Djibouti - Maraq Soup and Muufo Bread

Djibouti food is a mixture of dishes from bordering countries. So I've decided to make a Yemeni soup and Somali bread to go with it. The bread seems really interesting as it's made mostly of semolina instead of flour. It's difficult to find a unique food for some of the African countries as their dishes are quite similar or use ingredients I can't get hold of.


Ingredients

For the bread:

2 cups of semolina
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tbls sugar
1 tsp onion powder
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp  yeast
1-1/4 cup lukewarm water
Salt to taste

I got out the garlic zoom to chop up the garlic clove. I really like it, you peel the garlic and put it inside then drive it around your worktop to chop up the clove. It works quite well and chops it up more finely than I could ever be bothered to, hah!

 Put all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and then add the water to make a dough. I put in all the water it suggested then had to add more flour as the dough was way too sticky to knead. Oh yes, also knead the dough for 5 minutes.

 Cover the dough and leave in a warm place to rise. We've got a great place for that in this house near the back door.

 The recipe says to knead it again and rise it again, which I did because I'm a good girl but really I hate this part of making bread. I like to get a recipe done not keep coming back to faff about with it more! The dough rose quite nicely although I forgot to oil the bowl under the dough and it had all stuck to it and then my hands when I tried to get it out. So beware! :D

 Form into small bread rolls and place on an oiled oven sheet. Cover tightly in foil and bake in the oven for 20 minutes at 200C.

For the soup:

2 Lamb chops
Pinch of salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 cardamom pod's seeds
1 clove of garlic
1 small onion
2 carrots

Brown the lamb in oil in a pan and then add 8 cups of water. Boil, removing any foam from the top of the water. You boil until the meat is tender. Then get the spices ready. You can arrange them in a bowl to showcase the different ones like me or just put them in the soup, it's up to you :D

 Cut up the garlic and onion as small as you can. I used the garlic zoom again for the garlic AND the onion which isn't what the makers intended but they can't stop me now!

Also chop up the carrot into chunks and add that to the soup. Simmer until the carrot is soft enough to eat and the soup is done. I sliced up the lamb chop and took out the bone before serving.

 I was really pleased with how well the Muufo bread rolls turned out. They had a crispy outer shell but were soft and fluffy inside. The kids loved them and want me to make them again. We dipped them in the soup and ate them with butter on too, which was sooooo good.

I was disappointed in the soup. It smelled great while it was cooking and the lamb I nabbed whilst cutting it up tasted delicious. I think it was just because it was a brothy thin kind of soup. Mostly they taste like spiced hot water to me which I suppose essentially they are. JD enjoyed it but it did have all his favourite spices in it. The lamb was really flavouful so I enjoyed that. Maraq soup is usually eaten before the main meal and isn't intended as a meal on it's own so I shouldn't complain that it was quite unfulfilling. There's plenty semolina left so I might make more bread rolls to see what they're like with jam on, yum!