Muamba de Galinha + Funge (Angola)

J: Yay, more countries!  So, the title of this post translates to “Chicken Muamba” — don’t ask me what muamba means, but it’s probably the only truthful part of that name, because we once again decided that we would go for an approximation of authenticity instead of the real thing.  Our substitution this time?  Potatoes for the chicken, which is a fairly classic vegetarian work-around when you are not interested in consuming meat.  It was pretty effective in this dish, which is a staple in Angola (or so Wikipedia tells me).  Overall, I don’t think this will go into our regular rotation the way some of these other United Noshes dishes will, but it definitely had a pleasant, warming, stick-to-your-ribs-ness that was quite enjoyable!

Slow Cooker Gumbo

E: We figured it was time that Nombudsman did a gumbo, so here it is. I know very little about gumbo, and so I do not expect this is the best recipe out there. (If you have a favorite recipe, please let us know!) However it passed our test, so with some adjustment of the spices to your liking it should at least be good, on the road to fantastic. It also makes a lot if you follow the amounts shown here. I mean a lot. We got 3-4 dinners for two out of the total amount, plus there is still a little in the freezer.

The overall process is quite easy, in part because of the slow cooker. I think the gumbo would have had deeper, more developed flavors if we had cooked the onions, peppers and celery in some oil first, and gotten some nice color on them. But then it wouldn’t have been such a hands-off process.

I should note that we didn’t use any seafood or seafood stock in this, so it would be good for people who don’t like those things. The only meat we added was a couple chicken andouille sausages, which honestly were a) an unknown, impulse purchase, b) not the best as they were pre-cooked and a bit rubbery and therefore c) were not a big component of the dish’s flavor. On the plus side, that means you could do this as a vegetarian recipe without any loss at all. And if you are going to use andouille, for goodness’ sake don’t make our mistake, and get some better sausages.