmarked it with every intention of making that dish. However, for a variety of reasons, it took me more than two and one-half years to actually make the dish. The wait was entirely worth it.

The new ingredients: toban djan and
douchi (fermented black beans)

One reason why it took me a while to make this dish is that the recipe called for the use of ingredients that I had not used in the past. There is toban djan (or doubanjiang), which is a fermented chile bean paste. The paste is made from fermented broad beans, chiles, soybeans, salt and flour. Toban djan has been called the "soul of Sichuan cuisine," because it figures prominently in many well known provincial dishes. There is also douchi or fermented black beans. And, as I discovered, they are not just any fermented black beans. Douchi have been found in sealed in a Chinese tomb that dates back to 165 B.C.E., which makes it the oldest, known soy product out there.  Of these two new ingredients, I was able to find toban djan fairly easily in my local Asian grocery store. It took a little more work to track down the douchi. 

However, once I had all of the ingredients, I set out to make this dish. Not only was this recipe easy to make, the dish itself was incredible. It got me to thinking about all of the bad food that I have ever eaten from local Chinese restaurants and why I don't just invest the time into making, not just great Chinese food, but great regional dishes. Sichuan cuisine always intrigued be because of its extensive use of chiles and garlic in the recipes. This Chengdu Chicken recipe (Chengdu is the capital of the Sichuan province) confirmed everything that I love about the regional cuisine. For that reason, I made the dish a second time and enjoyed a little bit of this dish every day for lunch over the course of a couple of weeks. 

In the end, this is the best recipe that I have made in quite a while (and, in my humble opinion, that is saying something because I think that I have made some very delicious dishes in recent weeks and months). I will make sure that I have all the ingredients on hand so that I can make this dish in the future.

CHENGDU CHICKEN WITH BLACK BEANS, CHILES AND PEANUTS

Recipe from Andrew Zimmern

Serves 4

Ingredients:

20 to 24 ounces of boneless, skinless chicken breast 

     and dark meat, diced

3 tablespoons rice wine or sake

2 tablespoons corn starch

2 tablespoons toban dijan (fermented chile bean paste)

1/3 cup shelled peanuts, toasted

1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons Szechuan peppercorns, crushed

12 dried whole Chinese chiles (tsin-tsin or Mexican arbols work well)

1 tablespoon ginger, sliced

1 tablespoon garlic, sliced

4 tablespoons peanut oil

4 tablespoons whole fermented Chinese black beans (douchi)

1 tablespoon brown sugar

2 tablespoons black vinegar

2 tablespoons dark soy sauce

1 cup scallions, chopped

Cooked rice, for serving

Directions:

1. Marinate the chicken.  Combine the chicken, rice wine, cornstarch and 1 tablespoon of the toban djan and mix well in a large Ziploc bag or bowl.  Cover or seal and place in the refrigerator to marinate for 4 to 24 hours.  Drain chicken and discard any remaining marinade.

2.  Prepare the wok.  Preheat a wok over high heat for several minutes.  Combine the peanuts, white pepper, white sugar, Szechuan peppercorns, dried chiles, ginger and garlic in a bowl.  When the wok is very hot, add the peanut oil and swirl.  It should smoke and ripple immediately.  Add the bowl of mixed seasonings.  Swirl in the wok - they will scorch quickly. 

3.  Cook the chicken.  Next, add the chicken and 2/3 of the scallions.  Wok toss until cooked through, about 3 minutes.  Use wok tools so you don't break the chiles and can scrape across the sides and bottom of the wok safely.  Add the fermented black beans, brown sugar, black vinegar, soy sauce, and remaining toban dijan.  Toss and cook for another 2 minutes.  The sauce should reduce and tighten to a glaze. 

4.  Finish the dish.  Toss in the remaining scallions and immediately spill contents out on a platter.  Serve with white rice. 

ENJOY!

Vietnamese Grilled Clams with Oyster Sauce and Peanuts

As I always say, cooking provides many opportunities to learn, whether it is about cooking processes, ingredients, recipes and even cultures and cuisines. At least in my cooking experience, and in my humble opinion, few dishes embody this principle more fully and completely that this dish: Vietnamese Grilled Clams with Oyster Sauce and Peanuts. The recipe provided me with a chance to learn about the concept of fundamental elements in cooking. It is a concept that the Vietnamese call, "Ngũ Hành" or "ngũ vi." 

The Ngũ Hành is actually a site in central Vietnam, located just south of Da Nang.  It is actually the Ngũ Hành Son, consisting of five mountains, each representing a fundamental factor of the universe. The mountains are Kim (metal), Moc (wood), Thuy (water), Tho (earth) and Hoa (fire).  

The phrase, "Ngũ Hành" or "Ngũ Vi," has also been used by the Vietnamese to refer to other quintuples. There are the five fundamental tastes: spice, sour, bitter, salty and sweet. There are also the five fundamental cooking modes: raw, steamed, broiled, fried/grilled, and fermented. And, there is the five fundamental food textures: crispy, crunchy, chewy, soft and silky. Vietnamese cuisine has always intrigued me as to how it applies and balances all of these quintuples, that is, taste, cooking mode and texture. 

To be sure, the Vietnamese did not create the culinary philosophy of quintuples, it originated in China. However, in my humble opinion, the Vietnamese have taken this philosophy and elevated when it comes to food.  There is something about the dishes, from the North to the South and from the coast to the inland. It is hard to describe, but the dishes always appear to please the eyes, the nose and the taste buds. That is why when I saw this recipe for Vietnamese Grilled Clams, I had to make it. 

This recipe represents some, but not all, of the Ngũ Hành or Ngũ Vi balance. For example, a balance would include ingredients that are salty and sweet, or spicy and sweet. For this recipe, the ingredients include sugar (sweet), black pepper (spice), which is a balance on a very small level. A balance of textures could be a combination of crispy or crunchy with chewy or silky. The textures in the recipe for Vietnamese Grilled Clams include clams (chewy), fried shallots (crispy) and peanuts (crunchy), paired with the oyster sauce and oil (silky). Together, these balanced ingredients help to elevate the dish to something that is delicious and needs to be made over and over again.

This dish represents what I love about cooking: it is the opportunity to learn and expand horizons. I hope to be able to continue to explore these concepts in future recipes.  Stay tuned for more ....

VIETNAMESE GRILLED CLAMS WITH OYSTER SAUCE AND PEANUTS

Recipe available at Food and Wine

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 3 pounds cherrystone clams or 1 pound mussels, scrubbed
• 2 scallions, finely chopped (about 1 1/4 cups)
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh rau ram (Vietnamese coriander) or cilantro
• 1/4 cup packaged crispy fried shallots (such as Maesri)
• 1/4 cup oyster sauce
• 1/4 vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons finely chopped peanuts

Directions:

1. Steam the clams.  Preheat the grill to high (between 450 degrees and 500 degrees Fahrenheit). While grill preheats, fill a heavy bottomed pot with water to a depth of 1 inch, bring to a boil over high.  Add clams, cover and cook until shells open, 6 to 8 minutes, transferring clams to a backing sheet as they open.  Discard any clams that do not open. 

2. Prepare the sauce. Stir together the scallions, rau ram, fried shallots, oyster sauce, oil, sugar, and pepper in a small bowl. Remove clam meat from shells and coarsely chop. Discard top shells.  Stir chopped meat into scallion mixture; spoon evenly into bottom shells. (If using mussels, spoon about 2 teaspoons of the scallion mixture directly onto the meat inside each shell, leaving the top shells intact.)

3. Finish the dish. Place prepared clams on unoiled grill grates; grill, covered, until scallion mixture bubbles, about 2 minutes.  Carefully transfer to a platter; sprinkle evenly with peanuts, and serve. 

ENJOY!

Rago Suya

It is the most popular street food in the largest city, Lagos, of the most populous nation in Africa, Nigeria. Large chunks of meats strung on skewers that are drizzled with groundnut oil and then rubbed with a spice mix known as yaji or suya. The kebabs are known as Rago Suya. To find them, one need only follow the scent emanating from steel-drums-turned-grills behind makeshift stalls or food carts all across Lagos.

The vendors are usually men, often referred to as mai suya or mallam.  The title comes from the fact that it takes some skill to make suya, whether it is the slicing of the meat or the preparation of the spice blend.  Every mai suya has his own recipe for that spice mix. Yet, there are some common ingredients, such as ground peanuts, ginger and chiles. Vendors may also vary the proteins.  Although most suya is prepared with beef, some vendors use lamb, chicken and even offal, such as kidneys, livers and chicken gizzards.

While Suya is popular in Lagos, it originated amongst the Hausa in northern Nigeria. The skewered meat, with the spice mix, spread throughout Nigeria.  The seemingly omnipresence of the food stalls or carts of the mai suya, as well as the affordability of the grilled and smoked meat, has given this dish the power to unify a nation that is divided in so many ways. 

The skill and expertise of a mai suya or mallam can be divided into five steps.  The first step involves the protein, purchasing it from a local market.  The second step is to skewer the meat.  It would seem, based on my research, that a more authentic suya would involve sliced meat, but there are many recipes that call for the meat to be cut into bite-sized chunks.  The third step is to apply the suya mix to the meat on the skewers.  The skewers then marinate until the meat begins to change color, turning a dark red. The fourth step is to grill the skewers, preferably over charcoal. The final step is to apply some additional oil during the cooking process. Once the skewers are cooked, the meat is removed and cut into smaller pieces. 

I am not a mai suya or mallam but, I nevertheless came across a recipe for Rago Suya. I had some lamb that I thought would work well with the suya spice blend. The recipe basically follows the five step process, except for the use of bite-sized chunks rather than sliced meat, as well as the omission of the fifth step (the applying of oil during the cooking process), which I was okay with. After I completed this recipe, I realized why so many Nigerians love these skewers.  They were perhaps the best skewers that I have ever made. The experience made me want to become a mai suva or mallam and open my own cart in my neighborhood.  

RAGO SUYA

Recipe adapted from National Dish

Serves 2-4

Ingredients:

• 1.5 pounds of lamb shoulder or leg, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 5 tablespoons roasted peanuts
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried chile flakes
• 1 teaspoon dried chile powder
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika powder
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground garlic
• 1 medium onion cut into large chunks
• 1 medium red onion cut into large chunks
• 1 large tomato, cut into large chunks
• 1 red pepper, chopped into large chunks
• 1 bunch fresh coriander/cilantro, roughly chopped for garnish

Directions:

1. Prepare the marinade.  Add all of the marinade ingredients (peanuts, cayenne pepper, chile flakes, chile powder, paprika powder, sea salt, ginger, garlic) into a spice grinder and blitz until as powdery as it can be made without turning the peanuts into a paste. This spice mix is called Suya.  Remove a third of the Suya mix and set aside.  Place the remainder of the Suya into a mixing bowl along with the lamb and make sure that it gets fully coated.  Allow the meat to marinate for 30 minutes. 

2. Prepare the kebabs. Heat up a grill on medium high heat. Take pre-soaked skewers, load them with an onion, pepper and piece of lamb. Repeat until there are 3-4 pieces of lamb on the skewers.  Repeat with the rest of the skewers. 

3. Grill the kebabs. Grill the kebabs for about five minutes, turning every couple of minutes, until the lamb is cooked and the vegetables have a slight char. 

4. Finish the dish.  Remove from the heat and serve on the skewer or remove and serve with Jollof rice, garnished with the chopped coriander/cilantro.

ENJOY!

Around the World in 80 Dishes: Mozambique

My culinary adventures take me to Mozambique, a large country located in southeastern Africa.  The history of Mozambique can be best simplified and summarized by three emigrations.  First, there was the emigration of Bantu peoples, who brought agriculture and farming to the area around 300 A.D.  Second, there was the arrival of the Swahili and the Arabs, who established commercial and military ports in the land that would become Mozambique.  Third, and most significantly, there were the Portuguese, who colonized the country in the early 16th century.  The Portuguese controlled Mozambique as a colony for more than three hundred years, leaving an indelible print upon the culture and cuisine of that country and its people.

The Portuguese influence is perhaps the most apparent when it comes to the ingredients used by Mozambican cooks.  The Portuguese introduced cassava and cashew nuts as crops for agriculture, along with maize, rice, sorghum and potatoes.  The Portuguese also introduced the use of certain spices, such as bay leaves, coriander, garlic, red sweet peppers, chile peppers, onions, paprika and wine. 

Moreover, this influence of the Portuguese extends beyond ingredients and reaches the dishes prepared in Mozambican kitchens.  For example, Mozambicans have their own version of Feijoada, the Portuguese bean stew and condiments like Piri-Piri Sauce.  They have also incorporated roasting methods introduced by the Portuguese to create dishes such as Frango a Portuguesa (Chicken, the Portuguese way).

For this challenge, I wanted to go beyond the influence of the Portuguese and reach for a dish that is reflective of the indigenous peoples of Mozambique.  I decided to make Matata, a clam and peanut stew enjoyed by local Mozambicans.  The principal ingredients for this stew are simple -- clams, peanuts, pumpkin leaves -- highlight the local nature of the dish.  However, I could not complete the meal without at least doing one dish that is influenced by the Portuguese.  That dish is Camarao Mozambique, which is as fiery shrimp dish that is heavily influenced by chiles and wines of the Portuguese. 

THE SAUCE

Before making Camarao Mozambique, I need to make one of the ingredients for that dish, Piri Piri Sauce.  This sauce is basically a hot pepper sauce that combines Portuguese and African influences.  The Portuguese contributed the peppers, which originated in the New World.  Explorers and traders brought the peppers to Portuguese colonies in Angola and Mozambique.  In Mozambique, the peppers acquired the name of "piri piri," which is "pepper pepper" in Swahili.  This recipe is adapted from one by Jorge Jordão, the chef at Zambi, a restaurant in Maputo, Mozambique.  I could not find the right red chiles, so I used red bell peppers and added some ground Mombosa pepper, which is said to be the descendant of the peppers brought to Africa by the Portuguese. 

PIRI-PIRI SAUCE

Recipe adapted from Saveur.com

Ingredients:
2 red peppers
1 teaspoon of ground Mombosa (Piri Piri) pepper
     (you can use more if you want a more spicy dish)
3 tablespoons of fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons of dark brown sugar
1/2 tablespoon of olive oil
1/2 tablespoon of finely chopped fresh ginger
1/4 tablespoon of white wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt
1 clove of garlic

Directions:
Add all of the ingredients in a blender and puree into a chunky sauce.

THE APPETIZER

With the sauce, I can turn to the Camaro Mozambique.  As noted above, Portuguese explorers introduced chile peppers to Mozambicans.  However, it was the Mozambicans who combined those peppers with shrimp.  In doing so, local cooks created a dish that has become very popular, not only in Mozambique, but also in Portugal itself.

CAMARAO MOZAMBIQUE

Adapted from ChopOnionsBoilWater

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:
7-10 threads of saffron
1 pound of shrimp, deveined but not deshelled
1/8 cup of olive oil
1/8 cup of water
5 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
4 tablespoons of butter
1/4 bottle of white wine (like a Vinho Verde)
1/2 teaspoon of paprika
1 tablespoon of hot crushed red pepper
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/4 cup, flat parsley, coarsely chopped (optional, for garnish)
Portuguese piri-piri sauce , to taste

Directions:
1.  Steep the saffron.  Put the saffron in the water and let it steep.  You could let it steep overnight, but usually I just let it steep for fifteen minutes to thirty minutes.

2.  Saute the shrimp.  Place a deep saucepan on medium-high heat, when the pan warms, add the olive oil. When oil begins to shimmer add the shrimp and sauté until they just turn pink.  Remove the shrimp from the pan with a slotted spoon and keep the juices and oil in the pan. Put the shrimp aside and keep them warm.

3.  Saute the garlic.  Add the garlic to the pan and sauté for 2-3 minutes until golden.  Do not let the garlic brown or burn.

4.  Make the sauce.  Add the saffron and water, wine, paprika, crushed pepper, hot sauce, and lemon juice. Bring this mixture to a boil, adjust to a lively simmer and allow it to reduce and thicken slightly.

5.  Finish the shrimp.  Return the shrimp to the pan and continue simmering, stirring frequently for about 2-3 minutes.

6.  Finish the sauce.  Add the butter to the pan stirring frequently. Once butter melts, stir one more time, remove from heat and adjust salt and pepper to taste.

THE MAIN COURSE

Finally, I turn my attention to the main course, which is the subject of the Around the World in 80 Dishes Challenge.  The main course and challenge for Mozambique is Matata, a clam and peanut stew with pumpkin leaves.  I had to make two alterations to this recipe.  The original recipe called for the use of canned clams.  There is nothing wrong with using canned clams (other than the fact that clams are living shellfish and once removed from their shell, clams have to be preserved).  I had access to fresh cherrystone clams and bought three small bags of clams to use in this recipe.  The one drawback to using fresh clams is that I had to shuck them, which is time consuming but well worth the effort.  The same goes for the peanuts.  Bottles of peanuts line shelves in a grocery store; however, I bought fresh peanuts and shelled them myself. 

However, the original recipe also calls for pumpkin leaves.  Unlike the clams and peanuts, I did not have a source for fresh pumpkin leaves.  The authors of the recipe (and authors of other Matata recipes) anticipate the lack of pumpkin leaves.  They suggest fresh spinach leaves as an alternative.  I readily accepted this alternative and proceeded to make the dish. 

MATATA (CLAM AND PEANUT STEW)

Adapted from the University of Pennsylvania's African Cookbook
Serves 2-3 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of chopped onions

1 ounce of extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup of chopped peanuts

1 tomato, diced

2 cups of clams, chopped

1/2 tablespoon of sea salt

1/4 teaspoon of ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper

3/4 of a pound of fresh spinach

Directions:

1.  Saute the onions.  Heat the olive oil in a pan on medium heat.   Add the onions and simmer until soft, but not brown.

2.  Add ingredients (except the spinach).  Add the peanuts, tomato, clams, salt, black pepper, and red pepper.  Stir and simmer for about thirty minutes.

3.  Add the spinach.  Add the spinach and cover the pan.  When the spinach has wilted, the dish is ready to serve.

4.  Plate the dish.  Matata is usually served over rice.  Plate some rice in the center of the bowl and spoon the Matata around the rice. 

*     *     *

Overall, I think this challenge was a success.  I was most pleased with my variation on the Piri-Piri sauce.  I confronted a lack of red chiles by substituting ingredients to still achieve the desired result ... a spicy sauce.  My efforts also made for a sauce with more complex flavors, sweet up front, followed by vinegar with a kick in the end.  The Camarao Mozambique and Matata also turned out well for the first time that I made each dish.  I was surprised how much I liked the Matata, given the fact that I am not a big fan of spinach.

With this challenge in the books, it is time to turn to the next one.  Until next time ...

ENJOY!

For more about the cuisine of Mozambique, check out Food by Country.