My Guide to Food – Exploring and Mapping intersections between Nigerian Cuisine and Foods of the World
Garri, good for more than drinking and making into ‘Eba’. Garri, excellent for crusting and crumbing. And for toasting too. If you go to any self-respecting churrasco house with the stars and stripes of Brasilia, expect to be served farofa. Churrasco (Portuguese: [ʃuˈʁasku], Spanish: [tʃuˈrasko]) is a Portuguese and Spanish term referring to beef or grilled meat more […]
I love chia seeds in bakes and in the famed chia seed pudding. Chia seed pudding plays on the unique gelling quality of the seeds when soaked in liquid – they form a thick, tapioca-like mix that makes a paplike nutty pudding. This combination works a treat – mango puree with a delightful homemade coconut […]
Plantains…versatile veggie. So much to do with it, here’s one of them – plantain noodles. First discovered in 2010 en route some plantain dessert gnocchi. And long before the spiralizer craze. Since then, I’ve explored a few other options and here are some routes to plantain noodles, in three (3) steps. This works with both ripe […]
The truth is when I happen upon a new ingredient, I like to explore as much as I can. So I’ve done the soup and the salad and this time, it’s the deep-fried chips. I figured that would work better than roasted but that’ll be explored as well. Here, I deep-fried the chips for a […]
With my huge batch of cooked cassava chips, I wondered what else I could do. I considered making Aipim, a traditional Brazilian cake – dense, moist and apparently delicious. We, after all share histories of food and more with them. However, I wasn’t sure my cassava was of the right texture, as it was in […]
My obsession with re-imagining Nigerian cuisine often begins with street food. The end? Dishes with de- and re-constructed ingredients, new techniques applied to familiar flavours and more. Last August, I discovered cooked cassava shreds/ chips, also called Bobozi, Mbrakasi in the east and south of Nigeria. This popular street snack is sold with chunks of fresh coconut. This version sold […]
And on and on and on – Part 2 of the Baked Garri-crusted Garden Eggs. It involves a bake. Ideally, I would have like this to feature the baked garden eggs, a spicy sauce and Wara, locally produced cheese. Well, though I didn’t meet the ultimate test in my head, the end result was pretty […]
I am fascinated by how ideas come, how they’re created – so many elements, some seemingly random, yet they come together to test concepts, fuse thoughts and generally do something ‘new’. Like with garden eggs. I think I like the whole exploration, the journey, the process of building, of constructing, of putting together. I like […]
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 […]
Hi. My name is Ozoz. I’m a Nigerian food explorer who’s on a quest – to find and share the sweet, sweet nectar that’s food
