I have just returned from one (of many) ‘trips of a lifetime’ I have undertaken over the years, though have to say this comes very high on that list….a 3 night, 4 day trip up the River Nile sailing from Aswan to Edfu on an open decked Felucca! It was like going back in time….no engine (imagine!!) no loos, and no bathroom. We washed in the Nile every morning…and attended to the calls of nature behind bushes ! It was great.
Cordon Bloo it were’nt but given the cooking facilities aboard – basically 2 gas rings slung underneath the deck, which meant squatting down in a small space or, as I opted for, as squatting is not really my thing, lying on my stomach above the stove and cooking, effectively upside down – we ate pretty well.
First night was chicken…bought in the market in Aswan. It was a fresh one but if I had had my way we would have had something else as I am always a bit of a coward when it comes to buying so called fresh produce in third world countries.
Our Felucca captain/majordomo called Captain Cat cooked dinner for us and he actually turned out to be quite a dab hand at cooking! He basically boiled the chicken in a little chicken stock (!) added some tasty herbs and spices and once cooked, dissected the chicken, serving us a delicious chicken soup first, with the chicken pieces separately. Unfortunately he added the neck of the chicken to the pieces, which was…eh, a little offputting (no reason other that we are just not used to being offered chicken neck to eat!!)
It was served with a dish of Ochra (ladies fingers, which I am afraid make me retch, they taste so slimy) in a rich fresh tomato sauce. My contribution to the evening was a risottomade with tinned tuna !! It was a new experience cooking upside down on the Nile particularly using only a Swiss army knife and some batter old pots, but nevertheless something which I will not forget in a hurry and which I will of course practise now that I am back in the UK !!
The weather on the whole was warm and sunny and as there were no mosquitoes around we were able to eat outside on the open deck of the Felucca looking and observing all the activity on the vast expanse of the Nile . The peace and tranquility was amazing as was the friendliness of the locals who all gave us a cheery wave as they went about whatever they were doing.
Day 2
We stopped off at a small village in the afternoon and and roared off ot the local market on a Tuc Tuc….5 piled into one, with me driving! I threw the driver out….no, not really but he let me have a little steer ! This time we had decided we would stick to fish and so went off in search of the local fishmonger.
We found him down a rather grubby track but it was clear that his fish was fresh….look at the eyes and gills ! We bought 7 Nile Perch for a vastly inflated £7 UK which he then promptly gutted and scaled for us on the road! Oh dear… but we needn’t have worried ! It was fine and we bought a few fresh herbs in the market too to put inside them.
We stopped for the second night beside the temple of Horemheb of Silsila (you know all about him don’t you !) which can only be accessed from the Nile itself. It was wonderfully illuminated though we had to share the location with a small group of humourless, ostentatious Germans who had also moored there in their great big Dahabiya which they had rented, complete with white hatted chef and servants. What an absolutely appalling way to travel up the Nile! We tried to fraternise and so joined them for a little bit of dancing but gave up when they started trying to moonwalk in the sand!
Cat did the meal this time and deep fried the perch in a sort of batter. They we excellent if a little oily. We had them with eh…spaghetti in a tomato sauce (fresh tomatoes added to at the last minute with a jar of paste which made it rather thick !) and the usual good Egyptiansalad, which is finely cut up salad with tomatoes and cucumber. No dressing which was rather nice and very fresh and ripe tomatoes.
The fish was delicious…very tender and tasty, and served with fresh lemon…and having been excruciatingly rude about the spaghetti had to admit it was rather good. But I did miss the parmesan cheese with it. Unfortunately Waitrose in Kom Ombo was already closed by this time, so we had it Parmesanless ! For pudding we had some fresh dates which had been hauled off the tree that very afternoon. I am afraid Egyptian dates are not a patch on Moroccan ones…these ones were rather hard and chewy instead of soft and wonderful..but they were fresh and free !
After dinner we went and tried to cadge a coffee off the Krauts, but to no avail…instead we went for a walk amongst the ruins, and I amused myself by photographiong the shadows of Oscar and Roseanna on the floodlit stones as they did an Egyptian dance in the sands !
Day 3
Well, there we were barrelling down the Nile at about 0.4mph when we were accosted by a man in a tiny boat who was waving an e n o r m o u s fish about his head. I THINK (and I am still researching this as well) it was an enormous Nile Perch, but I could very well be wrong as the shape was a little odd…he had just caught the thing and wanted to sell it…for £10 !
Everyone on the boat was very against this idea… gross larcency etc..daylight robbery etc..but I over ruled them imperiously, parted with my money (fools easily are you know !!) and we then gave it to our resident slave Hamadi to chop up and gut. He was in 7th heaven and paraded around the boat pushing the head into our faces which was faintly revolting!
We had it fried for lunch….fried a second time was a little too much but it was amazingly tasty.
For dinner I rigged up a steamer to everyone’s utter amazement by boiling some water and perching (pardon the pun) some perch fillets over a sort of colander arrangement that I found loafing in the boat. It was wonderful…soft, moist and perfectly cooked.
Cat made some Egyptian rice which was interesting. Fry some rice until it goes brown and then add some new rice, and then basically make a risotto, remembering to add some more oil for good neaure before serving. It was actually very tasty and was eaten in vast quantities by the teens !
So, Nile Perch…special fried rice and another delicious salad. I think the Tour D’Argent would be proud of us !
The Egytpian contingent were really gobsmacked by this method of cooking, so I felt a little had been done to improve their health as they deep fry everything in sight if they are allowed to !
We stopped on a sort of beach by a cute little village where there was a donkey which spent all night keeping me awake howling, or whatever donks do…and we lit a fire made of orange wood which was very wonderful and very teenagerish in a louche sort of way – and ate our meal there.
For pudding we had some Pomegranate seeds with lemon which were picked off a local tree and were quite beautiful to look at as well as delicious to eat !
Drinks…well, Egypt even makes some wine..not on a par with some of the wine from near neighbours Tunisia, but a bottle of Omar Khyam is kind of drinkable in a raffish sort of way. Beer is excellent but we, on this trip, drank tea.
All different sorts, from fresh mint tea (still my absolute favourite) to hibiscus tea (made with flowers from hibiscus trees along the way) and even an aniseed tea which is good for settling the stomach, but these sorts of tea I still somehow feel are sort of gimmicky. And of course we drank loads and loads of water…always..from bottles!
! So…no culinary masterpieces here I am afraid…and no real culinary masterpieces during our trip….and after a particularly nasty Tagine (fish) I am still of the opinion that a Tagine should not be served East of Casablanca…but fresh stuff served in possibly the most beautiful and tranquil surroundings I have ever had the pleasure to eat and cook in…..do do this trip if ever the opportunity arises!
No comments:
Post a Comment