Week 16 - South African

Skipping ahead to the current challenge and will fill in the posts for the other challenges later...

I was really excited that the Week 16 challenge was South African. During our WorldEats and other general restaurant exploration, we had tried quite a few South African dishes that we liked, and I thought maybe I could make something like bobotie or bunny chow for the challenge. The only real issue with that is the current pandemic. Grocery shopping is one of my favorite activities, but grocery shopping during the pandemic is not fun at all. Lines are long. With the virus everywhere, the best course of action is to pick one store, go in with a big list, get as much as you can, and get out, not visit multiple stores picking up all sorts of specialty ingredients. Also, you never know what will be sold out on any given day.


If you want to make a specific recipe these days, it's just challenging, because you don't know if you're actually going to get what you need or if there will be any good substitutions for the things you're missing, so it's better to pick something flexible or one where you already have most of what you need. Bobotie, especially since we would already need to make changes to make the bobotie egg-free, just seemed like too difficult of a task right now. Instead, I decided to try Durban chicken curry, representative of South Africa's Indian cuisine, based on a recipe I found on The Spruce Eats.

Ingredients:

The ingredients for our modified version of Durban chicken curry were:

- 2 tbsp butter ($0.20)
- 1 tbsp grapeseed oil ($0.10)
- 1 tbsp curry powder ($0.35)
- 1 tbsp ground coriander ($0.20)
- 1 tbsp ground cumin ($0.20)
- 2 cinnamon sticks ($0.25)
- 1 onion, chopped ($0.79)
- 1 tsp ginger paste ($0.10)
- 8 cloves of garlic, finely chopped ($0.25)
- 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 1.5 lbs) ($7.05)
- 1 can diced tomatoes (undrained) ($0.99)
- 4 medium gold potatoes, diced ($1.15)
- 1.25 cups chicken stock ($0.30)
- freshly ground black pepper ($0.05)
- 4 scallions, chopped ($0.60)
- 1 tbsp chopped cilantro ($0.80)
- 2 cups (uncooked) brown rice ($1)

The recipe also called for whole cumin, which I skipped because we tossed our very old cumin seeds in our spice cabinet clean-out a few weeks ago, cayenne pepper, which I skipped so it wouldn't be too spicy for baby B, curry leaves, which I skipped because they don't sell them at Trader Joe's (our store of choice for our most recent stock-up), and a small rutabaga, which I skipped because they don't sell them at Trader Joe's and I forgot I needed to put a substitution on the shopping list, like parsnips. Despite not having all of these ingredients included, I think the finished product ended up true to the spirit of the curry recipe and didn't suffer without them. It ended up coming out to about $14.38 for dinner for the three of us with a little bit of rice and maybe a bowl of curry left over, which isn't too bad considering that half of that cost was the chicken by itself.

Steps:

The steps for the curry, adapted from the original recipe, were:


1. Melt butter in grapeseed oil over medium heat. Add spices and stir until fragrant, about a minute.

2. Add onions, garlic, and ginger. Cook for a few minutes until onions have softened.

3. Add chicken and brown over high heat, coating the chicken in onions and spices.

4. Add the tomatoes, stir, and cook for a few minutes.


5. Add potatoes and chicken stock. Check seasoning, and add black pepper if needed (we added a little).

6. Bring to a boil, lower heat, and simmer for about 30 minutes (making sure all the potatoes are covered by broth). Add scallions about 25 minutes in.

7. Test to make sure potatoes are fork tender, remove from heat, and add cilantro. Stir well and serve over rice.

Conclusion:


We really liked this curry, and it made our kitchen (and whole apartment, really) smell so good! I was a little concerned partway through when I was checking for taste that it would be bland and not live up to the fragrant aromas wafting around from step one of cooking, but while the flavors weren't super strong, they were really good and well-balanced. The potatoes especially picked up the cinnamon, thanks to the cinnamon sticks floating around in the broth, and added to the cozy comfort food feel of the dish. It took a little bit of time to make, somewhere between one to two hours, but that's not surprising considering the 30 minute simmer time at the end. All three of us seemed to like this, and it felt good to make something new. Even though we've been cooking almost every day (in a complete 180 from last year at this time, we've ordered delivery/takeout once for dinner since the lockdown started), I haven't actually made a new planned-out recipe in some time, and I'm glad that this was a success!

A Year of Nando's

The next post in our London recaps was supposed to be about our visit to Nando's Peri-Peri, our fourth visit to a Nando's in 2015 while on vacation. Unfortunately we haven't gotten around to recapping any of the other Nando's visits, so any comparisons we would make between the restaurants in London and the States would have no context whatsoever. Considering that, and also the fact that the next post in our Savannah recaps was also supposed to be about Nando's, we thought it was best to just put them all together in one post and take you through our year of Nando's.

Visit #1: Woodbridge, Virginia (Savannah road trip)

We had known about Nando's Peri-Peri for a long time before we ever tried it. Founded in South Africa, Nando's is a fast casual restaurant serving grilled chicken (and other stuff, but the draw for most people is the chicken) with peri-peri sauces, flavors that originated from Portugal and Mozambique. Nando's only recently expanded to the US, with locations in Virginia, DC, Maryland, and Chicago. Unfortunately they don't yet have one in New York, but that was why we definitely wanted to try some on our way to Savannah.

A got the half chicken, medium spiciness, with macho peas ("rugged pea mash with whole peas, parsley, mint and chilli" according to the menu). The chicken was very moist except for a few sections of the white meat which was a bit on the drier side. The sauce had a good amount of heat that didn't overpower his senses, and the peri peri seasoning added a nice floral hint. The macho peas were very tasty. They had a good bit of heat to them, and our guess was that they included the same chilli as their peri peri seasoning in them. The mint and parsley added a nice herbal freshness to the dish as well.

M got the sandwich called "Nandocas choice" which made her top 10 list that year. The sandwich was a chicken breast topped with cole slaw on buttery garlic bread. It was really, really good. She thought that the flavor of the chicken itself might have been a little bit better on A's regular flame grilled chicken, but all together, this combination was great. Can't really go wrong with a sandwich built on garlic bread.

Visit #2: Hanover, Maryland (Savannah road trip)

We liked Nando's so much on our first visit, just like we thought we would, that we also got lunch at one of the Maryland locations on our drive back home. The Hanover location was in the Arundel Mills mall not too far from our hotel, so it was our last real meal on the trip (if you don't count rest stop fries). We thought the Virginia location was a little better as far as organization and layout, but we really didn't care because we were eating delicious Nando's chicken.

The first time we got the chicken, we didn't add much seasoning or extra sauce to it, because we wanted to taste it right out of the kitchen with the flavors it was supposed to have. This visit, we experimented more with the sauces, especially the wild herb and garlic, which we liked even more mixed together. The garlic herb peri-peri sauce was our favorite on its own. We love garlic, and this had a really good garlicky flavor to it. The wild herb peri-peri sauce had a good flavor to it, but it just wasn't as good as the garlic herb. Together they formed a great, balanced sauce.

A wanted to kick things up a bit so he got the half chicken, hot spiciness, with corn. The chicken was similar, moist but with a few dry spots in the white meat, and the hot sauce was good and hot, but it was, for the most part, the same chicken he had on the way down. The corn was nice. He had seen a bunch of people ordering it on our first visit so he wanted to give it a try. It was really just a grilled ear of corn, but it was sweet, and the char on the corn gave it a nice smokiness. M isn't as big a fan of corn on the cob, but she thought it tasted good from the little bit she tried.

For her meal, M got a chicken breast (medium) sandwich with arugula, tomato, pickled onion, and peri-peri mayo, with sides of macho peas and fries. These were the same two sides that we had gotten in Virginia, and they were both good. As for the sandwich, it was fine, not as exciting as the Nandocas choice, but the chicken was really good. That said, M still thought A's chicken was better so she decided she would ditch the sandwiches and get regular chicken whenever we were lucky enough to go to Nando's again.

Visit #3: West Loop, Chicago (Great Lakes road trip)

The first Nando's in Chicago opened in spring of 2015 in the West Loop, and once we learned that, we knew where we absolutely had to go during our time in Chicago over the summer. This location was a little different from the other two we had been to, in that it wasn't located in a mall or shopping development, but just a regular neighborhood restaurant. We were really excited to see if anything was different about the Chicago locations, but they were mostly the same. The Chicago one did have better decor though.

A got a half chicken, hot spiciness, with peas and Portuguese rice. The flavor of this Nando's was just as good as before, but the chicken size was much smaller. The peas were tasty like last time, and the rice had really good flavor. We also used the garlic and herb sauce like last time and it was just as delicious.

M got a quarter chicken, medium spiciness, white meat, with coleslaw and garlic bread as sides. The garlic bread was delicious, even if garlic bread is the type of thing we could probably make it at home. The coleslaw was really, really good and better than M remembered from before. With the sides she picked, it was like she could make the Nandocas choice sandwich all over again if she really wanted to, selections which weren't intentional but perhaps subconscious.

Visit #4: Shepherd's Bush, London (2015 vacation)

Our stomachs weren't feeling particularly great after our pie and mash and jellied eels lunch, so we thought the best thing to do was to grab some Nando's for dinner. Grilled chicken sounded like it would be nice and calming. There were two Nando's locations not too far from our hotel, including one a little more conveniently located at the Westfield mall. (You might remember the mall from our first day visits to Square Pie and Pho.) The Nando's at the mall wasn't in the takeaway food court, but in a section with other restaurants. When we got there and saw the line, we were alarmed to see it stretching out of the restaurant and around a corner. The mall was packed, but it was a Tuesday night so we really weren't expecting it to be so crowded. (We kept forgetting it was half term.)

Since that wasn't going to work, we left the mall and walked over to the other Shepherd's Bush location, which had free tables and very little line. It was nice being in a place where there was more than one Nando's within walking distance.

M got a half chicken, medium spiciness, with garlic bread and coleslaw, pretty much the same thing she got in Chicago. She got a half so that A could eat some of the dark meat, since she was planning to eat mostly white meat. The chicken seemed to be very similar to the ones we got in the States, and it was nice to see that the quality was consistent. Both sides were good, but the garlic bread wasn't seasoned as much and didn't have the garlic spread to the edges, so it wasn't quite as good as the ones we had had previously. It was probably healthier that way, but M likes garlic bread with lots of butter and garlic on it. It was a nice, solid dinner that M really hoped would soothe her stomach and erase all memories of jellied eels.

A got the chicken livers which we both knew he was going to get as soon as we looked at the English menu. The chicken livers aren't on the American menu, and that's a real shame. The chicken livers came with a Portuguese roll and he got a side of fries. We couldn't pinpoint exactly what they used to cook the chicken livers, but they were so good. Looking at the Nando's recipes online before they were removed, it sounded like it was just butter and peri-peri sauce, but it tasted like something more than that. There was something familiar about it, but we just couldn't figure it out. We tried these on everything: plain, on the roll, on M's garlic bread, and even on the fries. It didn't matter how we ate them, they were just awesome. There was a little bit of a spiciness to the sauce as well as A ordered them with medium spiciness.

Dinner was really good. We were very glad that we had such a good, tasty dinner since lunch was not as good as we were expecting it to be.

After visiting Nando's four times in 2015, we haven't been to one since then, pretty much since they don't have one here in New York. When the day comes (hopefully) that they do open here, we will be so happy. It's the perfect fast casual type of spot - good flavorful food, no fuss, not too expensive. Nando's, please open in NYC, and if possible bring the chicken livers too!

Bunny Chow?

South African cuisine was one of our 2010 food revelations. We had never really had it until our World Cup celebration (other than some dishes in the buffet at Boma at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge), but immediately loved the complex and interesting flavors. Since then, we have become fans of South African cuisine, loving bobotie and other fun dishes.


We were excited to try the South African food at the festival because we saw that they had bunny chow! We have always wanted to try bunny chow, including the version served from the ESPN Match Truck (still annoyed at their actions last year), and were glad to have this opportunity.


The first snack we tried was the seared filet of beef with smashed sweet potatoes and braai sauce ($5):


M didn't really like the beef here, finding it a little tough and chewy. But she doesn't really like steak, so she wasn't expecting to like it. The sweet potatoes were tasty and the braai sauce (a sweet and spicy bbq sauce) added a nice flavor.

A thought, as seems to be the case for everything, that the beef was overcooked. The braai sauce was amazing. As mentioned, it was a little sweet and a little spicy, and the full flavor was great. The sweet potato mash was a perfect accompaniment, and the dish matched so well.

The second snack was bunny chow, described on the menu board as "vegetable curry served in a bread loaf" ($3.25):


We were very confused by the bunny chow. The description on the menu board sounded similar to everything we had ever heard about bunny chow. It's a hollowed out bread loaf stuffed with curry. But that's not what we got. This bunny chow was some kind of puff pastry... with vegetable curry as a sauce. The curry sauce itself had a nice flavor, but it's not what we were expecting for bunny chow.

It looks like a visit to a South African restaurant to try some real bunny chow may be in order...

Favorite dishes at the South Africa kiosk:
A: Filet of beef
M: Bunny chow

Braai

Jumping back to the opening day of the World Cup...

Our first World Cup meal together was dinner on opening day, and we decided to try South African cuisine for the first time. We went to the South African restaurant in our neighborhood, Braai. A had been to their sister wine bar, Xai Xai, before, but only for drinks. We were excited to try it, especially to sample the flavors - which are a mix between indigenous cultures and influences from Portugal, France, Germany, Holland, India and Malaysia, among others, and dinner did not disappoint!


When we got there, the restaurant was packed and noisy, and there were a lot of large groups. People had clearly been partying all day for the World Cup and were ready to kick off the weekend. We started with some drinks. There was a giant jar of sangria on the bar, so M started with that, while A went for a pinot noir. The sangria was nice and refreshing. A had the pinot noir when he went to Xai Xai and remembered it being good.


The meal started with an amuse - a mini samosa. It was the perfect bite-size snack. We hadn't ordered the samosas (even though we wanted to try them) so we were happy we got to try it!

We shared two appetizers: the Braai salad ("Die Braai Slaai") and the chicken sosatie. We wanted to try the sliders, but they were out of everything other than lamb, and by the end of our dinner, they had even run out of lamb! Next time.

Clockwise from top left: mini samosa, Braai salad, sambals, chicken sosatie
The Braai salad was composed of "seasonal oranges, goat cheese and roasted garlic over rocket salad complimented by a rooibos herb dressing" (according to the menu). It was light and the dressing was an interesting flavor that we had never had before. Although good, we might not get this again next time, but that's mostly because the sosatie was delicious and we want to try more of those.

Sosaties are skewers. The chicken sosatie was "dukkah crusted chicken with pineapple in an Indian curry yogurt." The chicken also came with sambals (fruit chutney, mint jelly, banana-coconut, cucumber-yogurt dill, mango-coriander salsa). This might have been M's favorite thing all night. It was full of complex flavors and we wanted more!

For the main courses, M got the "prawns peri-peri", which according to the menu were "grilled Mozambican prawns marinated in a peri-peri sauce and served with basmati-saffron rice." A got one of the specials (so we don't have a detailed description) but it was rack of lamb with spinach and pap.

Prawns on the left, lamb on the right
The server told M that the prawns were going to be very spicy, but M found them to be more flavorful than spicy. She also hadn't heard the server when he said they came with the shells on, so the dish turned out to be messier than planned, but it was still very good. M would probably get something else next time, since there are so many options on the menu (like the chicken bobotie, which the table next to us got, and which looked delicious).

A really liked the lamb special. Excellently spiced and perfectly cooked, the balance between spice and flavor worked very well. Paired with the spinach and pap, it made for a very hearty and flavorful meal. A would definitely like to try this again, but being a special, that may not happen. M enjoyed the spinach and pap as well, and A was happy to share his spinach and pap in return for the heads from the prawns on M's dish.

We ended the meal with 2 desserts: the melktert for A and the koeksisters for M. The melktert was a "firm milk custard tart dusted with cinnamon and sweet spice over a biscuit tart crust." The koeksisters was "sweetly spiced dough pastry in orange yogurt mousse and rooibos ginger honey sauce with tropical fruit sorbet." A nice light end to the meal.

Koeksisters on the left, melktert on the right
M's favorite dish all night was probably the chicken sosatie. A's was also the chicken sosatie, but the lamb entree was a very close second. It was a good meal for our first South African adventure, and it was a great way to kick off our World Cup eating extravaganza. There are so many other things we want to try so we will definitely be back!

Braai is located on 51st Street between 8th and 9th Avenues.