Dear LPG readers,

In my efforts to pay a little homage to a country celebrating its 65th year of becoming an autonomous republic, I homed in on a straightforward recipe which I thought I could not get too wrong. 

By now, anyone following my LPG cooking story will know that, after a couple of years of trying to produce an authentic tasting independent recipe or two, my search for perfection is still one of the most elusive aspects of my work.  At the beginning of every search for what to cook for my next monthly attempt, the first thing I look for in a recipe is something I can at least get looking right. Although I am not the world’s most accomplished cook, after the number of attempts I have made to cook national dishes, I still am good at producing the ‘almost authentic’ version rather than the definitive one.

But back to the Congo. We all know what to do with a couple of chicken drumsticks, or so I thought when I first decided on their celebrated ‘Moambe Chicken’ dish. After searching for the only ingredient I did not immediately recognise, I discovered that bouillon powder is an ingredient I already have at home. I went to my local niche ingredient shop to be offered a box of what I have been using as gravy mix forever without ever having read the small print on the carton. 

After that revelation, I was doing all right until I got to the bit where I needed to add the tomato sauce and realised that I had assumed that tomato ketchup and tomato sauce were the same.  I was already in the middle of the cook at that point so I found a recipe and made my own with Alexa’s help, only to find that while that was not too long a process, the result tasted the same as that in the bottle I bought.  The difference is the amount of sugar you are supposed to add, but perhaps I got that bit wrong.   

Everything else was straightforward enough, although we overdid our portions with only one taste tester available on the day.  I liked it, and she liked it. But we were both left wondering if the taste of my rendition would have been vaguely recognisable to a native of that country…  

When looking for a dish of international renown to cook in December, I decided on something sweet.  Libya became independent as close as you can get to our Christmas holiday without choosing the actual day, so I thought something fried, sweet, and not to be eaten too often by all of us older people who want to stay healthy might fit the bill.   I have read that their sweet treat of Diblah is easy to get tasting just right, although the look of the dish might present a few problems.  I will let you know…  

CB, Lewisham

CB previews her plans for next month…

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