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!