Some people get a little weird about cooking with oxtail – which I sort of get, sort of (I’m being a little polite), but they wouldn’t have an issue with oxtail soup from a can, and it tastes way better when you make it fresh.

Everyone knows, anything you cook low and slow, on the bone, is gonna be awesome, this African oxtail stew recipe is no different.

In terms of the country of origin for this oxtail stew recipe, I could have gone British, it’s very traditional. Oxtail is a fascinating ingredient, used all over the world and Sub-Saharan Africa in particular is a massive consumer and I love African cuisine, which is only going to get more popular, plus it has some spice, which = winner. I’ve tried a few and this one is from Zimbabwe.

I’ve said it’s really easy and it is. 30 mins prep and then let is sit in the oven for 3 hours. Before we get going, whack the oven on full and pop a cast iron casserole dish in there – do this first, put the kettle on too for beef stock.

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I was cooking up some Moroccan Lamb the other day and wanted the best yogurt dip ever to go with all the flatbread and spice action.

This isn’t from Morocco, but who cares, it’s amazing – I’d say it was Middle Eastern, leaning toward Israel.

It’s nutty with Pomegranate – so a crunchy mutha – the textures are really fun.

The post This is the best yogurt dip ever | Middle East and North Africa | National Dish Recipe appeared first on National Dish.

We went the day after it opened to the public and we could forgive any teething problems, and there were a few. We, by the way, were represented by three generations – Grampy (had stop him bringing is spikes), Daddy (me) and the two Grandchildren (girls).

The premise of Mr Mulligan’s Lost World Adventure Golf is a Johnny Weissmuller (the best Tarzan ever) meets Indiana Jones trip across 36 holes of indoor crazy golf – with a heavy aquatic leaning toward Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues under the Sea . This is the second ‘Lost World Golf’ – the other is in Stevenage. There’s also Pirate Golf in Castleford, Nottingham, Milton Keynes and Woking and Dino Golf in Sidcup and Tonbridge. A little more about the golf later – National Dish is a food blog.

Ok, you’ve finished goofing around – you may or may not have the kids, you could be with work mates or chums, getting drunk. Surprisingly, you can take beers around the course with you and then when you finish, you come out next to the bar and restaurant – so you can carry on.

The setting is rather canteen like, mixtures of tables, chairs, benches – pretty modern shabby chic with those nifty light bulbs that dangle randomly from the ceiling. Sit anywhere you like – we were approached by the front of house who said we can order at the bar or he would take our order. Honestly, I don’t know if he meant the latter, because at the bar itself, he was inundated.

It might have been because its new, but he seemed to be the only person old enough to take an alcohol order and the youngsters weren’t eager to take any sort of order. Let’s assume it’s new and ordering at the bar is the norm.

The menu, I’m pleased to tell you, wasn’t too big, hopefully resulting in some quality. No marks of course for guessing what might be on it. Nothing fancy, but after the golf, you’re gonna want burgers, wings, leaves, fries – beige. The bar, well stocked, they served decent brands, such as Stowford Press cider rather than that Strongbow garbage – so grabbing a drink, a good idea.

I was able to take both the main and kids menu for a spin. Quick note, they left the food under the heating lamp for about 10 minutes, again, let’s put this down to it being new. So everything was warm and a little dry maybe, but as you can see it sitting there, it might get some peoples back up.

I had some buffalo wings, 9 to be exact, for £7.25 – that’s expensive right, it even didn’t come with fries? £6.95 and maybe I wouldn’t have noticed, but I reckon wings at £5.95 would have made me feel like I was getting the right value. How were they? They were good, not juicy fall of the bone good, but still very good. They came with two dips, made in the kitchen? Probably not, but the blue cheese was ace.

Grampy had a club sandwich, The Club Special, with fries, which were served in a cool little basket. But, as you can see, it’s all a little…sparse, even down the filling of the sandwich. He did enjoy it though, but that might have been because I was paying – all £8.75.

The kids went for a Slider (mini burger) and Tomato Pasta with Garlic bread – each comes with a drink at £5.25 – that’s a little better. I did let them wash it down with a £1.85 slush puppy each – so they were well happy.

The golf, wasn’t too bad – to be honest, having seen the coming soon signage for so long, I had built up a much better picture in my head. The art work and ‘fairy dust’, which is what I believe theme parks call the ‘make believe’ element – was superb. One of the holes has a crashed light aircraft above you – really very good.

But, the actual holes weren’t that…crazy. More like putting with a couple of bumps – where was the windmill man? If the crashed aircraft was part of the course, that would have been mega cool. As you progress, a few pipes and tubes pop up, so it does get a little more adventurous, but never CRAZY. We played on one of two courses – maybe the other was more challenging.

In summary,  we had a good time and will go back to play the other. The food, is as you would expect, but a little on the expensive side.

It’s definitely worth a visit.

Atmosphere
Food
Drink
Staff
Value
Overall
Average

 

PRICE: £ £ £

WEBSITE: mrmulligan.com/cheltenham/

TELEPHONE: 01242 787940

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I’ve sort of done two recipes in one. Alloco, which is known as Kelewele in Ghana (also Dodo in Nigeria and Makemba in the Democratic Republic of Congo) is a common West African street food and side dish. So, how do you make Alloco?

I’ve added roasted nuts to this version, which would make it Ghanaian, but the base is the Ivory Coast recipe – you decide.

The post Côte d’Ivoirian fried plantain with roasted nuts | How do you make Alloco or Kelewele | What is the national dish of The Ivory Coast appeared first on National Dish.

Africa is a amazing place, with food all to often hard to come by for far too many people. That said, amazing things happen when they cook. Nigerian Lamb Suya is rather unique, a West African dish that is great fun to cook and far more than just a kebab.

Paired this one up with a cauliflower Jollof rice dish from Ghana.

The post How do you make Nigerian lamb Suya? | Rago Suya | What is the national dish of Nigeria? appeared first on National Dish.

Jollof Rice is a dish that features in may West African countries, Ghana being one of the foremost.

The beautiful red colour that this dish carries is all down to the palm oil, the oil of choice for the region.

It is often cooked with various meat, such as chicken and/or beer, this version contains crayfish tails and cauliflower rice. That makes this a side dish version, in this case, served with Nigerian Lamb Suya.

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