We aren’t doing too badly in Naija. Lots of things are being processed and packaged, and sold in stores. You can find locally canned palm nut sauce for banga soup, spice blends in bottles and jars, hibiscus leaves in packs. That soothes my soul. I’m particularly glad to find Abacha – shredded and dehydrated. Perfect for exporting…. And Proudly Naija. And while I’m glad about this product, I know we could take it up a notch by adding usage instructions/ directions. Not everyone is familiar with cooking Abacha so it would be lovely if they makers shared the way to...
Fires Can Be Deadly
This is the view from our hotel. And no, we’re not having fun. We evacuated our house last night, for fear of smoke inhalation. At about 8.20pm, we were getting ready for bed and winding down generally. We’d all smelled smoke but couldn’t trace it till we went to one of the bedrooms and saw the fire at the back. Started deliberately to clean out the plot of land in preparation for construction. Should I have suspected when we noticed the grass being cut last week? I had no idea this would follow. Now…I understand how wild fires spread and...
Nigerian Agbalumo Curd
I imagined it would be nice. And it was. Is. And mostly from Agbalumo puree. Agbalumo puree cooked with egg yolks and butter to make a sweet, breakfast/ bread spread. It takes on the colour of caramel and the lushness of recipes with cooked egg yolks – rich and smooth on the tongue. So yes, everything about this is perfect. Agbalumo as the ‘bringe’r of tart and pucker, similar to lemons in the classic curd. Not much to do here but combine Agbalumo puree with a splash of Agbalumo drink or orange juice, eggs, butter, sugar and done. And perhaps...
Nigerian Agbalumo Puree
I have a dream, that one day, Nigerian cuisine will be spoken about, for its richness and diversity. That one day, the world will know that there’s more to our food than ‘pepper’ and ‘swallow’. I intend to play a small role in making that happen, so help me Lord. For a while now, my mind has been working overtime on how to extract and process the flesh of Agbalumo, for use later on. Could t be frozen? What would happen? I’m currently exploring those thoughts. The first thing though, how to extract the essence of the fruit. Process the...
Nigerian Agbalumo Drink
With the remains from the vinegar episode, I decided to make an ‘infusion’. This drink is a classic case of using up leftovers and doing something I’ve wanted to do for ages – make a drink of Agbalumo. The seeds and skin were tossed into pot. I tried to think of what spices would go well with it. Cardamom and vanilla came to mind so that’s’s what I’ve gone with. While it was brewing, I saw the saffron :). You know what happened. A tiny pinch only. Sugar, some cups of water later and 15 minutes of cooking time, we were...
Nigerian Agbalumo Vinegar, In Progress
Over the holidays, I got so many vinegars to add to my growing collection. I now have bottles of Mango, Lime, Palm, Cane Sugar, Champagne, Sherry and others…so much so I’m beginning to think of setting up a rack. The mango vinegar inspired me to try a version with Agbalumo. My thinking is that some of the flavour would be extracted and I could use it in gastriques, vinaigrettes and marinades. We’ll see. This recipe is easy peasy pie. Essentially, you get some flesh ready. Combine it with vinegar, and you’re good to go. I say we’ll see because it’ll...
Nine (9) Awesome Bake Sale Recipes
Here’s what I baked for the Book & Bake Sale Banana bread Brownies, two ways – chocolate chip & white chocolate – pecan Chocolate chip cookies Glazed Lemon Cakes Chocolate cup cakes with 2 types of ganache (white chocolate mint and a regular milk chocolate) Rice Krispie treats Popcorn cake tray bake Chocolate cake crumble with M & Ms and candy in the mix Apple Cakes To drink: Zobo punch Apple ‘mojitos’ Water I paced myself and began baking 3 days before. 3 Days to the Bake Sale Zobo: I made the Zobo, after which I froze it in a number of containers. ...
Preparing for a Book & Bake Sale
Two weeks ago I organised a Book & Bake Sale. Why? It was two-fold – the intersection between having too many books and not enough shelves, and the desire to do contribute to a Blanket Drive organised by a friend of mine, Modupe for internally displaced people in Yola, north of Nigeria. Modupe wanted to collect 3000 blankets. I got courage and energy from the fact that this was for a good cause. Often, we want to do something to help the dire plight of those in need but lack the avenues to do so. Thanks to what we did, she...
In Season, In Season – Mangoes…
…are in season and I am stoked. Mangoes are in season across oceans and continents, from India to Pakistan, Australia to Nigeria. How fragrantly we’re joined. For me, the first fruits of the season are always eaten out of hand. We spend the first week or so re-acquainting ourselves with the familiar scents, part-ambrosia, part ‘tropical’, the delight that is the mango. This morning, I went to the market planning on buying lots of Agbalumo (cherries) but what should I see? Mangoes. I squealed in delight (can you squeal any other way), asking, panting, barely able to line up coherent...