The perfect meal for a rainy summer evening.
This post comes a few days late, but we picked at the leftovers in the fridge up until last night so I believe it's still valid.
For our second day in Sudan, I chose to make bamia tabiq and salata aswad. Sounds exotic, right?
1. The bamia tabiq is an okra stew in a tomato and onion based broth, with pieces of lamb or beef. I chose to use beef, but I went for the good, tender pieces from the halal store - not whatever passes for stew meat at Walmart.
Bamia is the Arabic word for okra, so the main event in this dish is not actually the meat, it's the vegetable. Now, I'm not okra's biggest fan - I think it's slimy with a weird (but not altogether unpleasant) taste. The first time I ever tried it was as an adult, here in the South. It seems like it's a normal ingredient in dishes like gumbo and shrimp & grits, foods that I was not exposed to when growing up. Anyways, it was pretty easy to find fresh okra, and I'm proud that I knew what I was looking for.
2. The description for salata aswad had me very intrigued. Maybe you can tell why from the two main ingredients: fried eggplants and peanut butter. Yes, peanut butter! The fried eggplants are cooked in a tomato and onion sauce, mashed, and mixed with peanut butter and lime juice. It's then served with bread to scoop up all the goodness. So I think of it as less of a salad, and more of a dip.
THE RESULTS ARE IN:
When all was said and done, these two dishes paired very well together. Neither one was very hard to make, though I did have to leave plenty of time for the actual cooking and simmering steps.
I gave these foods 4 stars each (out of 5). I really liked the flavor combinations, the textures, and the way the bread soaked it all up. It was a comforting meal to end a rainy week.
Younes decided on 3.5 starts each. He's either a bit more critical than I am, or he felt cheated that there wasn't more meat. It's probably why there were any leftovers to begin with!
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