Around the World in Eaty Days - Countries 11-15

Ukraine - Borscht

Recipe from https://natashaskitchen.com/classic-russian-borscht-recipe/

Despite the slightly confusing web address, this borscht is traditional for Ukraine (as well as Russia), and the recipe is written by a Ukrainian woman. For those who havent had the joy of borscht before, it is essentially a beetroot soup full of various veg and occasionally meat, though not in this recipe. The broth itself is quite sour in flavour, traditionally using vinegar to add a tartness. As you can see here, the result is a beautifully vibrant soup, which is served here with soured cream, and would have been garnished with dill, had my dill not been past its best.

This recipe included celery, potato, carrot, red pepper, onion and cannelini beans, which all are served non-blended in the soup, to create a chunkier textured meal.

Nigeria - Jollof Rice

Recipe from https://cheflolaskitchen.com/jollof-rice/

Jollof rice has a very hotly debated origin - many cultures claim it as their own across West Africa. This recipe, however, was explicitly Nigerian, as it is their national dish. The rice is flavoured by a combination of red pepper, tomato, onion and chilli which are all blended up together and cooked alongside garlic, ginger, thyme and bay leaves. The recipe I was using suggested serving with plantain, vegetables or chicken, as I've served here, chopped up and spread through the rice.

I really enjoyed this recipe, and it's fairly deceptively healthy; there is a lot of veg in there, just blitzed up into a gorgeous, cooked down sauce.

Bhutan - Ema Datshi

Recipe from https://www.drukgirl.com/bhutanese-ema-datshi-recipe

No dish so far has scared me quite as much as the idea of Bhutan's national dish, Ema Datshi. The dish is very simple, and self explanatory - Ema means chilli, Datshi means cheese. That's pretty much the recipe; the rest of the ingredients being onion, garlic, tomato and oil.

I would, very surprisingly to myself, recommend giving this a try. The saltiness and oiliness of the cheese really complimented the chillis, and I wasn't half as affected by the heat as I thought I would be. This is a dish to have with something though. I made some roti to go with it, to help mop up the spice.

Angola - Muamba di Galinha

Recipe from https://foodsfromafrica.com/angola-muamba-di-galinha-chicken-moamba-recipe/

Angola's national dish of Muamba di Galinha is essentially slow cooked chicken legs in an oily tomato sauce, flavoured with chilli, paprika, bay and garlic. Though not the prettiest dish I have served, the chicken was incredibly tender - you can see it falling off the bone in the above picture. I imagine this was due to the lemon juice that the chicken was marinaded in. I served this with some greens, which worked nicely, though I do think that this particular recipe could have done with more sauce, though I presume that was probably due to me over-reducing it.

Liechtenstein - Kaesknoepfle

Recipe from https://europeankitchen.org/2020/08/07/kasknopfle/

Liechtenstein's national dish of Kaesknoepfle is pasta dumplings, not dissimilar to spaetzle, in a cheesey sauce. It is traditionally served with caramelised onions and an apple sauce. The knoepfle were interesting to make; they start life as a "pancake batter" like liquid, which should be shaped using a spaetzle-maker, though in my case they were made by draining through a c0lander. I ended up making a caramelised apple sauce, which I don't believe is super traditional, but was very tasty with the food.

This is definitely a comfort food dish, and definitely needs some vegetables served with it, but it was very tasty and I will be revisiting it.