You’ll never hear the last of it – how taken I was, still am with East Africa. All of it. At least all the parts I’ve visited – Zanzibar, Dar es Salaam and Nairobi. Where I had some of the most amazing drinks in my life Freshly juiced passion fruit, Zanzibar Like freshly juiced passion fruit. Bright orange, sweet and readily available. Did I mention reasonably priced? For a couple of US dollars or less! Freshly squeezed sugarcane, Nairobi Like freshly squeezed sugar cane juice of which I’ve been a fan since forever. Chai, Tea Masala, Zanzibar Love, love, love the...
Resources for the New, Growing & Confident Cook
A collection of links to help because ‘No better cook did dreaming alone make :)’ Thank me later Becoming a good cook is a cross between the creative and practical, with health & safety as the overarching theme. I’ve found a few resources which you might find useful: Culinary Arts Basics Everything you need to know, from the ground up – from food safety to how to use a knife! Link: Culinary Arts Basics Free Cooking School by The Kitchn The Kitchn’s Cooking School is FREE. 20 lessons in 20 days. Even if you’re a good cook, there are tips and...
Nigerian ‘Concept’ Dish: Beans & Garri ‘Truffles’
The Concept The concept here is of ‘truffles’. Like Chocolate truffles but not… A chocolate truffle is a type of chocolate confectionery, traditionally made with a chocolate ganache centre coated in chocolate, cocoa powder or chopped toasted nuts (typically hazelnuts,almonds or coconut), usually in a spherical, conical, or curved shape. Their name derives from their traditional shape, which resembles the truffle, an edible part of the tuber fungus; Source: Wikipedia Truffles because having stewed beans, sprinkled with garri reminds me of eating chocolate truffles. That contrast between crunchy outer and soft centre is a sensory delight. The Elements I grew up a garri lover,...
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner or Dessert: Grilled French Toast with Fruit & Cream
I have a love hate relationship with French Toast – it allows itself get so easily sidetracked, so ‘meh’ and so often that it takes a twist to get me hankering after it. And I’m not the only one. In Epicurious’s ‘Cook Like a Diner‘ series, David Tamarkin writes ‘The French Toast Notebooks’ and his Read: The French Toast Notebooks Welcome to Epicurious’ “Cook Like a Diner” series, where we obsess about the simple, iconic, super-crunchy pleasures of diner food—and figure out how to make those classic dishes at home. Like wholemeal bread. And yaji spice, crusted with cornflakes or...
Peanutty Red Amaranth
I love red amaranth, even though it has shown me ‘pepper’. Last December, I had a peanutty red amaranth side dish on my Big 60 menu. BIG 60 is an annual ‘pop up’ culture and lifestyle installation which is organized and installed by A Whitespace Creative Agency BIG 60 is an annual ‘pop up’ culture and lifestyle event by A Whitespace Creative Agency (AWCA) – an event which explores various themes of artistic and culinary creativity. This showcase is hosted annually at A Whitespace Lagos, with a unique theme underlining the event activities for each year. Big 60 In preparation for my...
Avocado-Suya Burger
All weekend, I’ve been thinking about this burger. Inspired by vegan burgers on @3.Bunnies Instagram’s account, I made a #NewNigerianKitchen, #Whole30 compliant version. You hass to try one of our Teriyaki Avocado Burgers ??? We took a small break away from social media to enjoy somebunny’s(Christina’s) birthday ?? Sometimes it’s nice to fall off grid for a few days and get lost in the mighty forest ??⛰ What has everyone else been up to this week? Sending good vibrations everybun’s way on this cold Wednesday ?❄️ A photo posted by Three Bunnies / Vegan Couple? (@3.bunnies) on Oct 19, 2016...
Groundnut-Dry Fish Pepper soup
Okwu-oji is a spiced peanut paste served with garden eggs. One day at work, one colleague, P brings a rather large tub of Okwu-oji for another colleague, O. O is sure he’ll never see the bottom of the tub and so was glad to gift me some (that huge tub emptied out sooner than we thought but yeah, first impressions :)). The instant he did, I knew I was going to put it in my pepper soup. Why? Well, I’ve been thinking a lot about food pairing and extending flavours by reinforcing complementary elements. See, some versions of Okwu-oji use...
Nigerian ‘Concept’ Dish: ‘Plantain’ & Groundnuts
The Concept This concept is as much about visual as it is about taste. In this dish I wanted to highlight: how street food – plantain (bole) & groundnuts can be translated to fine dining how to bring balance to a dish through food pairings how textures and flavours can be repeated in a dish in different ways to reinforce the concept – so the use of plantains in multiple ways, as well as groundnuts, peanuts The idea of sweet and spice works well in savoury dishes – this is a tenet in Thai and Indonesian cuisines. Sweet and spice elements...
Failure & Success – Goat Confit to Dambun Akuya
Because sometimes, in spite of your best intentions, things will fail spectacularly. All that’s important then is what you learn and what you decide to do with it. The idea for a goat confit came after a discussion with a friend, B. I don’t remember the exacts but I know I was at a store one Saturday evening determined to make it my weekend project. I’d confit’ed Duck before, so I wasn’t afraid. What I forgot was how easily and salty it could get. Perhaps it was time – so long ago that I had forgotten the process. Perhaps it...