I always had this idea that Kenyan food didn’t use pepper or chilies. Let me say I underestimated both. True, chilies are common but peppercorns are, and that too is heat, ladies and gentlemen. One of the first things I ate in Nai was a Thai Chicken salad at Java House – it set my mouth on […]
Month: October 2016
Talking about The New Nigerian Kitchen on CNN’s African Voices
Dreams eh? Do. Come. True. Just do you, to the best of your ability. Do you. So thrilled to have been featured in the Kitchen Crafter’s episode on CNN African Voices, talking about The New Nigerian Kitchen, Culinary arts and heritage and having a blast I hope you enjoy it! I loved recording!! xxx
Nigerian ‘Concept’ Dish: Beans & Dodo
The Concept I said my next concept dish would be plantains, so here we are. When I was growing up, we ate beans on Wednesday and Fridays, afternoons only. We ate beans with fish – fresh, fried, smoked…mostly fried. Dodo, fried yam and garri were accompaniments sometimes. Though I loved the beans my mum cooked, […]
Ideas in Puff Puff: Easy Twists
I love Puff Puff and trying out new versions is what I love to do – not to say how easy it is to actually do. Some ways Make a new base for the batter So instead of making your puff puff batter solely out of flour, you can add fruit or vegetable purees, like […]
In Season: Nigeria’s 1st Seasonal Produce Calendar V1.0
Yayyy to progress…. Oh my word, the journey, to catalogue, standardize, document Nigerian cuisine never stops! After four years of cataloguing what’s in season and when across Nigeria, I’ve finally put together the first version of the first ever seasonal produce calendar for Nigerian fruits and vegetables. This is one of the tenets of the […]
A Short History of Acarajé & Baianas, The Women Who Make Them
Because food is more than eating, and that which begins in pain can be transformed. Ever since I heard about Acarajé in 2009, I haven’t been the same. In ‘Women, Food and God‘, author Geneen Roth says that everything about life is on the plate. And it is true – joy, sorrow, remembrance, hope, worship, fellowship, pain, anger, […]
Eight (8) Nigerian Foods that are Double Double
Puff Puff. Chinchin. Garau Garau. Fio Fio. Moyin Moyin. ChukChuk. Kuli Kuli. Goody Goody. Double double. Or reduplication if you want to be proper and all linguistic. Because duplicated words, repeated words carry weight. There are things you aren’t conscious of, till somehow you become conscious of them and the patterns emerge. It all began with Deepa, […]