Cooking in Impfondo- 2

This is a series with recipes and cooking tips for our town.  It will give you a picture of a little slice of our life here, and who knows, maybe a few ideas!  See Part 1 here- Cooking in Impfondo

Caleb mixing bread dough

Bread

3 cups water, room temperature

1 Tablespoon yeast

3 Tablespoons sugar

3 Tablespoons oil

1 Tablespoon salt

9-10 cups flour, sifted to remove bugs

Mix ingredients in order, beginning with the yeast.  Add flour a little at a time, until desired consistancy.  Knead 6-7 minutes.  Let rise 30 minutes or until doubled in size.  Place in pans, allow to rise 30 minutes or until doubled in size.  Bake 20-30 minutes at 350 degrees.

That’s the basic recipe, but don’t stop there.  I use the same recipe to bake many things:

Rolls of different shapes and sizes

Monkey bread

Bread sticks

Cinnamon bread

Cinnamon rolls (for a twist, use honey in place of sugar)

Herb rolls (add some margarine or laughing cow and spices of your choice to the dough before placing in pans)

Stuffed bread- add a sloppy joe type mixture inside the bread dough

Pizza crust

Resurrection rolls (place a marshmallow inside each roll)

And if you want to fry it instead of baking it or only have a kerosene burner to cook:

Doughnuts (glaze with sugar water)

Fry bread (fry flat round discs of about 6-8 inches in diameter)

Fry rolls (great for sloppy joe sandwiches)

You can use just about any addition to the bread that you want to try.  I’ve used honey and poppy seeds as a filling, or Jempy and jelly.

Tip #2 for cooking in Impfondo:

Have a basic recipe that can be adapted depending on what is available.  Another example of this would be beans and rice.

Start by sautéing onions, garlic, and spices in a pan.

Add meat if desired.

Add cooked beans of choice.

When heated through add any of the following:

-tomato sauce

-tomato paste

-canned mixed vegetables

-corn

-cooked squash

-mushrooms

Serve with cooked rice.

The sky (and availability of ingredients) is the limit with beans and rice.  You can add raw cabbage, okra, and eggplant with the onions and garlic.  You can change the flavor by changing the spices or type of beans or meat.  Serve plain or with guacamole, yogurt, and fresh tomatoes.  Kick up the spice with some peppers.  Substitute tortillas for the rice. Have fun experimenting!