Belarus - home cooking

In a rare development, only days after posting the latest review (despite how long that actually took to write) I was ready to tackle the next country! Unfortunately, I hit another stumbling block when it came to finding a restaurant in London that served Belarusian cuisine. Although there are several Russian and former Soviet bloc restaurants, I wasn't satisfied that any of those specialised in food from Belarus. So it was back to the kitchen...

The research I did before the meal indicated a clear favourite national dish of Belarus - draniki. This is a kind of potato pancake which is often eaten on its own, with sour cream or some other kind of dressing. However, I also discovered it was a perfect accompaniment to machanka, a creamy pork stew. The decision was made. 

At the time I didn't realise that I was about to break a long standing self-imposed rule regarding the kind of food I should never cook again. An explanation is coming up.

The time involved in cooking both parts worked out quite well. First up was the stew which, like most stews, can be cooked for anywhere between 1 and 3 hours. In this case, that flexibility was a real advantage.

I started with 600g of pork. I chose pork steaks, which I cut into substantial chunks. I'd actually recommend buying a different cut of pork and chopping this into larger cubes. My chopped pork ended up being quite long and thin as the steaks were only about 1cm thick. I cut off some of the rind, but didn't go overboard as this would add to the stew.

Lard. Something I've never cooked with before. Incredibly cheap. And incredibly bad for you. And a regular addition to this recipe - starting here with one tablespoon of lard, which I used to fry the pork until browned, then set aside. In the same pan/lard I then fried one chopped onion for around four minutes, before adding the pork back to the pan along with 250ml beef stock, five bay leaves and 250ml of water. Finally, I stirred one tablespoon of plain flour into 250ml warm water and added this to the pan. Then, the heat was cranked up a little and this cooked for around 90 minutes.

The next stage, after 90 minutes had passed, was to add 200ml of sour cream and a few pinches of salt and pepper. Then it's back on to simmer for another 30 minutes.

30 minutes. Half an hour. Enough time, so I thought, to cook the draniki. For this I had already peeled five potatoes, chopped one onion and two garlic cloves. I then blended these together with a hand blender, which was really quite difficult as I didn't have a container big enough, so had to do this in batches. There went some of my time.

Next I added some salt and pepper and one whisked egg, and mixed it all together well. At this point it's wise to strain away some of the water as you don't want the mixture too wet. I neglected to do this, and I paid the price.

Lard. Again. Into the frying pan and then, when hot, add a spoonful of the draniki mixture. Don't do what I did, which was add a few spoonfuls. What you're left with is too bloody big to manage! At this point it is much like cooking a pancake. Which I promised myself years ago I'd never do again. Never do pancakes, or anything which has to be of a certain consistency, or needs heat of a certain temperature, or anything which involves egg, or needs to set. And yet here I was doing exactly that.

Time was passing. It was cooking. Slowly. The bottom seemed to be cooking well. The top... wet. Now the bottom was starting to burn. The top? Wet. If I can just somehow flip it over now. Slop. I was left with a ball of slop. In the bin it went.

I could already feel the anger. At this point Elle came home from work. She stayed well away at first. She's seen this before. Later I think the pity set in and she started to help out.

But this point I'd taken the machanka off the heat, as it was more than done. I actually managed to do a few decent looking (smaller) pieces of draniki which I was happy with. Elle did a few more. Finally, 45 minute late, dinner was served.

The machanka is probably the most enjoyable home meal I've had in this project yet. The pork was beautifully cooked, and the creamy sauce was really rich and thick. Calorie conciousness had to go out the window here. I had already seen how much cream and lard and pork had gone into this, and now I was tasting the reward. A very decent portion too. Any more and it might have become a little too sickly. But it was just the right serving.

The draniki. Meh. Don't get me wrong, it was quite nice but I wasn't happy with the consistency. It was cooked - yes - but not well cooked through. It was still quite moist and I'm almost certain it shouldn't have been. Nonetheless, it was used on its own and with the stew. Another substantial portion.

Despite my age old promise to myself not to cook anything pancakey again, I would've been disappointed to have stopped myself from attempting the draniki as it was so tradtionally Belarusian. So I'm glad I tackled it, and ended up with something edible. But I'm so looking forward to leaving it to the experts again when we attempt the next country.

Barbados - Bajan Spice

Restaurant:  Bajan Spice

Location:  28 Nunhead Green, London, SE15 3QF

Date of visit:  31 August 2013

Time of visit:  7.15pm

Steve and Elle ate:  Steam fish and cou-cou (Steve), Curry chicken, rice and peas with potato salad (Elle)

In the first of a continued effort to get through more countries quicker in the project, we headed to south-east London to what is believed to be the city's only food outlet which specalises in food specifically from Barbados, as well as catering to the culinary appetites of other Caribbean nations.

Firstly, Bajan Spice is clearly a cafe, a takeaway joint, as opposed to a restaurant. That said, there was a small offering of metal tables and chairs inside and outside the cafe, which we used as we were nowhere near home and had nowhere to take food away to!

When we arrived the door was open, and although the cafe was empty the two members of staff were on hand behind the counter to help us. Luther Vandross was playing on the radio. There's no real point to me mentioning that, other than the fact that it pleased me very much.

The menu is clearly displayed above the counter and we spent a few minutes looking at what was on offer. The menu was largely divided between snacks, main meals, and Saturday specials. The specials appeared to be mostly made up of specifically Bajan dishes, and this was what I focused on mostly. Research before our visit informed me that souse is one of the traditional meals of Barbados. This research also informed me not to pick souse, as pig snout, trotters and belly does stretch my food ambitions a little too much. Maybe one day I will become a little more brave.

This research also turned up the fact that flying fish and cou-cou is another popular national dish, and this is what I opted for. Elle wasn't feeling quite as adventurous this weekend and opt-ed for the more standard chicken curry.

The cafe had no alcoholic beverages on offer. Only soft drinks, some of which were imported. I opted for a Carribean import by way of a bottle of Solo banana soda, which was actually really good.

While we waited for the food to arrive, a steady stream of people were coming in and out of the cafe - most quite clear in what they were looking for. It was clear to see that this place is a local favourite.

We waited around 15 minutes for the food, which was maybe a little longer than we would have expected, but it really wasn't an issue. Additionally we were reassured after 10 minutes that the food was on its way. 

Finally, the food was handed over, which we took over to the table. At this point the lady behind the counter apologised for giving it to us in polystyrene boxes, as she assumed we weren't staying. I suppose we didn't tell her we intended to dine in, but she also didn't ask!

The boxes were divided into three compartments. In my box I found two big slabs of cou cou, two large portions of flying fish served with mixed vegetables - okra, peppers, onion and more - and soaked in a fish broth. I am a man who likes spices, but there wasn't much in the way of that despite what I had expected. 

The portion of fish was substantial and really tasty. But it was also incredibly full of bones. It might sound like a ridiculous thing to say, but it is true. There is clearly a knack to eating this kind of fish and discarding of the bones effortlessly. At least to anyone who regularly eats fish like this. I'm not one of those people. I don't want to think about what I must have looked trying to deal with this fish. As time went on, I started to get better at pulling the fish away from the bones. 

I spent so long concentrating on this that I forgot about the cou cou. As I expected, cou cou isn't very flavoursome. At all. But it's very filling and mixed well with the broth. A little too well, as I was left with a lot of dry cou cou and no broth. A fair bit of that was left and was fed to the bin monster. The lady behind the counter did actually offer to wrap it up for me to take home, but I clearly wasn't going to do anything with it later.

Elle's curried chicken was very familiar. The chicken itself was very succulent and tender, and served in a subtly spicy sauce. The rice and peas that it was served with were quite dry, but perfect for the sauce.

The meals were served with a beautiful potato salad which was served in a really nice mayo dressing.

As was the case when we were waiting for the food, many people came and went to order food and pick up phoned in orders. We were sent on our way with an quick enquiry on how our food was - she seemed genuinely interested to know what we thought - and a friendly goodbye.

We left feeling quite happy that the next country was ticked off the list, and that we tried something new again.

As for the continuted effort to get through the list of countries quicker...erm...