Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Mexican food!!!

August 7, 2009

So last night, the group of eight of us in my village made the best tubab (foreigner) meal in the history of the world. Ever. We made Mexican food, and it tasted like real, legit Mexican food! Epic success of the century. So this is going to be a lot of detail, but this was such an accomplishment that I need to capture it. Everyone can either just ignore this or be amazed at our wonderfulness.

So the goal was to make burritos. We started cooking the meal at 11am. First, we seared the goat meat (cow wasn't available), and then we braised it for the next 5 or 6 hours in a mixture of water, tomatoes, tomato paste, cucumbers, garlic, onions, limes, maggi seasoning, salt and pepper, and one scotch bonnet hot pepper. While the meat was slowly cooking, we sorted and cleaned the beans and rice (technically class was happening during this time period. Obviously we learned a lot - haha). We cooked the beans with onion and garlic, and then made legit Mexican rice using tomato paste and some seasoning.

Now, for the best part: the pseudo-salsa. And I'm not just saying that because it's what I helped with. We mashed tomatoes, cucumbers, and red onions together with a little bit of lime juice, sugar, salt and pepper, and garlic. Then, we added the only avocado we could find in the entire market. It was so delicious. Words cannot describe the fabulousness of fresh veggies in salsa form.

Next, we made tortillas from scratch using flour, water, and a teensy bit of oil. We made them as we needed them, so they were fresh and warm when we were eating. And voila! the final product...a burrito made with a fresh tortilla, fabulously seasoned goat meat (it tasted like pulled pork), rice and beans, fresh lettuce, hot peppers, our salsa concoction, and lime juice! Wonderful.

I haven't been away from the States long enough to forget that most of you reading this have access to burritos almost 24/7, and thus might not understand the pure joy garnered from this meal. So just imagine that you've gone without your absolute favorite food for four weeks, and are at the point where you're having vivid dreams about it - a side effect of the antimalarial prophylaxis. Then, you have the opportunity to make it, but things rarely if ever go as planned here. So you have incredibly low expecations but are still secretly harboring a hope that you will succeed...and then you succeed in such an epic way that it's beyond amazing! Gassi sanne! (very good) What a great night, with such great friends. I haven't laughed so much in a long time. Fabulous. :)

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Mexican?? you learn something jaja..
the description of the salsa doesnt sound like it... because of the cucumbers..but the rice & tortillas sounds FABULOUS.. jaja.
besides that Im happy that you tried..
Also im very happy and exicited.. about your time over there.. im sure will be unforgettable..
send you a kiss an hug..
miss & love u..
la mexicana..

Jenny's mom! said...

You're making my mouth water!!