Africa

Last week I had several days devoted to African countries. Angola, Mali, and Uganda. 

Current events:

There are a lot of things going on in Africa.  The west is trying to cut humanitarian aid to Uganda. In the meantime, the U.S. is continuing travel warnings to Mali on the bases of  Jihadist style terrorism coming out of that region. 

Movie:

One of the movies that I watched was “Blood Diamond”. This movie how the diamond industry breads inhumane treatment in African countries. The main message is about how we need to be careful when we buy diamonds to ensure that our purchase does not negatively affect those living an ocean away.

The movie takes place in Sierra Leon. Far North of Angola. However, Angola has had its own struggles with the diamond trade, which highlights death, harsh conditions and civil war.

Food:

I made a dish called Chicken Muamba. This dish actually comes from the Congo, but similar dishes are made across Africa. I ate this with something called Fufu.  Fufu is a paste made of semolina, wheat flower, or potatoes, with a 2:1 flower to water ratio. I asked a friend from Nigeria what the difference was between grits and Fufu. He described it as dough that is the consistency between that of cream of wheat and mashed potatoes. Fufu is eaten with soupy dishes. You break off a piece of Fufu and dip it into your stews.  The chicken Muamba was a simple dish.

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken (cut into pieces)

1 cup peanut butter

1 chopped onion

1 cup garlic pasta sauce.

Water

Salt to taste

Directions:

1)      Boil chicken in a pot of water.

2)      In a separate pan, sauté onions

3)      Once chicken is cooked, remove half the water.

4)      Add onions, peanut butter, and pasta sauce.

5)      Salt to taste.

 

My Fufu did not turn out as well as the fufu in the video, but this was what I used as my instructional video.

Work Cited:

Allen, Michael. “The ‘Blood Diamond’ Resurfaces.” http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748704198004575311282588959188

Aid Cut to Uganda: EU envoy to prevail on partners. Website: http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/654063-aid-cut-to-uganda-eu-envoy-to-prevail-on-partners.html . Published: March 31, 2014. Retrieved: March 31, 2014

"Fufu Recipe: How to make Semolina Fufu". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wD4ERyhQPhU. Published: October 2011. Retrieved: March 31, 2014.

Nossiter, Adam. “Leading Militant Killed in Mali, Military Officials Say”. Webiste: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/mali/. March 14, 2014. Retrieved: March 31, 2014.

Zwick, Edward, “Blood Diamond”. 2006