Luwombo -- Uganda

This traditional Ugandan dish was a hit with my family in spite of it's unusual combination of strong flavours--I hope you like it too!

Luwombo Recipe
Makes 3 servings; adapted from http://www.sendacow.org.uk/lessonsfromafrica/assets/files/Ugandan-xmas-meal-Luwombo.pdf

Ingredients

2-3 chicken breasts (can also use beef or pork), chopped into bite-sized pieces
100-200g peanut butter
1 large onion, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 chicken stock cube
2 large mushrooms (or half a dozen button mushrooms), chopped
1-2 smoked fish fillets, pulled apart into bite-sized pieces
4-6 plantains or small green bananas
salt and pepper to taste (go easy on the salt; there's a lot in the smoked fish and stock)
~9-12 large fresh grapevine leaves (or banana leaves if you can get them...although you can apparently use baking paper as well??)

Method 

Brown the chicken/beef/pork in an oiled frying pan, then set aside.

Re-oil the pan and half the chopped onion.  Cook for a minute or two before adding the chopped tomatoes, chicken stock, pepper (and salt), peanut butter and smoked fish.  Add a little water to smooth the sauce if necessary.

Remove the stalks and plunge the grapevine leaves into hot water to soften them.  Arrange 2-3 leaves (per parcel) on a flat surface so that the lobes overlap to cover any gaps.

Place a portion of meat, mushrooms and tomato-peanut-fish sauce mix into the center of the arranged leaves and wrap up so that the sauce doesn't leak out of any cracks.  Secure each parcel with oven-proof string.

Arrange the parcels on a rack in a steamer (proper or improvised using a wire rack and a roasting dish) along with the plantains/bananas (I took the skins off but I wonder if trying it with the skins on would be worth while? Or adding them to the water rather than putting them on the rack??).  Steam for an hour (I put a jug full of boiling water in the bottom of the roasting pan and put the covered pan into the oven for an hour at 110 degrees; not sure if this is about right or not but it seemed to work).

Once steamed, mash the bananas and serve a portion with each parcel.

Thieboudiene -- Mauritania

This traditional Mauritanian dish has simple ingredients and is extremely tasty!

Thieboudiene Recipe
Makes 6 servings; courtesy of http://www.thekitchn.com/5-dishes-from-mauritania-122092

Ingredients

Rice
Vegetables: okra, cabbage, carrots, eggplant, potato, squash, red pepper - clean, peel, soak in water with garlic (any assortment of vegetable should work fine)
Fish Seasoning: black ground pepper, salt, 2 cloves garlic, 4 sprigs parsley, small red pepper, half onion - combine with mortar & pestle
2-4 Small Fish; clean and stuff seasoning inside (I rubbed seasoning into hoki fillets)
Sauce Seasoning: 2-3 cloves garlic, 1 tsp black pepper, remaining onion, 1-3 cubes bullion (chicken stock) - combine with mortar & pestle
3 tbsp Tomato Paste

Method 

Heat a large, heavy, empty pot until warm, covered. Add about 1/2 liter of oil with a little butter, recover with lid.  (alternatively heat a small amount of oil in a nonstick pan)

When oil is hot, fry the fish, uncovered. Remove the fish when done.

Mix together a little water and approx 3 Tbsp of tomato paste. Add to the frying oil and stir occasionally. Add vegetables and about 2 liters of water to the oil/tomato paste mixture in pot.

Put the fish back in the pot (if using whole fish; I left adding the fish back in until plating up so that it wouldn't fall apart). Add sauce seasonings and cover partially

Put rice in a steamer on top of the pot and cover. Remove veggies, fish, and a little sauce from the tomato/oil mixture once rice has been steamed (~20 minutes, maybe less) and set aside, keeping warm. Add rice to remaining sauce in the pot and stir to mix thoroughly. Cover pot, stirring rice mixture occasionally.

When ready to serve, place rice/sauce/oil mixture in a large bowl, also scraping up the crispy, burnt rice from the bottom of the pot. Place fish and vegetables on top of the rice and serve.