A Life Far Removed from Durian Trees

One of the fun things about living in a new country is discovering what's in the supermarkets. And when you live in places where the electricity is iffy (so you try not to leave food in the freezer before going on holiday) and the stocks in the shops are unreliable, canned foods are very convenient. No freezing necessary. Keeps for years. And you can buy stuff for a special dish while waiting for the other ingredients to show up on the shelves. In more recent years, it's been amazing to see the kinds of things that are canned. In Angola, a lot of the canned foods are produced in South Africa. Not only were there exotic African foods, but also, for the most part, South African products are halal. In Yemen, I get the impression most of the tinned products come from Saudi Arabia and the UAE. You can find Middle Eastern foods such as grape vine leaves, tabbouleh , hummus , pulses , etc. (A word of warning: canned hummus blows!) But I think the most "bizarre" stuff can be...

I'm one of those people who (i) are very sensitive to caffeine and (ii) become tired (instead of energised) after breaking the fast. So now at iftar I make a cup of tea... and I think now I can make decent Yemeni tea. For two people, use the tea leaves from two teabags and boil 2.5 cups of water. Since we are a Splenda household, I don't boil the water with sugar first, just with the tea leaves and the Secret Spices... After the tea has become dark and has a nice spicy aroma, turn down the stove and let the tea cool down to a slow simmer. Add the evaporated milk (depends how milky you like it) and turn off stove. Add Splenda at the end. Does the trick!

My first thought before starting this entry: myblogissomundane! Every lesson, during my teacher's five-minute break, I look forward to a sweet cup of milky Yemeni spiced tea... The secret blend can only be found in Yemen... Recipe: 1. Boil water with sugar. 2. When water starts to boil, add Al-Kabous tea leaves (Yemeni black tea, or any strong black tea) and a quarter teaspoon of the magic powder, and boil for five minutes. 3. Add evaporated milk and turn off stove immediately. Getting the ratio of tea leaves/water/milk will require trial and error!

My first ever attempt at karipap (curry puffs) - my favourite afternoon snack. Using Mum's recipe for the filling and a "low fat" pastry puff that I found in Shumaila Hari supermarket. Oven-baked, as opposed to fried. Not bad!