Source: APA

Mali to double rice production to curb “high cost of living”

AT/mn/ad/daj/APA 2008-04-18

Quite a number of people have asked me about Malian cuisine. So I have decided to make another category and start posting into it. To kick off here’s an article from Oxfam about cooking in Mali.

Assamhate Wallet Imalahite, cooking sorghum for a mid-day meal

Malian cuisine varies from region to region, but does not offer a great deal of choice. Most meals are based on a kind of porridge with a sauce.

The main foods eaten by a moderately well-off family living in Mali’s capital, Bamako, are rice, millet, sorghum, and beans, cooked as a sort of porridge, served with a meat or fish sauce. A common meal in southern Mali is called tô, a pudding made from pounded millet, served with a sauce of meat or vegetables. In the North, the Songhay and Touareg make thick doughy pancakes served with wild leaves. Tô is also popular in Burkina Faso.

Girls learn to prepare food and cook from their mothers, from an early age. Find out how to make tasty sesame seed and honey sticks, see what a Bamako family sits down to eat for Sunday lunch, and learn about Mali’s tea ceremony.

Read the rest of the article here

 More great pictures from Michael and Doria’s Travel Tales. This article is a great description, with pictures, of the brewing process of a local millet beer. Please take time and look at the rest of this blog!

Homebrew, Bobo Style

In Segou we visited a Bobo family who run a small brewery in their home, making millet beer in small quantities that they sell from a shed in their compound. While Mali is predominantly Muslim, and thus not alcohol-friendly, there are a number of peoples within the country who have maintained their traditional religions. Our guide Oumar referred to the Bobo people as “hard-core animists”. Whatever that means, they certainly were into their beer, and I got quite a few pictures of their backyard brewing venture

Here the millet kernels are soaked in warm water in the sun until they sprout. This, as any self-respecting homebrewer knows, is the first step of the process known as malting. Grains are malted by encouraging them to germinate, or sprout, and then drying them out again before the process goes to far. This increases the sugar known as maltose in the grain.
 

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Here’s a recipe from http://www.whats4eats.com/recipes/r_po_pouletyassa.html. I think this is probably my favourite African dish.

Poulet Yassa (Senegalese chicken with onions)

Yield: 4-6 servings

METHOD

Basic Steps: Marinate → Grill or Broil → Sauté → Simmer

1. Mix all the ingredients together in a stainless steel or glass dish. Let marinate at least overnight.
2. Remove the chicken pieces, wipe dry, and grill, broil or sauté them till well browned. Set aside.
3. Heat 2-3 T oil in a large pot over medium heat. Remove the onions from the marinade and sauté for 8-10 minutes till well wilted and starting to brown.
4. Add the rest of the marinade and the browned chicken pieces. Simmer over medium-low heat until cooked through, about 30-40 minutes.
5. Adjust seasoning and serve with rice, fufu or couscous.

VARIATIONS

• Sometimes vegetables are added to the pot to stretch the meat and add more flavor. Add 2-3 chopped carrots, 1/2 head of chopped cabbage or a handful of green olives when you bring the marinade to simmer.
• Half the lemon juice can be replaced with vinegar. Cider vinegar works well.
• Poisson Yassa: Substitute 2-3 lbs firm fish filets for the chicken. Marinating time need only be 1-2 hours in this case. Simmer the marinade without the fish for 10-15 minutes, then add the marinated grilled fish and simmer for 10 minutes more.
• Cubed lamb or mutton may also be substituted.

NOTES

• Poulet Yassa is a famous Senegalese dish that has become popular throughout Western Africa. The long marinating period helps to tenderize the often tough poultry found in region.