Two things we learnt about Mali whilst researching its cuisine:
1. When invited to a Malian home, it is disrespectful to bring the host a gift. (Wouldn’t that make life so much simpler?!)
2. In Mali, passing gas in public is taboo and a sign of rudeness. (Well, quite.)
Two Malian things we made:
1. Labadja, a spiced beef and rice dish (not Mali’s national dish, tiga dégué, because that was going to be another peanut stew and we thought we’d branch out a bit)
2. Djablani, a ginger and lemon drink that we thought sounded yummy
Labadja
Ingredients
450g minced beef
250g dried dates
1 medium onion, chopped
1 green pepper, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups of white rice (we used long grain), washed
4 tbsp butter
Salt and pepper
1 tbsp fakoye spice blend (see below)
Coriander, chopped, to garnish
Fakoye spice blend: everything we read said that this is impossible to find outside of Mali and unfortunately, despite a visit to a few African supermarkets, we discovered this to be true. There’s also basically nothing online to suggest how to recreate this blend, or at least a viable substitute, at home. Tunuka Media seemed to have had more luck with this research than us, and made a suggestion alongside the disclaimer that it might be completely wrong. It was the only information we had, though, so we went with it: half a tablespoon each of ground aniseed, cinnamon, ground cloves, black pepper, ground cumin and onion powder.
Method
1. Melt the butter in a large cooking pot.
2. Add the beef and stir to coat with the butter, then cook until browned.
3. While the beef is cooking, soak the dates in 4 cups of water.
4. Add the garlic, onion and green pepper to the beef, stir, and cook for 5 minutes.
5. Add fakoye spice, salt and pepper and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring regularly.
6. Add the dates along with their soaking water and bring to the boil.
7. Add the rice, stir, and cook until the water has been fully absorbed (about 15 minutes).
8. Serve garnished with coriander leaves.
Serves 4
Djablani
Ingredients
150g fresh unpeeled ginger, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
1 1/2 cups water
4 large lemons, juiced
1 cup white sugar
7 more cups of water (1750ml)
Fresh mint leaves, crushed, to serve
Ice, to serve
Method
1. Put the ginger and 1 1/2 cups water in a blender and blend until thick and pasty.
2. Strain over a large jug, squeezing the ginger mixture as dry as possible.
3. Stir the lemon juice and sugar into the ginger juice until the sugar has dissolved.
4. Add the 7 cups of water and stir to combine.
5. Serve over ice (if desired) with the crushed mint leaves.
Makes about 2 litres
Two (identical) opinions on labadja (because Preschooler Mash wasn’t well and didn’t eat any dinner, and Baby Mash didn’t eat much of it either):
Miranda and Ash shared an opinion on this one: it was surprisingly good! We weren’t sure what it was going to be like with so many dates (half as much dates as beef) and then a lot of sweet spices (and Miranda isn’t a big fan of aniseed or cloves), but this very strange combination somehow worked together to make a really enjoyable meal. The amount of butter used gave it quite a greasy mouthfeel, but if you can move past that, there’s not much not to like here. We even think Preschooler Mash would have liked it if he’d tried it.
Two opposing views of djablani (and one on the fence):
Miranda and Ash: huge fans. We will definitely be making this again. Neither of us is a big fan of bottled soft drinks but we loved the fiery kick from the ginger and lemon and think it will be gracing our table quite a lot if summer ever makes a proper appearance. Ash experimented by adding some Bacardi, which he liked, but Miranda thought it was better without. We also wondered about possibly using sparkling water instead of still, so might try that next time – although, again, it doesn’t need improvement because it’s great as it is.
Baby Mash: we weren’t intending on giving him any but he could see the rest of us drinking it and looked desperate to join in, so we put a tiny bit in his cup. He’s only ever had water in his cup so unsurprisingly he was a bit stunned by the gingery blow he received! He did try to go back for more, but I think in the end we all concluded that he wasn’t a fan.
(On the fence: Preschooler Mash. He does like ginger, but doesn’t like lemon, so this could have gone either way and perhaps that’s why he’s on the fence. From the way he reacted, we think he probably did like the taste – and he did claim to like it… a bit – but it was perhaps a bit spicy for him.)
Two more things to conclude this post:
1. Make both of these. We will be making them again!
2. Timbuktu, of Disney movie ‘place in the middle of nowhere that no one has ever heard of’ fame, is in Mali. Who knew?!
Good Food on Bad Plates 