Day 27 - Burkina Faso (AF) - Munyu Caf Couscous - Up Next, Burma (AS)

Gumby, Dude!! Awesome of you to pop in - lemme fix you a plate! Tough week for immigration law, employment/unemployment, the stock market, Russian spies and local aid...Still the privileges and largess we take for granted living in the USA are so glaring as I delve into learning about the many countries I'm cooking in (27 so far). I continue to be humbled by the spirit, courage and resilience so many people in our world face simply to provide a meal for their families with very little. Burkina Faso (Ouagadougou)(AF): Slightly larger than Colorado, Burkina Faso, formerly known as Upper Volta, is a landlocked country in West Africa. Its neighbors are Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Benin, Togo, and Ghana. The country consists of extensive plains, low hills, high savannas, and a desert area in the north. Here's a short list of some of the hardships the people of Burkina Faso have endured due to numerous coups, natural disasters and foreign exploitation. Burkina Faso is one of the world's poorest countries and is locked in a vicious circle of poverty. The French colonial authorities put into operation a system of forced labour recruitment among the Mossi between World War 1 and World War 2 this was to supply the European owned plantations in the Ivory Coast. This system was abolished in the 1940's but actually continued under another name.   Independence came in 1960, the first president was Maurice Yameogo one of the principle figures in national politics since World War 2.  In 1966 he was overthrown in a military coup led by Lieutenant Colonel Sangoule Lamizana, as a result of his mismanagement of the economy.   Throughout the 1970's drought was common.  Burkina Faso has much infertile land, aid organisations refuse to help and insist upon cultivation of cash crops.   The majority of the basic food crops need to be imported, causing the country great poverty.   The country also has a long history of labour migration to Ghana and the Ivory Coast Gumby, Dude! So awesome of you stop by - lemme get you a mini place setting PDQ! Tonight's Meal - Burkina Faso's National Dish is Riz Gras - rice cooked in fat. Honestly, I simply couldn't bring myself to cook this dish tonight, although I'm sure it's tasty. Instead, I picked another traditional dish called Munyu Caf Couscous. It's quite similar to many of the West African dishes I've cooked as  it uses peanut butter to bind and flavor the stew.This recipe calls for meat, but it could just as easily be omitted with equally tasty results.   The basic ingredients - egg plant, cabbage, peanut butter, onion, tomato paste and couscous   Grate the cabbage   Cook up the couscous (follow the directions on the package)   Crush the tomatoes (you can substitute a can of kitchen ready crushed tomatoes)   Add the grated cabbage and egg plant to the peanut, tomato mixture, cover and simmer   Whoaaaa!!! Gumby AND Barack in one night?? That's fresh.   Ian and Liam chowing down and...the happy cook  - it's not every day Barack AND Gumby drop in!! Munyu Caf Couscous *The original recipe was written using kilograms, so I've converted to make it easier to follow  Ingredients:  4 cups couscous  4 cups assorted meats, cubed (I used chicken) 1 1/2 cups peanut butter 1 large onion, chopped 3 tomatoes, crushed 6 tbsp oil 1 tbsp tomato paste 1/2 cabbage, shredded 2 small aubergines (egg plant), cubed Bring 4 cups of water to a boil in a large pot and add 4 cups couscous. Immediately shut off flame, stir couscous, cover and let rest. Meanwhile, heat oil in another large pot and brown the meat in this before adding the onions, tomatoes and tomato paste. Mix thoroughly then add enough water to just cover and stir-in the peanut butter. Add the other vegetables then cover and simmer for an hour (adding more water as necessary) until everything is cooked. Serve the vegetable and meat stew on a bed of the couscous. Final Assessment: Very tasty and filling. The egg plant and cabbage combined with tomato and peanut flavor was delicious.

9 Stir Fry Secrets from Grace Young

Are you a stir fraud? Do you stir fry or do you stir faux? During a recent taping of You're Doing It All Wrong for Chow, I learned I was making some pretty big mistakes when it comes to stir frying hence my less than stellar results. The video is not quite ready yet, but to tide you over, here's what I learned from stir fry master and cookbook author Grace Young. Her latest book, Stir Frying to the Sky's Edge is out now.



* Use a 14-inch wok. Other sizes are too small to cook enough food or too large to heat properly on a typical home range. Find a carbon steel flat bottom wok. RESIST the urge to use a non-stick wok! It cannot be heated high enough to give you good results. If you must, use a 12-inch skillet. But again, not non-stick!

* When you marinate meat for stir frying, which only takes five minutes, add a little bit of oil.

* Use a high smoke point oil such as peanut, canola, grapeseed. Grace said rice bran oil is good too and that's generally what I have on hand.

* Hot pan, cold oil! Do not add the oil to your wok until it is hot, hot, hot! Otherwise the food will stick, stick, stick.

* Use the highest heat possible!

* To get good caramelization, spread out the meat and really let it sear before stirring.

* Stir fry the meat only until it's 3/4 of the way done before removing it and adding the vegetables.

* Be sure vegetables are good and dry when they go in the wok.

* Don't crowd the pan! The amount of vegetables will vary depending on the type, but a rule of thumb is no more than 3/4 of a pound meat and maximum 4 cups vegetables.

But you want to know the most important thing I learned? You can make a better stir fry at home than you can get in a restaurant. Really. According to Grace, you are much more likely to use higher quality ingredients than your local Chinese restaurant. And if you do it right, your results should be better.

My thanks to Chow and Grace for inviting me to the taping. I'm only sorry I couldn't stay for lunch!



More tips on stir frying from Grace on Culinate