Baghrir / Beghrir

 
Baghrir / Beghrir is an ancient berber pancake originating in North Africa and are popular in Algeria and Morocco. 'Baghrir' means too soft in the Berber dialects, a reference to the soft and spongy texture of the pancakes. The traditional method of preparing baghrir is time consuming though the modern version is quick and easier with the use of a blender. Baghrir are eaten as a breakfast or snack dipped in a honey - butter sauce. While these are prepared all year round in Algeria, they are a popular part of a iftar during Ramadan in Morocco.
Baghrir, the pancake with a thousand holes is prepared using a yeast based fermented batter of semolina and flour. They are cooked only on one side without flipping on low flame and care is taken to keep them light colored. The number of holes on the pancake depend upon the consistency of the batter and they start to appear as soon as you pour the batter on the hot pan. A thick batter would not result in the holes. 
 
Baghrirs are usually served by dipping them in a honey - butter mixture.  The holes on the surface of baghrir soak up the syrup poured on it. The sauce is prepared by heating equal quantities of butter and honey until the mixture comes to a boil. 
 
Ingredients for baghrir: (Yield 10 - 12 pancakes)
3/4 cup semolina flour / very fine semolina
5 tbsp. all purpose flour
1 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. quick rising yeast
1 & 1/2 cups warm water

 Method:
* Blend all the ingredients into a smooth. lump-free batter. Allow it to rest in a warm place for about 30 minutes. It would have turned frothy and there would be an increase in the volume of the batter.
* Heat a non stick pan or a griddle. Pour a ladleful of batter and gently spread it with the back of the ladle. They can be made larger or smaller.
* Cook on low flame until the top appears dry and cooked. Remove it with a spatula and serve warm with honey-butter syrup.

* Repeat the steps with the remaining batter.
* Don't stack the pancakes when they are warm since they stick to each other.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 56.

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Z for Zimbabwe ~ Chikenduza / Zimbabwe Candy Cake

Event: BM #44         
Choice of Country: The Republic of Zimbabwe
Capital City: Harare
Official Languages: English, Shona and Ndebele

It's now time for the alphabet 'Z' and the last post of the marathon that has been going on this month, with the theme 'Around the World in 30 Days'. I picked Zimbabwe as my "Z" country. This landlocked south African nation was formerly called as Rhodesia. 'Zimbabwe' literally means 'House of Stone', which refers to the 800 year old stone ruins left by the Shona people. The Shona and Ndebele people alternately held power over this land until the Europeans occupied the region in 1850's. The Britishers occupied it until 1923. 

Zimbabwe Cuisine:
I must say I was shocked to learn about what they call delicacies in the region. (No offense meant). During the summer, open-air markets sell dried mopane worms (spiny caterpillars) and flying ants by the pound. They are eaten fried and are said to taste chewy and salty. Flying ants can be eaten live. They tear off the wings and eat the bodies. 
Meat and game such as beef, springbok (African gazelle), kudu (large antelope), and goat are eaten, the larger game reserved for special occasions. At more expensive restaurants, crocodile tail, shoulder of impala (a type of antelope), and warthog may be on the menu. (Source: Here) 
As a result of British rule, their cooking infiltrated Zimbabwean cuisine with non spicy food, sugar, bread and tea. The Lipopo and Zambesi rivers which border the nation provide the source for cultivating crops. They dry various produce and meat after the rainy season for consuming during winter months. "Sadza" a cornmeal based dietary staple happens to be the national dish.

I thought it would be befitting to end this journey on a sweet note as I ended up posting mostly sweet treats from around the world. I tried this popular candy cake called chikenduza from Zimbabwe and people in the region who grew up eating it seem to have fond memories attached to it. This is not really a cake but a 'cakey' bread if you ask me. It is sweet to taste like a cake and even have beautiful hued icing but the texture is more like bread / buns. I tasted one without icing and liked it. It was a hit with my son too while my daughter who went crazy icing the cupcakes wasn't so when it was time to taste them. She is not into sugary stuff unless they have chocolate in some form and so her opinion didn't matter. :) 
The recipe comes from here and the blogger had mentioned that the original cake is about the size of 2 muffins. She used a 15 cm cake tin (I guess it is around 6 inches tin). I halved the recipe and chose to go with a muffin pan for individual servings and besides I didn't have a small cake tin. If you are planning to bake this as a cake, double the ingredients and use a baking pan of that size mentioned in the original recipe. Also I would recommend using muffin liners for a muffin pan (even for a silicone pan) since the finished product tends to get stuck to the pan. (Mine did.)

Ingredients for cake: (for 6 standard sized cupcakes)
1 tsp yeast (I used dry active yeast)
1/4 cup warm milk
6 tbsp. sugar
1 & 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
3 - 4 tbsp milk
2 tbsp yogurt
1 tsp vanilla 
Ingredients for icing:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 to 2 tsp water
A few drops of food color (I am assuming from the post that originally the icing is pink but I went with orange color instead.)

Method:
* Combine yeast, 1 tbsp sugar and warm milk in a bowl and leave it in a warm place for about 10 - 15 minutes or until frothy. Add the remaining sugar and mix well.
* Now add all the other ingredients (except water) to the yeast bowl and mix well to form a thick dough. Add water if the dough appears dry. 

* Cover the dough and leave it in a warm place to rise. Let it proof for about one hour or until it bulks up. The leavened dough would be on the sticky side.

* Grease the cake tin if using or line the muffin cups. If using a muffin tin, fill 3/4th of the cups with the dough using a greasy spoon. (They rise again after the second proofing and so don't fill the cups to full. This quantity gave me 6 cupcakes). Allow to rise for about 20 minutes.


* When you are through 10 minutes of the second rise, preheat the oven to 350 deg F. 
 
* Bake until they turn golden brown, about 30 minutes.
 * Whisk powdered sugar with enough water and a few drops of food color to make a thick icing.
* Decorate the cupcakes / cake with the icing and serve.



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T for Tunisia ~ Tunisian Donuts / Ftira

Event: BM #44, Around the world (A - Z Series)

Choice of Country: The Tunisian Republic
Capital City: Tunis
Official Language: Arabic 

From West African nation of Sierra Leone, I am moving towards the northernmost region of Africa for my alphabet 'T". Tunisia to be precise. For the uninitiated, I am on a blogging marathon with a few other bloggers this month with the theme "Around the World in 30 days". Each day we pick a nation to cook from, going in an alphabetical order. And today we have reached the alphabet "T" in this culinary journey and I am going with some yummy donuts from the Tunisian region. 
Tunisia is situated on the Mediterranean coast of Northern Africa, midway between the Atlantic Ocean and Nile Delta. Tunisian cuisine is a blend of culinary traditions of Mediterranean and the desert dwellers and is quite spicy compared to other African nations. It offers a "Sun Cuisine", based mainly on olive oil, spices, tomatoes, seafood and lamb. A popular condiment / ingredient extensively used in Tunisian cooking is harissa. Cooking varies region wise and the couscous is the national dish.

This is one of the dishes that got made first for the marathon but I later kept contemplating whether to go with this choice or not. I had decided to try this version called ftira once I saw this recipe without researching anything about it. Later to my dismay I found out that there are other versions and the traditional versions of Tunisian donuts are supposedly called yo-yos / bambalouni. It got more confusing when the world "Ftira" kept leading me to flat breads from the Malta region. However after exercising my brain a little I realized that both the countries are in the Mediterranean region and probably because of the geographical proximity, there are chances that two different dishes may go by the same name. And being from India, I should have known about regional variations of a dish. This recipe had originally come from a Tunisian and so I guess it must be as authentic as it can get and truly Tunisian. :)

Ingredients: (yield about 10 - 12)
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup semolina flour
1 tbsp olive oil + about 2 tbsp extra
1.5 tsp dry instant yeast (I used active dry yeast instead of rapid rise yeast.)
3/4 cup lukewarm water (I used only 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp water.)
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt

Method:
* Add yeast, sugar and about 1/4 cup lukewarm water to a bowl. Mix well and leave it in a warm place for about 10 to 15 minutes, until it is frothy.
* Add flours, 1 tbsp oil, salt, yeast mixture and about 1/4 cup lukewarm water. Mix well, transfer it to a work surface and knead it to a smooth dough. 
(Add extra water in tbsp. increments if needed. I added about 5 - 6 tbsp of water excluding the 1/4 cup used for the yeast mixture. It still was on a sticky side and added about 1 tbsp extra oil.)
* Grease a bowl and transfer the dough to it. Flip the dough to cover it with a thin film of oil and cover the bowl. Set it aside for a few hours or overnight.
 
* When ready to make doughnuts, punch the dough down to deflate it. Roll it into a circle of about 1/3 inch thickness and cut circles out of the rolled out dough.
* Heat oil in a frying pan. When the oil is ready (about 375 deg F), drop the circles into the pan and fry on low flame until it is golden on both sides. They puff up while frying.

* Drain on absorbent towels. Serve hot with chocolate sauce / powdered sugar or honey.

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S for Sierra Leone ~ Kanya / Kanyah

Event: BM #44, Around the world (A - Z Series)

Choice of Country: The Republic of Sierra Leone

Capital City: Freetown

Official Language: English

We are into 4th week of our culinary marathon, 'Around the world in 30 days' and I am stopping at Sierra Leone, a West African nation for my letter 'S'.

Some tidbits about Sierra Leone:

* Sierra Leone is a west African nation bordered by Guinea and Liberia. The Portuguese explorer Pedro de Sintra visited this area in 1462 and named it 'Serra de Leôa', meaning "Lioness Mountains", for the landscape around Freetown. The Spanish rendering of this geographic formation is 'Sierra Leona', which later was adapted and, misspelled, became the country's current name.  
* It is predominantly a Muslim country with a Christian minority.  Religious violence is a rare occurrence in this nation.  
* English is the official language in government administration and is the medium of of instruction in schools. However the Krio language is used primarily for communication among ethnic groups and is spoken by 90% of the population.  
* Sierra Leone has relied on diamond mining for its economic base. It is also among the largest producers of titanium and bauxite, a major producer of gold, and has one of the world's largest deposits of rutile. Sierra Leone is home to the third-largest natural harbour in the world.   
* 70% of its people still live in poverty despite exploiting it's natural resources.
* The recent outbreak of Ebola virus has tremendously affected the economy. With the closure of borders, the cancellation of airline flights, the evacuation of foreign workers and a collapse of cross-border trade, the national deficit of Sierra Leone is widening to the point where the IMF was considering expanding its financial support.  
* Sierra Leonean cuisine includes cassava bread, fried fish, and okra soup. Stews are a fundamental part of Sierra Leone's cuisine, with groundnut stew having been called the country's national dish.
 (Source:Wiki)
 
Kanya / Kanyah are sweet peanut bites from Sierra Leone and they  are popular in other West African regions as well. They are made with ingredients that are staple in West Africa and is as basic as it can get. No surprises there considering that the majority of the population lives under poverty line and families hardly could afford three meals. Kanya is prepared by pounding rice, peanuts and sugar together.
Rice is a staple food in Sierra Leone and is used in many savory / sweet dishes and where as peanuts are considered a woman's crop in Africa. Peanut plants are widely cultivated throughout Africa ever since the European explorers introduced to them in 1500s. These peanut plants soon replaced a similar African plant called the Bambara Groundnut, that was cultivated earlier in the region. Now peanuts provide a vital source of cash income for women and nutritious, high protein food which could prevent child malnutrition.
 
As mentioned above, these humble and tasty peanut bites needs only three ingredients - rice, peanuts and sugar and are traditionally pounded. We can of course quicken the kanya making process by using a food processor or a mixer in the modern world. One can start from the scratch and prepare their own rice flour or use the store bought rice flour. This recipe was inspired from The Congo Cookbook website and I have changed the quantities to suit my taste. I added some extra peanuts to shape  the kanya pieces and reduced the sugar to my taste. If you already have toasted rice flour and peanuts then it takes about 5 minutes to prepare this kanya.
 

 Toasted & skinned peanuts and toasted rice flour

Ingredients for 8 burfis:
1/2 cup rice flour
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp roasted and skinned peanuts
6 - 7 tbsp sugar

Method:
* I used store bought rice flour but homemade flour can be used too. Toast the rice flour in a dry skillet on low flame until it changes to light brown color. Keep stirring all the while to toast uniformly and avoid burning the flour.

From L to R ~  white rice flour and toasted flour 

* Grind peanuts and sugar together into coarse crumbs using a food processor. Next add the toasted rice flour and pulse again until the mixture is a finely ground homogeneous mixture and starts to cake up as shown below.

 

* Press the mixture firmly into a square shaped pan and cut into squares. If you are finding it difficult to shape and the mixture is crumbling, put back the mixture into food processor and grind again until the mixture holds the shape. One can shape it into cubes or pyramids as well.

* Store these peanut bites in air-tight container if not serving immediately.

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N for Nigeria ~ Akara

Event: BM #44 , Around the World (A - Z series)  
Choice of Country: The Federal Republic of Nigeria
Capital City: Abuja  
Official Language: English

Nigeria is located in West Africa and is often referred to as "The giant of Africa" because of it's large population and economy. The name "Nigeria" comes from the Niger River, that runs through the country. Nigeria is inhabited by more than 500 ethnic groups and obviously it's cuisine consists of dishes coming from them. Wikipedia mentions that the cuisine uses spices, herbs along with palm oil or ground nut oil to create rich flavored sauces and spicy soups. Their feasts are lavish and colorful. They have a variety of street foods that is often barbecued or deep fried like this akara for instance.  

Akara are deep fried black-eyed pea fritters from Nigeria. I was contemplating whether to try these or not as black-eyed fritters / alasanda vadalu are a common street food in my home state, Andhra in India. However after going through the recipe, the method sounded slightly different than the standard Indian version and decided to give it a try. The black-eyed peas are soaked overnight and then skinned before proceeding to the grinding part. I have peeled my share of avarekalu when I was young but still the process of peeling off the skins is tedious. Employ your family members for the job during TV watching session. :) Coming back to recipe, skinned beans are ground into paste adding very little / no water. Then red chilli and onion are added and pounded in a wooden mortar and pestle until smooth. Then spoonfuls of batter are dropped into hot oil and fried until golden brown through out. I didn't have any variety of fresh red chilli on hand and so used green chillies instead. I ground the beans first in the food processor and then added onion, green chillies and salt and processed just until they were combined. (Recipe source: Here)


Ingredients:
1 cup black eyed peas
3 - 4 chillies, chopped finely (the original recipe uses 2 fresh red chillies.)
1 big onion or 2 small onions; chopped fine
Salt to taste
Oil to fry

Method:
* Soak black eyed peas overnight and then peel off the skins. Grind the beans into a smooth batter, adding water just enough to facilitate grinding.

* Add the chillies and onions and grind again until they are just combined. Stir in salt just before frying.
* Meanwhile, heat oil for deep frying. Drop spoonfuls of batter into the hot oil and fry on low flame until they turn golden brown through out. Serve warm.

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K for Kenya & Kashata

 
Event: BM #44 , Around the World (A - Z series) 
Choice of Country: The Republic of Kenya  
Capital City: Nairobi  
Official Language: Swahili & English

For my "K" country, I am moving towards East Africa, Kenya to be precise. This nation lies in the "African Great Lakes" region and is said to be inhabited by humans as long as the human history existed. Lake Victoria, the world's second largest fresh-water lake and the largest tropical lake, is situated to the southwest of Kenya. Kenya, along with Uganda and Tanzania is famous for its safaris, diverse wildlife reserves and national parks such as the East and West Tsavo National Park, the Maasai Mara, Lake Nakuru National Park, and Aberdares National Park.
The first inhabitants of the region were hunters-gatherer groups. Then people from other parts of the continent started to move towards this region. Then Kilwa Sultanate ruled over the Swahili region up until the 17th century. Later on the country saw foreign  rule including Omani Arabs, Germans and British and of course they all influenced Kenyan cooking. Food in the coastal area gets more exotic because of it's long standing relationship with foreign settlers, merchant traders and it's colonization by foreign countries over centuries. The rural areas prefer simple, nutritious meals incorporating the local ingredients. Kenyan cooking is largely influenced by Indians, Arabs and Europeans. The east coast traders and workers who came from the Indian subcontinent and settled in Kenya brought with them spicy chai, chapatis and samosas. Mahamri / maandazi and samosas are the popular snacks in this region. Ugali, a thick cornmeal porridge forms the base for lunch / dinner.

I chose to go with Kashata, a popular snack from Eastern Africa that has originated in the Swahili region. They are made with peanuts and/or shredded fresh coconut and are specially made for kids during the Ramadan season. The texture is somewhat between a candy and a cookie and they are made over fire or on stove top. My first impression was that kashata probably has Indian roots and is the Africanized version of our own chikkis. Peanut brittle is so popular in India that they are made at home or readily available in stores everywhere, even on the remotest corner of the country if I am not wrong. Like every other Indian, I have grown up enjoying my share of peanut brittle and coconut burfis (squares) and wanted to try this variation.

Coconut and wheat flour are not a part of Indian style brittle. In India skinned whole / crushed peanuts are usually added to jaggery syrup of hard ball consistency and are shaped into squares or balls. Sometimes, sugar syrup is used instead of jaggery syrup but the latter is preferred for it's rich flavor. Basically the dish can be prepared with two ingredients, peanuts and jaggery / sugar and homemade versions use cardamom for flavor.
Kashata uses similar ingredients but differs in terms of preparation, taste and texture, especially if you chose to go with all the ingredients mentioned in the original recipe. I had to try this twice to get it almost perfect. I added both peanuts and coconut since that combo was new to me in brittle making and I left out the flour since it was optional. The first time I thought I will go with the Indian style as I had never used the dry caramelization method. I prepared a sugar syrup of hard ball consistency using a little water and followed the recipe directions. Immediately I knew the measurements were wrong since the mixture I got was almost like semi solid. I had to freeze the mixture to shape by hands and whenever I took them out to eat, they were very sticky to touch and were pale in  color.

I make decent peanut balls and honestly was embarrassed failing at my first attempt cooking such a simple dish. I had to give it a second try, keeping extra skinned peanuts, coconut and toasted wheat flour handy in case. This time I followed the exact directions as shown below. The dry caramelization process lends kashata a rich color and flavor and they taste good. They were not dry/firm like the Indian version and my guess is because the sugar is melted but not let to reach that particular consistency as needed. Keep extra peanuts/coconut/toasted wheat flour handy to add in case if you find the mixture sticky.  

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
2 cups roasted, skinned peanuts or 2 cups fresh / frozen, shredded coconut or 1 cup roasted, skinned peanuts + 1 cup fresh / frozen, shredded coconut
1/2 cup toasted wheat flour (Dry toast flour until it slightly browns.)
1/4 tsp cardamom powder

Method:
* Grease a plate with high edges or a square pan and keep it aside.
* Slightly crush the peanuts if using.
* Heat sugar in a heavy sauce pan or a non-stick pan on moderate heat.Do not add any water.

* The quantity of sugar I used for the pictorial was 1/4 cup and the sugar started to liquefy around the edges after about 3 minutes.

* Tilt the pan slightly holding the handle so that sugar melts evenly.

* Cook until the sugar is melted and starts to turn into brown / amber color.

* Add immediately the peanuts and/or coconut, wheat flour and cardamom. Stir well so that the ingredients are coated with the syrup. Cook for a minute and turn off the stove.
* Pour the mixture into the greased mold you are using.

* Cut the mixture into desired shapes while the mixture is still warm. Let cool and serve.

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