COOKING BENIN: Kuli-Kuli & Dahomey Fish Stew 🇧🇯

Cooking authentic Benin recipes: Kuli-Kuli & Dahomey fish stew
#benin #cookingeverycountry #antichef
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Recipes used:
Kuli-kuli:
www.196flavors.com/ghana-kuli...
www.kuli-kuli.com/benin/kuli-...
Dahomey fish stew:
www.congocookbook.com/fish-an...

[@cherylyork8556]

Recipes that don't work out are occasionally a fact of life for most cooks. Love that you include the misses along with the hits! Learning curves have frustrating moments!

[@ronschlorff7089]

Yes. Also good for a laugh on this one; he "tried and died" so hard on those damn "spheres"! :D LOL

[@michaeltres]

I hope someone with a connection to west Africa chimes in on the kuli-kuli. Seeing the disaster made me really curious about how it is supposed to be made. I love this series, and the occasional disasters are part of the fun!

[@brigit.the.seagoat]

his edits are so underrated -- this vid honestly needs more views

[@salt8661]

Oh, he’s gonna go viral eventually for sure

[@Harpeia]

You were right about draining the oil! it's what is dissolving the paste when heated! Salt water to the blender and then cheese cloth it into a sand-dry mass.

[@antichef]

ah good to know! thank ya!

[@fernandomeneghetti]

I guess I'm a little bit late here but maybe if you want to give it another go you could buy natural peanut butter (the ones with no additives). They usually sit in the stores for some time and the oil will naturally separate as a top layer. You're supposed to mix it in before using it as peanut butter but for your purposes it will be wonderful because you can just tip it over and get rid of a lot of the oil. Then spread the mostly dry peanut butter in a thin layer over some paper towels, cover with some more paper towels and leave it to drain in a dry place for a couple of days. You should end up with an almost dry flour. That's when you add the spices and a little bit of water to give it the taste and consistency. The water will evaporate during frying but it will let you shape it. Hope it helps.

[@lindadepascale8290]

That must have been totally demoralizing! I watched a KZbin of an African woman making it and it was A LOT of damn work. First made straight up peanut butter then added tablespoons of water a little at the time to drive off oil til it looked like sand then hand squeezed everything and eventually poured off what looked like about a cup of the peanut oil. Only then was she able to form little patties that didn’t fall apart when fried. She also added about a cup of sugar to the stuff after most of the oil in the peanut butter was gone. Probably tasted like a fried Reese’s. Hey, these might be pretty good dipped in chocolate! Food for thought. Thanks as always for the great video!

[@rebeccaaddison6401]

I made the fish stew last night after watching your video and it was delicious. My whole family loved it. Thanks!

[@anotherblonde]

Some people have a similar issue with making felafel (me). Best felafel (tahmir in Egyptian) I've ever eaten is from a little man with his barrow on the bridge near the Check Point before you turn right to go to The Valley of he Kings in Luxor. Makes the best Egyptian pickles too.

[@hannajohansson4078]

Happened to me too, but found out that the oil was probably not hot enough. so hotter oil next time. :) turned out much better for me at least. good luck

[@senamoon6076]

That's ma favorite kuli kuli And you cooking ma country foood dudeeeee!!!!!!

[@cleanfreak2005]

I was just curious why the KuliKuli didn't work out and I saw 2 recipes: Tip # 1: You absolutely must drain most of the oil from the peanut paste before shaping the kuli-kuli. This step is essential and is responsible for the crunchy side of kuli-kuli. The peanut paste must become almost hard and release little oil. Sometimes two tablespoons of water are added just before shaping the small sticks. If you take this step lightly, you may miss the recipe: kuli-kuli will be too soft and dissolve as soon as it is introduced into the cooking oil. The oil then becomes black and the disintegrated peanuts will fall to the bottom of the pan.

[@photonicpizza1466]

The Wikipedia article on kuli-kuli says that the peanut paste is stripped of excess oil with water (guessing that plenty of water is added to allow the peanut oil to float off, before pressing it back into a "dough" with a cloth, kind of like you did in your second try) before being shaped. If the paste still had too much oil, it'd explain why it just crumbled into nothing once you started frying, so something like that could work. Purely just guesswork on my part, though.

[@antichef]

interesting. must've still had way too much oil in it. I had read a recipe that mentioned that even adding water was a faux pas. I think an issue I had was contradiction recipes

[@whyilee]

@@antichef In case you still care, I believe the trick is to add the exact amount of water to the peanuts to make the paste split (into water and fat parts). Once you add too much water it becomes smooth again

[@dclavijo91]

“How you make such a mess with such a simple task” speaks to my experience most times I cook 😂

[@kevinlavine8413]

If you wipe the cutting board with distilled white vinegar before you cut the onion its supposed to reduce the cry, I have had success with it.

[@Dexy83]

I can't handle spicy, so I can't even imagine eating that. HOWEVER, it is one of the most beautiful dishes of food! I looks fresh and bright! 😊

[@bengriffin9830]

I love this Cooking the World concept! And how cool to see Benin represented. I spent some time there in grad school and had some really wonderful food - stews, sauces, definitely peanut snacks (but I guess I never knew what they were called). And so much hot red pepper on everything. I’ll have to give that stew a try!

[@saraonthesly]

The fish stew looks amazing. Thanks for sharing these recipes that are new to me!

[@Emelius7]

The peanut oil is then extracted from the peanut butter by constant stirring and adding a little amount of water at a time. I added 1 tablespoon of water at a time and then stir continuously. From my own research

[@Reinolds_Recipes]

Love it! Going to try this… keep up the good work and thank you for sharing again!! 😁☺️😍

[@couldbecooking]

It looks splendid! I'm waiting for a bowl to show up at my table any minute now! 😉😁 Have a great weekend! 😊

[@colleenloffredo7895]

You make it okay when we mess up! And that I appreciate! Your Great!

[@lejlamelic4101]

Excited to see you get to Bosnia! There may be some overlap in regards to national dishes as Bosnia and the other Balkan countries have similar dishes especially considering we were all Yugoslavia at one point. Either way, I'm looking forward to it!

[@kathyscrazylife]

Thanks for another great video!

[@grantthatcher461]

The fish stew looks terrific...am definitely going to try that. Pity about the nut balls. Can't imagine what was going on there. Seems like it should have worked...oh well. Love how fearless you always seem to be when tackling new recipes. Thanks for sharing! : )

[@antichef]

Thanks Grant! Appreciate that big timer!!

[@ronschlorff7089]

@@antichef Geeez man, did he have to go and call them "nut balls", especially after you tried so hard to be careful, calling them "spheres" and all!! ;D LOL

[@brennaag]

I wonder if it is missing a binding agent like an egg. Love your videos and especially love that you show us the misses. It’s completely relatable and helps me laugh at my own mistakes!

[@shirleycastle5170]

You need to find an African mama who can cook the best food ever show you how to cook those balls.

[@saraatppkdotpt8140]

Great video 😊

[@kani9839]

I love it

[@CAP198462]

You made fooly cooli, aww man. That’s awesome.😊

[@charmerscouture5078]

I love kuli kuli

[@swagekj]

That fish stew was the unexpected hero of this video

[@antichef]

Right?!

[@ronschlorff7089]

@@antichef yes, let that be a lesson for you, always have a backup thing to do in these sorts of ethnic dishes, that way one might just turn out great, while the other can be for "comic relief", as in this case! ;D LOL

[@Mdpgg17]

For the moment when you get to the letter “V”-around the last trimester of the year-please try Venezuelan Asado negro, pan de jamón or hallacas. Holy trinity of Christmas time in Venezuela.

[@gracetuyor2639]

❤❤

[@jeffkoons001]

I just watched a video of someone making Kuli-kuli and I guess you have to first make legit peanut butter, then stir in water slowly and then as you stir the oil gets expelled. It looks really hard to make tbh.

[@smsm7640]

Love africain food. Thank you

[@veirsg]

Looks great. I'm going to have to try it. By the way, what brand of apron is that? I'd love to have one of my own.

[@antichef]

I love that apron. I wish I could say. It’s my life goal to find out who made it!

[@shannonrobinson262]

I wonder if you’re supposed to let them air dry prior to frying?

[@hannakinn]

Maybe it would be easy to make them with the PB fit dry peanut butter powder, that stuff doesn’t have the oil.

[@charmerscouture5078]

Try making the kuli kuli flat

[@SoTypicallyMeh]

Too bad about the peanuts, but good for you for not giving in right away but trying to troubleshoot.

[@antichef]

thank ya!!

[@ronschlorff7089]

@@antichef yes, I can imagine me in that situation, it would be way different. Where you were calm and analytical! Me, "WTF!! SonoVa! *&%$#&^^#**"!! ;D LOL

[@celiacelisally]

@anti-chef frustrating about the Kuli-kuli but you basically made peanut butter right? And then it asked you to remove all excess oil, well couldn’t you use Peanut Butter powder? For shits and giggles next time I’m at the Mexican market I’m gonna try and fry a De La Rosa peanut marzipan candy.

[@celiacelisally]

OK- curiosity got me, I just tried the peanut butter powder idea now I only made 2 tablespoons worth of whatever I made-- I’m not sure I can call it a kuli-kuli or even a recipe. But it worked- I made a few salty and a few sweet- and I did two of each in my air fryer and two of each deep fried. Everything stayed intact, nothing dissolved- but nothing got crunchy/crispy. But the exterior was harder and the inside became soft and kinda creamy it was nice- you know how those “healthier” 3 ingredient PB cookies claim to be yummy but fail this isn’t trying to be anything but what it is and for that I think it was yummier. Oh the only difference between the air and the deep was flavor lol I only had coconut oil so that imparted itself in the flavor *this was also a moment to test out my allergy to coconut because I was told coconut oil was okay to eat-- while o didn’t get a serious reaction I’m in bs pain right now so that was a load of lie.

[@la1163]

I think you can bake them .

[@lahcenepodlaski8662]

algeria the best of the word

[@JohnMoncrief-ic9hp]

monk fish the best

[@mattofuller]

I wonder if an egg white would have been a good binder? Otherwise you're just frying peanut butter. 😆

[@antichef]

Interesting! Every recipe I read had no mention of any sort of binder like that! I’d love to know the secret!

[@scaredyfish]

I wonder if starting with commercial peanut butter would help, since it’s already in a stable form.

[@moimeme1928]

Swai fish or cod is better.

[@amandac7270]

Make sure to scrub your oven and cabinets after using that palm oil it will stink up your kitchen.

[@antichef]

For this particular video, the burnt, blackened peanut oil was the main culprit 😅😅

[@Clarice-rp7mh]

Oil needed to be deeper. Deep fry means oil deep enough to cover. Also check the temp on the oil

[@publiusovidius7386]

Try roasting peanuts (and other nuts) in the microwave. Just put them in a bowl. It takes only 5 to 6 minutes. Stir them up midway to make sure none at the bottom are burning . Saves time and energy.

[@moimeme1928]

you make the balls like you make Italian meatballs and cook them in less oil. too much oil dissolves rather than firms.

[@philoctetes_wordsworth]

Yeah. African cuisines are amazing.🤤🤤🤤🤤🤤🤤🤤🤤🤤🤤🤤🤤🤤🤤🤤🤤🤤🤤😋🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻💋💋💋💋🇺🇸🌸

[@ronschlorff7089]

I laughed so hard on this one, it made my spheres hurt! LOL. So many politically incorrect things I could say about you and this disaster, and how you still seriously tried to soldier on and make the kuli kuli. Good thing I'm allergic to peanuts, I'll never try those. The fish stew looked good though, and like many of these sorts of dishes, several types of fish could be used in the recipe, very versatile. Again, a good and economical dish for hard times like we are having with skyrocketing inflation and all. Fish like tilapia is still a good buy, as are peanuts, if you can ever figure out how to make those camel dropping-ish looking things. LOL ;D

[@nixboox]

It just seems like you needed to add egg white to your peanut mix. There's an almond variant of these that needs egg white to hold it together.

[@philoctetes_wordsworth]

5:59 Forgive my impertinence, but, there is no way those will hold together, in oil. The texture is too crumbly. Consider meatballs: one must work the meat, to emulsify it a bit, or it falls apart. Why would ground peanuts (with greedier, less stringy fibers) hold together, as a meatball-which this essentially is?🤗🤗🤗🇺🇸🌸

[@sinnyt.6432]

This is not the way West Africans make either of these dishes… Nice try though

[@philoctetes_wordsworth]

8:26 STOP HALVING RECIPES. Stop it. You are playing with more than serving sizes, and this is frequently the issue, when you fail.💐💐💐You live in New York. You must have neighbors you could share with, and if not: why not package leftovers, and give them to unhoused people? Dude. I PROMISE: a lot of your problems are about doing your own “mathhs.” You are almost always wrong, and for reasons you cannot comprehend, for these simple reasons, you may never succeed with many recipes, especially the baking.