aka Agbado yinyan. It is the season for tasty oranges, cucumbers, pineapples and pyramids of Ube, purple African pears that must be roasted on hot coals or soaked in freshly boiled water to eat. When cooked, they taste like avocado, cut through with green olives and a touch of cream. It is our rainy season...
Category: Nigerian Cuisine
Guest Post: Garri Musings/ A Garri Tale
This is a guest post by Fiyin of @curiousconeater I didn’t like garri growing up and even now – as I type this -, I still don’t like it much. I have, however had moments of joy with it in my short life. See, my dad was an avid soaker of garri, soaking some everyday...
The Almost Complete Guide to Cassava Products
It is difficult to think of cassava as a recent import to Nigeria (and Africa) because much of its cuisine today is based on the tuber in different forms. From snacks of boiled cassava with coconut – popular street food; kpokpogari – coarse, hard biscuits of cassava fibre from which all the starch has been...
The Importance of Telling Our Own Stories
Because people will say they want to tell them and use the opportunity to perpetuate a narrative of poverty rather than one of unity, of sameness, of similarities in spite of the glaring differences. One reason why Anthony Bourdain will be missed. Terribly. For the work he did to expand our thinking and our culinary...
Nigerian ‘Concept’ Dish: Plantain ‘Fondants’ Moqueca (Palm oil & Coconut Seafood Broth)
The Concept This concept is about my love for Brazil and the beautiful combination of palm oil and coconut milk which at first glance sounds weird but then, when cooked is so delightful in a moqueca. Moqueca (IPA: [moˈkɛkɐ] or IPA: [muˈkɛkɐ] depending on the dialect, also spelled muqueca) is a Brazilian recipe based on salt water fish stew, tomatoes, onions, garlic and coriander. It is slowly cooked in a terra...
The Almost Complete Snack Guide to Lagos Island
or The Almost Complete Guide To Nigerian Snacks. There are more but I believe these form a solid foundation upon which others can be referenced. If you have soft teeth, these might not be the cookies or confections for you. They are hard. Mostly. Hard for preservation purposes? Maybe, but hard they are. Popular on...
Snail Dodo
I’m a huge fan of textures in food – cow leg and it’s combination of crunch, jellied and meaty; snails and their rubbery crunch; tripe and its chewy, rubbery sensations – all thrill me when done right. This Snail dodo is heaven on a plate – peppered snails, chopped and combined in a saute with...
Round-up: The Nigerian Seasonal Produce Column, 2017
Welcome to 2018 – Happy New Year! Over the years, I’ve whittled down my lofty, lengthy list of goals and new years resolutions to a few things. In 2017, I have to say I did what I wanted, when I wanted. Mostly. Self-care was present..mostly… and that’s saying a lot. One of the things I’m...
Cocktail Monday: The ‘Nina Simone’
I’ve loved Nina Simone since 1994, thanks to a boyfriend who loved her. Her voice – rich, smooth; the words – full of hope, longing, loss and love. There was something about her that drew me 23 years ago and hasn’t left me since, even past the memories of that relationship and others. Her ‘Feeling...