Delights Of Cameroon Cooking

The Tamdeuh Beuh is a very traditional Bamiléké (West Cameroon, West Africa) dish. Cooking it to welcome someone who has announced their arrival will betray the extent of the love of the host towards the incoming guest. Tamdeuh Beuh simply means yam stew.

This is my signature Cameroonian dish. The senses are awakened as the eater tries to guess what has just been chewed on. It is my way of introducing few ingredients to my western born friends. The dish contains sweet potatoes that surprises against the almost taste free yam. The eater also chews on lamb while detecting the taste shell fish… It is a dish full of surprises. My friends have often requested the recipe of this dish and have attempted to create their own version of it for their family.

Cameroon is a very agricultural country and root vegetables form a big part of what is cooked daily. So it is no surprise that even growing up in Europe, Cameroonians crave food “from back home” and try in turn to give their friends the opportunity to enjoy and recreate those beautify creations. Growing up in France, there was a particular place in Paris called Chateau Rouge were we used to go get the ingredients for our Cameroonian meals believe it or not from Chinese importers.

You had to intentionally go there as it was more than 10 tube stops away from home. On days when those meals were cooked everyone got involved and had a little part to play. It took time to cook, but seating down and enjoying them together was the reward.

During the week everyone was busy working shifts, parents, brothers, sisters,  uncles or people we knew had cleaning jobs, worked in call centers, were studying hard and no one had time during the week to invest in “strong” food. The quiches, the poêlées and risottos took less time to cook and that’s what was eaten during the week as we are busy running in and out of our houses living the European life.

At Cameroonian parties or family gatherings everyone would commit to cook a dish from “back home”. Beans in garlic and ginger or fried corn & ripe banana dumplings were almost always guaranteed to be there somewhere…  even the most recalcitrant cousins always made it to the party despite the fact that uncle so and so would get on their case about them answering back to their parents.

Those parties meant that aunty J. might bring that dish that is never cooked in your own house, but that you love… Aunty J. knew that and would cook it to bribe you with to babysit for a whole weekend. While she went away to help out at yet another Cameroonian wedding, in the East of France or other location. Today when my nephews & nieces come to visit me in the UK, I cook for them, my own aunty H’s version with added super strength. I am fortunate that in South London, most Indian or Turkish shops sell almost all the ingredients I need.

So, it is not really challenge to be creative with the food.

Looking at the health values of the Tamdeuh Beuh, I would say that most African ingredients are packed full of nutrients.

One of the best descriptions I’ve found about the yam was as follows: Yams are a good source of vitamin C as they provide good amounts of fiber, potassium, manganese, and metabolic B vitamins.

As for the yellow sweet potato, they are from the same family as the orange sweet potato.  The flesh of this one is cream and firmer, it skin, light brown but the nutritional values are almost the same bar the beta carotene of the red sweet potato. They are also less sweet in taste.

The contribution of the Supermalt in this dish is not to be ignored as it contains Vitamin B, C, calcium and Iron.

 Looking at what leeks brings to the party. A good Cameroonian cook will never cook more than 5 dishes without leek or thyme. No wonder; leeks are an excellent source of Vitamin K, Iron, calcium and even Omega 3… The list is even longer.

If I had the PR machine, I’d declare this dish a Superfoods explosion…

There you have it.

Now let me share my recipe with you all…

Serves 6

 Prep: 30 minutes

Cooking Time: 1 hour 40 minutes

 Quantity                                       Ingredients

1,5kg                                                    Lamb neck

1kg                                                       Yam

500g                                                    Sweet potato

150g                                                    Onion

15g                                                      Garlic

500ml                                                Supermalt drink

100g                                                   Leek

4                                                          Medium tomatoes

25g                                                     Curly parsley

20g                                                     Dry ground Crayfish, Sea salt, Ground pepper, Thyme, Chilli flakes, Vegetable oil

Method

1. Remove some of the fat around the meat, wash and place in a bowl.
2. Chop half the onion and add to the lamb then season with sea salt, ground pepper and leaves from the thyme. Toss to combine. Set aside.
3. Peel the yam and sweet potato. Cut the yam in 2cm x 2cm squares and cut the sweet potato differently. Wash and put in a water bath to void them darkening.
4. In the food processor, add the peeled garlic, washed tomato, leftover onion, washed leek and washed curly parsley. Blend until almost smooth. Set aside.
5. In a large pan, heat 60 ml vegetable oil and seal the meat cuts for 2 minutes on each side before adding the liquid from the seasoning in the pan and cover for 30 minutes. The aim is that by the time the dish is ready, the meat will be falling off the bone without too much effort.
6. So cover the pan for 30 minutes. The meat will stew in its own juices before the pan dries out again. At that stage, add to the meat the blended condiments, stir and cover the pan to simmer this time for 20 minutes. This way the meat will absorb the flavours brought in by the condiments. Allow the liquid from the condiments to dry before adding in the yam, 1 teaspoon chilli flakes and 500 ml Supermalt. Stir and cover for 20 minutes. After that, stir in the sweet potato and crayfish.
7. Stir, taste or adjust seasoning before covering for a further 20 minutes.

By this time the meat should be easily detachable form the bones, the yam should be firm, but still soft as should the sweet potato which takes less time to cook through.  You might have to add water in the pan is if the liquid evaporates too quickly…

Serve hot and enjoy…

 

This recipe and many other exciting dishes from around the world can be found in the cook book “Recipes That Make You Go Mmm…” If you’d like to pick up your copy – Please Click Here

The front cover of Recipes That Make You Go Mmm… Has been designed by Marnie Higgs – “The Female Cornucopia” (www.marniehiggs.com)