Past Tuesday, after coming home from a full day at the field station, my sister suggested we treat ourselves with some good food and a cosy evening in front of the TV. I asked her want she had in mind (foodwise), and she said: “Oh, can’t you make one of those nice pasta dishes that you make?” I answered: “Ah, you mean you want me to improvise! Of course!”
So - in true manor of Ishtar improvisation and in my quest of learning new tastes from Niger bush, I decided to put together a leafy dish made of gaseya leafs, which I had never tried before (those are the deep green leafs that you see above). To this, I added fresh basil from the veranda, Eden nuts, hanza beans, lots of garlic, some fresh tomatoes, tomato paste and spices.
I mixed it up with some freshly cooked pasta, added some cheese and then enjoyed TV dinner in front of the television with good company. It was a great evening and I must try the gaseya leafs again!
7 users commented in " Luxury cooking with famine food ingredients "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a Trackbacklooks delicious!
Every food dish you show on your blog looks absolutely scrumptious!
All thumbs up! That’s the way I like it too. Fresh, delicious & creative.
@O: I agree! (it was…)
@Pat: Thanks! I discovered the fun this year in taking pictures as I go along. It’s way easier to appreciate the end result when you what’s in there!
@JKE: Thanks! And yes, the key point is never to make the (exact) same dish twice! Well, there wouldn’t be any need to blog about it if it wasn’t different…
[...] Ishtar dish in the making, featuring hanza beans [Boscia [...]
Sorry if these seem like dumb questions, but where do you get the pasta and the cheese? Does basil grow in that climate? What do the locals typically eat there (assuming pasta is not available locally)
Pasta can be bought in most stores in town, but as for the fresh basil, we grow it on our veranda. The local food tradition is to eat a lot of millet, in various forms; either served with milk (for breakfast) or with a sauce where the main ingredient is tasty, green leaves.
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