In this recipe, the spongy character of garden eggs is extolled. Its interesting that garden eggs take very well to pickling. The vinegar and spices add another dimension to a fruit that makes it suitable for a myriad of things – eating on its own, layered in a sandwich or chopped up into a salad....
The Experimental: Nigerian Garden Egg Chutney
This recipe makes the bitterness of garden eggs shine through. The green garden eggs are more bitter than their white counterparts. Either way, the sugar and spice work extremely well to create a balanced ‘condiment’ that tastes Africa, smells Indian, and eats well. In the manner of Thakkali Chutney. Weeks ago, my friend Deepa of...
New Yam Bake
New yam, new yam. By the end of June, I’m clamouring for the ground to give up its harvest of fresh yams – moist, white-fleshed, even if tasteless not as tasty as old yam, because by this time, old yam is both dry and spongy, and frankly hit and miss to select. When new yam...
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...
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...
Version 1.2: Nigerian Seasonal Produce Calendar
Becoming comfortable with progression is one of the best things to happen to me as an adult. Starting a thing and then making periodic changes to improve it. Often, we are loathe to begin because we don’t have it fully fleshed out and we believe the world might not be as accommodating of our step-wise...
From Ugep with More Love: Yam Mash & Yedem’blong
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...
Nigerian Seasonal Produce: Udara [Agbalumo, African Star Apple], #2
‘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 Keside Anosike – writer extraordinary who teases me...
Nigerian ‘Concept’ Dish: Dry Fish Skin & Yam Cannelloni with Peppersoup Consomme
The Concept This concept is all about reinventing peppersoup – taking it from warm and comforting to refined and clean. It’s about combining the popular sides of yam in this spicy broth with flaked fish and using the skin of the dried fish as a vehicle for flavour and texture in a cannelloni. How to make...