Going Dutch

A Dutch colleague informed me that Friday was Koninginnedag (Queen’s Day), the biggest national holiday in the Netherlands.  It celebrates the birthday of the country’s Queen, although April 30^th is not actually the current queen’s birthday.  But that’s ok – we have such weirdnesses in the UK too. 

In Amsterdam, hundreds of thousands of locals and visitors take to the streets for outdoor concerts, parties and markets.  The holiday is also a ‘free market day’, which seems to mean that the city turns into an almighty car boot sale. 

You may have noticed from the picture above that the Dutch are rather fond of orange on Koninginnedag.  As orange is not really my colour, I thought instead I would celebrate by preparing some traditional Dutch food.

Hachée is a stew which can be made with meat, fish or poultry.  Cloves and bay leaves are added to the gravy, and something acidic (usually vinegar or wine) is added to tenderise the meat.  I chose to use beef for the stew – previous efforts with local beef have been somewhat similar to shoe leather, so I was interested to see what difference the acid made (it turned out lovely and tender, as it happens).

Frankly, the stew was made as an accompaniment to my favourite part, stamppot.  Stamppot is a popular Dutch side dish made of mash potato mixed with other vegetables.  I don’t think there can ever be enough mash potato in the world, and I saw a suggestion that you could add apple sauce to it too – bliss!  I found some nice fresh cabbage in the market, but you could use any green, leafy veg.  A mixture of carrot and onion is sometimes used, which is then called hutspot.

Hachée

Serves 2 for dinner, with leftovers for lunch (or 4 for dinner, if you’re less greedy than us)

1 large onion, sliced

500g beef, cubed

Beef stock cube, made up with 500ml water

1 tbsp flour

2 bay leaves

2 cloves

1 tbsp vinegar (I didn’t actually have any, so I used lemon juice)

Salt and pepper.

1.      Sear the beef – half at a time - in a saucepan with oil and butter, until it is brown.  Remove with a slotted spoon and keep aside.

2.      Gently fry the onion in the same pan until it is soft.  Add the flour and stir.

3.      Return the beef to the pan and add the stock.  Stick the cloves into the bayleaves, and add to the pan.  Season, add the vinegar, then bring to the boil and simmer for 2.5 hours (sorry for the gas guzzling – if you have an oven, it might be more efficient to use that.  Once the stew has reached the boil, put it in the oven at 160^oC/300^oF for the same cooking time).

Stamppot

Serves 2 for dinner, with leftovers for lunch

4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks*

Vegetable stock cube or bouillon powder

8 big leaves of cabbage (or other green, leafy vegetable), sliced into strips

Butter

1 tbsp milk, warmed (or not, if you can’t be arsed)

For the apple sauce

3 dessert apples (I would normally use a large cooking apple, but I’ve never seen them in Juba)

1 tbsp sugar

1.      In a large saucepan, cover the potatoes with water.  Add the stock cube or bouillon powder and bring to the boil.  Simmer until the potatoes are soft (around 20 minutes).

2.      In the meantime, peel and slice the apples.  Cook gently in a saucepan with the sugar and 4 tablespoons of water, for around 10 minutes, or until the apples have broken down.  You may need to help the apples break down with a masher or fork.

3.      When the potatoes are soft, steam the cabbage for a couple of minutes, until it’s just wilted.  While you’re waiting, drain the potatoes and mash with some butter and the warm milk.  Add the apple sauce.  Mix in the cabbage and season to taste.

* I usually add some more potatoes in, then reserve some plain mash so I can have potato cakes the next day.  I’ll post the recipe another day.

Shopping (all market prices and quantities a bit approximate)
 
4 large onions - 2 SDG (Konyo Konyo, bought from Eva)
 
500g beef - 9 SDG (meat stand opp Konyo Konyo entrance, next to ‘United Motors’ shop. Don’t bother asking for a particular cut – they will just look at you, slightly testily, and repeat “cow, goat or beef?”, and then hack a random part off for you)
 
Spices - I bought a lot of these from home, but larger supermarkets have a good stock
 
10 potatoes -4 SDG (KK, as before – ask for Irish potatoes)
 
Cabbage - 5 SDG for a bunch larger than you can shake a stick at
 
Butter -14 SDG from the freezers in JIT

From Michelin Star to Supernoodles in 24 hours...

On Tuesday, Mr M and I had our wedding anniversary lunch at Chez Bruce (www.chezbruce.co.uk), the scene of our (first) wedding reception a year before.  For a bargainous £25.50, you can have three michelin starred courses in rarefied surroundings, where they will fold your napkin every time you leave it scrumpled on the table.

While I savoured my starter of lamb's tongue and breast with braised peas, bacon, jersey royals and mint, Mr M won the first course competition with his rare grilled Shetland salmon with oyster and herb vinaigrette, baby leeks, avocado and grapefruit.  I fought back with my main - grilled chicken breast with tarragon relish (yum!), gnocci, baby artichoke, fennel and lemon.  Mr M's sea bass fillet with soup au piston (a tomatoey, beany, summer vegetable soup flavoured with a garlic and basil cousin of pesto), prawns and basil oil was tasty, but not quite as interesting, although I'll definitely have to try adding pesto to a bean soup/stew.

There was therefore all to play for with dessert - for me, a chocolate tart with salted caramel sauce, clotted cream and honeycomb; for Mr M, a hot chocolate pudding with praline parfait.  We both liked what we had chosen best, so I guess it's a draw - although maybe the fact that I choked on my honeycomb gives Mr M's dish a slight edge.  One thing I loved about my tart was the lightness.  I often order chocolate puddings and then can't finish them, because they're so heavy - this one practically flew down my throat on its own.

Wine recommended by the sommelier was delicious, including a red dessert wine which was a first for me - he advised that the red version goes particularly well with chocolate, and he was absolutely right (even if it did smell like ribena). 

After stuffing some morsels from the cheeseboard into my already groaning stomach, we hotfooted it to Heathrow, to catch our plane to Nairobi, then Juba.  After a morning at work, straight off the night flight, I peered into our cupboard to see what was left...

Not being the most organised of people, the answer was, sadly, nothing.  I therefore had to raid the hibernation kit (which now consists of 3 tins of corned beef and a bag of fufu flour), and lunched on chicken supernoodles.  How the mighty have fallen.

For what it's worth, I can recommend cooking the supernoodles in a pan, instead of in a bowl as the instructions state - and also adding the full bag of chilli, so your tastebuds don't fall completely asleep at the table.

The result of this sorry tale is this blog - recording our attempts to push our dining experiences in Juba away from the supernoodle end of the scale, and more towards the michelin star.  Any recipes or suggestions for shopping in Juba (or elsewhere in South Sudan) are very welcome and will be incorporated into the blog.