I wanted a way to ‘trap’ the sweet and spicy flavours of the pepper fruit and I dreamt up scones. I felt as though the slightly sweet dough could work well with the spice and scent of pepper fruit. I got a mix of green and red pepper fruit and blitzed them – seeds and flesh- till chopped up. I simply incorporated this into a dough of flour, yogurt, butter and the like. [Recipe for scones] Talk about delicious! The scones browned nicely and retained everything I love about pepper fruit – the fragrance and the flavour…this time with the...
How to Make The Bestever Zobo
After a few months of getting family members addicted to my Zobo, my friend M came round one Sunday. All excited to serve a Hausa person my version, I poured her a cup. I wanted her thoughts on my combination of zobo calyxes, ginger, cloves, and sweetener (some people add pineapple skins). She tasted and smiled and turned her head, puzzled. ‘Did you use ginger?’ ‘Yes I did, lots’ ‘What kind?’ ‘Fresh now’ ‘Ah, no’, with a smile. ‘That’s not what we use in the north, we only use dried ginger.’ ‘Dried ginger. Like ginger powder?’ No, like fresh ginger...
Six (6) Ways to Grow Food Tourism in Nigeria
‘We need to diversify the Nigerian economy’, our Minister of Industry, Trade & Investment, Mr. Okechukwu Enelamah says in many places – on CNN, at global meetings, etc: “Necessity is the mother of invention,” he says. “Given the very negative consequences of the drop in oil and commodity prices…we must make good on our commitment to diversify the economy.” To fulfill this ambition, the government recently launched its “Economic recovery and growth plan,” which aims to deliver 7% annual growth and 15 million new jobs by 2020. The plan includes strategies to develop manufacturing in the food and agriculture sector, new energy...
In Season: Obi-Edun, Another Monkey Kola
The first time I heard of a fruit with a name prefaced by ‘Monkey’ was in 2011, when I encountered ‘Epapa‘, which turned out to be one local name for Cola lepidota, aka Monkey Kola. It didn’t seem peculiar to me – I put it down to ‘things monkeys also ate in the forest’. Till earlier on this year when I got some baobab and was struck by how much the flavours reminded me of tamarind. I began to investigate, reading various material. One in particular – Africa’s Baobab Trees. Why Monkey Names by Rashford – stands out. In it,...
In Season/ Pepperfruit: Unripe & Ripe
It is the season of pepperfruit. It is. I find them on trays all around Warri – my birth city, where I spend Easter. I’m a fan only of the red ones – sweet tooth and all. But back in Lagos, I spot the green ones and buy some to compare. What I find is what I share below. Spoiler – I still prefer the red ones after all the eating ‘research’. Unripe/ Green: Flesh taut around the seeds Texture of the skin – crunchy Fragrance & Flavour – vegetal & spicy Hot, lingering bitterness, menthol aftertaste Ripe/ Red: Flesh loose around...
Nigerian Seasonal Produce: Garden Eggs, #4
‘Nigerian Seasonal Produce’ is a monthly column which will be published on the last Saturday of every month. In this column, a writer explores a specific seasonal fruit, vegetable or leafy green assigned by the editors of Kitchen Butterfly and based on the Nigerian Seasonal Produce Calendar. Our author this month is Pemi who I first met as P Betty – a fantastic writer who wears hats with so much grace and style. Here is her piece on the love and lessons from her grandmother, in grief…and with garden eggs. Grandma, Garden Eggs & Grief My relationship with garden eggs is inextricably...
Red Amaranth-Yaji Hummus
Everyone loves hummus in my family – that silken, thick puree of chickpeas. Lately, I’ve taken to spiking mine with yaji – suya spice. The smoky, nutty flavours switches the hummus up and adds a kick. In my red amaranth haze, craze, I blanched some – essentially washed and dipped into hot water till soft/ wilted – and blitzed this up with cilantro, green chilies, chickpeas, olive oil, tahini/sesame seed paste and a pinch of salt. One might consider this beetesque and you wouldn’t be too far from it but less earthy – more vegetal, but only slightly so. Really,...
Agbalumo Gin & Tonic
Well, y’all know my love for Agbalumo. And cucumbers…Which got me thinking once I’d made my Cucumber gin, that a G & T would be nice since I sometimes mix my Agbaulmo drinks with soda or tonic water to lighten them. A gin and tonic is a highball cocktail made with gin and tonic water poured over ice. It is usually garnished with a slice or wedge of lime. The amount of gin varies according to taste. Suggested ratios of gin to tonic are between 1:1 and 1:3; Source – Wikipedia I began with 4 main components, laid out side...
Homemade | Cucumber Gin
Ever so often, I have this romantic interlude with cucumbers. Sometimes it’s eating, other times in a glass. I want to say cucumbers are in season and I do. I see them in wheelbarrows around the city, sometimes watered from a ‘pure water’ satchet so they stay green-skinned and fresh. I love cucumbers (even as I do in bits and bursts) but I do not like the skin – whatever, however, whenever. I prefer to peel it off, and discard the hardy skin, inedible to me bark. I don’t know why or how but I began thinking about Cucumber gin. Made...