Monthly Archives: January 2024

Gabon

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Joe & Sophie’s house, Deptford.

6 January 2024.

Joe’s starter was …

Steve’s main was Gabon’s national dish, Poulet Nyembwe. Sort of. With Poulet being chicken and Nyembwe being the Myene word for palm oil, he was faced with two problems. One, the need to cater for vegetarian diners, and two, the difficulty in obtaining palm oil. So instead he used chicken-style Quorn and coconut oil. Whatever this was, it most definitely was not Poulet Nyembwe.

Nevertheless, it was very good, and remained good when reheated a few days later.

Sophie’s dessert was …

Poulet Nyembwe sans poulet ou nyembwe

Chicken-style Quorn pieces
Coconut oil 1 tbsp.
Onions (peeled and diced) x 2
Garlic (finely chopped) x 3 cloves
Water x 1 L
Vegetable stock cubes x 2
Large tomatoes (diced) x 3
Dijon mustard x 3 tbsp.
Whole red chilies x 3
Okra (sliced) x 12
Plantains x 2
White rice

Pre-cook the Quorn pieces according to pack instructions.
In a large bowl, combine the Quorn, mustard, one crumbled stock cube, and a dash of black pepper, and mix well.
Heat the coconut oil in a large casserole over low heat. Fry the onions and garlic until soft.
Add the chopped tomatoes and sliced okra and fry a bit longer.
Pour in the water and crumble in the 2nd stock cube.
Cover and bring to boil.
Remove lid and reduce.
Add the Quorn mix and the chilis, season, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
Serve with white rice and fried plantains.

Finland

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Suomen Merimieskirkko

(The Finnish Church in London)
33 Albion Street
SE16 7HZ

9 July 2023.

The Finnish church serves food on Sunday lunchtimes only, with a very limited menu. But it was enough for us to find a starter, main and dessert.

We began with Karelian pies, which are like soft wholemeal pasties, filled with cheese and onion, and very delicious.

For main we had makaronilatikko, basically macaroni cheese with some bacon in it. This was hearty, but not great, it felt like it had been sitting around for a while. We also ordered some perunarieska (flatbread) which was very good.

Finally, for pudding we had some korvapuusti (cinnamon bun) and voisilmäpulla (butter bun), both unusual and excellent.

Equatorial Guinea

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Steve’s house, Ladywell. 12 July 2022.

Equatorial Guinea has an interesting geography. It’s comprised of a large continential landmass, plus a small island called Bioko, which is further north off the coast of Cameroon. It seems like everything of note and most of the population is on the island, including the captial, Malabo.

Steve’s starter was Pick a Pepper Soup. This was very nice with a pleasant heat.
Sophie’s main was chicken in peanut sauce, succotash (the national dish) and mashed yam. This was very nice – surprisingly so given the god-awful appearance of yam. Sophie’s succotash was made with butter beans where the recipe called for Lima beans, but we were unable to determine whether Lima beans are really a different thing.
Joe’s dessert was a Banana thing – name?

We listened to some Equatorial Guinean music. Their pop is not much cop, sounding a bit like reggaeton. The traditional music was a lot more interesting, featuring a distinctive guitar/zither instrument. National anthem – much like most other national anthems.

Rating:
Food – 4/5 (SB)

Pick a pepper soup

(Modified from Travel by Stove, http://travelbystove.palfreymedia.com/equatorial-guinea-recipes-pick-a-pepper-soup.asp, retreived 20/1/24)

1 1/2 cups water
1 lb sea bass fillets
3 medium onions, peeled and sliced
2 tomatoes chopped
1 red pepper, de-seeded and chopped
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 habanero chilli, de-seeded and pounded to a paste
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp ground guinea pepper (I used a mix of pepper, cardamom and ginger as substitute)
Pinch of dried rosemary
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp vegetable oil

Bring water to a boil in pan.
Add all the ingredients except the oil.
Bring to boil, then cover and simmer for 60 mins.
Add oil, cook for anothter 5 minutes.
Serve with white rice.

El Salvador

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Quinta – Pupiseria, South Kensington. 10 February 2022

Music – REM’s Accelerate (2008) quickly gave way to more traditional (well, traditional to Mexico) music as lunch guests began to fill the restaurant.

A framed poster of Mayan glyphs, also a painting depicting a street scene most familiar to Steve, who swears it is a view of Antigua in Guatemala, with Volcan de Agua in the background. Our host later confirms this, and tells us that he met his wife under the arch depicted (and I think she painted it too?)

Pupusas (cheese, cheese and beans, pork bb and cheese, pork and cheese, beans) served with cortido pickled

Sides: plantain chips, escabeche, guacamole