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Recipe for fish baked with rice (Taajin Samak)

This is a tasty recipe that uses the bones of fish such ‘ijil, bayaD, garmuuT and kabaroos.

1) First, wash some of the fish and its bones (spine and part of the head) thoroughly in running water.

Place them in a bowl and marinate with the following ingredients (per kilo): 1 clove of crushed garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of kammuun (cumin), a pinch of kasbara (coriander), juice from one 1 large leemuun (lime), a pinch or two of filfil (black pepper) and a sprinkling of salt.

2) While the fish is marinating you can prepare the sauce. Continue reading →

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Kitchener’s last gunboat – Al Melik

Kitchener’s last gunboat lies half hidden under some trees on the banks of the Blue Nile in Khartoum. Silent and slowly decaying.

The Melik has served as the headquarters of the Blue Nile Sailing Club since its retirement from military service in the 1920s. It was moored in the river until an unusually heavy flood in the late 1980s left it high and dry. Ironically, the flood may have saved it from slowly rusting away. Continue reading →

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Recipe for Tahina Sauce

This Tahina sauce is easy to make and is excellent with all types of fish.

To make a small bowl of Tahina
Put 8 tablespoons of Tahina in a bowl and add a teaspoon of crushed garlic, a sprinkle of salt, some ground cumin and a little water. Then add the juice of 3 large lemons. Stir the mix and serve.

I would recommend the following brands of Tahina: Saad, al Taeif and Musharaf

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Courier delivery -Sudanese style

My husband has reminded me of his own experience of the “camel post” from his time as a volunteer teacher in Dar Kababish in western Sudan:

“Whilst travelling by camel on a track between Hamrat Esh Sheikh and Umm Badr, I was surprised to see a police land cruiser speed past in front of me and then momentarily stop for a split instant to enable a policeman inside to toss out an envelope in my general direction. Continue reading →

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The camel postman

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The original design of a camel postman was by a Captain E.A Stanton of the Royal Engineers in 1896. Years later he recounted the circumstances that led to creation of the stamp in an article republished in Sudan Notes and Records from which the following is a summary: apparently Stanton had added sketches to the maps used during the conquest of the Dongola area and these had come to the attention of the Sirdar of the Egyptian Army, Sir Herbert Kitchener or K as he was known by his men. In a typically curt manner he gave Stanton a mere five days to come up with a good design. Three days passed with Stanton becoming increasingly worried until the post arrived on a camel instead of a steamer. Continue reading →

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Queen Vic and the Grand Holiday Villa

The Grand Holiday Villa is a lovely hotel built on the banks of the Nile. It has plenty of old world charm and has been sympathetically restored and extended. I stayed there once with my husband and found the service and food all 5 stars+.

But…

The hotel for some reason makes a couple of fantastic historical claims that are well surely just fantasy. Continue reading →

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The Nile’s Rich Harvest

Bulti (Tilapia) is not the only fish sold at the Murada’s fish market in Omdurman as any visitor will soon notice by wandering amongst the sellers’ baskets packed with fish and ice.
Here is a brief list of fish that I have noticed but it is far from being definitive. Go see for yourself!

The most common fish are:

bulti- tilapia – (see blog for a recipe)

bayaad – a common catfish that can be fried or backed in a earthen ware pot (Tajin)/or tray with rice and a sauce. Continue reading →