C is for Cameroon

The Republic of Cameroon (French: République du Cameroun) is a unitary republic of central and western Africa. It’s bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon’s coastline lies on the Bight of Bonny, part of the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean.

Fun Facts:

- The country is called “Africa in miniature” for its geological and cultural diversity.
-Portuguese sailors reached the Cameroon coast in 1472. They noted an abundance of prawns and crayfish in the Wouri River and named it Rio dos Camarões, Portuguese for “River of Prawns”, and the phrase from which Cameroon is derived.

RECIPE: Fish Stew with Rice

2 slices Onion
5 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons tomato concentrate (I used tomato paste, seemed to work fine)
2 lb. fish, boned and cut in large pieces (just got fish filets)
1 & 1/2 pints water
2 teaspoons salt
2 carrots, sliced
1/2 lb. cabbage, shredded
2 small sweet potatoes, cut in 1-inch cubes
1/4 lb. okra (1/2 packet frozen okra)
1 lb. cooked rice

Cook Onion in hot oil until tender but not brown
Add tomato concentrate and fish. Cover and cook over low heat for 1/2 hour.
Add water, salt and vegetables to fish mixture; cook gently for 1 hour.
Place a portion of rice in the centre of a plate and ladle stew over rice.

k.. the idea was a good one. Something unusual with ingredients that were pretty easy to come by. Overall prep was quite easy, cook time was an hour and a half but nothing too laborious overall. I have to say though that I was dissapointed, this is one recipe that MUST be eaten hot and right away, if you’re planning on leftovers I would suggest a different recipe and, if you are cooking for picky eaters maybe leave out the okra, if you haven’t cooked okra before just keep in mind that once it’s cooked it has a “strange”consistency, for lack of a better word, it’s a little slimy.

Not sure if I did something wrong or if this is the way the stew was supposed to be the day after but the consistency was not the best. I used whole grain rice, as always, and followed the recipe to the letter. It didn’t specify the type of fish required so I used cod filets. If someone else has cooked a Cameroon fish stew and had it turn out delicious please let me know if you used a secret ingredient that I may have missed? Basically the ingredients called for in the recipe were: Onion, tomato concentrate (I used tomato paste), 2lbs fish, water, salt, carrots, cabbage, sweet potatoes, okra (1/4 lb. fresh, 1/2 pkg frozen) and 1 lb. cooked rice.  The stew was pretty good the first day but if you’re planning to freeze or save for leftovers then I wouldn’t recommend it.

Also, and this is quite important. The smell lingered for a couple of days. It was a not too pleasant fishy smell. Again, this could be because of the type of fish I used or maybe something I may have done wrong… Although I’d like to think that it was the fish since I haven’t EVER screwed up a recipe

***UPDATE!***
I hate to throw out food so I tried to change this up a bit. After reheating  each serving I added sour cream and a bit of salt. It changed both the taste and the consistency enough to make it good. I wouldn’t call it scrumptious but it was edible and I was able to save it from going in the garburator!