Nigerian Stew and Sides Makes a Meal

You know I have The Doctor for a neighbor. I mentioned him once before as the guy who wanted to hitch a ride to the grocery store to pick up some fish. He's also the reason why I wound up purchasing the chops to make PW's Pan-Fried Pork Chops.

Anyway, as I'd been giving The Doctor rides, he'd been trying to pin me down as he wanted to say thanks for the rides by bringing me a home-cooked Nigerian dinner. Tonight he caught me as I was exiting my truck and shortly after, The Doctor brought dinner over. He had all of this stuff loaded in a box exactly as you see it here.

Steamed broccoli, Nigerian Stew (the particular name, I cannot recall), and some fried plantains and brown rice.

The plantains, well, you've seen plantains before. The Doctor cooked 'em up a little differently, but they were fried somehow. I know this because The Doctor lives in a studio and thus does not have an oven. Steamed? Ah, no, too crispy for that. And brown rice, well, it's brown rice.

The stew though was something I'd never had in life. It was very aromatic, the smells themselves were enough to eat.

Nigerian Stew, up closer. A little messy regarding presentation, but the dude is about 60 and he carried this 10 lb box of food (on real dishes!) down a flight of stairs, so a little respect please.

The stew consisted of chicken, salmon and catfish and many flavors I've never felt dance on my tongue. I carefully picked around the bones, taking care to try some of each flesh. While each meaty component was good, hands-down the catfish ruled supreme here. It was tender, moist without being soggy, and best of all, had essentially absorbed all of the flavors of the spices!

The salmon did take on some of the flavors, but as salmon does, rears it's head and roars, "I am salmon, you will taste ME." The chicken, while moist does as most chicken white meat does, take on some flavors, but still tastes like chicken.

As for the seasonings, I'm not sure what was in there! The Doctor wasn't too forthcoming about his recipe, giving me just general details. I'd probed him for more information, but to no avail. Some seasoning components though were pieces non-too fun to chew. Imagine grape stems, just the small part where grapes themselves actually hang. Had they pleasant flavor, or any flavor at all, I would not have picked them out.

I thoroughly enjoyed my meal, enough for two decent-sized servings of each component. And I would've enjoyed it twice had I not found a beard hair in the stew and lint in the broccoli.

Oh Lordy. Talk about a big fat bummer.

Still, I appreciate The Dr's efforts and for exposing me to something that I will be looking into in the future: that delicious stew! FYI, my future attempts will be hairless.

Indiana Joe's Tater Salad

This image does not do this salad any justice!! I wish you could see it!

Our good neighbor, Indiana Joe, gave us a portion of his batch of potato salad a couple weeks ago in a mayo jar (hurray for Indiana Joe for reusing!). I ate the majority of it straight out of the jar with a fork while standing in the kitchen after finding it in the 'fridge. Rodney did get a few bites.

Well, being an extremely good neighbor, Indiana Joe returned one of our dishes full of more potato salad!! This time, I managed to take a photo before devouring it.

I have to hand it to Indiana Joe: he manages to prepare the potatoes so they aren't mealy or hard and the salad has a good ratio of crunchy-to-creamy. Previously, Rodney and I had agreed during our potato salad discussions that potato salads usually have too much crunchy crap (which requires time spent picking) or they are too creamy. Or they are pickle-y. Or dill-y. Or just plain weird. Indiana Joe has potato salad down!

I told Indiana Joe that he shouldn't be shy about sharing the recipe. As soon as I get, I'll try that recipe and believe me, you'll know all about it (details depending on Indiana Joe's permission, of course).

We're so lucky to have totally bitchin' neighbors! I should include a label for totally bitchin' neighbors. As a matter of fact, I will.

We ate this with some Spice Rubbed Chicken and salad.

062210
I've included a link to a newsletter where Indiana Joe, potato salad extraordinaire, writes about his two-wheeled escapades including his in-and-out-of-death experiences.

Cumin-Cilantro Crusted Chicken Breasts

Squaw rice and black beans are the sides accompanying Cumin-Cilantro Crusted Chicken Breasts.

Right after I said I was going to stick to the plan, I deviated. I needed something quick and easy since I didn't plan ahead by one day and Rodney was hungry, I was hungry, we were getting bitchy...

And this is what I get for it. I stuck right to the recipe, like an idiot. Click the link below if you want to check me.

Cumin-Cilantro Chicken Breasts

1/2 c chopped cilantro
3 tbsp cumin seeds, toasted, coarsely crushed*
2 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp coarse salt
2 tbsp olive oil, divided
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves

Combine all ingredients except oil and chicken in small bowl. Stir in 1 tablespoon of the oil. Press mixture firmly onto top of chicken.


Heat large nonstick skillet over medium heat until hot. Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil; heat until hot. Gently add chicken; cook 8 to 10 minutes or until no longer pink in center, gently turning once.



*

Toast the cumin seeds in a skillet for a couple minutes or until fragrant, stirring frequently. Then crush it up in a mortar. Or if your pestle was busted from rolling off your kitchen (sales) counter, chop it up a bit with a knife, then clean up the pieces that went flying later.


Our feedback:
Holy cumin overkill! Won't be doing this again. As a matter of fact, I don't know if I'll buy cumin seeds ever again because of this experience. It had to be a typo: three TABLESPOONS of cumin? I should have known better. Even after I checked the recipe online and it was the same as in the magazine, I should have known better.

Unless you absolutely ADORE cumin seeds, say you sprinkle them in your coffee and onto buttered toast in the a.m. and bring packets of the seeds with you to enjoy as a textured taste explosion on your Subway sandwich at lunch, you'll regret following this recipe. Rodney and I scraped the "crust" off our chicken, which thankfully, made it edible.

As for the "crust", it stayed mostly crusted as it cooked, but pieces of it stuck to the pan. Sure, that was my fault because I obviously didn't lube the pan well enough. And as it turns out the time and temp HAS to be checked. I must have had ultra-big boobs that day because they weren't cooked through. We found that out shortly after we realized we weren't fanatics for cumin seeds. So not only were we disgruntled about the cumin, we were nearly poisoned with salmonella. Thus, dinner consumption was very scrape-ery in addition to being delayed.

Cost:

1. chicken boobs: $1.97/lb so about $4
2. cumin seeds: about $3 is what I think I paid for the entire container, of which I used the remainder

Total: about $7.

Again, this recipe sucked! IF I do this again, it will have 3 teaspoons of cumin seeds. That is, IF I buy cumin seeds again in my life.

Oh! I nearly forgot: we had a side of black beans and a rice concoction our friend/neighbor/property manager gave us in a bowl she returned. At least those were good! I need to remember to get that squaw rice recipe...

Where the Magic Happens

Let me explain my kitchen. I live in an apartment and the kitchen is kinda goofy and pretty dinky. The cabinetry is flush to the ceiling, which means it's not exactly user-friendly unless you're at least 6.5' tall. I can reach everything on the bottom shelves. For the top shelf, I need a step-stool and stretch to reach what's up there. Even the microwave, mounted under the cabinetry over the stove, is too high up. I'm 5'6 or 5'7 and I look up into it.

Along one wall is tiny counterspace, the oven/stove (above which is the microwave), small counterspace (home of the dish drainer), sink, a little more tiny counterspace (home for dirty dishes) and the fridge. It's not by oversight that I didn't mention a dishwasher.

Opposite that wall is where we have a sales counter from a clothing/department store a great neighbor-friend graciously bestowed upon us shortly after we moved in. That bad boy increased the working space by at least 5 times and offers me a bunch of built-in shelving that serves as my pantry and additional storage. It is a great item and it's highly likely we'd have moved if I didn't have it. Over the past year, my ingredient collection and love for all things bulk required a little bit of improvement.

We decided to visit IKEA and find out what we could do to help minimize the clutter. I mean, look at it!

All of my dry and wet goods are jammed together and stacked up on the counter. Anytime Rodney got near it to make coffee, he was worried about an avalanche.  Notice the amount of wall available above that.

With the addition of one $20 shelf, I was able to spread everything out so I can easily see and reach each item without a bunch of things toppling resulting in a bunch of cursing. Plus, with the extra room, I can be comfortable with accruing more neato ingredients. Look how comfy the solids look on their new shelf:

See where the shelf is? It's just a couple inches lower than eye-level. Standing flat-footed, I can reach the corner of the cupboard doors to open them. The Jolly Green Giant must have put them in.

If you're not careful installing the shelf it may wind up completely ghetto. It will slant down toward the floor, look crazy, and won't work out too hot as a shelf. Maybe a neat location to tape recipes from which you are working, but not as a shelf. Should that happen, review the directions and de-ghetto it (like Rodney did).