Watch Week 161 of my Second Spin: A Global Cooking Adventure as I cook the food of South Sudan! Tonight's South Sudanese menu: South Sudanese Tomato Salad, South Sudanese Peanut Stew with Beef and Spinach with Kisra (South Sudanese Sorghum Flatbread)
How it went for The Global Cooking Challenge (11/24/2015): https://cliffdvr.tumblr.com/post/133956727316/cooking-around-the-world-south-sudan
One source for the salad recipe: https://www.food.com/recipe/sudanese-tomato-salad-salata-tomatim-bel-daqua-311688?oc=linkback
One source for the stew recipe: http://globaltableadventure.com/recipe/recipe-peanut-stew-with-beef-spinach-combo/
One source for the kisra recipe: http://globaltableadventure.com/recipe/recipe-sudanese-kisra-sorghum-crepes/
I get that a lot. When you’re doing this geography-and-cooking thing and covering all 193 UN member states, about every other country will usually lead to a lot of conversations with people where they pretend to know where country XYZ is located.
But with this one, folks would have a good reason to wonder why they’ve never heard of it. That’s because (as of this writing in 2015) it’s the world’s newest independent nation.
Yes, we have arrived at the subject of Week 161 of my around-the-world-alphabetically, learn-to-cook challenge and ... South Sudan!
And how did that work out? Read on to find out.
The Country
A landlocked nation in northeastern Africa, South Sudan has been independent only since 2011, though its history is ancient.
For the US-oriented (and the non-globe-owning), the nation is slightly smaller than the state of Texas and is surrounded by Sudan, Ethiopia (Week 57), Kenya (Week 87), Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo [Congo (Kinshasa) (Week 40)] and the Central African Republic (Week 33).
The groups that now populate South Sudan -- which, geographically, is not even part of the Sudan region -- first came to the area before the year 900 CE, and 600 years later tribal migrations brought new people to the region. And when Islam was expanding through this part of the world, most notably through Sudan, geographic barriers stalled its spread to the south.
The area managed to maintain its independence, repelling various external powers, until it finally fell under Egyptian control in the 1870s. And for years later, it was governed jointly by Britain and Egypt as a state separate from Sudan. But actions taken in 1947 precipitated the forced union of Sudan and South Sudan, which led to the first of two prolonged civil wars between the north and south.
Sudan (including South Sudan) became an independent unified state in 1956, but trouble was already brewing between the Arab Muslim north and the majority Christian/Animist central African south. The union was supposed to grant the south a degree of autonomy it asserted it never got.
Ladling on the fact that the south has some prime farmland and the overwhelming majority of the country’s oil reserves and you have a recipe for intractable conflict. The first war raged from 1955-1972 and the second from 1983-20005. At the end of the second conflict, the two parties agreed to a separation which eventually led to the nation’s full independence in 2011.
With vast oil reserves, you’d think the nation would be in a position of power, but as the existing pipeline routes to the sea run through neighboring Sudan (from which the south only recently got divorced), brinksmanship over how much the north would have to pay to the south for oil has led to South Sudan ceasing all oil production.
And that pretty much opened a gashing wound in the nation’s economy, which has made an already weak state nearly moribund. And a collapsed economy leads to lots and lots of internal conflict.
Sadly, tragedy continues to be the ever-present state of affairs in South Sudan as internal warfare, civil rights abuses, disease and poverty have made this resource-rich nation the leader on the heartbreaking ranking of Fragile States, edging out Somalia (Week 159) in 2014 to be the world’s most broken nation.
BONUS TRIVIA (the little that’s not grim):
On a geographical note, much of the center of South Sudan is taken up by an Indiana-sized wetland called the Sudd.
Protected lands in South Sudan are also home to the world’s second largest animal migration.
NBA players Manute Bol and Luoi Deng were both born in South Sudan.
And the grim ...
Things in South Sudan are tough for everyone, but no one bears the brunt of it more than South Sudanese women. South Sudan leads the entire world in maternal mortality (women dying during or soon after childbirth), it has the world’s lowest rate of literacy among women, and more than half of all marriages in the country involve child brides.
South Sudan is also one of the last places on Earth where the soon-to-be-eradicated Guinea worm still leads to deaths from dracunculiasis (Guinea Worm Disease). (The eradication of the Guinea worm is largely thanks to the work of former US President Jimmy Carter, BTW.)
In 2004, South Sudan -- a nation of roughly 8 million people -- had only three hospitals, three surgeons and one doctor for every 500,000 people.
Seriously, if any of this moves you, please take a moment and make a donation to Medecins Sans Frontiéres/Doctors Without Borders here.
The Food
The cuisine of South Sudan is very much like that of its neighbors, wth pancake-like flatbreads similar to those found in neighboring Ethiopia, stewed meats (often beef or goat) and a host of locally grown fruits and pulses being common, alongside grains like corn and sorghum.
Oh yes, and you’ll probably find peanuts (aka groundnuts) in everything. I mean EVERYTHING. (Yes, if you know anything about sub-Saharan African food, you’ll know that’s pretty much standard.)
One quirk appears to be that in lieu of more conventional cooking fats, foods in South Sudan are fried in cow brains, something I wasn’t really looking to reproduce.
In researching my menu, I kept circling back to this one PDF cookbook that seemed to be the touchstone for anyone online attempting to make a traditionally South Sudanese menu. And, after rejecting a dish or two that contained a green I would likely not be able to find (jute leaves, anyone?), I decided I’d cook over two nights and make what I hoped would be two authentic South Sudanese meals.
For Night One, i’d make ...
South Sudanese Peanut Chicken using this recipe,[2020 edit: archived link] served with
South Sudanese Tomato Salad using this recipe.
And for Night Two, i’d prepare ...
Kisra (South Sudanese Sorghum Flatbread) using this recipe, a variant of the one found here [2020 edit: archived link], with
South Sudanese Peanut Stew with Beef and Spinach using this recipe, just a slight variant on the one here. [2020 edit: archived link]
The Cook (Night One)
Shameless plug: I live-stream my cook/prep work on Meerkat, now available for iOS and Android and visible on the web. Follow @cliffieland on Twitter or Facebook for times. Also, if you go to meerkatstreams.com, you can now schedule to record live shows, DVR-style, in advance.
Watch a replay of this night here
The Tomato Salad
Thanks to one of the feeds I watch on Meerkat, I’ve finally come to the point where I’m comfortable coring and dicing my tomatoes. So, I quickly (OK, not really “quickly”) diced up my tomatoes and planted them in a large bowl.
I diced some green onions and threw them on.
I seeded a serrano pepper (since, sadly, green Thai chilis aren’t available anywhere nearby), diced it and toss that in.
And I chopped up some parsley and added that in, too.
In a small bowl, I scooped out some raw peanut butter.
And I added some water.
I mixed that up and added the juice of a lime. (I know, that’s the lemon juicer; these limes were hyuuuge,)
I added some salt.
And, after mixing it up, I poured it over the tomato mixture.
I blended everything together.
And I covered it and set it to cool in the fridge until dinner.
The Peanut Chicken
I diced up a couple (rather large) chicken breasts, heated up some peanut oil (not cow brain, thanks), and added in the chicken.
The goal was to brown the chicken, but, as pointed out by a couple of my viewers, the pan was quite crowded and the chicken seemed to steam instead of sear. (Why, oh why, do recipes never tell you that one should do things in batches if it’s to be done correctly?)
Once I determined the chicken bits were cooked (and since I didn’t want to eat rubber chicken), I pulled the pieces out of the skillet and set them aside.
Then, into the oil, I dropped the diced onion.
The diced tomato.
I added a dash or two of garlic powder.
And, once the onions were softened, I mixed the chicken back in.
Next, I spooned in the peanut butter. (I told you there’s peanut butter in EVERYTHING this week. No peanut allergies in South Sudan, it would seem.)
I poured in the water.
And I seasoned with salt and pepper, since none of the recipes seemed to address this cooking basic. (Perhaps salt isn’t available in South Sudan? Nothing I read said one way or the other.)
I let the dish simmer for a few minutes and then it was dinnertime.
I scooped out the long-grain rice I had prepped in the rice cooker and scooped servings of the chicken on top. And I ladled out servings of the tomato salad alongside. In the end, that looked like this.
The Tasting
The Tomato Salad: Hoo doggies, that was phenomenal! I’ve never had a salad like that, with the fresh vegetables playing off the lime juice and the hearty, creamy flavor of the peanut butter. This is a definite must for the next (non-peanut allergic) dinner party or potluck! I’m just sorry I didn’t have leftovers.
The Peanut Chicken: Well, it was fine. The peanut butter did give the dish a certain creaminess that was pleasant. And I’m glad I seasoned the dish properly, since, otherwise, it would have been really awful. But between the dish’s humble nature and my not searing the chicken properly, I felt it was an overall disappointment. Generally speaking. The leftovers made for a nice lunch the next day, though.
The Cook (Night Two)
The Kisra
This would involve something you may know I hate: prepping stuff the night before.
In fact, I would have prepped two nights before. BUT ...
When I was researching this dish, I was a little surprised that most Sudanese recipes I found for kisra (in that case, spelled “kisser”) called exclusively for wheat flour. This one recipe called for sorghum flour,
But, hey, I thought, I have sorghum flour. It’s been sitting around since I last used it way, way back when I cooked Botswana (Week 23).
Well, I was wrong. On two fronts. First, it turns out I tossed the old flour during the Great Weevil Purge of 2015 earlier this year. And what I did have on hand was millet (another gluten-free grain I’ve used along the way). Oops.
So, after having the husband pick up some more sorghum flour at The Market That Shall Not Be Named, I took out my big bowl and dropped in the sorghum flour. Then, already not reading the recipe correctly, I mixed in some whole wheat flour. (That was supposed to be added the next day.)
I poured in the water.
And I mixed that up until it was smooth.
I covered it and let it sit to ferment overnight. The next day, I retrieved the funky bowl.
And, after heating up the griddle with a little peanut oil (since I didn’t have/want to buy un-toasted sesame oil and, again cow brain was out), I made several failed attempts to recreate the village woman’s kisra prep method.
I spread the batter out and tried to use everything from the flat end of a pastry cutter to two different spatulas to turn this into a circle. It didn’t work.
In the end, I went with the circular/back of the ladle method I’ve used for other crepe-like breads.
The Peanut Stew with Beef and Spinach
After making sure that my stew beef was cubed small enough (it could have still been smaller), I heated up more peanut oil in a large stewpot and added in the chunks,
I let them get a good sear and then added in the diced onion.
The crushed garlic.
And, once the onions and garlic had softened, I poured on the beef stock.
And I let that simmer for a few minutes to let the liquid reduce. When it had, I mixed in the CRAZY AMOUNT of peanut butter.
The diced tomatoes.
And more spinach than I could have imagined.
After mixing thoroughly, I let that simmer for a few minutes so the spinach would wilt.
When it had, it was time for dinner. I laid down a serving of kisra on each plate and ladled scoops of the peanut-y stew on top. In the end, that looked like this.
The Tasting
The Kisra: It’s kind of hard to judge this on its own, since it was kind of part of the overall meal. As part of that, it worked just fine. The sorghum provided a nice, nutty, surprising flavor to the dish. On their own, they tasted nice fresh off the griddle, though later they left an odd aftertaste.
The Peanut Stew: Oh, Africa! You and your impossibly tasty peanut butter dishes! This was creamy and meaty and all kinds of good. My only quibble was that I probably should have made the meat chunks smaller. And, had I had the time, I would have liked to either a.) have purchased a more tender cut of meat, b.) simmered it for a great while longer or, c.) cheated and used meat tenderizer, either mechanical, chemical or ... explosive?
So, all in all, the sadness of the place aside, South Sudan proved mighty delicious. Thanks for all the peanut-y goodness!
Shameless plug #2 for those that scrolled down: I live-stream my cook/prep work on Meerkat, now available for iOS and Android and visible on the web. Follow @cliffieland on Twitter or Facebook for times. Also, if you go to meerkatstreams.com, you can now schedule to record live shows, DVR-style, in advance.
Next Week: We hit another one of the world’s most famous and far-reaching cuisines as we head back to Europe for ... Spain!
On bir Rebiülevveli on ikiyi bağlayan gece Mekke’den binlerce kilometre uzakta bazı garip olaylar olmaktaydı.
İran Sasani imparatoru kisranın yirmi iki şerefeli sarayında on dört şerefe aniden oluşan bir deprem sonucu yıkılıverdi. Kisra bundan çok korktu. Hemen tacını giydi, tahtına oturdu ve Mecusi ulularını huzuruna çağırdı.
Bu sıralarda İran Sasani imparatorluğunun baş kadısı olan Mubezan rüyasında bir takım serkeş develerin bir sürü yüğrük atları önüne katarak Dicle ırmağını fütursuzca geçtikten sonra İran topraklarına yayıldıklarını, çiğnediklerini görüyordu.
Deprem ve rüya onu kan ter içinde uyandırdı. Olanları yorumlamaya çalışırken kisranın onu acele çağırdığı haberini getirdiler. Bu haber baş kadıyı daha da korkuttu. Hemen giyinip kisranın yanına koştu. Kisranın huzuruna Mecusi uluları gelip, toplanmış, başları yere eğik, sessizce bekleşiyorlardı.
Kisra onlara:
-Ben size gecenin şu vaktinde ne için haber saldığımı, burada niçin toplattığımı biliyor musunuz? Diye sordu.
Huzurdakiler:
-Biz hükümdarın bu hususta bize vereceği bilgiden başka bir şey bilmiyoruz dediler.
Kisra sarayında on dört şerefenin bir deprem sonucu nasıl yıkıldığına anlatırken huzura bir haberci girdi. Hemen kisranın önünde secdeye kapanarak:
-Ey yüce kisra! Size bir haber getirdim dedi.
Kisra haberciye:
-Söyle diye emretti.
Haberci korkudan tir, tir titreyerek, güçlükle:
-Ey yüce kisra! Bin seneden beri yanan, atalarımızdan kalma kutsal ateşgedemiz birden sönmüştür dedi.
Kisra önce gelen haberi inanamadı. Haberciye:
-Ne dedin? Ne dedin? Bir daha söyle diye bağırdı.
Haberci getirdiği haberi bir daha tekrarlayınca kisranın beti benzi soldu. Etrafındakilere:
-Sarayımda on dört şerefenin yıkılması, kutsal ateşgedemizin sönmesi muhakkak ki çok büyük bir olayı, üzerimize gelmekte olan bir musibeti işaret etmektedir dedi.
Mubezan konuşmak için Kisradan izin aldıktan sonra:
-Ey kisra! Kutsal ateşgedemizin sana iyilikler vermesini dilerim.
Bende bu gece bir rüya görmüş bulunuyorum. Rüyamda sürü, sürü develerin, yüğrük atları önlerine katarak korkusuzca Dicle’den geçtiklerini, İran topraklarına yayıldıklarını, oraları çiğnediklerini görmüş bulunuyorum dedi.
Kisra ona:
-Ey Mubezan! Acaba rüyan ve şu olanlar neye işaret olabilir? Diye sordu.
Mübezan mecliste bulunanların en bilgisi idi. Kisra her zaman onun düşünce ve görüşlerine önem verirdi.
Mubezan:
-Ey kisra! Bütün bunların Araplar arasında mühim bir olayın vuku bulduğuna işaret olduğunu sanıyorum dedi.
O sıralarda ne kisra, ne de Mubezan kisranın sarayına doğru birbirlerinden habersiz iki atlının dörtnala gelmekte olduklarını, onlardan birinin susuz Semâve vadisinin sular altında kaldığı, diğerinin de Sâve gölünün suyunun birden çekildiği haberini getirdiklerini bilmiyorlardı.
Semâve; Kufe ile Şam arasında Kelp kabilesine ait taşlı bir çöl, Sâve ise Hemdan ile Kum şehirleri arasında eni ve boyu altı fersah civarlarında olan bir göldü. Göl kuruyunca buraya Sâve şehri kurulmuştur.
Haberciler artarda saraya gelip getirdikleri haberleri bildirdiklerinde kisranın korkusu bir kat daha arttı.
O dönemlerde Arap yarımadasının güney tarafları İran Sasani imparatorluğuna bağlı bir eyalet hükmündeydi. Başında vali olarak Numan b. Münzir bulunmaktaydı.
Kisra Numan b. Münzir için bir emirname yazdırdı. Bu emirnamesinde şöyle diyordu.
“Krallar kralı kisradan Numan b. Münzir’e;
Şimdi bana hemen bir ilim adamı gönder ki kendisine bazı şeyler sormak istiyorum. Bunu yaparken de acele et. Beni bekletme.”
Numan b. Münzir mahiyetinde en bilgili kişi olan Abdülmesih b. Amr’ı kisraya gönderdi.
Abdülmesih gelip, huzura girince kisra:
-Sende sormak istediğim şey konusunda bir bilgi var mıdır? Diye sordu.
Abdülmesih:
-Hükümdâr soracaklarını bana bildirsin. Sordukları konusunda bilgim varsa söylerim. Eğer bende sordukları konusunda bilgi yoksa cevap verebilecek bir bilene haber verebilirim dedi.
Kisra gördüklerini ve Mubeza’nın rüyasını Abdülmesih’e anlattı.
Abdülmesih bir müddet düşündükten sonra:
-Ey kisra! Bu husustaki bilgi Şam’da oturan dayım Satîh’te var, bende yoktur dedi.
Kisra Abdülmesihe:
-O zaman sen hiç durma, Şama git. Sorduklarımı ona sor, cevaplarını bana getir diye emretti.
Abdülmesih hemen hayvanına atlayıp Şama doğru yola çıktı. Vardığında Satîh’i ölüm halinde ağır hasta buldu. Hemen yanına girip selam verdi, hal ve hatırını sordu fakat Satîh bir cevap vermedi.
Bunun üzerine Abdülmesih:
-Yemen diyarının ulu kişisi yoksa sağır mıdır? Yoksa işitiyor da yanına geleni aldırış mı etmiyor? Yoksa ölüp gitti de bizleri büsbütün yas içinde mi bıraktı? Diye sordu. Fakat Satîh yine cevap vermedi.
Abdülmesih Satîh’a doğru biraz daha yaklaşarak:
-Ey mühim ve zor işlerin çözümleyicisi ulu şeyh! Bir büyük ve sayılır cemaatin şeyhi olan kız kardeşinin oğlu Acem şahı tarafından sana gönderildi. Dağ ve düz, gece ve gündüz demeden ve yollardaki tehlikeleri aldırış etmeden son süratle yanına geldi de bütün bilgiçlerin aciz kaldıkları büyük işleri senden sorup öğrenmek ister mealinde yedi beyitlik bir kaside söyledi.
Satîh Abdülmesih’in şiirini işitince başını kaldırdı, gözlerini açtı ve:
-Abdülmesih devesini binip acele olarak Satîh’in yanına geldi. Ama o ölmek ve kabre girmek üzeredir. Fakat ben senin ne için geldiğini biliyorum. Seni bana Sasanoğulları hükümdarı göndermiştir. Sarayının sarsılıp on dört şerefesinin neden yıkıldığını, bin yıldan beri yanıp duran ateşgedenin niçin söndüğünü sormaktadır. Birde Mubeza’nın gördüğü rüyayı yorumlamamı istiyor.
O Mubezan ki rüyasında bazı serkeş develerin yüğrük atları kovalayarak Dicle nehrini geçtiklerini İran topraklarını yayıldıklarını görmüştü.
Ey Abdülmesih, iyi dinle!
Ne zamanki ilahi vahyin okunması çoğalır ve Asa Sahibi gönderilir. O zaman Farslıların ateşgedeleri söner, şerefeleri yıkılır.
Susuz Semâve vadisinden sular taşarda, Sâve gölünün suyu çekilir.
Ey Abdülmesih! Yıkılan şerefe sayısınca onlardan kral ve kraliçe gelir ve artık olacak olan ondan sonra olur. Olacak olanın önüne kimse geçemez.
Artık Şam Satîh’in Şam’ı değildir dedi ve böyle dedikten sonra öldü.
Abdülmesih gelip kisranın huzuruna çıktı. Satîh’in sözlerini ona haber verdi. Gelen haber bir bakıma kisranın yüreğine su serpmişti.
Abdülmesih’e:
-Demek bizden on dört hükümdar çıkıncaya kadar hakimiyetimiz sürüp gidecek. Bu oldukça uzun bir zaman olmalı dedi.
Fakat kisranın tahmini doğru çıkmadı. Yalnız dört yıl içinde on hükümdar gelip geçti. Hz Osman (r.a.) dönemine gelindiğinde kisraların hâkimiyeti sona erdi.
Tak Kisra Madain .. Salman Pak Iraq ... Baghdad Photography Rasoul Ali طاك كسرى المدائن .. سلمان باك العراق ... بغداد تصوير رسول علي www.rasoulali.com on Flickr.
Tak Kisra Madain .. Salman Pak Iraq ... Baghdad Photography Rasoul Ali طاك كسرى المدائن .. سلمان باك العراق ... بغداد تصوير رسول علي www.rasoulali.com
