Cuban-style Paella: Paella Cubana

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/cuban-style-paella-paella-cubana-recipe-1940838

Total: 1 hr 50 min
Prep: 40 min
Cook: 1 hr 10 min
Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients
1/2 cup olive oil, plus 2 tablespoons for sautéing seafood
1 cup diced ham
1 cup chorizo sausage or pepperoni, sliced into 1/2-inch pieces (recommended: Spanish sausage)
1 large onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
5 garlic cloves, minced

One 3-pound chicken, cut into 6 to 8 pieces
3 cups Valencia rice
4 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup red wine
1 can mussels
2 teaspoons salt
Bijou powder, a dash
1 pound medium raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 pound scallops
Meat from 5 lobster tails, reserve shells for garnish
1 cup of frozen green peas
1/4 cup minced parsley leaves
1 red bell pepper, sliced for garnish
1 cup steamed mussels in their shells, for garnish


Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Heat olive oil in a large pan. Sauté the ham and chorizo sausage. Remove from pan and reserve. *
Add onions, red pepper, and garlic to the pan and sauté until wilted but not overcooked.

Add chicken pieces and sauté for about 15 minutes until brown, but not fully cooked. Remove and reserve.

In a large pot combine the rice, broth, wine, and mussels. Add salt for flavor and Bijol for color. Stir. Turn up the heat, bring to boil and cover. Add chicken, ham, and chorizo. Cover and simmer on the stove for 20 to 30 minutes, until the rice is cooked and fluffy. (You may have to add a little more chicken broth if the mixture gets too dry).

Sauté shrimp, clams, and lobster tails separately in the oil. Remove and keep covered and warm.**

At the last minute, fold the seafood into the rice mixture. Transfer to a flat paella pan suitable for serving. Top with peas and red peppers. Place in oven for about 5 minutes to heat through. Take care not to overcook!
Serve garnished with mussels, parsley, and lobster shells.
Cook’s Note

*This will draw the oil from the chorizo and flavor the pan. **This will keep it from drying out.

Reference:

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/cuban-style-paella-paella-cubana-recipe-1940838

Food Etiquette in Gambia Use Your Right Hand after you Wash Both Hands

This is how I set the Bar up for gatherings, and we all eat from these trays. Funny how this is such a tradition that we do communally. 

But here is another story and how we can take tradition and modernize it without knowing we are doing such.

When a typical Gambian family sits down to eat they do so around a communal bowl that has a mound of rice which might have a sauce on top or mixed rice like Benachin (Jollof Rice) with vegetables in the center. It is then placed on a mat (basing). 

A mound of rice, shaped with a teacup while hot helps builds the mound for individual serving. 

 As an honored guest, you may sometimes be given your own bowl or plate of food to eat depending on the circumstances. Don't be surprised if you are visiting a family and find them eating and be called over to join them for a meal. This is normal food etiquette in the Gambia. 

The first rule about eating food around a communal bowl is to first wash both your hands then take off your shoes before sitting down on the mat. Indeed shoe removal should be done when entering any family room or hallway. You may be offered a short stool to sit on. In strict religious families, particularly up-country and with the Mandinka tribe, women and men eat separately while the kids go to either bowl.

Lobster Tails, over The Ultimate Paella 

Do not start eating until you see your hosts begin eating and they will usually say the Arabic word "Bismillah" which is an idiom meaning "In the Name of Allah". Only use your right hand for eating. If you do choose to eat with a family in this way you shape the rice into an almost egg-shaped one before eating it. You may be given a spoon however, the above procedure should still be followed. Keep your hands to your section of the bowl i.e. the part directly in front of you which is about 10  - 15 cm wide. Don't be afraid to ask for a spoon if you don't think you can handle it because as a guest they are only too pleased to offer you a spoon. 

However, at intervals, you may go to the near center of the bowl to cut a piece of meat or vegetable to bring back to your section and mix it with some rice before putting it in your mouth. Do not eat any food directly from the center. Don't be surprised if people beat you to it and cut it for you and put it in your section.

On a word of caution, it is the height of bad manners in Gambian society to smell food in front of others before eating it. Furthermore, even if you are not hungry it is seen as rude to decline a meal so at least try and take a couple of mouthfuls to eat it slowly. However, should you decide not to eat do not watch others eating; you should move away somewhere else until the others are ready with their meal. 

When eating keep conversation down to the minimum but do mention how delicious the meal is. Any food that leaves the bowl and into your mouth or falls onto the food mat should be left there. You can request for and drink water while eating. Though it sounds odd to westerners a quiet but audible belch after a meal is considered polite as it shows you have enjoyed the food and have eaten to your satisfaction.

Standing around in the host kitchen, amazingly following a tradition, It was loud, cross-talking, and talking going on.

Way too full to get up we sat around and kept talking after dessert was served. 

If you have finished your meal you should get straight up and go wash your hands and do not return to the communal bowl for a chat. If you are an adult then you should try by all means and get up before the children. Wash your hands with soap and water. When all are finished you may again compliment your hosts on how delicious the meal was. 

While in the Gambia you will see some of the above rules being broken but the washing and right-hand rules must be adhered to. 

If you find yourself eating alone and somebody you know approaches you,  it is good manners to tell them "come and join me". Please note that the above rules are for lunch and sometimes dinner. Breakfast, however, tends to be a sole activity normally involving bread though do offer to share if you are in the company of others. 

The usual phrase people use when they are calling you to lunch is "Ky Len Nu Ane" and for dinner, it is "Ky Len Nu Rerr".

African Fufu Recipe - The Spruce Eats

Nov 19, 2018 - Fufu is an essential food in most of West Africa, and it followed West African slaves when they came to the Caribbean. It can be made with any of the starchy ground provisions like plantains, cassava, or malanga, but this recipe is a bit different—it calls for true yams.

Place the cassava and plantains (with peels on) into a large pot, and fill with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, and cook until cassava is soft, about 30 minutes; drain. Remove and discard peels from plantains, and return them to the pot. Mash with butter, then beat with an electric mixer until smooth. You can also take a real shortcut if you don't have time, instant mashed potatoes, I learned this from a friend in Sacramento California, Viola Okoro, who married Ebu, and learned all the traditional dishes from her new community of Nigerians living in the USA.

Gambian Jollof Rice Recipe

Habari Gani - What's The News in Swahili-

I made a list of intentions for 2019. Inner standing and reconnecting with food my ancestors ate are at the top of that list of intentions. You know I enjoy cooking and can make almost anything with a recipe. One day last year, I woke up early and took the train from Bronzeville all the way up to the Wilson Red Line stop. I set out to make Egusi Stew and fish stew using mackerel. I bought all the necessary supplies, was re-insured by the auntie at the African grocery, and headed home. I made those two dishes all day, and they came out horribly inedible. The auntie sold me spoiled fufu, and the smoked fish she gave me overwhelmed my dishes. I was crushed. Since then, I have yet to try to make another African dish.

I decided to make Jollof rice and Yassa Fish a few days ago. I wasn't done cooking until almost midnight, but Ladi patiently waited for me to finish.

It was good AF, and I knew it was fire when Ladi turned to me and said he loved me. 

Cooking this made me feel more connected to the diaspora. Using red palm oil and frying plantains with my hair wrapped up in Ankara is freeing. I want to spend 2019 eating like this!

#JollofRice #Diaspora #Kwanzaa #WhatAfricansEat #SelfLove #SelfCare #Nourishment #Plantains — at Bronzeville, Chicago.

Contributor to Wash Your Hands First Blog:

Adero Knott is the founder of AK Prosthetics and the recent Lupe Fiasco #NeighborhoodStartFund winner. Her 2017 New Year's Resolution is to Get Money.

Gambian Jollof Rice Recipe

COOKING INGREDIENTS: (Fish Jollof Rice):  | (Beef & Chicken) 

1) 2 lbs. fresh fish

2) 2 cups of vegetable oil

3) 6 cups of water

4) 1 medium fresh tomato

5) 4 tbsp tomato paste

6) 2 large onions

7) 1 small cabbage Benachin

9) 2 medium carrots

10) 1 bay leaf

11) 4 cups of rice

12) Salt and pepper to taste

 COOKING METHOD: 

1) Clean and cut fish in halves.  

2) Fry the fish in vegetable oil until both sides are brown.  

3) Remove the fish, add onions and fresh tomatoes, paste them into the hot oil, and fry until brown.  

4) Pour water and bring to boil, then include cabbage, carrots, and bay leaf, add seasonings, reduce heat, and simmer for 20 mins.  

5) Remove vegetables and add the rice while continuously stirring.  

6) Reduce heat and cover the pot. Simmer for 10 mins.

   

*  

Benachin is sometimes called cheebu yap (with meat) / Thieboudiene / chebu jen (with fish). Jollof Rice was invented by a Senegalese woman named Mam Penda Mbaye of the Wolof ethnic group.

   

Beef & Chicken Jollof Rice

 COOKING INGREDIENTS:

1) ½ lb beef

2) ½ chicken

3) 4 tomatoes

4) 1 large bitter tomato (jaxatu / jahatu)

5) Vinegar

6) ½ small cabbage

7) 3 cloves of garlic

8) ½ large eggplant "mock tomato"

9) 3 dry bay leaves

10) 4 large onions

11) Salt

12) 2 peppers

13) ¼ small pumpkin

 COOKING METHOD: 

1) Wash and cut the meat into portions. Mix and season with black pepper, salt, vinegar, and pounded garlic. Leave to stand for 30 minutes before cooking. 

2) Prepare vegetables by slicing them into portions.  

3) Peel, wash and thinly slice the onions.  

4) Wash and skin the tomatoes.  

5) Fry poultry in a pan of hot oil until golden brown, then remove and put aside.  

6) Fry the beef and leave it in a cooking pot. 

7) Fry the onions until brown, insert scalded and skinned tomatoes, and cook & stir occasionally until it is a pulpy consistency.  

8) add tomato puree and pounded peppers, and cook gently for a quarter of an hour. 

9) Add a half cup of water mixed with ®Maggie Cubes, bring to a rapid boil, and place the prepared vegetables, bay leaves, fried chicken, and salt into the pot of meat.  

10) Cook for approximately 20 minutes.  

11) Take out the vegetables and chicken when cooked and place them in the oven on low heat. Leave the beef in the pot and cook for 20 minutes until tender.  

12) Place the washed rice in the pot, add sliced peppers, and bring rapidly to a boil.

13) Reduce the heat and cook for 25 minutes on low heat until most of the liquid is absorbed and the rice is well cooked.  

14) Serve the Jollof Rice on a large platter, and place vegetables and meats on the side.

   

 Reference:

 http://www.accessgambia.com/information/jollof-rice-benachin.html