the confined nomad

Unfortunately, Botswanan cuisine is not easy to find in New York City. We did our best to scope out possible hidden restaurants tucked away in outer borough neighborhoods, but had no luck. In the final act of desperation, we relied on the old standby – the UN Mission – and the staff there told us that in fact, no, there are no Botswanan restaurants in the city. Bummer.

Ultimately, we used the last resort option of cooking the meal at home. I actually like when we get to cook because (1) I get to do the cooking (and I like to cook), (2) I get to try new cooking methods, and (3) Looking for all the ingredients is an adventure in itself!  If you can find all the ingredients you need to cook a meal from Botswana, you can experience the flavors of that country in your NYC home.  A true Confined Nomad experience.

We picked out a few dishes from our favorite international cookbook, The World Cookbook for Students, which has yet to steer us wrong.  The Botwana chapter included recipes for cooking with mopane worms and locust.  Regrettably, we weren’t able to get our hands on these items, so we stuck with the less creepy crawly dishes.  We also made a starchy staple, bogobe, which is not dissimilar from other African starchy staples like fufu.

Pounded Meat (Seswaa)

A delicious dish, not so dissimilar to pulled pork, though the process of making it is a lot more fun — you get to pound the heck out of some meat with a mallet.  Who wouldn’t want to do that part of the meal preparation process!?

1 lb beef
water to cover
1 large onion chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Put all ingredients in a pot and simmer for about two hours.
Once beef is really tender, drain the liquid and reserve.
Put the meat into a sturdy and clean plastic bag (otherwise, you will get meat bits all over your kitchen, as we experienced). You might want to divide the meat into two.
Pound the meat with the flat side of a meat mallet until it is flaky.  This is the fun part.
Put it all back in the pot and simmer to reduce the liquid. Add about a tablespoon of flour, mix it in well, to thicken it it.
Serve!

Cooked Greens

Pounded meat and greens

This is an easy side dish, again reminiscent of dishes found in the Southern US states (without the ham hock).

1 lb spinach, washed and chopped
2 onions, finely sliced
2 tomatoes, finely sliced
1 bell pepper finely sliced
1/2 cup water
2 tsp oil
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in a pot then add spinach, onions, tomatoes, and bell pepper.
Add water and flavor with salt and pepper.
Cook covered for 20 minutes or until all water is absorbed.

Tomato Loofah

Loofah? You mean those scrubby things you use in the shower to take the dead skin off your feet? Yes, I am referring to the same, although this is before it is all dried out. Loofah is also known as Chinese okra, and this is the name under which I was able to locate them at my local produce stand. They are long and thick, like a big cucumber, but with ridges. Apparently, you can tell a good loofah by bending one of the ridges. If it snaps, its good for eating. But if it is soft and bends, dry that one out for a sponge.

This dish really made the meal, I think.

3 tbs vegetable oil
2 onions, chopped
1 tbs grated fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 lbs small, green loofahs, peeled and sliced thin (I couldn’t find small ones, but the big ones worked fine. You can also substitute zucchini if you can’t find the loofahs)
1 14 oz. can chopped tomatoes
salt to taste
3/4 cup water
2 tsp tomato paste
1 tsp sugar

Heat oil and saute half the onions until translucent.
Add ginger and garlic, stir fry for 3 minutes.
Add loofahs, remaining onion, tomatoes, and salt.
Add water and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat, simmer until loofahs are tender, about 5-7 minutes.
Stir in tomato paste and sugar and cook for 2 more minutes.

Bogobe

The essential starchy staple. I was a little worried I wouldn’t be able to pull this one off. This dish is made from sorghum meal, and I was having a little trouble finding it. Finally, after visiting 4 or 5 stores, I had the thought to go back to first grocery store I had been to, and look at the section with all the Bob’s Red Mill products, to see if it might be there. Lo and behold they do sell a Gluten Free ‘Sweet’ White Sorghum Flour, which I was a little worried wouldn’t quite be the right thing, since the package says it can be used to make “delicious breads, cakes, cookies, and more.”  But turns out, it also makes a pretty good bogobe.

This one you can vary depending on how much you want to make.  Basically, all you do is boil water, and add the sorghum meal or flour, and stir frequent.  Cook for 20-30 minutes, stirring frequently until it reaches the desired stiffness.  Should be not too runny, but not too dry.  I think I boiled about 6 cups water and put in about a cup of flour.  I think.  Don’t quote me on that.  The recipe I have called for 1 quart water and 10 oz of sorghum, but I know I used less.  Either way, it worked, and completed the meal.  The end result was delicious.

Tags: Botswana, recipe

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 6th, 2009 at 7:06 pm and is filed under B, Botswana. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.