Djibouti - home cooking

After a good long run of restaurant visits, it was time to get back into the kitchen due to the lack of restaurants in London serving the food of Djibouti. And it wasn't difficult to decide which meal I was going to cook. Very quickly, during the minimal research I ended up having to carry out, I came across what is said to be the national dish of Djibouti. Skoudehkaris. It was also a prospect that really appealed. An easy, hearty, stodgy one-pot meal which took the best parts from a lamb stew and a lamb biryani and combined them. I was sold.

It had the makings of a simple meal from the short list of ingredients. The fundamental elements were lamb, spices, onion, tomato and rice. I started by frying a mix of ground cumin, cloves, cinnamon and cayenne pepper in ghee. Unfortunately, I was unable to track down ground cardamom and rather lazily added crushed cardamom pods instead. This was later going to taint the dish a little. After 20 seconds or so I added a chopped onion to the mix. Instantly this ended up turning everything really dry, as the spices coated the onions. Rather than risk burning the spices, I only fried this for a couple of minutes until the onions started to soften. 

I then added 600g of diced lamb, and browned the meat with the spiced onions. Thankfully, this added some moisture into the pot. Once browned, I tipped in a can of chopped tomatoes, followed by about 250 ml of water. And this is essentially the basis for the meal. Lid on and simmered for 45 minutes.

After the 45 minutes had passed, there was still a good bit of sauce in the pot. I then added 100g of long grain rice, stirred well and covered the pot again, simmering for another 20 minutes. I checked regularly to make sure the rice hasn't run out of moisture to soak up, but this never happened. In fact, if anything I probably could have added a touch more rice to help the general consistency.

But 20 minutes later, much of the sauce had been soaked up by the rice and the rice was done to perfection. It was time to serve.

Being a pot dish, this meal was clearly best served in a bowl and eaten with a spoon. A healthy portion was served, leaving about another quarter of that again in the pot for afters.

As hoped, it was a lovely, filling and very flavoursome meal. The lamb was absolutely perfect - melt in the mouth soft, with much of the fat having disappeared to help thicken the sauce. The sauce itself had some fantastic flavours - a very earthy, distinctive spice to it, with a sweet tomato base. The cardamoms were annoying. Rather than pick them out before serving, I tried to endure them. They had been cooked for so long that they were definitely soft enough to consume. An acquired taste, for sure. I'm usually quite happy to eat a couple in curries, but there were a good few in this dish. It didn't ruin the meal, but it created a slight annoyance which wouldn't have been the case if I had sourced ground cardamom. Still, the cardamom flavour is important in this meal.

Generally, this was a good hearty meal with a lovely flavour. Really simple to make, and really enjoyable to eat.

Denmark - Snaps + Rye

Restaurant:  Snaps + Rye

Location:  93 Golborne Road, London, W10 5NL

Date of visit:  Sunday 11 December 2016

Time of visit:  2.30pm

At one point a visit to a restaurant was looking quite doubtful for Denmark. One option appeared to be a Scandinavian shop that maybe sometimes did some kind of sandwich. Then there was Snaps + Rye. An initial look at the website raised two questions. Was I really going to pay that much for a set menu full of food that I didn't think we would enjoy very much (i.e lots of seafood)? And secondly, was this menu particularly Danish at all?

When I looked closer, I saw that there was also a breakfast / brunch / lunch option. Still fairly pricey, but much more reasonable. Then when I looked more into what Danish cuisine consisted of, I realised that this place was right on the money.

So off we went one Sunday lunchtime a few weeks before Christmas to what was a lovely little cafe in Notting Hill. I guessed it was a good idea to book ahead, and this was absolutely the right thing to do. First of all, this place is really small. Pleasantly so. Snug and intimate. And also completely full at the time we arrived, which admittedly was ten minutes before the time we had booked. We were greeted straight away, but were advised we would have to wait. Rather than give them the inconvenience of us going elsewhere for a short while, and them subsequently keeping and empty table free for us, we gave them the inconvenience of just hanging around by the door, while another couple of diners finished their meal and got their things together!

Finally, the table was vacated and prepared for us, and we sat down to study the menu (some of which is also online). The menu is separated into "Small/Medium Plates", "Plates" and "Sides". Most of the dishes in the small/medium section were available in both sizes. There was also a specials board.

Ten minutes later, the waitress came to serve us. This was quite a feat, as she was extremely busy. To drink, Elle asked for the only bottle of cider on the menu. Of which there was none. The waitress was quick to suggest an alternative of Danish mulled wine, delightfully named "glogg". Glogg it was to be. I ordered the Tivoli IPA, from the Danish brewery.

As for food, I opted for the first dish on the main "plates" menu, titled "Sun Over Goldbourne". This is their version of the Danish dish "Sol over Gudhjem", with Gudhjem being a part of the Danish island of Bornholm known for its smoking houses. And it is smoked mackerel that is the centrepiece of this dish, with egg yolk, rye, pickled beetroot, capers and radishes on a bed of rye bread.

Elle struggled too choose something from the menu, and the waitress did spend some time with her trying to help the decision. In the end, she went for the pork veal frikadeller meatballs, served with artichoke, apple puree, sauted potato and onion.

There was a really nice Sunday vibe to this place. Busy but relaxed. No one was in any real hurry. The service was quick but attentive. This was clearly a well run business, run by a very proud team.

Every now and then toilets are mentioned in this blog. And they have to be mentioned here. I've never really seen anything like it. It was like someone's personal bathroom at home. Very comfortable. Beautifully decorated. I stopped myself from taking a photo! Only just.

After 15 minutes, the food arrived. And straight away the presentation was striking. Quite stunning.

The general, non-fussy, easy to please diner in me was quite taken aback at how small my portion seemed. Especially for the price. But the experience of eating this meal was quite special. Two strips of smoked mackerel were placed next to a lovely salad. All of this on a bed of rye bread topped with a lovely creaming dressing. The egg yolk was delightfully placed inside a ring of red onion. To the side, an array of pickled beetroot and sliced capers. This was a gorgeous meal. So many fantastic flavours, which went fantastically well together. The mackerel was fantastic. Smoked to perfection. The rye bread and dressing provided some real substance. I wouldn't say I was full after this meal, but I was certainly satisfied. It was one of the most enjoyable lunches I have had for some time.

Elle also thought, at first glance, that her portion looked quite small. But she too ended up being satisfied with the amount of food on her plate. She also mentioned the array of many different, interesting tastes. Not all particularly welcome, especially the blue cheese sauce which covered the potatoes. The three substantial meatballs were really nice though, and worked well with the apple sauce.

One thing that really did make Elle's afternoon was the glogg. Her remark was that it made her the "happiest girl on the planet". It was full of hot, juicy berries. Definitely 10 out of 10 for that. Probably just as well they had no cider.

A tiny blot on the customer service copybook is that the waitress forgot to come back and take payment after we'd asked for the bill. But that isn't a gripe in the slightest, because generally the service was fantastic, especially as the restaurant was at capacity.

Overall, this was a fantastic experience. Quite pricey. Quite different. But definitely worth a visit.