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Date: June 9, 2004
Poor man's food. Rice and beans combined contain
all the essential proteins; eat either one alone and eventually
you die of malnutrition. In Latin America, recipes for rice and
beans are a family heirloom, and if a woman can't cook good rice
and beans.... Well, you'd better find another one. African rice
and beans, like most things here, gets the job done so people can
go back to doing whatever it is they are doing, which seems to be
chatting with friends.
Rice: Boil two parts water, one part rice and a healthy
spoonful of salt in a big aluminum pot until the bottom is scorched
and the rice has a nice smoky flavor. Preferably use charcoal from
hardwood species from an old growth forest. Sprinkle with soot.
Beans: Boil one part beans, six parts too many water,
a healthy spoonful of salt and a healthy spoonful of sand, until
beans loose their skin, become discolored and resemble dead beetles.
Serving suggestions: for extra pizzaz combine rice
and beans.
While I'm on the subject I might as well get rid
of another brain fart. For breakfast this morning, I had another
interesting dish: beef intestine soup. While I was in line the cook,
like an anatomy professor, showed me the menu by scooping various
animal parts out of different kettles: pig's knee, goat's ribcage
and what I thought was chopped beef, but it was beef stomach, tripe,
fat, cartilege and some other bits I couldn't identify. All are
boiled in water with salt, though this restaurant didn't skim all
the tasty fat off the top. Most roadside restaurants keep scooping
out the broth and serving it at a discount until the soup is a desiccated
meat in a bowl of water. If this sounds depressing -- it is -- this
is average life in Africa. But if you can find a good restaurant
in the small cities, creamed banana and beef soup is one of my favorite
dishes.
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