Nigerian Small Chops: Baked Garri-crusted Garden Eggs
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 […]
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The Vibrant: Garden Eggs with Crushed Peanuts, Red Chilies & Cilantro
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The Experimental: Nigerian Garden Egg Chutney
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The Classic: Nigerian Garden Egg Sauce
This recipe extols the creamy virtue of garden eggs. Their ability to form a soft, tasty sauce, redolent with eggplant flavours, imbued with hints of smoke, and delicious with plain, boiled vegetables like potatoes, yams and plantains. Discovering the delicacy that’s garden egg sauce in Nigeria. This is the start of an exploration. Starting where […]
My beloved scent leaves. My children give me the evil eye, ‘the 360 degree’ eye turn, the exasperated sighs, the ‘Oh Mama, everything is scent leaf‘. Well, so it is. This isn’t to say, its been all rosy. I remember making some Okro soup a year or two ago. I put more than a fair […]
I reach for her when a sweet and spicy combination requires a little something something, you know what I mean? Sometimes you need that additional flavor undernote when what you’re working with seems a little one-dimensional. Something to round it off nicely, sort of like orange zest would. Sort of… but not quite. I refer […]
And juiced wins hands down. I’m still here, Take 3 of 3 of the trial and error. Though my last experience with juicing sugarcane presented mixed results, I went ahead and tried again. I did two things differently. First – when the cloud of juice of sugarcane in my glass had settled, froth and flotsam […]
Once you have your peeled & prepped soursop, you can make a quick ‘cream’. All that’s required? Blitzing in the blender or food processor to ‘unify’ the texture. I tend to blend with a bit of water but any liquid would do. I store the blended mixture and use it in a wealth of ways […]
Annona muricata, also known as Soursop. Apparently, it is in the same genus as the chirimoya and the same family as the pawpaw. Growing up, this was one of my older sister’s favourite fruits. I’d watch her eat it and suck creamy pulp from black seeds. Occassionally, I would tuck in and enjoy but it was […]
Made with Agbalumo leather and pancake mix. There’s no doubt about whether or not the orange-plum coloured fruit is Agbalumo. You taste it, its very essence and you see it. I tore off bits of Agbalumo leather. In it went into some pancake mix, along with the fine zest of an orange. This got spooned […]
I’d never made fruit leather before. Never really thought about it till Chi of Oya Come Chop suggested making some leather when I made some Agbalumo Puree. And then flicking through Traditional Foods, I happened upon a recipe for Fruit leathers. Joy untold. Fruit leathers are homemade fruit rolls. They are a tasty chewy, dried fruit […]
This is a book I Love. Love, love, love. I bought it on a whim at CSS Bookstore last year. I flicked through it, and loved it. It touches on so many things I dream and hope for Nigeria and Nigerian kitchens. Everything from using produce in season, to preservation and new food combinations. ‘Eating is […]
It never ceases to amaze me just how connected we are, from Lagos to Laos. Scent leaves, Perilla, Shiso, of the family Lamiaceae. These herbaceous, perennial shrubs are cousins in the mint family I thought I knew everything about this plant. Growing up, it featured prominently in pepper soup, added at the last minute to bring […]
