The Redheaded Wanderer: Peanuts, Coffee, and a Feast

Food and rain. The only topics of conversation in my village for the past month. The rains have been habitually late, not boding well for my agrarian-based community. The celebration of Ramadan led to annual fasting during daylight hours (of course this happened on the tail end of the summer solstice) and eating at night. I'd thought that fasting would make food a taboo subject, but quite the contrary. I've never discussed food more. In that spirit, I captured some of the snacks that are a part of my life here and the preparation of an unexpected (for me, at any rate) feast!

Roasted Peanuts

Peanuts are the main crop grown in my region (aptly named the 'Peanut Basin'), so most meals have peanuts incorporated in some way. While I've tired of many of these dishes, roasted peanuts remain a favorite snack. We prepared some in the evening this month, waiting for the sun to go down so we could gobble them up.

Ingredients: peanuts, salt

Boil water over a fire. Add salt.

Add peanuts to boiling salt water. Simmer until cooked.

Remove peanuts from water, allow to cool... preferably on rooftops out of reach of greedy little fingers!

Put sand and cooled peanuts in a pot over the fire. Stir until roasted (difficult as you must stay right above the fire and the poorly-ventilated kitchen doesn't allow smoke to escape, leading to lots of smarting eyes).

Keep stirring!

Remove peanuts with a sifter.

Delicious finished product.

Cafe Touba

Not able to stomach black coffee state-side, this is Senegal's spicier (and sweeter) version of the drink- far more to my liking! My family makes it every morning except during Ramadan, when we make it at night to break fast.

Ingredients: coffee beans, unidentified substance (maybe peppercorns), sugar

Gather the equipment! The Ndiaye ladies are about to make some coffee!

Roast beans over fire, constantly moving them to keep from scorching (this is my favorite smell to wake to in the morning).

Pound roasted beans into powder. (A time-consuming process, which we do EVERY DAY.)

Sift the coffee.

Boil water, put the coffee into the cloth 'filter,' and strain water through it until the pot is full.
*All pouring must be done from at least a foot above the target for 'proper aeration' and style points.

After this step, keep the coffee warm until ready to serve. Add sugar and mix (I missed this stage as I was at the well).

Serve!
*All pouring must be done from at least a foot above the target for 'proper aeration' and style points.

Korite Feast

The end of Ramadan was celebrated by Korite, a day of praying, eating, and fancy clothes. I was the only person who didn't know what a big deal it was going to be. I woke up thinking it was going to be a normal day until I saw we were going to eat chicken. An event obviously worthy of my best Senegalese outfit!

All dressed up to go to the mosque!

Our booty! We went shopping at the one store, buying potatoes, onions, oil, vinegar, garlic, mustard, and spices (aka pure MSG).

The oil is in the yellow bucket and the doomed chickens held by my brother.

Plucking chickens!

Adding oil to cook the chicken, seasoning the chicken, and cutting potatoes. This was one of the few times when both my moms cooked together, usually splitting the meals between them.

Getting more firewood.

No cutting boards, we just dice onions in our hands (I am the only person in my family to cry like a baby when I do this).

We fried the chicken, added water (and then the onions, seasoning, and potatoes) and let simmer for a couple hours, ending with simmering macaroni in the mixture for over an hour as well. A nice change in diet, if a bit mushy.