Canada, oh Canada!

Hey,

Having been to Canada I decided to take a somewhat different approach to this recipe and to ask a friend of mine (who is Canadian to send me one). She sent me a delicious wild rice casserole recipe.

1 cup wild rice

Salt

6 slices of bacon

½ onion

Can of mushroom soup

Drained can of mushrooms

Chicken breast

Cheese (you can never have enough)

Oregano

Sage

Poultry Seasoning

Cook 1 cup wild rice in 2.5 cups of water and some salt. Fry about 6 slices of bacon and half an onion together. When the rice is cooked add the bacon and onion. Add a can of mushroom soup and a drained can of mushrooms. Mix and bake for 45 minutes until hot. Fry sliced chicken breasts and put on top. Then add cheese on the top. Add a few spices i.e. oregano, sage or poultry seasoning to taste. Put back in the oven to melt the cheese.

This casserole was a beautiful meal, it did lack a little in the cheese department as we were running low. Nevertheless it is one that I would make again.

Bye for now.

Sam’s rating: 8/10 

Cameroon, a tasty fruit infused curry

Hi,

Cameroon is another north western African country. The Cameroon curry was an interesting dish infused with fruits such as mango, pineapple and raisins. The fruits certainly give the curry a unique and delicious flavour.

One point of difference for this cooking experience was the coconut. It was a tough nut to crack (I can’t help myself) but we managed to get it open and extracted the coconut milk and some of the flesh. It would have been easier to Google it first and follow the instructions and you tube videos.

Bye.

Sam’s rating: 9/10

The one with a proper trip, Cambodia!

ជំរាបសួរ,

Cambodia with their banana leaves, galangal, lemongrass and other stuff warrented a special trip to the Asian supermarket. The trip proved to be an experience in itself, a step inside the shop seemed like a step inside to another country. With most things in other languages, food items that I had never heard of let alone pronounce and communication issues, the only suggestion that I wasn’t in Asia was the Australian chocolate on the stands.

For Cambodia we cooked Seafood Amok which is essentially a seafood curry that is cooked in a banana leaf.

It was, as “curry” would suggest quite a hot dish and a bit more work than the normal meal. However, it was nice and made your nose run.

លា

Sam’s rating: 7/10

One of the poorest on earth, Burundi

Hi,

Interestingly, Burundi which has three official languages, one of which is English, the others are Kirundi and French is one of the poorest countries on earth. It is interesting since the original colonist was Germany followed by Belgium (after Germany lost World War I).

Sadly, this country is the hungriest nation in the world according to the Global Hunger Index 2013. According to the index, a score over 30 is alarming; Burundi has a score of 38.8.

We decided to cook Burundi Beans and Bananas, an odd combination to the western mind and containing no meat. Apparently, the Burundi people don’t eat much meat, understandable considering the wealth of the nation.

The dish, while very different was quite editable. I would never have thought bananas, chili, beans and onion would have gone together.

Bye for now.

Sam’s rating: 5/10

Burkina Faso, not too bad

Bonjour, similar to Benin, the Bukina Faso this former French colony has known the influence of their colonists. We decided to cook RizGras du Burkina Faso (Burkina Faso Fat Rice), a rice and lamb traditional dish.

The dish contained a number of vegies and was quite tasty. All went well.

au revoir

Sam’s rating: 6/10

Eastern Europe’s Bulgaria

Здравейте,

For this Eastern Europe nation we decided to cook Pork with Potatoes, in my recipe the potatoes seemed to dominate the pork but that would have been me slightly not following the recipe.

The meal contained a lot of stirring with a bit too many steamed potatoes for my liking. Never the less, the meal was edible and nutritious.

сбогом

Sam’s rating: 6/10

Burning Brunei

Hi,

Brunei, one of the former colonies of Britain provided an interesting cooking experience. I have never cooked so much with coconut or coconut milk. The meat was cooked in coconut milk and then cooked coconut was added to the gravy towards the end.

We cooked Beef Rendang with rice, taking some two hours to cook, it was a relatively simple recipe and very tasty.  This meal was also one of the hottest that I have had to date.

Happy eating.

Sam’s rating: 8/10

Beefy, meaty Brazil

Olá,

Brazil, how meaty you are, we decided to make a traditional dish called Feijoada. This dish was a beautiful combination of different cuts of beef and pork slow cooked. We did cheat a bit leaving the carne seca out along with substituting black turtle beans with red kidney beans and the like.

It is interesting the number of ingredients found in the supermarkets here but more interestingly, the number of ingredients that aren’t found in the supermarket as well.

This dish, while a leaning towards the hot side was beautiful. The biggest drawback in my opinion was that it was a little bit too watery.

Tchau

Sam’s rating: 7/10

Home and away, up to Botswana

Home and away, with the Easter festivities and parents visiting this challenge was put on hold for a little while. We are now quite a few countries behind so it is time to play catch up.

Botswana, well my aunt and uncle who have visited said that I had to have Pap, also known as Ugali. Pap is in simple language, tasteless, glue like food which sticks to your stomach for a week after. Made with cornflour and water it was easy to make but hard to clean.

The accompanying meat dish, Seswaa, was a beautiful piece of meat but the meat was slow cooked so it should have been beautiful.

Sam’s rating: 4/10 (due to the Pap)