I know Agbalumo will be out of season soon…and so I’m extracting it’s essence in a variety of ways to enjoy long after. Though Preservation isn’t a common practice in Nigeria, I think it should be for various reasons. For one, we need to test the boundaries of our fruits and vegetables and one way to do that is to try various methods for processing. Most of the methods I use, I’ve chosen because of the minimal processing time – very little to do once the Agbalumo is peeled. To take advantage of the ideas, read my post on The Anatomy of Agbalumo...
Three (3) Interesting Discoveries with Agbalumo
One. Its acidity. Someday, we might be able to find the best way to make more than scattered cheese curds with the flesh and its liquid. The experiment below involved Agbalumo flesh in a jar, filled with milk and left refrigerated for a couple of days. Two, the liquid extracted from macerating Agbalumo flesh in sugar tastes like lemonade but with the peculiar Agbalumo flavor. And like lemons and limes, it’s juices sting the cuts and scratches on the fingers of a Kitchen Butterfly. Three. Much pectin. The first time I tried to make an Agbalumo sugar syrup I ended up...
Agbalu’lade, The New Lemonade
My picky second daughter, R insists this should be the name, and so it is. Agbalu’lade. I had Agbalumo’ade pencilled but…*shrugs*. As this is her new favourite drink, I have no complaints. Believe me, this is like Lemonade but not exactly. If you macerate Agbalumo – add sugar and leave to stand for a few hours, you’ll end up with the very liquid extract of Agbalumo. Unbelievable. See I’ve tried to make a syrup of Agbalumo – it turned to jam; I’ve had it soak in syrup overnight hoping lots of flavour would be drawn in but ‘No, sir’. The most successful drink...
Tuwon Shinkafa with Pepper Soup
I grew up eating yam and pepper soup, or plantain and pepper soup. That was and is one of my mom’s favourite meals ever. Well, that and my peanut butter chicken sauce with Chinese fried rice or noodles. Then in 2001, I went to Youth Service camp in Bayelsa. One afternoon, my friend took me to lunch and ordered for me. When my food arrived it was a plate of white rice and a bowl of fresh fish pepper soup. I watched him eat and then followed suit. Soup was spooned onto the rice, and then eaten…with bits of fish,...
Sunday Best: Amala & Edikan-Ikong Soup
The first time I fainted, I was thirteen and I passed out halfway between the kitchen and living room of 4 Ihuo Street, Port Harcourt. It was a Sunday and Daddy had just come back from Igarra. The second time I fainted, I was thirty-seven and at a dental surgery in Port Harcourt. Back to thirteen. I fainted because I’d been working all morning and had simply not eaten. I was hungry. Amala – a cooked meal of yam or plantain flour always reminds me of that day. Amala, especially the sort made from dried and milled unripe plantains always remind...
The Suya of Glover Court
It was one day last June, July when I discovered Glover Court suya in Ikoyi – Lagos, Nigeria. I missed suya. I missed the flame-grilled, peanut-spiced sticks of meat that are perfect for 5pm on a Friday. I wish I could say 4pm but that’s one hour when I’m still at my desk. I can’t remember who recommended Glover Court but I adjusted my journey plans that evening to stop by. I’ve been back three or four times since. Friday evenings are perfect for suya. Perfect. There’s the knowledge that suya could be dinner if purchased in the right quantity,...
Friday Cocktails: Making ‘Nigerian’ Simple Syrups
Simple syrups – fundamental sweetness to cocktails and mocktails. And easy to make. What is a simple syrup? The foundation for everything from lemonade to iced tea, your standard simple syrup is a combination of 1 part sugar to 1 part water. For example – 1 cup sugar to 1 cup water, cooked till the sugar is dissolved and a sticky, (slightly) viscous liquid results. Richer syrups can be made with an increased amount of sugar for a thicker consistency. Typically, white sugar is used but other sugars are ‘allowed’ from demerara to turbinado and dark brown. Why do we...
Fail: Agbalumo Toffee
Today, I have three stories & recipes to share on and with Agbalumo – Success with a delicious chutney, A’yt with nice enough cake and outright Fail. Here. With this. Sigh. I’m comfortable with the fact that not all my ideas will succeed, not everything will go as planned. I was so hopeful about this one though – I’d written the recipe, and even mentally wrapped each individual piece of toffee in wax paper. I’d spread them on a table, taken the photos, eaten of their sour deliciousness and basically just had fun. But that was not to be. It...
Success: Savoury Agbalumo Chutney
Today, I have three stories & recipes to share on and with Agbalumo – Success, A’yt with cake and outright ‘Fail’. Here’s to good things second 😉 This was a hit. Hit. Big hit. I wondered if you could go savoury with Agbalumo. A lot of the experimentation I’ve done has been geared towards sweet. This worked beautifully, modelled on a Spiced Apple Sauce I made a few years ago. All that’s involved is to prep ingredients. And if you don’t know how, now you do…with my handy guide to processing it. Agbalumo being the key. You essentially chop up some...