Welcome to The Storied Recipe! I host a unique podcast where every guest gives me a recipe that’s significant to their culture, life, and memories. I make, photograph, and share the recipe with you. I invite you to listen to my podcast guest, Rachael Pieh Jones in her episode, Djiboutian Food at the Crossroads of Culture and Religion, as you make her Isku Dhex Karis.
This Isku Dhex Karis recipe, a Somalian rice dish, comes to us from Rachel Pieh Jones, an author and mother of 3 third-culture kids. Rachel has lived in Djibouti for almost 20 years. As Rachel shares in her podcast episode, this was the first dish she ever learned to make in Somalia, where she lived less than a year before fleeing to Djibouti.
Here's what Rachel had to say about Isku Dhex Karis:
"This is a popular Somali dish that basically means "cook it all together" and is one of the first things I learned to make in Somaliland and which my family ate often in Djibouti as well. I'm sharing it because I think it highlights several things - the abundance of carbs (rice AND potatoes), the local love for bananas and adding them to things (the best bananas in the world are from Mogadishu and I can barely eat the cardboardy dry ones in the US anymore!), hot sauce, lamb, and the ability to take a dish and grow it and grow it if you are serving many people."
When I assembled the ingredients for this recipe, I decided it was probably the most unusual combination any guest ever gave me! However, trying new recipes from guests each week has taught me to put aside my skepticism when approaching a new dish. I can genuinely say we loved this Somali rice dish! My niece had come over to help me photograph the recipe. The smell of the spiced meat, vegetables, and rice cooking all together were so enticing to her, that she scooped out a bowl for herself and pronounced it delicious!
I wasn't quite willing to use the level of hot sauce that, as Rachel says, "makes grown men cry". (In fact, I wasn't willing to even come close.) I also couldn't quite eat the banana in the same bites as my rice and lamb. However! I did leave them on top and intersperse them with bites and found it quite a refreshing complementary flavor! I think I may try bananas on the side of rice dishes more often.
Two more notes about this recipe:
- There are hundreds of types of rice in the world and I'm fairly confident that those of us in the U.S. won't be using the kind either Djiboutians or Somalis use. After talking it over with Rachel, I believe basmati is the closest approximate.
- Many Somalis also put raisins in their Isku Dhex Karis. Feel free to add some!
Enjoy!
Equipment List
Episodes Related to this Isku Dhex Karis
Visit the episode post
Ep. 073: Djiboutian Food at the Crossroads of Culture and Religion {with Rachel Pieh Jones}
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How to Contact Rachel Pieh Jones
Website: www.rachelpiehjones.com
Instagram: @rachelpiehjones
Do Good Better on Substack: rachelpiehjones.substack.com/
Pillars: How My Muslim Friends Led Me Closer To Jesus on Amazon
More African Recipes
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More Episodes About Food & Religion
For more on the practices of feasting and fasting, particularly during Ramadan, tune into Episode 048: A Wanderer Through Life And A Lover Of Spice With Nadia Bandukda
Muslim-American Nadia Bandukda eloquently explains why she observes Ramadan.
If you’re interested in food and religion in general, you will also enjoy Ep 053: Food And Theology With Father Leo, The Priest Who Beat Bobby Flay or Ep. 064 – A Passover Episode With Challah Champ Marissa Wojcik
Recipe
Isku Dhex Karis (Somali Rice Dish)
Ingredients
- 3-4 lbs Lamb, cubed (or beef)
- Vegetable oil
- 3-6 cloves Garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoon Cumin
- 1 large Onion, diced
- 1/2 bunch Cilantro, chopped coarsely
- 2 Hot peppers, remove stems and cut in two pieces each salt and pepper (use lots of pepper)
- 3 large Carrots, diced
- 2 large White potatoes, diced
- White rice (I believe Basmati is the closest approximate)
Instructions
- Place lamb in an enameled Dutch oven. Sauté onions and garlic in a little oil and add to lamb. Simmer for a few minutes. Add carrots, peppers, potatoes and cilantro. Add uncooked non-instant white rice.
- Prepare rice according to package directions (using their directions for salt). Use any broth from the lamb as part of the liquid. A pinch each black pepper, cinnamon, cloves. (You can use whole spices if you warn people to pick them out as they eat.)
- Cook until rice is done. Be careful to turn down the burner to simmer while you cook the rice and meat together.
- Accompaniment: mixed green salad, bananas, fresh limes.
- After serving pilaf on plates pile salad on rice-meat mixture.
- Slice bananas on top.
- Squeeze lime over everything.
- A quick fresh hot sauce can be made by blending coarsely chopped hot peppers and a couple of tablespoons of lemon juice. Don’t breathe the fumes when you take the blender lid off. This hot sauce can make grown men cry.
Fatma says
İt’s delicious dish i like it ❤️🤤