Coromos, yet another island

Islands, islands, islands, they are what seems to take the most time in cooking despite being so small. There are thousands of them around the world. Coromos, a former French colony has a deep history. It gained independence from France in 1978 yet one of the four islands claimed by Coromos elected to remain under French administration.

Coconuts were exported from Coromos in the 1800’s and form an important part of their cuisine. We cooked akoho sy voanio or chicken in coconut milk.

Interestingly, there is a strong Arabic influence in this country with legend saying that Islam made its way to the country in the 600’s.

Sam’s rating 7/10

Colombia, a new type of meat

Colombia set in the upper part of South America. In this dish I had my first taste of crab. I cooked Arroz Atollado de Cangrejo which is essentially crab and rice. It is amazing how versatile rice is in the world cuisine, South America, Africa and Asia it is truly a global ingredient these days.

Back to the crab, it was crab from a tin. I guess anything from a tin isn’t quite as good as the real thing but it wasn’t bad. I could eat it again despite the seafood smell of the dish!

Sam’s rating 7/10

China, everyone knows this one

 

As the most heavily populated country in the world with around 1.3 billion people, China has a wide range of dishes. A trip to the local Asian supermarket showed the extent of their cuisine, from cow tongues to pig trotters, there was a wide variety of recipes to choose from.

I am becoming more adventurous with food but I decided that cow tongues were still too far out of my comfort zone, perhaps a bit too much for me to stomach.

We cooked GingerGarlic Chicken for the Chinese meal, it was delicious. I think this one surpasses all my other meals, the test? I had leftovers and two people in the staff room commented that it smells good. That had never happened before so either it is a good recipe or I am becoming a better cook. I want to believe the latter.

Sam’s rating: 9/10

Chile, with a coastline like that, you must have fish

The long narrow strip of land called Chile is quite a remarkable sight on a map, for its size it is interesting how close everything seems (on a map) to the coast.

Chile was one that we had to cheat for, but then again it means I have to visit since we couldn’t produce the truly authentic recipe. The recipe was for Sauteed Chilean Sea Bass but Sea Bass isn’t available in Australia.

A quick Google search provided Barramundi as a potential substitute so the recipe really ended up Sauteed Chilean Barramundi. Another recipe murdered by me.

This recipe was beautiful and tasty, served with roast potatoes and carrots.

Sam’s rating: 9/10 

Chad, another African country

Chad appears to be the dry neighbour of the Central African Republic, the cuisine of Chad varies with the desert in the north and what seems to be less harsh conditions in the south.

Rather unsurprisingly, I found the dish I cooked for Chad, Jarret de boeuf,  to be similar to that of the Central African Republic. The cloves brought about a whole different flavour though.

Sam’s rating: 6/10

Central African Republic, how original!

Talk about cultural shock, with a name of Central African Republic one has to wonder if the name could be more original, or perhaps not? The Central African Republic despite their rich reserves such as uranium, oil, gold, diamonds and the like is among the ten poorest countries in the world.

I cooked Beef in Cumin Sauce for this country, one quite large surprise about this recipe was the tangy flavour caused by the lemon juice. I didn’t really expect that in the meal.

Sam’s rating: 7/10

Cape Verde or Cabo Verde?

When I commenced my journey this country was called Cape Verde, the list I use has recently caught up to calling it by its official name, Cabo Verde. No problem at all but it did throw my list out for a moment there.

Cabo Verde is a collection of islands off the coast of Africa, to be honest, I think I have had my fill of islands but there are so many more to go! This country was strongly influenced by their Portuguese colonists and this was reflected in the Bacalhauà Gomes De Sá.

The meal was average to say the least.

Sam’s rating: 6/10