Though Yassa is normaly eaten with rice, out of the three times I ate in The Gambia only one time it was actually served this way. The other times were, once with salad and the other time with these noodles, which turned out to be vermicelli. A kind of noodle normaly used in soups. So when I decided to cook this dish at home I choose to use the noodles as well. I think nect time I try it with mashed potatos.
I'd like the recipe, looks interesting (and hopefully easy)!
Ingredients (for 2 persons):
- 2 chicken breasts (or any other meat from any other animal. Strict vegetarians or vegans see below)
- 2 mediumlarge onions (a bit smaller than the average apple I would say)
- additional vegetables (I used a bell pepper and a carrot but everthing else is fine as well)
- sugar (optional)
- salt
* green bell pepper
* 5-6 cloves of garlic
* 3-4 tablespoons of mustard
* 8-10 tablespoons of lemonjuice or vinegar (or maybe even limejuice... ah the possibilities!)
* 2 african stock cubes (Ok, here is the thing, I don't think it is actually necessary to buy the special african stock cubes, sure they are a bit different from the ones we have here, but mostly because our's aren't loaded with glutamate. The best way to imitate the african ones without glutamate would be to use one normal stock cube, either vegetable or beef or chicken or whatever, and add a bit Maggi or soy-sauce. Maybe one or two tablespoons)
* Pepper, lots of it. At least one tablespoon, maybe two.
Instructions:
Carve in your meat a bit, salt it and put it in a bowl. Put green bell pepper and garlic in a blender and make a paste (in Gambia the nice ladies who showed me how to prepare this meal used a huuuge wooden mortar for this task, but since I'm lazy and don't own a huge wooden mortar I relied upon modern technology instead). Give the paste and the rest of the ingredients listed under * to the meat and mix all together so the meat is nicely covered. Put aside. As always with stuff that is marinated, the longer you let it marinate the better.
When you decide that the meat is ready to be cooked, cut the onions in chunks (not to small) and the additional vegetables in whatever size you want them to be (not to big though
). Heat up some oil in a pot or pan or wok. It should be deep enough so that you can deep-fry your meat in it, ideally without having to turn it over... I personally couldn't do that because I couldn't bring it over myself to use this much oil. Fact is, that this dish will taste good even if you don't deep-fry the shit out of your meat. I explained already why I think that this is the way the do it in Gambia but for me I'm rather be able to digest my food without thinking I just ate a rock of some kind. So anyway... take your meat out of the bowl, LEAVE THE MARINADE IN THERE FOR NOW, and fry it in whatever way you feel comfortable.
When it is done (or if you like almost done, because it will get some more heat later on) take it out and put aside again. Mix the onions with the marinade and put them into your pot (or pan or wok) and cook them. You want them just to fry a bit, the don't need to be crispy, so when the whole thing gets to dry add some water. Cook until the onions are nice and soft than add the meat again and cook some more minutes (around three I would say). Taste. To sour? Add some sugar. Not sour enough for your taste? Add some lemonjuice. Not enough salt... well add some salt then.
When you archived a taste you like put it on a plate with anything you want. Like I said rice, noodles, potatos, salad everything goes.
For the vegetarians or vegans: The dish does not need to be made with meat as such. You can marinade some tofu or just use more vegetables. Just keep in mind that some vegetables need longer to cook than others, so that you put them in first.
Enjoy!
Out of sheer interest:
What's your menu schedule for the Easter holidays, IronGAF?
Tomorrow on Good Friday it is traditional to eat fish so we'll have. Salmon with green beans, rice and a "cheated" sauce bearnaise.
Not sure about the other easter holidays, because it depends on wether my mother and her boyfriend come to visit or not, since they are vegetarians. Possibly asparagus, it is in season now.
Since I'm already writing on this post for about what feels like 3 hours I might as well post a pick of todays lunch as well.
It's baked sweet-potato with Frankfurter "Green Sauce" and a soy-schnitzel.
