Another African country, another trip to the kitchen. As far as I can tell, there are no restaurants in London that cater for Chadian cuisine. So it was back into the kitchen.
I felt I had to do a fish dish this time around. It's rare that I cook any kind of seafood, and fish is in plentiful supply in many parts of Africa. Lake Chad is a recognisable feature in the west of the country, on the Nigeria and Niger border. As such, communities around the lake reap the benefits of the fish from the lake. Tilapia is commonly found here, and as a result I thought broiled tilapia cooked in a local style would be appropriate. But in the end this was quite a simple, almost generic solution, so to add authenticity I decided to serve with a side of Chadian salad.
As a result, the meal with prepared in two parts. Salad first, fish second. The main reason for this was to allow the salad to chill in the fridge while the fish cooked. Yep, a meal of hot and cold.
So, for the salad. It was made up for 150g long grain brown rice, 1 small cucumber, 2 bananas, 50g raisins, 2 tablespoons of chopped almonds, 60 ml olive oil, 1 lemon, and some salt, ground coriander, ground cumin, cayenne pepper and honey.
The first step was to cook the rice and set aside to cool. During this, it was time to slice the bananas and cucumber and add to the raisins and almonds.
Then, to bind this together, the dressing which consisted of the rind and juice of a lemon, mixed with olive oil, salt, ground spices and honey. Add this to the rest of the salad, and the rice, and mix softly but well, then put in the fridge to cool for at least half an hour.
With that out of the way, it was time to cook the fish. An important stage for preparation was to pat dry the tilapia fillets before coating in flour on both sides. I then pressed two sliced garlic cloves into both sides of the fish fillets. To be honest though, the cloves didn't really stay in place at all and fell off at all the future stages of this recipe.
I then flash fried the fish in hot oil, on both sides, before placing two halved tomatoes on top of the fish, topped with a sprinkle of salt, pepper and chilli powder, and a splash of water. I covered the pot and simmered for 40 minutes.
Both the fish and salad were served together.
The verdict? A real mix of different flavours which shouldn't really go together. I can't really say they did, but it wasn't unpleasant at all. The fish was lovely, with a great infusion of garlic. Even though it was difficult to keep the sliced cloves on the fish, they still cooked together and the taste was definitely there. As for the salad, for me the raisins made it. Words I never thought I'd say. The raisins made it. The big hits of sweetness with every few mouthfuls somehow seemed to compliment the rest of the flavours. This coming from a man who once upon a time refused to eat any fruit with food.
The banana was thankfully not too flavoursome after the cooking process. The texture and slight flavour played a big part. The cucumber was really fresh and gave the dish a good bit of refreshment. Elle and I aren't big fans of cucumber but we still managed quite well with it this time round.
In the end there wasn't a single grain of rice left. It was all gone within 20 minutes.
I think it gives me an extra appreciation for this type of cooking. Certain meals are based on blended, complimentary flavours. But recipes with distinct, contrasting flavours can be just as, if not even more, interesting and enjoyable.
Regardless, time for some restaurant visits!
