Vegetarian Stroganoff

Original Recipe

Ingredients:

3 TBS butter
1 large onion
1 1/2 cup vegetable broth
1 1/2 cup sour cream
3 TBS all purpose flour
2 tsp soy sauce
1-2 Portabella mushrooms
Parsley for garnish
Egg Noodles

Directions:

1) Saute the onions and mushrooms in butter
2) Bring the veggie broth to a boil in same pan after onions/mushrooms are sauteed
3) Add flour to thicken the mixture
4) Remove pan from flame
5) Add sour cream and mix thoroughly
6) Boil noodles
7) Drain noodles and combine with the sauce

The realities of the situation was that I thought of cooking this later in the evening after all the stores had closed. So I was stuck with what I had.

Revised Recipe

Ingredients:

3 TBS butter (no point in adding more fat since there was no onion)
1 large onion (none at the time)
1 1/2 cup vegetable broth (thank god I brought some veggie base from the U.S. with which to make broth)
1 1/2 cup sour cream (I've never seen it anywhere here so I subsituted it for plain yoghurt, but only put in 3-4 large spoonfuls)
3 TBS all purpose flour (yes- had this- and it was sand free! I used more than 3 TBS though- until it was the consistency I wanted)
2 tsp soy sauce (check!)
1-2 Portobella mushrooms (ha ha- fat chance at finding this. Instead I used a large can of whole button mushrooms)
Parsley for garnish (no where to be found in the house- hence it had to be sacrificed)
Egg Noodles (I don't know if I used egg noodles, but they were chinese noodles that reminded me of ramen noodles, except flat)

Most of this process went surprisingly smoothly! All except opening the can of mushrooms. We have two can openers in the house and they are both crap. They cut into the can for a few centimeters and then somehow veer off the normal path of cutting. What you get is a series of small cuts in the can top that don't amount to anything significant enough to open the can or get the contents of it out. Needless to say.. a bit frustrating. How did I actually get them open you ask? Our former cook used to cut open cans with a sharp knife, but as we have zero sharp knives in the house (I still can't figure out why) I was left with a butter knife. You'd actually be surprised how effective the butter knife was. This is not to say it was that effective- it really wasn't- but it was more so than I had thought. After much travail I did manage to open up a large enough hole in the can to get the mushrooms out. (Picture below- coming soon.)

The rest went ok, although i was nervous about the lumpy flour (I added the flour when it was boiling but it still was a bit lumpy for a while) and the towels I used as hot pads to hold the pot got singed by the stove flame on numerous occasions. Add 2 to the disabled list.

In the end, the sauce was much more yellow than I had anticipated (because the veggie base was yellow), but tasted surprisingly good. I would have loved to add some onion and garlic to it, but it wasn't half bad without them. Overall, I'd say it was a success!

What will the next adventure be? Possibly pear chipotle martinis (brought the chipotle peppers and pear brandy with me from the U.S) or eggplant parmesan. Another idea I came up with today is eggs benedict, complete with hollandaise sauce. I know that one will be interesting...

Blame the Dutch

The first adventure in baking was very fitting (and might I add hilarious). Task number 1: bake a cake from a box on which all the instructions are in dutch. Apparently Lutfiyah took it as a challenge when she saw it in the local expat store (read: expensive.. almost like the yuppie markets in the U.S., just take away the organic food and keep the prices). For those of you in Juba- no it's not JIT. She found it at VAMP.

So, adventure 1 begins. It looked like a simple yellow cake and if you read the dutch instructions out loud you could make out some English equivalents. Language barrier mostly overcome- check. Now for the measurements... how much is 200 grams of butter from a package which has no measurement markings on it? Who the hell knows, but we did guestimate and decided it was good enough. Throw in some sugar, a bit of milk, part of the box mix and test taste. Hmmm.. we should put some vanilla in it.. Mix made: check.

Now, we are in a much better situation now than before, meaning, the oven we have actually has a temperature gauge of sorts. Amazing, I know. Before, at our office compound, you'd have to adjust the oven flame and watch the cake very closely so it wouldn't burn. Now it's a lot easier- you can sort of trust the oven (and hope the power doesn't go off in the middle of baking).

The cake looked done a couple of times, but clearly wasn't. When we finally took it out the cake sunk. Then we tried it... way way too much butter, too much sugar... and who did we blame? The Dutch of course! Silly directions in Dutch... It really wasn't good- like squeezing a sponge of butter into your mouth.

Final thoughts: No more Dutch box mixes. I have to say the Americans really got it right with the box mixes.
(Pictures to come)

A New Start

Ah yes, another cooking blog.... but wait, there's a twist! How do you take recipes you love and adapt it to what is available in South Sudan? Thus far, my experience has been this: for baking, add 2-3 hours onto any prep/baking time, add a little sand and desperation for baked goods. For cooking, never assume that what is available in the market today will be available tomorrow, you will always spend much more than you want if you buy ingredients at JIT, and be prepared to be interrupted by power failure.

I have worked in Sudan on two different occasions in the last year: once for 3 months and once for 6 months. Now, I about to come back for a full year. During my previous stints, I did little to nothing in the way of cooking and only a bit of baking when my colleagues and I could muster enough motivation (which was not often). As a result, I suffered from dishes made for me, which were swimming in oil (literally, you had to search to find the food at times!) and concoctions I couldn't even begin to describe. I'm still wondering what was in some of those meals... To be fair, I have also had some wonderful food from local restaurants and have been surprised at times by those who are cooking for my colleagues and I.

Nevertheless it is time to take a stand. Working anywhere from 8-11 hours a day up to 7 days a week is not conducive to cooking and baking for yourself, but if my arteries and my foodie soul is to live through this next stint, I have to do it. My goal is to eat food made by me at least 3 times a week on average, and hopefully I can increase it if all goes according to plan. Sadly, nothing ever does go according to plan, so I'm just going to stick to my goal of 3 times and be pleasantly surprised if I surpass that goal.

In short, I will cook/bake old & new recipes and with this blog, document my successes and failures in making them in South Sudan.

Wish me luck.

Signing off,

Nikki