Egypt – date night in Cairo

Tags

Aubergine, Basmati Rice, Carrots, cream, Cucumber, Eggs, Evaporated milk, flatbread, Garlic, Lamb, Lemon, Lentils, Olive Oil, Onions, Sugar, Tinned tomato, Vegetable Oil, White wine vinegar, Yoghurt

Friday night and Ian and I have decided we would have another date night, and thank you to “The Spicery”…

Tonight we are heading off to Egypt and we are going to prepare and eat a delicious meal from Cairo…

The Arab republic of Egypt is a country spanning more than one continent, touching the Northeast corner of Africa and the Southwest corner of Asia which is reached via a bridge which is courtesy of the Sinai Peninsula. The worlds only adjoining Eurafrasian nation.  The majority of Egypt’s terrain sits within the Nile Valley and also boasts itself as a Mediterranean country, and bordered by Israel, The Gaza strip, The Red Sea, Suda, Lybia and The Gulf of Aqaba…

There is a lot of history associated with Egypt and arising in the 10th millennium BC as one of the world’s first nation states. Some of the worlds earliest progresses of agriculture, writing, organised religion, development and central government have be born from Egypt.

With over 90,000,000 residents/occupants, Egypt is the most densely inhabited country in North Africa and the Arab World and it is the third most populated in Africa following Nigeria and Ethiopia.                            In the world?  Fifteenth…. amazing?    Around 40,000 sq km on and near the banks of the Nile the greatest majority of people live, because of being the only area where arable land is found. The Sahara Dessert is a large part of Egypt’s land but thinly occupied. The Urban areas are densely inhabited  by around half of Egypt’s occupiers.  Further information about the history can be found in various places, but there is useful information here…

Cairo is the largest city and capital of Egypt. It is situated near the Nile Delta and Jawhar al-Siqilli (“the Sicilian”) of the Fatimid dynasty, founded modern Cairo in 969 CE. However, the land which is the present day Cairo was the site of “ancient national capitals whose remnants remain visible” in parts.

Greater Cairo is the largest metropolitan area in the Middle East and the Arab world, and 15th-largest in the world, and is associated with ancient Egypt, as the famous Giza pyramid complex and the ancient city of Memphis are located in its geographical area.

The Cuisine of Egypt dates back possibly 5000 years and it has been documented that food was used as payments for other goods during the ancient times. Over the years there have been changes made and greatly influenced from other cultures and styles. Egyptian cooking relies quite a lot on vegetables such as onions and beans and also lentils. Meat is featured a lot and this can be difficult for vegetarians. However, near and around the coast fish can be found in meals… Aish is an Egyptian bread and generally served with most meals.

Our first course is a traditional complement to leavened flatbread and is said to be an “early evening snack in Cairo”

Pickels Dukkah, Baba Ghanouj, Bread and Eggs

It looks interesting and something neither of us have ever tried before. Pickled Carrot and Aubergine…Ian tells me he doesn’t like aubergine so after this evening we will know for sure. According to our helpful notes from thespicery.com Dukka, means “to crush” in Egyptian Arabic and is an amazing scrumptious aromatic seed dip that is very nutritious and apparently quite addictive…and following our starter – Yes, I agree!

The carrots are par boiled and set aside meanwhile the herbs and spices are added to a pan of water with the other ingredients necessary and brought to the boil, then after around 2 minutes pour over the sliced carrots and set aside..

 

 

Eggs are boiled and set aside in cold water to cool.          The aubergine is prepared and cut into chunks and added to a pan with oil and cooked until they are slightly softened and a little brown.

France

Tags

Carrots, Chicken, Fry Light, Garlic, Mushroom, Onion, Parsley, Salt and Pepper, Stock, Tinned tomato, tomato puree

Well a Happy New Year to all our readers. I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas, I know we did and it was lovely to spend it with friends and family.

We haven’t been very active with our “Globe Trotting” of late, due to December and the Christmas season. However, today we begin our travels again, and for now most or all of our meals are going to be a healthier option as we have a wedding this year to get trim for. Not only myself and Ian but the bride and groom also wish to loose some weight.

France is where our finger landed today so heading West from our last destination we travel back to Europe and one of my favourite countries.

Officially The French Republic, France is a Sovereign State, which encompasses an area in Western Europe and many overseas areas. The part of France in Europe is known as  Metropolitan France and spreads from the Mediterranean to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. France is approximately 640,000 square km and is a population around 67 million. Its capital is Paris and is its largest city and chief commercial and cultural centre.

During the Iron Age, what is now Metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. In 51 BC the Gauls were conquered by the Roman Empire and were held until 486. The Gallo-Romans confronted migration and raids from the Germanic Franks, who controlled the area for hundreds of years, which eventually created eventually the medieval Kingdom of France. In the Late Middle Ages France arose as a major European Power, which included the victory in the Hundred Years’ War (1337 to 1453). There was a huge national development during the Renaissance which saw the start of a global colonial empire then religious civil wars between Catholics and Protestants controlled the 16th century. Under the rule of Louis XIV France became Europe’s leader in political, cultural and military power. France saw the Age of Enlightenment in the 18th century and at the back end of the century the monarchy was defeated in the French Revolution… Further reading can be found here

Throughout France’s long history she has been one of the foremost world centres of culture, making considerable contributions to philosophy, art and science. France receives around 84 million tourists on an annual basis, which is apparently more than any other country in the world. it also boasts the 6th largest economy and according to “Credit Suisse” she is the 4th wealthiest nation in the world in relation to collective household wealth. A high standard of living is very much enjoyed by the French and the country also presents well in education, life expectancy,health care,human development and civil liberties.

The French love food and cooking and combines traditions and practices of France. Le Viandier  was one of the earliest recipe collections dating back to medieval France and authored by Guillaume Tirel a court chef known as “Taillevent.”The 17th century saw French cuisine, very, very influenced by Italian cuisine and chefs François Pierre La Varenne and Marie-Antoine Carême fronted movements that saw the shift that French cooking needed and was guided away from its foreign influences and from then on in saw France develop its own native style. For more information please continue reading here

France has many fabulous dishes and we could have picked one of so many. It is only Monday evening though and something simple needed to be prepared and cooked and also the fact we were trying to be healthy and shed a few lbs needed to be considered… Our book shelves are full of cookery books and many low fat or healthy eating, but I already had a low fat version of this recipe that in itself looked simple and also tasty. Chicken Chasseur… Sauce Chasseur can be called and can be known as “Hunter’s sauce” and it is a simple  brown sauce used in French cuisine. It often includes mushrooms and shallots. It may also include tomatoes and a finishing of fine herbs.  The name comes from the French word for “hunter“, referring to the traditional pairings with venison, rabbit, wild fowl, and other game meats. Traditionally, while returning from the hunt, the hunters would pick the mushrooms that they would subsequently use within their dishes. Chasseur is believed to have been invented by Philippe de Mornay, who is also credited with inventing Mornay sauce, Béchamel, sauce Lyonnaise, and sauce Porto. 

Mushrooms, onions, carrots and I use one half of a double pack of lardons, that can be found in the supermarkets. This is around 86gm and shared between the recipe is negligible, in my opinion,of fat..

Mexico

Tags

Beef, Carrots, clelery, Coriander, Countries, Garlic, Lime, Mexico, Minced beef, Onion, Potato, Rice, Seasoning, Tomato, Tortilla

As we head down to Mexico, all that was going through my mind was, please let me find something that wasn’t chilli (although this dish has been adopted by the Mexicans, according to my research – and we always assume it is from Mexico) – Tacos or fajitas…it’s not that we don’t like these things, but wanted to cook something very traditional to Mexico and not something we cook routinely but just as tasty but that we hadn’t had before..

United Mexican States is known to us as “Mexico” and belongs to North America as a federal republic. Mexico is the 5th largest country in the Americas and being almost two million square kilometres  which is over 760,000 sq mi. It is also the 13th largest independent nation in the world, the 11th most populated country with an estimated 120 million inhabitants. The majority of the people speaking Spanish. Its capital is Mexico city and the largest city. It has  one of the world’s largest and most diversified economies, with an abundance of natural resources such as silver and oil.

Mexico was once home to many civilisations such as the Aztec, Maya and Toltec. The Spanish Empire colonised and occupied the area around 1521 until 1821, which then saw the area became Mexico following identification of the colonies independence. Unfortunately economic instability fell upon Mexico. However,eventually, in 1917 the countries current political system arose.

Mexican cuisine should not, ever, be confused with Tex-Mex cuisine which in certain parts of the US and Canada is called Mexican Food.                                          Mexican food was initially a beautiful fusion of native Mesoamerican cooking, with influences from Europe, especially the Spanish elements that came to be after Aztec Empire was conquered in the 16th century. The fundamental staples are indigenous foods such as beans, chilli peppers and corn. The Europeans introduced foods too, but importantly were the meats which are eaten from animals – poultry,beef,goat, pork and sheep – cheeses and lots of herbs and spices. The Spanish did try to levy their own diet and food on the country, but failed, and ultimately the cooking methods and foods became mixed and eventually Asian and African foods were introduced.

Real Mexican food is quite unlike the dishes found in most Tex-Mex and Mexican restaurants in many other countries. I am told if you stick to a few simple and customary dishes that are almost always fantastic and not too spicy. You’ll find values much higher than if you search the menus for something familiar, and today/this evening is what is what I intended to do this evening and find a family dinner that wasn’t what were used to, something different and something tasty…….Mexican Meatball Soup. The recipe looked simple and perfect for a weekday evening meal with the family.

Namibia

Tags

Brown Rice, Carrots, Cloves, Curry Powder, Garlic, Ginger, Lamb, Namibia, Onion, Potato, Potjiekos, Rice, Turmeric

Namibia is officially the Republic of Namibia.

It was originally German South West Africa, and then South West Africa. It borders with the Atlantic Ocean and is currently in Southern Africa. It shares its border with Angola – where we previously visited and the dinner from that area was delicious – and Zambia in the North, In the East Botswana and South Africa to the South and East. Independence was gained in 1990, 21st March from South Africa following the Namibian War of Independence. Windhoek is the capital and is also the largest city.

Since early times Namibia has been inhabited buy Damara, Namaqua and San. Since the 14th century AD by Bantu and they came with the Bantu expansion.  In around 1884 most of the country became German and remained a German settlement until the end of WWI. In 1920 the country was handed to RSA (South Africa), which  levied laws and from around 1948 its apartheid policy.

Food plays a huge part in all civilisations in the world and for Namibia it is no exclusion. However it is a bit more complex when it comes to Namibia because it entertains eleven different ethnic groups; hence no one particular dish can be considered individual. However, Food/cuisine of Namibia is very much affected by the two cultural threads. Firstly cooking/cookery provided by the native folk of Namibia, the San, Himba and Herero people. Secondly there is cookery and cooking by the people who have settled in Namibia, this began a colonial period and the settlers were of British, German and Afrikaner ancestry.

OK – so looking for dinner tonight – another school night so needed to hearty, wholesome, quick and easy..Therefore when looking and examining Namibian food recipes it was very, very plain to see that there is a mix between Europe and Africa…. We could have opted for some of the “more off the beaten track kind of dinner” but not sure other family members would have land which makes fruit and vegetables especially expensive, menus tend to be heavy on the meat.Here are a few examples of speciality dishes:

• Biltong (an air-dried meat, which is a bar snack staple, usually made from beef or kudu).
• Rauchfleisch (smoked meat).
• Game such as antelope, ostrich or zebra cooked on a braai (barbecue).
• Potjiekos (one-pot bush stew, usually cooked over a camp fire, and made with just about anything although chicken and vegetable is common).
• Seafood, especially oysters, on the coast.
• Kalahari truffles (a distant cousin of the European black and white truffle varieties found on Swakopmund restaurant menus, served up thinly sliced and drizzled with olive oil alongside a thick ostrich steak.)

So what to have for dinner?…..

We opted for a Potjiekos – obviously not cooked over a camp fire and also not being able to get antelope, ostrich or Zebra at the butchers today, we opted for lamb and found a simple recipe for a Lamb Potjiekos 

As I walked through the door, Ian had started to cook and sauté the onions and garlic, adding the suggested spices ( curry powder turmeric ground cloves fresh ginger, grated ) he had already browned up the lamb and was sitting ready to be added back to the casserole. Added back the smell began to intensify and the lamb began to cook to lovely, tender, bite size pieces..Potato and carrot were added and the potjie was stirred round  every so often.

The recipe suggested this was served with brown rice, so this is what we did. I love brown rice as I love the “aldente” bite of brown rice, the rest of the family not a huge fan but ate it anyway.

New-season lamb shoulder, cooked pink, is the perfect platform for a mixture of fresh and cooked herbs.

Yotam Ottolenghi

Family Verdict: Easy to cook and prepare…Amazing flavours, the lamb was tender, warming, great super for the winter…very “clovey”. Don’t necessarily need to have it with rice, you could add more vegetables and serve with a gorgeous crusty loaf…

I – personally – loved it and would certainly be having it again.

So we take a beak for a couple of day, due to evening activities, but will be back on Friday and we are having a dinner party.. Russia is the chosen destination – Увидимся та …