An Ode To Jollof

It deserves ALL the accolades. It includes my thoughts and voxpop, real views from real people on the Nigerian street. For bringing us to the table and kitchen, giving West African countries something to fight about 🙂 and something to unite over cc: #Jollofgate What do you think?

Definition: Jollof Wars, #Jollofwarz

Jollof Wars. A compound phrase made up of two words: Jollof of a red, spiced rice dish loved in every city and town ‘South of the Sahara’ and along the coast of West Africa. Synonyms: Djolof, Benachim (Gambia); Thiéboudienne (Senegal) Wars a state of competition or hostility between different people or groups. “she was at war with her parents” Characteristics The characteristic Jollof Wars image is set in Star Jedi Hollow Font These Star Wars Logo fonts are based upon the official Star Wars logo typeface. Star Jedi is a titling (capitals only) font, with a lot of variations and connections. Star Jedi is a bold...

Vote for me: Saveur Blog Awards Nomination 2018

Vote Nominate Kitchen Butterfly people :)! (Voting comes after nomination 🙂 Vote Nominate me – your favorite blog in the 9th annual SAVEUR Blog Awards because Nigerian food deserves all the accolades, deserves to go global, has such historical significance which the world needs to know, hear about, fall in love with.  Who: https://www.kitchenbutterfly.com  What: The Annual Saveur Food Blog Awards Where: https://www.saveur.com/blog-awards-nominations-2018  When: Now till the 25th of July, 2018 Why: Because Nigerian food deserves global acclaim, because Kitchen Butterfly does a great job of serving up the entire gamut of Nigerian culinary history, heritage, recipes, traditions, reimagined recipes and everything in between....

Lagos Food Festivals: Jollof & Other Things

Brought to you by your faves: Kitchen Butterfly & Eat.Drink.Lagos, because Jollof is life. If you beg to differ, show me where the fried or coconut rice celebration is at? I dare you. This year, we’re celebrating Jollof rice and ALL the things that it allows in the supporting cast. Because though J rice is always and forever, we do, I do admit that sometimes, a little sumn sumn adds to the vavavoom that is its deliciousness. What A celebration of Jollof, good food, craftsmanship and fun.  Where Muri Okunola Park, Victoria Island When Sunday, August the 19th, 2018 How...

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 arrives, we shelve boiling and frying for the first few weeks and months. What we enjoy is bakes. Shakshuka has been a firm fave and now, this tray bake. I like tray bakes – they can, if done right, be the one-pan dinner of the...

Nigerian Street Food: Golden Roasted Corn with Ube

aka Agbado yinyan.  It is the season for tasty oranges, cucumbers, pineapples and pyramids of Ube, purple African pears that must be roasted on hot coals or soaked in freshly boiled water to eat. When cooked, they taste like avocado, cut through with green olives and a touch of cream. It is our rainy season – summer and winter to other parts of the world but to us, at home in Nigeria, it is the very wet season. And corn is its pilgrim – roasted and boiled, companion to the pears very much in season. Fresh golden, toasted kernels fall...

Guest Post: Garri Musings/ A Garri Tale

This is a guest post by Fiyin of @curiousconeater I didn’t like garri growing up and even now – as I type this -, I still don’t like it much. I have, however had moments of joy with it in my short life. See, my dad was an avid soaker of garri, soaking some everyday in between meals and especially on Saturdays. Right before house fellowship, he would make a bowl – it was almost religion. I remember one particular Saturday at home in Akowonjo, Lagos where I grew up; I was eight, and in primary four. My dad went...

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 pressed, ‘soaked gari’ – a fine to coarse meal soaked as cereal with water or milk; to sides like ‘eba’, hot sticky dough similar to mashed potatoes but starchier and served with soups and stews; to salads of abacha, made from re-hydrated, shredded cassava; and...

The Importance of Telling Our Own Stories

Because people will say they want to tell them and use the opportunity to perpetuate a narrative of poverty rather than one of unity, of sameness, of similarities in spite of the glaring differences. One reason why Anthony Bourdain will be missed. Terribly. For the work he did to expand our thinking and our culinary and cultural horizons. I no longer jump at every offer to be featured on TV, radio and in print. To weigh in on podcasts, be interviewed, to get exposure (you foot the bills – for your time, ingredients, everything else, just so you know). I...