Join twowildtides on the country challenge. Each week, we’re going to be heading to a new country (in spirit). Primarily, we’ll be cooking a meal from each country; but we’ll also be watching travel documentaries, reading travel blogs, and listening to music. During the global pandemic, travel is largely inaccessible. We want to reignite our wanderlust, satisfy our travel bug as much as we can, and learn some new things along the way. I have a feeling our bucket list will have a number of items added to it through this experience as well. We created a simple alphabetical spreadsheet with all the countries of the world, and each week we will draw a random number that corresponds with a country on the spreadsheet.
On the west coast of Africa is a country you’ve probably never heard of (and neither had I): Guinea-Bissau. That’s the country our taste buds visited this week, and boy, were they in for a surprise. I had no prior knowledge of this country and really enjoyed the following article by a scientist who lived there for seven months. It explains the reasons one should visit this country, including beautiful beaches and unspoiled natural environments.
This country has made lists featuring the least-known countries on earth. That could be why there was such little information out there about its cuisine. I decided to opt for the national dish, Yassa Chicken (or Poulet Yassa) and followed this recipe:
I started the day before by marinating the chicken. This required squeezing 6 lemons, and when you don’t have a juicer, you have to do it by hand. Once this was done, I let it marinate overnight.
The next day I made the main dish. This involves caramelizing a pile of onions and creating a thick sauce out of the onions, marinade, and water. I cooked the chicken and added that to the Yassa sauce as well. Served atop white rice, this meal smelled and looked delicious.
I listened to this playlist while I cooked:
I anticipated a strong lemon flavour, but I was not prepared for this. It was so sour. Far too tangy and acidic to be enjoyable. Unfortunately, we couldn’t even finish our bowls. About half the amount of lemon juice in the marinade would have been plenty. The chicken on its own was somewhat tasty, so we reserved it (we also didn’t want to see it go to waste) and will try it in a salad.
Here’s to hoping next week will be better! Cheers!
Let us know what you think!