As I ate Yedem’blong, I kept thinking of how perfectly it would go with yam mash… And so I got making some. I simply boiled yam and pureed it with a touch of water. I’ve made yam mash/ puree before so this was no newbie or biggie. In the past, I’ve added a touch of cream and butter to enrich it but today, here – it didn’t need any of that. The yam mash went into a bowl, followed by all the other elements – chopped garden eggs, pomo (smoked cow skin), chopped kolanuts, dry fish chunks, slices of green...
Ideas in Mingau
Because the classic version is a template begging for colour and texture and more. #1, Crunchy Toasted Coconut My favourite by a notch. I love the way the coconut flavour is reinforced in a toasted, nutty way. It is the perfect counterpoint to the soft and creamy Mingau base. Hack: Use store bought toasted coconut, known as coconut candy in Nigeria Ideas: Coconut caramel sauce – slightly burnt, coconut brittle, fresh mango, lime zest sound like dreamy additions. #2, Zobo syrup & blueberries with cardamom A close second – I loved the sweet, floral notes of the zobo and the...
Classic Mingau: Of Tapioca & Coconut Milk
Mingau, a place on the north eastern coast of Brazil, in Bahia Mingua, a porridge of tapioca popularly eaten over Easter on Lagos island, Nigeria Mingau, in literature, of Brazil mentions repeatedly, ‘a sweetened hot drink of tapioca, water, and milk.‘ Mingau is a porridge made from milled cassava, cooked in coconut milk and finished with a grating of fresh nutmeg. At its simplest. Its heritage is clear – brought by returnees at the end of slave trade, returnees who settled in Isale Eko, the ‘lowlands’ of Lagos. In the early days of ‘the return’, Mingau was prepared and eaten by...
Mango, Tamarind & Mazarkwaila Sauce
Now that mangoes are in season properly, we’re enjoying them in all sorts of ways, one of which is in sauces. This version features fresh mango flesh, tamarind ‘water’, cilantro – my favourite ever herb and mazarkwaila, sugar cane sugar! Now sugar cane is one of my favourite things ever and I’d never come across it in any form but ‘reed’. And then I discovered it’s juice and now, a sugar made from it. In the North of Nigeria, mazarkwaila is both sweetener and snack. The process of making mazarkwaila starts with getting a quantity of very good sugarcane, a healthy horse,...
The ‘Krum Krum Factor’: Erunrun & Sensory Perception
My colleague, Oga Vee calls it the krum krum factor – that crispy crunch of snails and gizzards, biscuit bone, pomo, kanzo aka bottom pot. Erunrun. Crunch. Crust. The pendants from Akara. It is the corner of the loaf cake or bread, the edges of a crumble – that crunchy part in the midst of soft. The contrast, the opposite, the hard. For the longest time, I didn’t know there was a ‘name’ for them, not to talk of a Nigerian, Yoruba name – Erunrun. The different aspects of food deliver a sense of fullness – taste, smell, texture and presentation...
2017 in Nigerian Food: Emerging Themes
Nigerian cuisine is always on the cusp of something new. Now it’s local exploration and global discovery. Cooks, writers, bakers, baristas, mixologists and more are cooking up ‘New Nigerian Kitchen‘ fare. It is wonderful to see and I’m thrilled to be part of it. The ‘New Nigerian Kitchen’ is a term I coined in 2013 and articulated in my 2014 TEDx Talk to describe my approach and practice to the many faces and facets of Nigerian cuisine. It is a celebration & documentation of Nigerian food in its entirety, from history to recipes, techniques and produce. The Wellness Geeky also gives information...
Nigerian Seasonal Produce: Mangoes, #3
‘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 Eromo whose writing I love, love, love and he’s talking about Mangoes, which are up there with my favourite fruits. What if it was a mango and not an apple, that fell on Isaac Newton’s head? The first time I imagined this, I was a teenager whose head was bursting...
From Ugep With Love: Yedem’blong or Okana w. Kola Nut
Have you ever eaten kola nut with a pepper sauce? No? Me neither…till now. And I have to thank Carol of Bread & Baskets for this introduction. A few weeks ago, I toasted some Nigerian calabash nutmeg, Ehuru and shared a photo on instagram. Wofai sent me a message saying that where she was from – Ugep – they added to a pepper sauce which formed a dip for fresh leaves and kola nut. Ugep is a place I’ve heard about. I have friends who are from Ugep and it’s always struck me as fascinating and with this discovery, even more so. I’m...
Spice: More about Nutmeg
I’ve written about Nutmeg before, about discovering it shelled, walled in Dubai. And still there’s more. And Zanzibar served it up, on a Spice Farm tour. Here, I saw the entire nutmeg fruit – nut, shell, mace and all. Our tour guide, Ramadan shared the fruit and more with us. That nutmeg comes ‘as a fruit’ Which is cut open to reveal a web of red mace, around a shelled nut. In some communities, women use nutmeg to ‘relax’, because it has intoxicating effects. In Malaysia, the nutmeg fruit is used to make a drink. It is cooked down – much like...