Toukasso
Ingredients1:
1/2 cup dried onion flakes or 1/4 cup onion powder
2 tsp cumin (whole) or 1 tsp cumin powder
2 tsp anise (whole) or 1 tsp powder
2 medium cinnamon sticks or 1 tsp powder
1 heaping tsp pepper corns or 1/2 tsp powder
2 tsp powdered tomato
3 bay leaves
1 tsp salt
6 pitted dates (not too dry)
1 small tin tomato paste
3 medium onions or 6 small
marey2
kaabay3
2 lbs meat4
6 cups flour
2 cups warm water
1 Tbs bread yeast
The
bread
Start by sweetening your water with a little bit of sugar,
honey, molasses, a date dissolved in it would do equally
well.
Sprinkle the yeast over the surface of the water. It should
be warm but not hot. Let the yeast sink and then bubble up
to the surface on its own. Add flour and a dash of salt,
stirring to a uniform constancy. When it is a moderately
stiff dough cover with a cloth and leave in warm place to
rise. When it has risen punch down and kneed, let rise
again.
While the dough is rising begin the sauce. I would
recommend having all the ingredients more or less ready to
go into the pot before you start cooking.
The sauce
To pre-prepare spices pound or grind the
salt5, dried onions, cumin, anise,
pepper, hot pepper, marey kaabay and cinnamon to a powder.
Sift together into a bowl. If you are using powdered spices
skip this step and measure the desired quantities of each
into a bowl.
Wash and cut meat into chunks between 2 and 2 1/2 inches
square it is fine if there are bones.
Put a large sauce pan on heat when the pan starts getting
hot add Oil. Let the oil heat so that it makes crackling
noises when the meat is added. Add rinsed meat to hot oil
don’t worry about excess water it will be needed. Let meat
brown a bit on outside. Is this searing?
While meat is browning add Tomato paste to bowl of spices
mix together and add water to pour-able consistency.
Add tomato paste mixture to pot. There should be enough
water in this to prevent sticking while it cooks a bit, if
not add more water.
Add bay leaves.
Peal onions rinse and cut up into small chunks or strips
drop in pot6.
Let this mixture simmer until meat is
tender7, adding water as needed to
keep from sticking to bottom of pot.
Remove seeds from dates and rinse (if needed) pound to a
paste or at least a wad of even consistency. If dates are
hard soak in hot water until they soften before pounding.
Add to pot.
Taste to decide if more salt is need If so add now.
Sauce should be liquid but definitely thicker than water at
this point. To thicken sauce, if necessary, you may mix a
couple table spoons of flour or some corn starch in small
amount of water and add to the sauce stirring constantly to
avoid clumps. Let simmer partially uncovered until it
thickens.
Cooking
the bread
In Mali we use a steamer that is shaped like a large bowl
and perferated. This is placed on the top of the pot and
sealed with a strip of damped cloth around the seam between
steamer and pot. If you have such a thing great, larger
holes are better. If not, you can approximate with a metal
pasta stainer or use some other sort of steamer if you have
one.
Punch the dough down and kneed again forming into balls the
size of a tennis ball place these in the streamer don’t
crowd too much they should rise to the size of a soft ball.
cover with the lid of the pot. These will cook slowly by
the vapour rising off the sauce. If you aren’t comfortable
doing it this way put water in a second pot to boil and
steam them over the water.
When the bread is almost done drop the balls in the pot of
sauce letting them finish cooking and absorbing the savour
of the sauce. If you have more bread than will go in the
steamer at once, add the next balls once the first are done
steaming.
Serve pouring the sauce over the
bread balls. Note you may choose not to drop the cooked
bread in the pot of sauce it will probably keep better for
left overs if you don’t, but is less savoury.
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1 all quantities are
approximative and you should taste while you cook to decide
if you want more or less of a thing.
2 A local spice made of the seeds
of a certain plant pounded to a paste and dried. The odour
uncooked is very strong but a little bit is good in sauces,
it is the traditional equivalent of bouillon
3 Another local herb. A sort of
lichen that grows on trees. Like the marey it may be
available in import stores or you may have to do without
(or come to Mali to stock up).
4 meat of any kind is acceptable
goat, sheep, and cow are most common here although I have
done it with chicken and pidgin and fish you could also try
wild game: dear elk antelope. note wild game or elderly
farm animals will require greater cooking time which is in
fact ideal for this dish. Quantity of meat can vary
depending on your tastes.
5 avoid putting too much now as
the sauce becomes more concentrated with cooking you can
always add more at the end.
6 If you don’t like solid bits of
onion pound in mortar and pestle first this will assure
they have dissolved by the time the sauce is done
7 you will be able to tell if
meat is cooked as the oil will have completely separated
and be floating on the thinker layer of sauce