Ramen Salad

This is a favorite that is at almost all of my family gatherings. We started making it here in Rwanda, and it brings me right back to family birthday parties!

Cabbage Ramen Noodle Salad

When we make it at home we use a bag of cole slaw, but here I use:
Shredded cabbage
A carrot or two grated
chopped green onion (optional)

Sugared G nuts or almonds, or toasted seaseme seeds (sim sim)
Crushed Ramen (pound on the bag of noodles until they are the size you want)

Dressing:
1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce

Shake it all together and eat!
Don't toss the ingredients together if you plan to have leftovers, the noodles get really mushy.

Blister Buttermilk Biscuits

alliteration aside, these biscuits are really easy, and a great taste of home (amanda and i like to pair them with bbq wandegeya chicken and coleslaw). the aftermath has been well documented, so use caution when removing these beauties from the oven.

3 cups flours

2 tbsp sugar

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

.75 cup (1.5 sticks) chilled butter, cut into 1/4 inch pieces

1.5 cup buttermilk - if you don't have buttermilk, just mix 1.5 tbsp vinegar into the milk and let it stand for about 15 minutes. not quite the same but it does the trick.

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda in large bowl. Using fingertips, rub butter into dry ingredients until well mixed and no large butter chunks are left. Add buttermilk and stir. Use about .25 cup dough for each biscuit and drop them onto a baking sheet. Bake at around 200 C for about 15 minutes.

One Fine, Fall Day.

I think that we can all agree that FALL is one of the things most missed when in Uganda (or Rwanda). David, Ally, our new friend Lexi, and I decided to have a fall weekend... Filled with homemade pumpkin soup, caramel apple cider, and pumpkin pancakes :)

Pumpkin Soup Ingredients:

Pumpkin, of course

Olive Oil

Milk

Chilli Powder

Cumin

Sugar

Salt

Garlic

Vegetable or Chicken Stock

and Water

(The amounts are not exact, as we did not really follow a recipe. Just use your intuition and taste buds to make it delicious!!).

First, Cut and peel the pumpkin (we used a medium sized one... and it fed 6 people). Cut it into large cubes. Season with Chilli powder, drizzle with oil, and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes.

Remove from oven and combine the pumpkin, approximately 2 cups of milk, 3 cups of water, a couple teaspoons of the vegetable powder stock, cumin, chilli powder, a couple teaspoons of sugar, salt, and chopped garlic in a large pot. Bring to a boil and let boil for a few minutes. Turn heat down and let simmer for 10-15 minutes while stirring/mashing frequently. While cooking, the pumpkin should begin to fall apart. Mash/Mix until the mixture reaches a soup consistency (you can blend if you want it completely smooth).

Sweet Potato Cakes

Jon and I are always looking for ways to use Uganda's delicious sweet potatoes.  Here's our favorite:

You need:
a few sweet potatoes
a couple ears of corn (or a can of sweet corn)
milk
garlic
salt
pepper
sugar
flour
egg

First, you basically just make mashed potatoes.  We make them by peeling and then boiling the sweet potatoes.  Then we mash them with milk, garlic, salt, pepper, and a little bit of sugar.  Then, add the corn, an egg (to make them stick) and some flour (to give them more of a bread-like texture).  Mix well, form into small pancake-sized patties, and then grill them (preferably in butter).  They freeze really well, so you can just throw the left overs on the grill.  YUM!

Pancakes

here's my pancake recipe... one batch feeds about 4-5 people, so you can half it if you like for 2-3 people.

1 1/2 cup flour
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 tblsp sugar
1 1/4 cup milk
1 egg
3 tblsp melted butter

to spice things up, you can add either bananas (2 small sweet ones) and chocolate chips, or apples (1) and a teaspoon of cinnamon.

Homemade HUMMUS.

We all love hummus. Especially when it can be compared to Effendy's. YES PLEASE. This recipe can be created using a blender or not (we have done both). It is smoother and creamier if it's blended, but it tastes equally delicious either way :)

Ingredients:

• 2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, or more as needed
• 1/2 lemon juiced
• 2 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh parsley
• 2 cloves garlic (chopped finely if not using a blender)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon cumin
• Pepper (add desired amount)
• 1/4 cup water

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a blender (or a bowl) and blend (or mash) until it has reached a smooth consistency.

It's pretty easy. And pretty delicious.

Roasted Curried Veggies with Coconut Rice

We discovered this the first week in Uganda and make it all the time.  Just throw in whatever veggies you have available!

We use:

Sweet potatoes
Zucchini
Onions
Carrots
Eggplant

We chop them up, boil the carrots and potatoes a bit to get them halfway cooked, and then coat them in the following seasonings:

Olive Oil

Minced Garlic

Curry Powder
Salt
Pepper

Roast them in the oven (you could also just stir fry them for those of you without an oven) at around 200 C for about 15 minutes.

For the rice, replace some of the water with coconut milk and make as normal.  Not a precise science, but very delicious.

Balsamic Green Beans

Green beans are in abundance and inexpense around these parts, so here's a way to make them a little more interesting:


First chop off the ends of the beans, then boil them for 5 minutes. Once the beans are cooked, drain them and set them aside.


In a frying pan saute a clove of garlic (as much as you want) with a teaspoon of olive oil. Then add the cooked green beans to the pan and add the following seasonings:


1 tbsp balsalmic vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 smidge of cayanne pepper (I'm aware that a "smidge" is not an exact measurement, but it just depends on how spicey you like them.... just sprinkle some and then taste until you get it right){optional} if you have italian seasoning or tony's, sprinkle some on


Cook the beans with the seasonings until they sizzle and then serve!

Sugared G-nuts

I LOVE g-nuts, and we have been eating a LOT of them at our house. This is our favorite way to roast them.

Put the G-nuts in a thin layer in a frying pan at medium heat. Stir them so they roast evenly. When they are done roasting they will start popping. Don't over cook them.
When they are roasted, add about a cup of sugar (enough to cover the bottom of the pan) and stir into the g-nuts. In about a minute the sugar will start to melt. When it starts melting, stir it really fast so it doesn't burn, until most of the sugar is melted and coating the nuts. There will still be some whole grains of sugar left, and that's fine, it makes it nice and crunchy. This sugar process is fast, you don't want to over cook it and have it burn. When the nuts are coated in the melted sugar, spread them out on a flat surface to cool. When they are cool they are a great snack or are good on salads.

Cornbread

Ok, so I really didn't want to be the first to post.  But I was so excited about my new find that I just couldn't help myself!  Cornbread is one of my favorite foods and I've been craving it since arriving in Uganda.  I had no luck finding cornmeal (the essential ingredient) and maize flour just isn't the same thing.  Last week, I saw a box of polenta at Kissimente Millenium.  Turns out that polenta is the exact same thing as cornmeal - you can use it in your cornbread recipe cup for cup.  Most grocery stores in Kampala carry polenta.

Sweet Cornbread Recipe

Ingredients
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
2/3 cup white sugar
1 tsp salt
3 1/2 tsps baking powder
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil

Directions


1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).  Grease a 9 inch round cake pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt, and baking powder.  Stir in egg, milk, and vegetable oil until well combined.  Pour batter into pan.
3. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

You Are Most Welcome to Soul Food!

We all know that cooking a foreign land can be difficult. We don't have the equipment we are used to, common ingredients from home are not available, and recipes that "work" can be hard to find.
We want to come together and share our inspirations. Let this blog be a place to share your successes, your failures, your new ideas.
Include:
Recipes adapted to work here
New foods made from "old" ingredients
Substitutions for things we can't find here
Anything else you think our community may find interesting!

Post as much or as little as you want and invite friends to join; this is an informal place to discuss something we all love, FOOD!

Bon Appetit!