Because when nature gives you a vessel, you use it. Corn husks are a great way to serve and wrap food. In Mexico, they are commonly dried and then rehydrated to wrap tamales – steamed pudding of corn and other ingredients. I like to use them in a variety of ways – there’s fresh and...
My children have fallen in love with Butternut squash soup. It’s our ‘winter’ of rain and cold so we’re lapping up soups with crusty bread. When I don’t want to fork out cash for expensive, imported Butternut squash, I buy Pumpkin. Prepping it is easy. I wash well and then try my best to cut...
Your foremost primer to making the best starch ever :). Starch. Usi to my Isoko heritage. Of cassava, like corn starch. Smooth, almost satiny on the fingers. And yes, this is the self same starch for stiffening clothes. Combined with palm oil, heated till a stretchy mass is formed, this is one of my favourite things...
If you want a nice side for dinner or alternatives to ‘starches’ and carbs, medleys are an excellent option. They can be steamed, sauteed or baked. To be honest, you can’t really go wrong – all it requires is knowing which combos you like/ work well and going for it. I prefer baked/ sauteed medleys...
Ages ago, I used to make handmade paper. In my mum’s blender in our backyard in Warri. The same blender that pureed our tomatoes and onions for stew. The very same one. When my children were old enough to learn about recycling, we made screens for scooping and drying our sheets of pink and lilac...
When you’ve just moved house, and you can’t locate the lid to your food processor yet need to process ‘solids’, I suggest you get out your blender. Before you argue with me about the boundaries of what one could consider ‘just moved’ house, I’ll let you know we have different standards of measurement. ‘Just moved’ is when I’m...
I’ve eaten cassava products all my life but I’d never tasted the cooked/ boiled tuber till last weekend. It is an interesting combination of starchy and chewy and a taste that isn’t as distinctive as I expected. What it looks like Think long tubers, about 20 – 30cm with tough brown skins bearing some resemblance...
You learn everyday. This technique uses a cup/ glass to separate mango cheek from flesh. You begin by slicing off the mango cheeks. I aim for as close to the stone/seed as possible so I leave very little behind. Once you’ve sliced off as many mango cheeks as you want, get a cup or glass...
Coconut and its water, the liquid sloshing around its belly. If you ever buy a coconut and hear no water when you shake, put it down my friend, that mother is no good. I remember when I was young and I wanted to get the water out of the brown, mature coconut. I would find...