Chad the Country. Not the Dude.
Sorry to all my peanut allergy homies.
I remember once in the 3rd grade, I was given a huge piece of brown butcher paper to draw the continent of Africa and all of its countries. As I created my wonderful 4-foot-tall continent, I stumbled upon the country of Chad and silently giggled to my 8-year-old self that any person named Chad must’ve been named after the country. Since that brief encounter and probably mediocre at best drawing, I haven’t given Chad much thought. I think we (folks who don’t live in Africa or come from there) don’t give much thought to individual African countries in general. I can give you stats on how big the population is or where exactly in Africa it’s located. I can tell you that they speak French and Arabic, and their citizens are almost 50/50 split Muslims and Christians. I can tell you a lot more facts and history about the country, but most likely none of that will stick. What I can do is provide a great recipe that will knock your socks off and make you thank Chad (the country, not the dude) for such deliciousness.
Peanut Butter Lover.
Peanut butter is one of those ingredients that I feel is severely underrated and super underutilized. It’s brilliant with chocolate, absolutely divine as a sauce for chicken satay, and is the OG sandwich of many children’s lunchboxes before the year 2000 when schools didn’t require nut-free classrooms. It has a super deep flavor profile that kinda goes well with most things. It will never get replaced by any other nut butter in my pantry, don’t even look my way almond butter folks! When I researched dishes from Chad I was happy to find recipes for a dish called La Bouillie that featured PB front and center.
La Bouillie is considered a porridge, but I think it's more akin to a rice pudding. It’s rice, peanut butter, a bit of flour, and water. That’s it. It’s such a genius recipe that I kind of want to kick myself for not thinking about it first, but I guess the Chadians (and other African nations) got there first. This recipe is entirely vegan and doesn’t require any dairy unless you desire to add it. I added some sugar to my batch, which balanced out the richness of the peanut butter. I ate some of it while it was still piping hot and really loved the texture and flavor of the pudding. It tasted exactly like a rice pudding but without the cloyingly sweet milkiness that rice pudding is known for. I’ll probably have a bowl of it for breakfast tomorrow with a tiny drizzle of maple syrup on top. Definitely would be delicious with bananas or fresh figs!
La Bouillie
4 cups water, divided
1 cup rice, washed and rinsed
3 tablespoons natural-style peanut butter (I used Skippy’s)
2 tablespoons flour
2 -3 tablespoons sugar (optional)
Milk (optional)
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, bring 3 cups of water to boil and then add rice. In a bowl, stir peanut butter and the remaining 1 cup of water until it's dissolved.
Add peanut butter mixture to the rice and let it come to a boil. Stir in flour and sugar if you are using it.
Let it cook for 2-3 minutes while rice pudding thickens. Rice pudding can be served hot or cold.
Add fresh fruits, coconut flakes, or even a bit of jam to make it super tasty.
Mark Your Calendars.
Sunday, August 28th at 3 PM, we’ll be having our Food For Thought. summer meet-up in Central Park. Bring a blanket and shareable snacks. This event is open to ALL subscribers (plus their fam + friends). We will be meeting in Sheep Meadow field which is near the 72nd Street and Central Park West entrance of the park. I will make sure to have a bright balloon or marker for folks to find me!
Cook. Eat. Repeat.
Natalie 💗✨