Villageois Gourmet

Cooking like a Peace Corps Volunteer

It probably doesn't need to be said that not all the same foods are available here in Benin. While globalization is very real and it is true that each month one can find a new “Western” product off one kind or another, day to day life in Benin requires countless changes. One of the areas of greatest areas of adjustment one goes through while living abroad in the developing world. Changing eating habits are unavoidable, but sometimes the lure of familiar dishes is enough inspiration to overcome any challenges.

I thought it might be interesting to post a recipe now and then to share some off my favorite dishes. Since Mexican food is what I miss most, I thought it would be a good starting point. Its vegetarian, but not vegan because of the Maggi (see below), the cube you find there may or may not be.

Fake Meat Tacos

Tortillas: Makes 12 tortillas, or 8 with chip/churos.

ingredients:
2 cu flour
2 Tbs oil
salt (pinch)
½ tsp baking soda
½ cu water
directions:
1.mix dry ingredients
2.fold in water and oil
3.roll dough into balls about the size of a ping-pong ball.
4.let sit covered 20 minutes
5.use a bottle (I like empty wine bottles) as a rolling pin and flatten tortillas as much as possible
6.sprinkle them with a little extra flour to keep them from sticking when stacked
7.fry in a dry frying pan

Refried Black Beans:

ingredients:
beans
salt
onion
garlic
chili peppers
oil
directions:
1.sort out rocks, bugs, bad beans
2.soak beans over night
3.boil till very soft
4.drain off some excess, leaving a bit
5.mash beans
6.heat oil in pan and fry garlic, onion, and peppers
7.add beans and fry and mix to your liking
note: As far as I know can only be found in one marche in all of Benin, but they are grown here.

Salsa:
ingredients:
20 small marche tomatoes
½ tiny limes
3 cloves of imported Chinese garlic
2 Tbs oil
salt
chili peppers
directions:
1.blacken tomatoes in a hot dry pan or over flame
2.submerge tomatoes in a ziplock to cool
3.chop/mince other veggies according to taste
4.juice and add limes
5.salt to taste
6.when cool, chunk tomatoes and mash
7.mix ingredients and return to ziplock and water to keep cool

note: I'm currently growing cilantro which should make my salsa and guac , and thus my life, 3 or 4X better.

Fake Chicken:
ingredients:
soy mince
onion
green bell pepper
garlic
Maggi cube (its a little like bullion cube, we can buy chicken or shrimp in Benin)
Oil
taco seasoning (not found in country, time to call in a favor)
directions:
1.boil soy mince until thoroughly tender
2.strain and press as much water out as possible
3.mince the onion and garlic
4.mix a little water and cube
5.heat oil, fry the onion and garlic
6.add bell pepper, soy and mixture of cube and water
7.mix in taco seasoning
8.fry until water is evaporated and soy begins to brown like ground meat

notes: Soy mince is a little like Textured Vegetable Protien but I've never seen it in the states, its dried bits a touch more dense then tofu. This can't be found in village, so I have to buy this in bulk in the cities when I travel.

I've got the bad luck of having no meat for sale in my village, and no refrigeration, so I use soy/Maggi combinations quite a bit. The longer I'm here the more this really starts to taste like chicken, sad I know. I may buy a few chickens of my own this year and try to raise my own if I have time.

Chips/Churros:
ingredients:
tortilla batter
oil
salt
cinnamon/sugar
directions:
1.roll out and cut up dough into triangles
2.heat oil in pan
3.for churros: dip in cinnamon and sugar then roll into tubes
4.fry until crisp
5.for chips: right after frying, toss in salt

THATS IT!
Get your salsa out of the bag and slice up some cabbage really thin and you're ready to go.
Everything here takes me a few hours or so, not a bad way to spend an afternoon.