it's all about me. tags. and mememe.

tag, the recipe

i am not a good cook at all. i have a bit of imagination and maybe that is the problem because somehow my imagination works differently to the real thing when it comes to cooking. it never turns out how it ought to. and quite frankly, i don't like cooking much. fortunately i also have absolutely no ego at all when it comes to the kitchen. there are about five dishes i can make that usually turn out really well. i thought it would be wonderful to share something as pleasant as a recipe with each other on wattpad so i will be tagging a few names (also ones i wouldn't normally tag because i know they aren't fond of tags, but is this perhaps different? i don't know... let's see how it goes. if you don't want to take up the tag, it's quite okay. you could pm it to me if you'd rather do that and you can tag as many people as you like) for a recipe that i hope they will enjoy sharing. any favourite recipe will do. maybe you could add a tip for it, something that you can share from your experience with your specific dish. simpler is better, i guess. and one with ingredients that are easy to find. i wanted to limit the number of ingredients to four (like mine has), but that may make it difficult and i do not want to put people off this tag. next i thought to say it must contain garlic, but strange as one may find this, there are people who do not like garlic. (mmm...) please feel free to add an anecdote or anything interesting regarding your dish; this will add a fun touch to the tag. once some of the recipes have perhaps been tried out, one can go to that page and comment on how we experienced the dish. i hope this will be fun, i'm not even sure there has not been a tag like this already. here goes mine.

in africa there is a lot of outdoor cooking. we have the weather for it throughout the entire year and our evenings can be especially suitable. barbecuing is probably one of our most popular informal ways of socializing. we love it and will plan it for weeks or decide to barbecue in a minute, throw everything in a car and drive into the veld for a pleasant afternoon barbecue. also, i cannot imagine a house on this continent that doesn't have a barbecue. and if it doesn't, we just make a suitable fire anywhere on the ground where it is safe. this side dish has been a huge hit with meat, fish or chicken prepared on the coals and vegetarians adore it on its own. it was passed on to me by a visitor from south africa who prepared it for us once while on vacation.

garlic potatoes on the coals (side dish for barbecue)

ingredients:

2 kg potatoes (for a bunch of people)

500 ml fresh cream

2 or 3 or more huge heads (not cloves) of fresh garlic

salt to taste (maybe a sprinkle of ground black pepper - i prefer not)

method:

boil the potatoes to just cooked (you don't want mash), peel and dice into large cubes. put this into a pot that can go on the fire or coals

peel all the garlic and chop it up. it need not be finely chopped or anything, as garlic cooks to such a soft texture, it just melts into the potatoes and one's mouth

put the chopped fresh garlic and salt into the fresh cream and stir or shake or both. the longer this mixture can stand, the better. pour it onto the diced potatoes

put your fire proof pot on some hot coals on the side of the barbecue for about 45 minutes before the rest of the barbecue is served. it would do well to simmer softly and it is important that the potatoes get that woodsmoke taste of the fire. stir by lifting with a big spoon but try not to mash. this dish is especially tasty if the contents have fried at the bottom but be careful the cream does not turn into buttery oil with too much and harsh cooking

my tips for this dish:

1. fresh ingredients. (not canned, frozen, oiled, dried or a paste)

2. its simplicity is its secret. (i have added bacon or cheese or onions or all of these plus some other items and it just is not as tasty as when it contains only the basic ingredients)

3. also, it must go on the coals of a fire made with wood (charcoal bricks or the stove will not give the same result)