{"id":2181,"date":"2018-05-01T16:11:06","date_gmt":"2018-05-01T16:11:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adhc.lib.ua.edu\/globalfoodways\/?p=2181"},"modified":"2018-05-01T16:11:06","modified_gmt":"2018-05-01T16:11:06","slug":"ndole-bitterleaf-and-peanut-soup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adhc.lib.ua.edu\/globalfoodways\/ndole-bitterleaf-and-peanut-soup\/","title":{"rendered":"Ndole: Bitterleaf and Peanut Soup"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"ndoleMeat-heavy dishes are often considered to be American anomalies. Americans adore barbecues and potlucks and\u00a0<\/span>hearty stews, and the celebration of any occasion is usually met with some type of time-intensive grilling or roasting. However, Cameroonian ndole <\/i>is absolutely no different. This traditional dish contains a fe<\/span>w types of proteins, all of them interchangeable and customizable based on whose recipe one is reading. Sometimes made from peanuts, shrimp, stockfish, beef, and spinach, ndole is a wonderfully delicious example of the hearty, earthy nature of Cameroonian cuisine.<\/p>\n

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\"meat<\/p>\n

To make ndole, one begins with a half pound of beef in a shallow pan with some water, boiling away until the protein is fully cooked through. I used ground beef, but the author of African Bites, <\/i>Imma, uses larger chunks. As long as the flavor and texture of the meat comes through, the stew will be heavenly! Add a few chopped onions and two tablespoons of bullion to season. Imma\u2019s recipe calls for one onion, but I used two in the end, since almost every piece of the recipe requires onions before it is incorporated with the rest of the dish. Another helpful tip: I pre-chopped my two onions so I could easily pull a few from a bowl every time I needed to add them in. (Truth be told, I also wore my partner\u2019s chemistry goggles whilst I worked with all these onions. The onions were quite pungent, and this recipe requires full concentration. No room for constant eye-wiping.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Next, in a deeper pot, boil a half pound of stockfish in several cups of water and salt. Add the contents of the shallower pan to the larger pot of stockfish. For reference, stockfish is a dried fish, like cod, that adds a delicious meaty taste, but it usually requires an overnight soak to be viable in any recipe. I left out this step, but I added a few cups of water to my pan of ground beef to replace the water that the stockfish would have boiled in.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Boil a cup of raw, unshelled peanuts in a pan for about 10 minutes with some oil or water, then blend in a food processor until smooth. Add to the mixture of meat.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"onionsPulse one onion and four cloves of garlic (yes, that\u2019s a lot) in a food processor for a minute or so, and then add this mixture to the pot. At this point, the kitchen should smell meaty and garlicky and\u00a0 <\/span>delicious, but refuse your strong urge to taste what\u2019s in the pot.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, everything looks incredible, but what dish would be complete without three-fourths of a cup of dried shrimp?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Imma\u2019s recipe calls for dried crayfish, but I had to do some more substituting here. I bought these tiny dried shrimp from the freezer section of Mr. Chen\u2019s, but I knew I would have to tackle grinding them myself to make a paste for the stew. I attempted to use my gorgeous marble mortar and pestle, but honestly, it\u2019s too beautiful to do a good job of anything. I had to return to my trusty food processor, which blended the rather potent shrimp perfectly, and I added the concoction to my pot.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"dried<\/p>\n

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The last process before garnishing is adding bitter-leaves. I used spinach, which is essentially very similar, but they both have a dark green leafiness that really enhances the meatiness of the soup. Add eight ounces of the vegetable, which for me was a whole organic family-sized container. Now, I’ll warn you.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"adding<\/p>\n

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It’s a lot of spinach. It\u2019s more than a lot. It takes a while to mix in the veggies to such a thick pot of meat, but they will wilt after several minutes and allow you to incorporate them easier. They definitely smell amazing.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s almost time to eat! I didn\u2019t take this step when cooking the recipe for the first time, but when I made leftovers the next day, I saut\u00e9ed a few shrimp to add on top of the stew. I purchased frozen, pre-cooked shrimp from South\u2019s Finest Meats, but they were just as delicious as fresh shrimp.<\/span><\/p>\n

Once my shrimp were thoroughly cooked on the stove, I stuffed my face with ndole. I didn\u2019t even make a plate, because eating it right out of the pan was so satisfying. Nothing has ever been so delightful. It was meaty, filling, and deliciously pungent, but the best part was that I had created the concoction from scratch. The whole process took hours, but let\u2019s be honest. Nothing ever tastes good when it doesn\u2019t require three hours, dried shrimp, and a pair of lab goggles.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"finished<\/p>\n

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Works Referenced<\/strong><\/p>\n

Imma. \u201c21 Traditional Cameroonian Foods to Feed Your Soul.\u201d Immaculate Bites.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Meat-heavy dishes are often considered to be American anomalies. Americans adore barbecues and potlucks and\u00a0hearty stews, and the celebration of any occasion is usually met with some type of time-intensive grilling or roasting. However, Cameroonian ndole is absolutely no different. This traditional dish contains a few types of proteins, all of them interchangeable and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[27,5],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adhc.lib.ua.edu\/globalfoodways\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2181"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adhc.lib.ua.edu\/globalfoodways\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adhc.lib.ua.edu\/globalfoodways\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adhc.lib.ua.edu\/globalfoodways\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adhc.lib.ua.edu\/globalfoodways\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2181"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/adhc.lib.ua.edu\/globalfoodways\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2204,"href":"https:\/\/adhc.lib.ua.edu\/globalfoodways\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2181\/revisions\/2204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adhc.lib.ua.edu\/globalfoodways\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adhc.lib.ua.edu\/globalfoodways\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adhc.lib.ua.edu\/globalfoodways\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}