So Just Poulet The Trigger

NATIONAL DISH OF GUINEA - Poulet Yassa

You may remember it was Mark George's birthday dinner a few months ago, but tonight it is the birthday dinner of the other half of that Moleface couple. Some would say the more glamourous of the two. Others would not based on Mark Geroge's geek chic. (I LOVE his Plaid-apus and Hypota-moose shirts!) This is the first of 3 Moleface birthdays in April, so The GGJ kitchen will be extra busy this month!

Carli, a graphic designer by trade, works for a gardening/media company where she puts in some crazy work hours. A hard worker from way back, I first met Carli in 2005 whilst we were working in a take away shop over the summer, at a resort in our home town. We bonded over our love for tacky 90's music, and shared a similar warped sense of humour. After the summer we returned to our respective universities and lost contact. That was until a few years later Carli moved to Melbourne. We picked up the friendship where we left it, and have had non-stop laughs since.

With a penchant for polka dotted dresses and headbands with bows, Carli embodies the elegant style of a refined lady. But get some drinks into her and the true Moleface comes out, and so does her alter-ego Rachel. Rachel on the other hand, has a penchant for using pashminas as courting weapons and has an extensive, albeit drunken, vocabulary ("I JOVE YOU!")

And as much as I love Carli for all that she is by herself, without her I would not have been introduced to the other Molefaces. So for one of the greatest gifts I have been given in my life, I felt that the least I could do would be to put some effort into her birthday dinner to commemorate our origin of friendship. And what better way to do that than to cook something from the continent of origin for humanity.

Poulet Yassa is a spicy marinated chicken dish prepared with onions and lemons, and served on a bed of rice. It can be found throughout Western Africa, and is a specialty in the Casamance region of Senegal (which borders Guinea, The Gambia and Guinea-Bissau). We of course will be making the Guinean version in The GGJ kitchen this evening.


Enjoy, or as they say in Guinea, Bon appétit! 



Recipe for the African variation on Lemon Chicken: http://www.friendsofguinea.org/aboutguinea/recipes.shtml#yassa

Difficulty:         5

Appearance:   4

Taste:              4 

TOTAL:           13

I love me a good recipe that basically consists of marinating meat, and then cooking it slowly until it falls off the bone. Well this recipe ticks both those boxes, thereby making the difficulty quotient quite low.

I have a slight aversion to Lemon Chicken of the Asian variety. It's too syrupy and lemony, so not a fan. So was a little apprehensive when I saw what this dish had entailed. But with a wonderfully fragrant kitchen and an open mind, we sat down for Moleface Carli's birthday dinner to sample the wares that Guinea had to offer. The chicken was wonderfully tender, it just slid off the bone. And the few seasonings that were added to the marinade certainly permeated the chicken. Although my fears were partially realised. I thought lemon did overpower the dish slightly, but the other diners respectfully disagreed. I think they were saying that out of politeness though, cause there was a lot of lemon. Next time I would reduce the amount of lemon juice and add a little African heat to the dish with some Piri-piri chillies. I also served up some Jus de Tamarin as a beverage, but the tart taste of the Tamarind didn't go down as nicely as the Honduran Horchata.

We topped the night off with a marvelous (if I do say so myself) Chocolate Cherry Cake for the birthday girl, which was pretty much a Black Forest cake. Now I am repulsed by cherries (in fact most stone fruits excluding juicy mangoes), but bizarroly Black Forest cake is one of my absolute faves based on the cherries and kirsch. And of course the chocolate! So Bon Anniversaire Lady Carli, I hope this African feast made you feel at home!