Village Chicken Recipe Nshima Recipe Zambia is the second to last country in this project. But it is the first country that led to me reading an article on PubMed about chickens because I wanted to know more about village chickens. ( The History of African Village Chickens: An Archaeological and Molecular Perspective by J M Mwacharo, G Bjørnstad, J L Han, and O Hanotte ) Anyway, a village chicken seems to be pretty much what one would assume; a free-range chicken running around a village doing chicken things. They are leaner and more nutrient dense than commercially-raised chickens and have adapted to live all over Africa. I don’t have access to African village chickens and I didn’t want to cut up an entire chicken so I, once again, went with chicken thighs. I always have leftovers with these meals and thighs reheat better than all other parts of the chicken. I had all the needed spices and seasonings on hand for the chicken because I now have an incredibly well-stocked (overflowing) spice cupboard. I did have to order “mealie meal” (finely ground white cornmeal) to make the nshima (thick porridge shaped into balls and used to scoop up food) because they don’t carry it at our local store and masa is not the same thing. I guess the nixtamalization process (soaking the corn in an alkaline solution) that masa undergoes changes the flavor profile and the way the starch in it behaves. (This was an educational meal!) Meal prep was easy. I had to dice up an onion and measure out spices. The cooking process for the chicken was also easy. Sauté things and then cover and let them cook through. Stir in some tomatoes and cook a little longer. The nshima wasn’t difficult but required a lot of stirring. How was it? It was okay. The chicken and sauce were good. The prominent flavor was tomato and I like tomatoes. It was slightly spicy but not overwhelmingly so. The nshima just isn’t for me. By itself, it doesn’t taste like much of anything at all. It isn’t meant to have much flavor; it is meant to be a means of delivering whatever it is served with into your mouth and it did that effectively. It didn’t taste bad; it just didn’t taste of anything. It is filling and easy to prepare but I’d rather have rice. Would I make it again? No. I just don’t think it will be a dish I find myself looking back on and craving. It was a decent meal and I will eat the leftovers without complaint and appreciate the experience and the education.

CLICK HERE FOR THE RECIPE I USED I typically have an easy time finding things to eat from Middle Eastern countries. I like the spices they use and the flavor profiles of of many Middle Eastern foods. I went in looking for a chicken recipe and found a lot that were very similar to other dishes I’ve made and this soup. Soup sounded kind of comforting so I opted to go with this recipe. The prep process was about what you’d expect for a soup, lots of chopping veggies and some sautéing. I did have to coat the chicken with hawaij seasoning which is not something I’ve done for soups in the past. Hawaij is a blend of spices (turmeric, cumin, cardamom, pepper, and more!) and I had a jar in my cupboard from a previous recipe so I didn’t have to buy anything special for this one. I have no idea if people in larger towns/cities can find it in their grocery stores but I did have to order it online. Also, there are two different types of hawaij, one for coffee and one for food, and it is, apparently, very important to make sure you are buying the correct one. Not being a coffee drinker, I didn’t delve into the differences just double-checked I wasn’t buying the one for coffee. The recipe I used calls for chicken thighs with the skin on. Other recipes for this soup call for a whole chicken, cut-up, but thighs are cheaper than a whole chicken, and reheat really well. I opted to remove the skin because I didn’t want “wet” skin in my soup. I put the skin in a skillet and rendered as much of the fat out of it as I could. It was a long slow process but, at the end of it, I had some chicken schmaltz (lovely golden chicken grease) and very crispy chicken skin. I used a little bit of the schmaltz with olive oil to brown the chicken and sauté the vegetables. The rest went into a “schmaltz jar” in the freezer. The chicken skin was put in a baggie and I’m adding little crumbled up bits to Tort’s breakfasts in the morning. I rendered it by itself and completely unseasoned so it’s a nice little treat for her. I imagine dogs would love it too. It can also be salted/seasoned and eaten like a potato chip by the humans, if they wish to do that. (It is delicious but probably not good for you.) You could probably use boneless skinless thighs but I wanted all the stuff that bones add to broth/stock. Once everything is chopped and sautéed, it gets covered with liquid and it simmers until the potatoes and carrots are done. I confess I did not buy whole carrots and peel and chop them. I bought a bag of baby carrots and threw in what I felt was the equivalent of three carrots. And then I snacked on a bunch of them while the soup cooked. It worked and that is all that matters. How was it? It was wonderful. It is a nice comforting chicken soup seasoned with warm spices and topped with cilantro. The chicken was so tender it practically fell off the bone and nearly melted in my mouth. The broth was rich and velvety. It was filling and satisfying. Would I make it again? Yes. It wasn’t difficult and it would be amazing on a cold wintery day or when you’re just not feeling great. Serve it with some hot fresh crusty French bread and, oh my!

CLICK HERE FOR THE RECIPE I USED I didn’t anticipate that Wales would be something of a challenge but it did present a couple of tiny difficulties, for me. Roughly 98% of the recipes I found used beef or lamb. I do not like lamb and beef has gotten expensive to the point I’m trying to avoid beef recipes right now. It seems like the Welsh don’t really have a lot of chicken recipes that are uniquely Welsh. There are many many recipes for chicken and leek pie but I have found that meals that require a pie crust don’t reheat very well. I suppose I could have tried to make little pot pies that I could reheat in the air fryer but I don’t have a baking pan for little pot pies and I don’t want to buy more cookware. (That’s a lie, I always want to buy more cookware, I just don’t have the space for it.) Anyway, the crust is never as good as when it is fresh from the oven. So, I kept searching until I found this recipe that includes chicken and no crust, yay! Wales also loves leeks. Leeks are in just about every dinner recipe, in one way or another. The local grocery store only carries them every now and then and I haven’t figured out when they are likely to have them. I was going to wait until I saw them again to make this meal but my husband had to make a trip to Vegas and, thoughtfully, picked up some leeks for me. Yay! I couldn’t get my hands on fresh thyme or Welsh wine so I used some dried thyme flakes with a shallot pepper blend from Penzey’s and used the white wine I keep on hand for cooking in place of the Welsh wine. There was some prep to do but nothing difficult. I chopped some vegetables and then sautéed them with bacon and butter. (Yes, both. I had concerns but did it anyway.) Everything went into a roasting pan and then into the oven for about an hour and a half to two hours. The recipe says to serve this with potatoes, so I just threw some potatoes in the pan with the chicken. I used a disposable aluminum roasting pan because I was not interested in scrubbing my roasting pan later. Sometimes, that’s just the way it is and that’s okay. How was it? It was good. The chicken wasn’t super flavorful but did have some flavor. My husband tried it and picked up on more flavors than I did and he liked it. Maybe my sense of taste was a bit dulled due to inhaling the aroma of it roasting for a couple of hours? When I spooned the liquid from the pan over the chicken, it was better. I would have liked the skin a little crispier, it was just barely crispy but, if I’d cooked it any longer, the breasts would have dried out. The veggies and potatoes that cooked in the liquid and chicken juices had more flavor and were enjoyable. They look like mush in the photo but they were the consistency of the veggies you'd find with a pot roast. I’m not usually a huge fan of cooked carrots but, apparently, if you cook them with bacon and butter and then in wine and chicken juices, they’re pretty good. Would I make it again? Probably not. This wasn’t bad, it just doesn’t fill a need or want that I have. Leeks and fresh thyme and Welsh wine are hard to come by here and I rarely roast entire chickens. I learned how to cook Cornish Hens in the air fryer and I’m more likely to do that. Cornish hens in the air fryer are quicker, easier, do not heat up the whole house, and result in lots of crispy skin. I’ll eat the leftovers and appreciate the experience but I won’t revisit it.

CLICK HERE FOR THE RECIPE I USED I knew it would not be difficult to find a recipe from Vietnam that I’d want to try; it is usually pretty easy for me when it comes to that region of the world. The challenging part is narrowing it down to one thing and finding all the ingredients. There are a lot of variations in the Shaking Beef recipes online but I went with The Woks of Life recipe because I have never disliked a meal I’ve made from that site. Many other recipes for this call for watercress, which I can’t get here, so I used green leaf lettuce. Or they call for more fish sauce than this recipe calls for. Fish sauce is delicious but, to me, it has a VERY strong flavor (and aroma) that can easily overpower a dish so I tend to avoid recipes that call for several tablespoons of it. I do wonder if my palate, which was raised on bland* food, just hasn’t adapted to it yet. Shaking Beef isn’t difficult to cook or prep for but it does require a bit of time for the beef to marinate. I let mine marinate, in the fridge, overnight. Some veggies need to be chopped and the beef and onions need to be stir-fried but that’s about it. The beef and onion mix is served on a bed of greens with tomatoes and cucumber. Lime slices are served on the side; the lime juice is squeezed over the finished dish. How was it? Absolutely delicious. It knocked my socks off. I loved it. It was packed with intense flavor and the cool crispness of the veggies along with the hint of lime added freshness and brightness. It was so so good! Would I make it again? YES!!!!! (depending on beef prices because it was nearly $30 for just the beef for this recipe) Maybe there’s a Shaking Chicken recipe out there. Or pork. *My mother decreed thyme as “too spicy” and asked me to not use it when cooking meals for the family. Thyme!?!

CLICK HERE FOR THE RECIPE I USED Our winter has been pretty mild thus far and I haven’t made as many stews or soups as I tend to do in winter.  But this stew from Venezuela caught my eye because it seemed like it would be less heavy and have a more vibrant flavor than most stews. There’s not a ton to say about this pollo guisado. It was easy to make and easy for me to get all the ingredients. I browned some skinless chicken thighs, sautéed the veggies, mixed in the rest of the ingredients, and let it simmer until the potatoes and carrots were soft. How did it turn out? I loved it!  The Worcestershire sauce, olives, and tomatoes provided a TON of flavor. It surprised me in just how flavorful it turned out. If you enjoy olives, you would enjoy this stew. I used garlic stuffed olives because that’s what I had in the cupboard and I have no regrets. Would I make it again? Yes! I usually have all of the ingredients on hand and it was easy and delightful!

CLICK HERE FOR THE RECIPE I BASED MINE ON Yes, the bowl is a mess. The kitchen was chaotic when I was attempting to plate the meal and take a pic. The only person who takes less appetizing photos of food than I do is Martha Stewart. Given the size and location of Vatican City, most of my results were just Italian dishes. Italian food is amazing so there were plenty of Italian dishes to choose from but fettuccine alla Papalina (fettuccine for the Pope) seemed the most appropriate dish for Vatican City. It is similar to carbonara but adds onion to the sauce and uses ham or prosciutto instead of guanciale. Most recipes also use 3-4 eggs, which gave me pause since I can’t really eat eggs anymore. If it is one egg spread across an entire batch of baked goods, I’m usually okay. But several eggs stirred into a sauce? No can do. I had to adapt the linked recipe to make it one that I can eat. I did so after reading on a few sites that not everyone makes it with eggs, or peas, or they use tagliatelle instead of fettuccine. So, it seems there’s some wiggle room when it comes to the ingredients. I’m sure it is richer and silkier with the eggs and, oh, how I wish I could make it that way but you work with what you’ve got and what you can eat. (I miss eggs so much!) Essentially, I just used more heavy cream and more Parmesan to replace the eggs. (And thanked the Universe for LactoJoy, again.) I wasn’t sure the local grocery store would have cubed prosciutto so I assumed that I’d end up making it with ham. But they did have cubed prosciutto and the cashier told me it was really good stuff! It was expensive but I figured this was a once in a lifetime dish for me so I’d just go for it. It was easy to make. Cook the pasta like normal. Sauté a few things, stir in the cream, stir in the cheese, mix everything together and enjoy! How did it turn out? Oh, my word, this was so rich and delicious, I do not have the vocabulary to describe the richness of the sauce. The recipes says peas are optional but I think they add a lovely pop of freshness to the sauce. Would I make it again? As amazing as it was, I will not make it again. I enjoyed it, I’m glad I tried it, and I would recommend that everyone try it, once in their lifetime, but it was a lot for me (Brian refused to try it even though he likes everything in it.) and required a lot of LactoJoy. The dish is wonderful; it just isn’t a fit for my life.

I started my journey in Afghanistan where I made Kofta Challow which is a dish of meatballs with rice. ( CLICK HERE FOR THE RECIPE I USED ) Kofta Challow has an oniony tomato-y sauce and onions, cumin, and cilantro power the flavors throughout this dish so, if you have the gene variation that makes cilantro taste like soap , you probably want to skip this. It wasn't difficult to make, just a little messy, but it was definitely worth the mess, it was absolutely delicious! It was was packed full with flavor! It was so so good! I ate it with basmati rice, which is my favorite variety of rice, and it worked perfectly with the Kofta Challow. UPDATE: 3/21/23: I have made this several times since creating this blog. It's one of my favorite of all the meals I've tried, thus far. I make it with ground turkey now, trying to be a little healthier these days, and it works really well!

CLICK HERE FOR THE RECIPE I USED. Vanuatu is a small island nation and the last of the small island nations in this project. Anyone who has followed along knows that small island nations have been difficult for me. Vanuatu was no different. But, since it was the last of the small island nations, I decided to just make some dang fish and picked up frozen wild-caught Alaskan cod at our local grocery store. (Frozen is the option.) I had all the spices for this recipe in my spice cupboard and could obtain everything else locally. This was very easy to make. Dice up an onion and a green pepper, mince some garlic, measure out the spices, open a can of coconut milk, juice half a lime, and prep is done! Cooking involves sautéing the veggies and spices, adding the fish, adding the coconut milk, and then letting it all simmer for a little bit. It is recommended to serve it with rice, so I did have to throw rice and water in the rice cooker before I started cooking. How did it turn out? Well, mine looks different than the one pictured with the recipe. Maybe they used a spicier (and redder) curry powder? I used a mild one. And it really could have used something with a little more kick because it was kind of bland for a curry. It wasn’t bad, it just needed something. I think I may just not be a fan of fish in curry because I’ve made a few during this project and haven’t loved any of them. I like curry. And I, generally, like fish. Together they just don’t do much for me. I will eat the leftovers but I will also tinker with them to try and make it more enjoyable. Might throw some cilantro on top. Would I make it again? No, I rarely make curries because I live with someone who hates the way curry smells. If I'm going to make a curry outside of this project, it is going to be one that I know and love.

CLICK HERE FOR THE RECIPE I USED I’d heard of Uzbekistan prior to this project but only as trivia answer about a former Soviet Republic. I did read up on it while researching food but was left with a less than positive impression of it. I’ll leave it at that. Dimlama is a meat and vegetable stew and seemed like a good meal for a cold winter’s day. It is typically made with lamb but can also be made with beef, which is what I used. In an effort to save money (because beef is ridiculously expensive), I bought a roast and cut it down into stew meat. It was still too dang expensive. There are quite a few veggies in dimlama and I was able to get all of them, except turnips, at our local grocery store. They had turnips but they were very soft and almost rubbery to the touch. I don’t think that’s how they’re supposed to be. The recipe suggests eggplant as a substitute but I didn’t see any at the store. I think I went shopping on a bad produce day. There are enough veggies that the turnip won’t be missed. There are onions, carrots, red peppers, tomatoes, cabbage, and a beet. There are also potatoes and garlic.  Prep for dimlama involves a lot of washing, peeling, and chopping and took me the better part of the afternoon. It wasn’t difficult, just time-consuming. Once everything is chopped, it is layered in a pot in a specific order, and seasoned with salt, pepper, and cumin seeds. After it has boiled for a while, you toss in some bay leaves. It took about 2 hours to cook the veggies all the way through. There was a brief period where the broth took on an unsettling color due to the beet, but it did not end up being pink. How as it? Mostly good! My only complaint is the way that some of the red peppers cooked down until they were just strips of red pepper skin and I didn’t enjoy the texture of those. I think a red pepper paste or thicker strips would have worked better. Would I make it again? I don’t know. It was a lot of time and effort and a lot of food for one person’s dinner. If I lived with someone who would eat cabbage or beets, I would make it again. I enjoyed it and will gladly eat the leftovers but, it is too much for just me.

CLICK HERE FOR THE RECIPE I USED I researched Uruguay a while ago and don’t remember what prompted me to add this to my list of potentials. I’d never had chicken prepared this way (simmered in a vinegar broth, then chilled, and served cold), and had some reservations about the amount of vinegar, but it sounded like a nice change of pace after dealing with Thanksgiving leftovers and bison steak so I decided to give it a shot. There seem to several versions of Pollo En Escabeche, from several different countries and geographical regions. Each is slightly different in ingredients and how it is eaten. I did my best to find a traditional Uruguayan recipe but I have no way of knowing for certain if I did. It wasn’t difficult to make. You just sauté some veggies, brown some chicken, combine them in a pot with vinegar, oil, and spices and let it all cook for about 45-minutes to an hour. Then let it cool, put it in the fridge, and let it rest overnight. Some sites say it can be eaten right away with rice but others stressed that it is important to let it rest overnight so the vinegar has time to mellow. I wanted the vinegar to mellow so I refrigerated it overnight and ate it with a fresh baked loaf of French bread (courtesy of Pillsbury) for dinner the next day. How was it? I either did something wrong or I don’t like vinegar as much as I thought I did because this was much too vinegary for me and I could not finish the sandwich I made. Would I make it again? No. I don’t know if I made an error or what and I’m also not entirely sure how traditional or authentic this recipe is so I think I will just revisit Uruguay when I have finished the rest of the countries. (My plan is revisit the places with meals I didn’t enjoy and see if I can find something I’ll like.)

CLICK HERE FOR THE MAQUE CHOUX RECIPE The steak is actually medium-rare except for that one little "tail" piece which was well-done. When I decided that the dishes I made for this project had to be something I’d never eaten or cooked before, I wasn’t thinking ahead to what I’d make for the United States. I’ve pretty much eaten or cooked all of the foods one would think of as American.  What could I make that was uniquely American, that was also something new to me?  American bison! Our local grocery store carries bison ribeye steaks so I decided to give it a shot. As for sides, I did a little digging and found Maque Choux which is a corn, pepper(s), and onion dish that appears to have originated in Louisiana and been influenced by both French Creole and Native American people.  For the other side, I went with Minnesota Wild Rice. According to the Minnesota Cultivated Wild Rice Council, wild rice is the only cereal grain native to North America. It is also the state grain of Minnesota. The Ojibwe people harvested it for sustenance as far back as the 1600s so it has been around awhile. I have had wild rice in the past but I’d never sought out rice specifically from Minnesota before. And I’d always had it in a dish, not as its own thing. I found a small bag of it at our local grocery store and followed the instructions on the bag. It needs to be cooked in liquid (it doesn’t specify what kind of liquid so I used chicken broth) for about an hour. I cooked the bison steak in the air fryer. I cook all of my steaks in the air fryer, it is quick and easy, and they come out remarkably tender. It is how I prefer my steaks and I will die on this hill. Anyway, how did everything turn out? The Bison Steak: It was good! I was worried that bison would have a strong gamy flavor, look at a bison, it looks like it is gonna have a BOLD flavor. But I found it milder in flavor than beef. I seasoned it with freshly ground pepper and ground Himalayan salt; I didn’t want to over-season it and mask the flavor of the bison. I think it would taste good with just about any seasoning or marinade you would use with beef. I would eat bison again! The Maque Choux: It was fine. The fresh corn at the store did not look healthy so I ended up using frozen corn which may have impacted the overall texture. It also could have used a little more seasoning, maybe something like Tony Chachere’s. It was not bad in any way; it just didn’t do much for me. I’d be just as happy with a can of Niblets. The Minnesota Wild Rice:  It was okay. It had a slightly nutty flavor but I cooked it in chicken broth and I could taste that as well. I didn’t love the texture. If you’ve had long grain and wild rice blends, you know what the texture is like. Just imagine that without the white rice and just a mouthful of wild rice grains. I do not think I’ll make it again. All in all, it was a good meal, the bison was my favorite part of it. I might try making burgers with bison in the future.

CLICK HERE FOR THE RECIPE I USED I only have 11 countries left in my International Meals project and, by now, I’ve learned that each geographic area will, typically, have the same recipes or very very similar recipes. In middle eastern countries, I expect I will find dishes made with warm fragrant spices and either rice or some kind of flatbread and that I’m going to like whatever I end up making. Chicken Makhtoum is similar to other meals I’ve made in the past but just different enough for me to give it a try. It calls for a nonspecific Arabic spice so I used some Baharat spice blend that I had in the cupboard, leftover from a previous international meal. The prep before cooking this meal was easy and not overwhelming. I just needed to cut the chicken up into pieces (I used boneless skinless thighs) and dice the onion and tomatoes. After sautéing the tomatoes in oil for a little bit, they are put in the blender with the onion, yogurt, spices, and tomato paste and blended until smooth. Then I browned the chicken, poured in the sauce from the blender, and let it simmer for a bit. Then I threw in the frozen peas and let them cook through. And then it is done! How was it? It was good! It was loaded with flavor without being spicy. The creaminess of the yogurt balanced out the tomatoes and tomato paste. The peas gave it a little pop of color and freshness. I ate it over jasmine rice and really enjoyed the meal and will happily eat the leftovers. Would I make it again? Yes!