Lesotho: Lesotho Burger with Pap Pap and Spicy Kale & Peas

CLICK HERE FOR THE RECIPE I USED

Lesotho, despite being a very small and very poor country, had a few options I was interested in but I opted for this one because I wanted to give Pap Pap a try.

In a previous country, I'd encountered something similar to Pap Pap and substituted polenta (as the recipe suggested) and did not like it, at all. I wanted a do-over, just in case it's just polenta I don't like. Or maybe prepackaged polenta is just not good to begin with.

There are three parts to this meal and they all work together to create the meal.

Part 1: The Lesotho Burger.

I bought boneless skinless chicken thighs and ground them up in the food processor to make the burgers. They were very well spiced (with curry and cayenne pepper) and flavorful, more so than I expected but I enjoyed them very much!

Part 2: Pap Pap

Pap Pap is essentially cornmeal porridge that is a staple of the Lesotho diet. It doesn't sound very exciting but turned out to be a creamy and slightly sweet (from the sweetness of corn, there's no sugar!) counterpart to the spice in the burger and the Spicy Kale & Pea salad. It is much tastier than any polenta I've tried. I liked it more than I thought it would and it wasn't especially difficult to make.

Part 3: Spicy Kale & Peas

I had to substitute spinach for kale because they were out of kale at the store and didn't know when there'd be more. I like spinach more than kale anyway so it worked out well for me. A jalapeno pepper is what brings the spice and a flavor that compliments the spinach and peas and onions. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this! I think this would make a great veggie side dish with a variety of meals. It wasn't difficult and didn't take that long to make.

To assemble the meal, you put a spoonful of Pap Pap on a plate then put the burger on top of that and then spoon the veggies over the top of that. They all work together to create a very tasty bite of food!

All in all, I enjoyed this meal and will happily eat the leftovers.

Would I make it again?

I'll definitely make the Kale/Spinach & Peas again but I somehow managed to dirty a LOT of dishes making all three parts of the meal and, man, I do not enjoy cleaning the food processor after making my own ground chicken. Store-bought ground chicken might work, if you can find a blend that has plenty of dark meat in it to keep the final product from drying out too quickly.