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Gambian Cooking Receipes
Benachin
Note:
"Bena-chin" litterally means "one pot", so if you use more than
one pot to prepare these recipes, then you're cheating!
Chicken or
Beef Benachin ( Penda mbye )
Ingredients
- 1/2
chicken
- 1/2
lb beef
- 4
onions
- 2
slices yate
- 1
teaspoon pounded fresh peppers
- 2
large fresh tomatoes
- 3
dessertspoons tomatoes puree
- 3
cloves garlic
- 2
bay leaves
- 1
1/2 cigarette cups oil
- 1/2
small cabbage
- 1
large bitter tomato
- 1
large aubergine
- 1
slice pumpkin
- 2
big peppers
-
Black pepper to taste
- 2 or
3 cigarette cups rice (1 lb)
- 6
cigarette cups water
- Salt
to taste
Directions
Prepare, wash and cut chicken into portions. Remove gristle, etc
from beef, wash and cut into equal portions.
Mix
chicken and beef together. Season the chicken or meat with salt,
black pepper, pounded garlic and vinegar. Allow to stand for 1/2
hour before cooking.
Prepare
vegetables accordingly.
Peel,
wash and slice onions thinly.
Fry the
chicken in hot oil until brown, turn over and fry likewise.
Remove from pan and put aside.
Add beef
and fry until quite brown. Add the sliced onions and fry until
golden brown.
Put the
tomato puree and pounded fresh peppers into saucepan. Cook
gently for 15 minutes.
Pour in
measured water.
Bring to
a boil; add all the prepared vegetables, fried chicken, bay
leaves and salt.
Remove
the chicken and vegetables when cooked and keep in a warm place.
Taste seasoning.
Add the
washed rice to cooking pot. Put the big sliced peppers and bring
to a boil.
Reduce
heat and cook under low heat until most of the liquid is
absorbed.
Serve.
Pile the rice on an oval dish, place the vegetables and chicken
on top.
 Chakery
Ingredients:
- 1
pint of vanilla yogurt
- 8
ounces of sour cream
- 12
ounces of evaporated milk
- can
of crushed pineapples
- dash
of nutmeg
-
splash of vanilla flavoring
-
Couscous
Directions:
Mix all the ingredients except the couscous together to make the
sauce. Cook the couscous separately with water. Serve Chakery
sauce over couscous and enjoy
Chicken Yassa
This is a
very easy recipe. It's great for guests because you do most of
the work the night before.
Ingredients
- 8-10
skinless chicken breasts (or their equivalent)
- For
the marinade
- 2/3
c. oil
- 1 c.
vinegar
- 1 c.
freshly-squeezed lime juice
- 6
chicken-bouillon cubes, crushed
- 24
small garlic cloves, mashed
- 6
tsp. fresh ginger, grated
- 2
tsp. salt (or to taste)
- 12
tsp. coarse black pepper
- 3-4
tsp. red pepper (ground or flakes)
Directions
The
Night Before:
Make the
marinade by combining all the ingredients (except the chicken)
Clean the
chicken breasts. Place the chicken in a large glass baking dish.
Pour about 1/3 to 1/2 of the marinade over the chicken, and let
it marinate overnight. Reserve the rest of the marinade. At some
point, turn the chicken over.
The
Big Feast:
Next
evening, turn on the broiler in the oven. Put the rack on the
2nd rung from the top. Broil the chicken 15-20 minutes on each
side. (In my oven, 15 minutes usually does it.) The chicken
should look crispy but not burnt. If you're really ambitious,
when the top side of the chicken is under the broiler, take it
out & baste it after 5 or 6 minutes. Then finish broiling.
While
you're broiling the chicken (or even before), saute a lot of
thinly-sliced onions in a non-stick skillet. Cook slowly over
medium-low heat till golden.
Heat the
reserved marinade in the microwave. If you don't have a
microwave, add toward the end of the cooking time in the oven.
You have to do this because otherwise, all the marinade will
evaporate at broiling temperature.
Heap the
sauteed onions over the chicken. Serve with warm French or
Italian bread which is great for mopping up all the marinade.
Also serve with a good salad of greens.
Domoda
Ingredients
- 6 T
Peanut Butter
-
1/8th Habanero pepper
- 2 C
water
- 1 T
tomato paste
- 1
Maggi cube [yes, they are available in US!]
- 1 T
Lemon or lime juice
- 2
cloves garlic
Directions
Boil
water. Mix-in Maggi.
Mix-in
Peanut Butter until smooth.
Mix in
tomato paste.
Add
garlic, pepper, and any other veggies you want [onions, casava,
bell peppers, green tomatoes, cabbage, etc].
Add
lemon/lime juice in last 5 minutes of cooking.
It's all
done when the peanut oil begins to separate and rise to the top.
Bon
appetite!
Superkanja
Ingredients
- one
small onion
- one
fish
- 1/2
pound beef
- 1/2
- 1 cup red palm oil
- 2 10
oz boxes of frozen cut okra
- 2
fresh hot peppers
- 1
teaspoon of red pepper
- 4
chicken or beef maggi cubes
- 1
teaspoon of salt
- 1/2
teaspoon of curry
- 8
cups of water
Directions
Clean
fish and boil in 8 cups of water until fish is done, about 10-15
minutes. Take fish out of pan and add the beef. Thaw and rinse
okra. Add okra to pan. Pull fish from bones and put into pot.
Keep boiling the water and add onions, fresh hot pepper, maggi
cubes, salt and curry. Boil the superkanja until it thickens and
has about one cup of water left. Add red palm oil and turn down
heat to meduim. Continue to cook as stirring. Superkanja will be
done when palm oil comes to the top. Instead of using fresh fish
you can save yourself time and use filet of fish. Gambians enjoy
the palm oil, however, this may be changed to your liking. After
the palm oil reaches the top you may serve it over cooked rice.
Note: you will want to make sure that the okra has broken down
into small pieces.
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