Mchicha - Tanzanian Spinach & Peanut Curry

Mchicha is a very traditional dish in Tanzania & can be made like this with peanut butter - homemade or natural is best - or it can be made with a whole coconut (grated flesh & milk) instead.

SERVES 4 -6

* 2 lbs spinach
* 1 1/2 ounces peanut butter
* 1 tomato
* 1 onion
* 2 teaspoons curry powder (or paste, your favourite blend!)
* 1 cup coconut milk
* 3 tablespoons margarina or oil
* 1 teaspoon salt

Wash the spinach & roughly chop. De-skin the tomato, peel and chop. Peel and chop the onion.

Mix the peanut butter with the coconut milk in a jug & set aside.

Heat the margarine or oil over a medium heat in a large frying pan. Add the onion, tomato, salt and curry powder / paste and sauté for 5 minutes, or until the onion becomes soft.

Add the spinach, continue cooking for about 15 to 20 minutes, until the spinach is cooked.

Pour the peanut butter and coconut milk mixture into the pan & stir gently to mix.

Simmer, for another 5 minutes, stirring constantly, to ensure that the mixture does not stick to the pot.

This dish makes a lovely side dish, & can also be eaten with rice, ugali or samp and beans to form a delicious main course.

Ceylon Vegetable Curry

Keeps well a couple of days in the fridge, and freezes well too. Great with rice or green salad.

THE SPICES MIXTURE

* 30 g. vegan margarine
* 1 tablespoon oil
* 3 large onions, finely chopped
* Garlic and ginger, finely chopped (lots of both!)

Tandoori Spice:

* 3 - 4 tablespoons of Tandoori Paste (e.g. Patak’s), OR
* 4 - 5 tablespoons of Tandoori Spice Mix (e.g. Clive of India)
* 1 cup of water

2) THE VEGETABLES

* Cubed: potatoes, carrots, pumpkins, green beans, peas, red capsicum strips

3) THE SAUCE

* 300g (1/2 bottle) of tomato salsa / puree e.g. La Gina
* OR
* 2 large tomatoes, chopped
* OR
* 1 tin tomatoes, pureed
* White Vinegar, ¼ to ½ a cup
* Marmelade or apricot jam, ½ to 1 cup (whatever you like the taste of)
* Some Chilli powder / paste, if you like it (I DON'T USE IT)
* 1-2 cups of coconut milk.

4) THE GARNISH

* Pineapple pieces banana chunks shaved coconut chutney pappadums sultanas plain yoghurt cucumber slices and / or tomato wedges

1) THE SPICES MIXTURE
Fry it all together over MEDIUM HEAT, until all the WATER IS GONE, and the mixture is SOFT and starting to turn DARK REDDISH BROWN, and stick to the pan.

2) THE VEGETABLES
Now add the cubed vegetables (** they could be pre-microwaved or steamed) to the spices, and brown gently. Cubed: potatoes, carrots, pumpkins, green beans, peas, red capsicum strips

3) THE SAUCE
Next add the sauce ingredients to the vegetables and spices in the pan. Leave to simmer VERY VERY SLOWLY on LOW HEAT, until it is no longer runny. Just before the end, add the coconut milk. If the mixture becomes too runny, keep cooking it until it thickens.

4) THE GARNISH
Serve with an assortment of bowls on the table.

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Beans and Rice

Beans and Rice (or Rice and Beans) is a nutritious and economical dish. Beans and rice have probably been cooked and eaten together since prehistoric times. Even before the beginning of the agricultural era, wild grains and legumes may have been cooked this way. Cooking the beans and rice in the same pot (after giving the beans a head start) is likely the original cooking method.
field work, guinee

What you need

* one or two cups (up to a pound) dried beans or peas (such as kidney beans, red beans, black-eyed peas, pigeon peas, or split green peas, or similar)
* one cup uncooked rice, rinsed and drained
* salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper or red pepper (to taste)

What you do

* Clean, rinse, and soak the beans or peas in cold water for three or four hours or overnight. Drain.
* In a large cooking pot, combine the beans with enough cold water to cover them by two inches. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender (approximately one hour).
* Stir in rice. (There should be between two and three cups cooking liquid in the pot -- if desired, the cooking liquid can be poured from the cooking pot into a bowl, measured, hot water added if necessary, and then returned to the pot with the rice.) Season to taste.
* Cover and cook until rice is done and all liquid has been absorbed (about twenty minutes). Remove from heat and let stand uncovered for five minutes before serving.
* Fluff with a fork, serve hot, as a side dish, or with any dish that is accompanied by white rice.

In Ghana, beans and rice is called wakye or waakye. It is served as a side dish with meat and gravy, fried fish, hard-boiled egg, or alone -- but almost always with Shitor Din. Baking soda is sometimes used in place of salt. A richer dish can be obtained by adding coconut milk at the end.

The basic beans and rice recipe is the distant ancestor of dozens of bean stews found in Africa, Europe, and the Americas, including Red Beans and Rice (Louisiana); Hoppin' John (Southeastern U.S.); Peas and Rice (Caribbean); Moros y Cristianos (Spain, Cuba, Mexico); and Feijoada (Brazil).

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Callaloo a la Ilka

Ingredients:

-onion
-butter
-coconut milk
3 stalks of chive
3 cloves of garlic
-worcestershire sauce
-salt, pepper to taste
-chicken bouillon cube
-tabasco sauce or float a red
-hot chili pepper on top of callaloo
1 bundle callaloo bush (dasheen bush)
or substitute with spinach
10 ochroes or substitute
-with canned ochroes

Directions:

First clean callaloo bush or spinach. Remove
skin from the callalo stalks along with ribs
from leaves.

Next clean then cut ochroes, add to callaloo
bush. Cut the onion, garlic and chive and add

Now add the butter and melt in a large heated
pot. now add the callaloo mixture.

Keep on turning the leaves until they change
colour add pepper & salt with a few drops of
worcestershire, tabasco or you may use a hot
pepper to float over the top of the callaloo.

Make sure the hot pepper doesn’t burst during
cooking, or callaloo will be too hot. Add the
crumbled chicken bouillon cube and stir.

Add the coconut milk, cook the callaloo until
the seeds of the ochroes have turned slightly
pink.

You may swivel by hand using a swivel stick or
place it right into a blender and blend for at
least 3 separate seconds.

Note: you can make this recipe dry and use it
as a side dish or add some more water and make
it into a soup.

Red Stripe Chicken

INGREDIENTS :

* ¼ cup vegetable oil
* 3 pounds chicken
* 2 cups canned coconut milk/cream
* 1 cup Red Stripe beer
* 1 Large onion (chopped)
* 1 large green bell pepper
* Salt and pepper

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METHOD:

1. Cut the chicken into serving pieces
2. De-deseed green bell pepper and chop up onion
3. Heat vegetable oil in Dutch pot
4. Brown the chicken in oil (both sides)
5. Remove the chicken
6. Pour off some of the oil.
7. Leave 2 table spoon of oil in the pot
8. Return the chicken to the pot
9. Add the coconut milk and red strip beer
10. Once the pot is boiling reduce to heat to a simmer
11. Cook for 30 minutes
12. Add onion, bell pepper
13. Add salt and pepper to taste
14. Let simmer for 15-20 minutes as the liquid reduces and thickens.
15. If the liquid evaporates before the chicken is done replenish more Red Stripe beer.
16. Serve while hot
17. Serving size 4-6