plate 43: sudan

I haven't done much of Africa, and as the continent with the most countries there's certainly no shortage of choice. I picked its largest country - Sudan - for this week's meal. A land that boasts about 600 tribal communities and 142 languages, with Arabic the major tongue.

Speaking of tongues, one of the most common Sudanese foods is maschi: tomatoes stuffed with a minced beef and rice mixture cooked in a cinnamon and garlic scented sauce. Maschi can also be made with cucumbers - just slice in half lengthways, scoop out the flesh then stuff - or eggplants - peel, remove the tops and dig out the insides.

The tomatoes were a little tricky to cut - but I blame my poor comprehension skills. I interpreted the instruction to "cut a slit in the (very firm) tomatoes, halfway across the centre" three ways: 1. cutting a small shallow cross in the centre top; 2. slicing it from one side of the top halfway down one side of the tomato; and 3: slicing it in half crossways halfway through.

I'm not sure which method is correct, if any, but I decided the last was possibly the way to go. The problem was that they asked for very firm tomatoes, which made scooping out the seeds and flesh a tad difficult. But once I got them out (I think I might make a homemade tomato sauce with the insides) and stuffed the filling inside, they were so cute. They almost looked like little pacmen. See?

The filling was super yum. Lucky there was some left after I'd completed the stuff, because AJ and I couldn't stop spooning it into our mouths. It was a pretty basic mixture - just minced meat with rice, garlic and fresh dill, but it tasted delicious. Also good the day after, microwaved and piled onto toast.

The sauce the tomatoes were cooked in had a little pinch of cinnamon, which lended a lovely sweetish flavour to the overall dish. The tomatoes were still fairly firm, but went well with the rich sauce, made from tomato paste and garlic, and the filling. Served on the side was some asparagus cooked on our new awesome turquoise-coloured grill pan (thanks Lily x) and sweet potato mash made from sweet potatoes pretty much straight from the earth, dug up on a farm in Bundaberg that I visited last week. The mash was made with a not-as-small-as-health-professionals-would-advise knob of butter, a splash of maple syrup and a sprinkle of nutmeg. Of course, that recipe is courtesy of a Canadian - a lovely fella who was working on the farm.

It all made for a plate as colourful as our makeshift tablecloth - a multicoloured beach towel that we draped over our coffee table. We shifted from dining table to coffee table so we could eat Sudanese style. Sources tell me they eat at low tables, sitting on cushions on the floor. It was a wonderful picnicky Saturday night in.