Cameroon

I wanted so much to like this dish. But, I couldn't deny the little voice inside my head that said "Wow, this is going to be fishy" after I bought dried ground crawfish. Seriously, do you realize how many crawfish it would take to fill a cup of ground crawfish powder? I say at least 30--that's a lot of crawfish.

The national dish of Cameroon is Ndole which is apparently incredibly popular and supposedly delicious. It "flies off the plates" one article told me. Unfortunately, it was way too fishy for my American palate and even my very adventurous husband declared it was "hardly edible." My dinner guests were kinder and even finished their servings with grace and politeness. The toddler shriveled her nose and boycotted dinner. However, it was universally agreed that without the egregious ingredient (ground crawfish) the dish would have actually been quite tasty.

I loosely followed this recipe from africanbites.com. 

Ndole

 

Ingredients

• 8 oz (1 cup) Groundnuts/Peanuts(Skinless and unsalted)
• ½ pound shrimp
• ½ pound Beef
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 large Onion
• ¾ cup ground Crayfish
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1 lb Spinach (chopped)
• oil
• Pepper
• Salt

Instructions

1. In a large pan season meat with salt, boil with chicken stock until tender depending on the choice of meat.
2. Boil peanuts for about 10 minutes in a sauce pan. Let it cool and blend/pulse with onion and garlic in a food processor or blender into a fine consistency use water to facilitate the blending
3. Saute the peanut mixture for 10 minutes, adding oil if the mixture begins to burn or stick to the pan. Add to the mixture of beef.
4. Pour in the crayfish and let it simmer for 10 minutes stirring frequently to prevent burns. Season with salt pepper. You might have to add more chicken stock. 
5. Add the spinach to the pot. Stir and simmer for several minutes more.
6. While the pot of ndole is simmering, heat oil in a fry pan or, preferably a cast iron. Add the shrimp, stirring constantly until they just turn pink.
7. Top spinach mixture with sauteed shrimp and serve hot with boiled sweet plantains. 

Heidi's Rating: 1 out of 10. I couldn't finish my meal.
Husband's Rating: 2 out of 10.
Toddler M's rating: 2 out of 10. (She ate all her sauteed shrimp) 
LeGrand's rating: 4 out of 10.
Dean's rating: 6 out of 10.

This recipe will NOT be repeated in my house.