No. 53 - Djibouti – Shake Dja-Bootian Skoudehkaris

Djibouti. The punibilities are endless, so endless in fact that I better not start. For those of you who don’t know, Djabouti is prenounced Dja-Bootie. I trust you can use your imagination. 

I’ve had ‘(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Dja Bootie’, by  KC and the Sunshine Band stuck in my head for as long as I’ve known Djibouti was pronounced Dja-Bootie. 

Then I found another version of 'Shake Dja Bootie' by a certain Lil B. 

Swag swag swag swag woop bitch shake your booty

Swag swag woop woop swag bitch shake your booty

Swag swag swag swag swag bitch shake your booty

Woop woop woop woop woop bitch shake your booty

The lyrics are of course appalling (annoyingly catchy) and Culinisation wants down with this sort of thing.  

Skoudehkaris

So down with this sort of thing and down to business - Djibouti’s national dish, called Skoudehkaris, is a traditional stew made up of tender chunks of lamb, braised slowly in a number of fragrant spices - in case you're interested, all beginning with the letter C - cardamon, cinnamon, cumin, clove. On the off chance that I sound a bit too foodie here, I’m not totally sure if that is the correct use of the term ‘braised’ but it sounds about right (a lot better than ‘cooked’ and this is a food blog after all).  It is very delicious although I did alter the recipe to suit my mood as I often seem to do and in true Culinisation fashion served rather non-traditional accompaniments.

It makes your house smell amazing.

500g lamb, cubed.

1 onion, chopped,

oil for frying,

1 tbsp of cumin

pinch of ground clove (I didn’t have any so left this out)

½  tsp of ground cardamom  (I didn’t have any so I put in one whole cardomom pod, crushed in a pestle and mortar)

¼ tsp of  cinnamon

1 tin chopped tomatoes

1 cup of water

1 non-authentic sneaky stock cube

The obligatory salt, pepper and oil for frying

Preheat you oven to 180 degrees celcius.

In a large ovenproof pot that has a tight fitting lid, fry the onion in a little oil until soft. Push the onions to one side, turn up the heat, then add the lamb and seal so it has coloured on all sides. Then add in the spices, toss so that all the meat is coated and continue to fry for another couple of minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes, water, sneaky stock cube, salt and pepper and stir.

Put on the lid and pop into the oven for approximately 2 and ½ hours or until the lamb is super tender. You may want to check it a couple of times just to ensure the liquid hasn’t completely evaporated.

Traditionally Skoudehkaris is served with laxoox, a flat bread, but I fancied it with mashed potatoes, rocket and yogurt. 

*I was correct. Braised in fact means cooked with a combination of dry and moist heat – seared at a high temperature and finished in a covered pot with liquid. A-braising! 

No.52 - Denmark - One Great Dane-ish!

'oh-my-god-this-is-so-seriously-delicious-seriously-though' 

The plural of danish is danishes. Danish which is of course origionally an adjective (Danish) does not have a plural form . No such thing. When you turn the word 'danish' into a noun it become ‘danishes’ and this is perfectly correct.  

The same does not apply, in the case of eating a 'chinese' or 'indian' for example. Maybe it’s because no one has the appetite two eat to 'mexicans'. Not true. That’s totally possible. Obviously it’s because 'koreans' and 'morrocans' are not foods, they’re cuisines.

Something to think about next time you go for a danish and then fancy another danish.

Ironically the double danish dilemma is not relevant  today. This recipe makes one great dane-ish! Wayhey!

One Great Dane-ish

1 sheet of ready rolled puff pastry

100g pecan (hold a few back for decoration)

3 tablespoons of sugar

3 tablespoons of maple syrup plus extra to glaze

3 tablespoons of soft brown sugar.

6 tablespoons of icing sugar

Bung all of the ingredients (except the puff pastry) into a blender and blend until,  well blended. 

Lay out your sheet of puff pastry and mentally (remember mentally) divide into three lengthways. Then get a knife and cut the outer thirds into strips approximately 1.5cm – 2cm wide, just like the people who leave their number on notice boards for people to rip off.  (I realise this makes no sense but I was feeling a bit over enthused at the prospect of getting all ‘Great British Bakeoff’ on well, my own ass and forgot to take a photo.)

Spread the pecan mixture onto the central strip which, as long as you haven’t gotten to ‘knife happy’ should remain intact. Overlap a strip from the left side of the pastry over a strip from the right side of the pastry (over the pecan mixture) and repeat until it vaguely ressembles a plait. Maybe a plait after a night out and morning in bed.

If you fail miserably at this step, which lets face it is a distinct possibility with yours truly for guidance - it doesn’t matter. When your pecan is all puffed up and beautiful, your friends won't care. When they taste it, it will be in their mouths and then you will be their favorite person.  Hell, I was my own favorite person for being so clever as to make something so gratifying and eye rollingly 'oh-my-god-this-is-so-seriously-delicious-seriously-though' kind of scrumptious. AND it's a breakfast food for Christ's sake. 

Jeez, I was so busy congratulating myself there I nearly forgot to finish the recipe. 

Brush the pastry with some milk or ess, whichever you have handy and bake in a preheated oven of 200ºC oven (I learned how to use the degree symbol on a MacBook - more self congratulations is in order I fear) for approximately 30 minutes. 

If you can manage, allow it to cool and make yourself up some icing - mix a few tablespoons of icing sugar with a drop of water until you get a dropping consistency. Brush your great dane with the remaining maple syrup and decorate with the reserved pecans.  From a height, drizzle with the icing and pat yourself on the back for a job well done .