Location: East Africa
Population: 11.5 million
Capital: Juba
Geography: A tropical nation of wetland, grassland, and forest
Language: English (official) and many recognized regional languages
Signature flavours: Sesame, sorghum, legumes, root vegetables, goat, chicken

The Menu

South Sudan is the newest country in the world, at just 12 years old. It’s no wonder, then, that recipes, cookbooks, and food blogs with a South Sudanese focus are few and far between. I happened across a blog called Taste of South Sudan, and from there built my entire menu. There was just one problem — while the blog boasted beautiful pictures and dish descriptions, it didn’t always include recipes. For both rijla and basico, I used the writer’s descriptions and photographs to create a recipe.

Kisra: A crepe-like flatbread made from fermented sorghum flour and cooked on just one side.

Prep and cooking time: 24 hours (including fermentation time)
Difficulty: 3/5

Rijla: A stew made with purslane, red lentils, ground beef (soy beef in my dish), and tomato.

Prep and cooking time: 45 min
Difficulty: 2/5

Basico: Ground sesame and pumpkin seeds with smoked fish and collard greens.

Prep and cooking time: 35 min
Difficulty: 2/5

Tamiya: The South Sudanese take on falafel — chickpea paste with onion, dill, and hot pepper, rolled into balls and fried until golden brown.

Prep and cooking time: 40 min
Difficulty: 3/5

The Shopping List

The purslane came from my very own garden. In Canada, it’s a weed that gardeners wage war upon, but it comes up from time to time in recipes, usually in Middle Eastern and North African cooking, so we finally planted some this year. It has small succulent leaves with a mildly acidic flavour.

It was hard to determine what kind of smoked fish to choose for the basico. Where I live in Ontario, smoked trout is the easiest to find, and since it’s a freshwater fish, like the river fish that would be served in South Sudan, I went with that, sourced from a seafood store that specializes in Caribbean and African ingredients.

Everything else I needed came from my local supermarket and bulk store.

The Meal

South Sudan’s cuisine, which decidedly its own thing, has been influenced by Egypt (of which it was once a part) and Ethiopia, its neighbour to the east. The result is a widely varied menu with all kinds of flavours.

Like pita in Egypt and injera in Ethiopia, kisra is used to scoop stews, salads, and meats. I thought the thin crepes would be hard to make, but the recipe was excellent, and the finished product turned out great. I served the kisra with a hearty, flavourful stew called rijla, which was so good and put me in mind of Ethiopian wat.

The basico was, first and foremost, a fishy dish. With a bit of earthiness from the seeds and greens, and a lot of smokiness from the trout, it was a very umami experience. Eric, not usually one for smoked fish, absolutely loved it.

The tamiya gave me the most trouble of any of the dishes. At first I made the balls too big and the outside cooked too fast, leaving the inside underdone and sticky. After the first batch, I cut each ball into two and the resulting second batch was cooked perfectly. I especially liked the tamiya dunked into the stew.

At the time of writing this post, it’s been a couple of weeks since our South Sudanese feast, and we both still frequently reminisce over it.

Links

Kisra

https://tasteofsouthsudan.com/recipes/vegetarian/tamiya-falafel-sudanese-recipe/
https://tasteofsouthsudan.com/recipes/everyday-meals/basico-sesame-greens-and-smoked-meat-recipe/
https://tasteofsouthsudan.com/recipes/everyday-meals/rijla-purslane-red-lentils-stew/

Disclaimer: I’m not a professional chef. I’m just a passionate cook with a curiosity for flavours I’ve never tried. For great recipes from gifted local cooks, follow the links above.

Featured image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/75885098@N05/26688685194