Sudan | Kamounia

CLICK HERE FOR THE RECIPE I USED

Sudan and South Sudan were moderately challenging. They share much of the same cuisine and it was difficult to find one thing that was unique to one or the other. Kamounia seems to be popular in a few places but came up in reference to Sudan frequently and looked like a nice hearty meal so it became my choice for Sudan.

I had to order harissa paste and enough turmeric to make some turmeric paste. I could have gotten a couple of smaller spice jars of turmeric at the grocery store and come up with enough to make the paste but the bag of turmeric I ordered online was much more economical. I use turmeric often enough that it will not go to waste. I had Aleppo pepper leftover from a previous international meal so, yay! Aleppo pepper looks like red pepper flakes but it is milder and has a slightly smoky flavor that is really nice.

This wasn’t difficult to make. The turmeric paste just involved heating up turmeric and water and then stirring in the remaining ingredients. (Turmeric Paste Recipe)

As for the Kamounia, it is very much like making beef stew. There isn’t much chopping to be done, just one onion, unless you’re like me and buy larger cuts of meat to cut down into stew meat because the precut stew meat at your grocery store is too expensive. Brown the meat, sauté the onions, add everything to a pot and let it simmer until the meat is tender.

The end result was a spicy (from the Harissa paste) DELICIOUS stew that I ate over Basmati rice. It would also go well with naan or some type of flatbread. I opted to not shred the beef though it was tender enough to shred. I prefer chunks to shreds and the chunks were so so tender!

The flavor profile was wonderful though the Harissa paste I bought was spicier than expected but not too spicy. I’d used dried harissa powder in the past and it was much milder and not nearly as flavorful as the paste. I think I might keep a tube of the paste on hand because I feel like it would add oomph to a lot of dishes and would be fun to experiment with.

All in all, I really enjoyed the Kamounia and will happily eat the leftovers.

Would I make it again? Absolutely!