This is a recipe concept i’ve wanted to do for quite a while, plus it’s a lot cheaper than flying to the places – essentially I throw 3 darts at random at a massive map of the World and wherever they land, cook that Countries National dish or if possible, something locally inspired! We ended up in China, Sweden and Mali all cooking recipes i’m fairly certain i’d never have tried, with some mixed results… i’ve added hints and notes to each recipe if you wanted to try any of them, thanks!
Melon Sago Dessert (sai mai lo) (China)
First up prepare the sugar syrup, this really did enhance the flavour when I tried it, but I only used half. Add both the sugar and water to a saucepan and bring to a steady boil, stirring to help dissolve. Remove from the heat to cool. I would potentially consider cooking the melon chunks in this syrup for a moment if I made it again – maybe try that with some pieces if you like!
Whilst the syrup is cooling wash your tapioca pearls in a little water in a colander, then add to a saucepan with the approx. 1litre water, cook away for simmering for approx 10 minutes until cooked through (check the packaging of your pearls), small ones will cook faster and I’d probably use those next time for more texture. Stir to prevent sticking from time to time, ddrain off and pour into a bowl of cold water to keep from sticking.
Now we make the melon milk, add half of your sliced melon into a food processor with the evaporated milk and the salt. Whizz up until you’ve made essentially a mango smoothie! Stir through the sugar syrup in batches to taste, until you are happy with it, I used half. This tasted amazing at this point and I’m not a fan of melon! Cover with cling film, chill in the fridge, chop up the melon into small chunks, place it in the melon milk with the pearls, chill for a few more hours before serving.
This for me (the second chilling) was what I struggled with! It seemed to make the flavours separate and taste odd, 1 of the 4 folks that tasted it liked it, but I much preferred it without chilling for much so I’d say consider that as an option too, see what you think! Good luck!
Cod with horseradish & browned butter (Sweden)
This was deliciously simple, but absolutely delicious! I could literally live off of this! Let’s make the browned butter first – cube the butter into smaller pieces, add it all to a frying pan, over a medium heat, stir to move it around evenly and melt. It’ll foam at first, then go away to reveal a darker colour, you need to watch this like a hawk, it darkens quick, stir often and once happy with the colour remove from the heat, it can be warmed up to loosen it if it sets a bit prior to serving in a bit.
We cook the fish in a stock, so in a large saucepan add the water, onion, carrots, salt, peppercorns and bay leaves. Bring this up to a simmer for approx. 5 minutes. Drop in the cod carefully, and cook it gently in the warmed stock for another 10 minutes to cook through. If confident you could do the browned butter now instead, but if you’ve not browned butter before, do it in batches to be safe.
Serve the cod on a plate, with the horseradish spread on top, warm the butter slightly in the pan and pour over, top with dill and a squeeze of lemon juice, truly simplistic flavour town here, I bloomin’ loved this recipe.
Meat in Peanut Sauce – Tiguadege Na (Mali)
I really liked this, it was even better the next day re-heated where the peanut butter flavours stood out more, it’s easy to make too. First up get a large pan, add in the oil and fry the meat, to brown it all over, so stir often until happy with the colour, do not over do it as we will now add in the onions and garlic, season with some salt and pepper, cooking to soften the onions, don’t worry about browning them.
Next up add in the carrots, potatoes, with the tomato puree, tinned tomatoes, plus the herbs. Once it hits a simmer, pour in the stock, peanut butter, stirring well. Bring to a low simmer, add a lid and cook for 45 minutes. Once ready allow to cool slightly, serving with rice and a shake of more mixed herbs on top if you wish. A lovely dish that would probably work good in a slow cooker too, just brown the meat first and as I say the day after, the flavours developed even more, it was more mild than a satay dish though.