This is for you @Naijawife. It all began on twitter.
Thank You For Your Help
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Dear friends – thank you for taking the time to respond to my survey on a Nigerian food & drink magazine. I promised to share some results of the 10-minute survey I conducted in early October on a Nigerian/African food & drink magazine. In Brief: 73 people from all over the world responded to this survey, majority of who are aged between 35 – 44 years. About half of the respondents are home-cooks (like me) and are of Caucasian and Nigerian heritage. Roughly half of the responding population is female.
Nigeria’s Rainy Season Produce: October
Seasons come and seasons go, and fruits remain the same. They appear, fruits with multiple harvest seasons.
Weekend Wonders: Bushels, Baskets & Flats of Tomatoes
When I first wrote about tomatoes, before the Marketplace/ Tomato post, I confess I’d never seen tomatoes sold anywhere else in the world in the same way. Until I woke up on a Saturday morning and came across a photo – of baskets of tomatoes in an Italian Piazza while flicking through ‘Waitrose Kitchen’, the in-house magazine of the British store. The September 2013 issue of the magazine features tomatoes on page 57. The writer, Rebecca Seal shares the beauty of tinned tomatoes -a store cupboard hero, and the provenance of Waitrose’s tinned tomatoes from sunny Italy. Nestled in a corner...
Things to do with Garden Eggs
The long-promised round up of garden egg posts. Delayed by a serious bout of the ‘flu which kept me off work, off play and unable to present the compilation when I planned. I’m still a bit weak. Only a few more additions to the pickles, and chutneys and sauces. I ‘made’ a new chutney from sweet, ripe plantains, boiled and combined with the green eggplant chutney, and spiced with rings of red hot chili peppers. I liked the result with many flavours: sweet, soft, spicy.
The Vibrant: Garden Eggs with Crushed Peanuts, Red Chilies & Cilantro
This recipe takes me back to where it all began – Nigeria. Where garden eggs are eaten as a snack, with a spicy peanut butter dip. In this recipe, the garden egg is sliced and garnished with grilled spring onions and red chilies, for colour. It is sprinkled with a dry peanut ‘crunch’ and drizzled with a peanut butter sauce. To finish? Cilantro. It makes for a vibrant and tasty dish with many dimensions and complementary flavours. The very first idea I had of making a dish with garden eggs was this salad. Not in the clearly defined way it...
The Easy: Quick Pickled Garden Egg Slices
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. I like! I love pickles, especially if they don’t leave a lingering ‘scent’. Like pickled daikon. {I love surveys too. And I would love you to take one I’ve designed on a Nigerian/ African food & drink publication. I want to know what you think...
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 Paticheri explored the world of chutneys and relishes in India in ‘The Great Chutney Mystery’. After journeying round the world from Wikipedia to websites and blogs, studying various relishes and condiments, she discovered that names are names as far as they are names. That names...
Nigeria’s Rainy Season Produce: September & Garden Eggs
In season, in season, garden eggs are in season. Truth be told they’ve been in season for a month or so now. Wheel-barrowed boys and men push these out-of-hand eggs around the city. Parking at office gates, awaiting the gong of closing time for sales to peak. Or outside school gates, though I doubt this is true, for aren’t adults more accustomed to the tastes of ‘bitter’ than children? Though seasonal, you can find them all year round. The non-season sees the disappearance of the wheelbarrows. Replaced by young men and women, expertly balancing trays of garden eggs and conical...