Aqua Frescas, Cool waters. From The Spanish. Aguas frescas (Spanish “cool waters”) are a combination of fruits, cereals, flowers, or seeds blended with sugar and water to make light non-alcoholic beverages. They are popular in Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and the United States. Some of the more common flavors include tamarind, hibiscus, and agua de horchata. Aguas frescas are sold principally by street vendors but can also be found in bodegas, restaurants and juice bars; Wikipedia So yes, on the hot days of August, you need some of this. And a bit of that. All made with the base of...
The Character of Cucumbers
Crunch. Refreshing. Clean. Really, that’s all you need to know. All there is. Well, not all but most of what there is. This is the season for cucumbers, Cucumis sativus. Originally from Southern Asia, they now grow in most climes and regions of the world where they sliced, picked, eaten, juiced and more. I like cucumbers and I’m determined to do more than include them in my smoothies and salads. I’d very much like to enjoy their ‘clean’ flavour in drinks. My friend B considers cucumbers, like lettuce, a waste of space. Her thinking is, why should I invest my time in...
How To Roast Pumpkin
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 it down the middle with a serrated knife. With a spoon, I scoop out the centre of strands and pulp and seeds. I discard everything but the seeds which are delicious roasted. But you knew that. {The seeds get roasted in the final few minutes...
A Roundup of Beer Recipes for International Beer Day
Where do we start? With my fave beer recipe, obviously. Or fave two. Or ten. Shandy A delightful combo of Beer and ‘soft drink’ – from lemon-lime soda to Apple juice, also known as Radler. {Recipe} Chili Beer Sauce What more can I say? Beer and peppers in a hot sauce? Yum. {Recipe} Guinness Caramel Sauce A delightful, rich sauce that combines toffee flavours with the depth and slight bitter of stout. Great with churros. {Recipe} Guinness Bread Rolls The flavours of Guinness play up well in slightly chocolatey bread. Quite nice too. {Recipe} Beer Ice Cream Float Beer. Ice...
Recipes for Komkommertijd, Cucumber time
I was an adult when I learnt about Komkommertijd. I was an English-speaking adult in The Netherlands and so I thought of it as Komkommer time – a contraction of away and home. It was 2009, the year of my transition, my translation from grown-up to adulting. Or is it the other way round? Which one is the more mature, coming of age, coming into yourself reference? Which one is? I’m not sure anymore but all is progress, I think. Believe. In the United Kingdom and in some other places, the silly season is the period lasting for a few summer...
Friday Cocktails – Soursop with Coconut & Cardamom
This is beautiful. Really beautiful in a rich, creamy, totally tropical delight. A few ingredients and you’re well on your way to whipping up a delight. I’ve gone for fresh ingredients here – soursop, hand peeled; fresh coconut and lime juice but you could very well make your own cocktail with store-bought ones – cans of soursop juice, some ‘Malibu’ or other coconut liqueur. {How to process Soursop} {How to make Soursop cream} If you don’t have any Disaronno, add a drop or two of almond extract to your mix. Either way, finish with a squeeze of fresh lime juice. ...
A Talk – On Nigerian Cuisine
Yesterday, I gave a talk on Nigerian cuisine to a group of women at the 39th Nigeria Annual International Conference & Exhibition (NAICE) in conjunction with the Society of Petroleum Engineers, holding in Lagos, Nigeria. I thoroughly enjoyed myself but I almost always do when it comes to food, don’t I? First there was a tasting – we had a few dips, with plantain chips and pita crisps: Scent leaf dip Zobo pepper sauce Ube’camole Beer-Chili sauce (recipe soon) And then I shared my thoughts on Nigerian cuisine – its evolution from ‘sustenance’, to the present and future of documentation &...
Apple & Blueberry QuickBread
Here’s a sweet variation on the quickbread, with frozen blueberries and sauteed apples. You might need the following: {How to make quickbreads} (How to brown butter} {How to make vanilla powder} Don’t worry if you don’t have maple sugar – light brown would do. I don’t have much else to add. Just bake it. May your own variations – chocolate and bananas (Add chocolate chunks and cocoa powder? with bananas sauteed in rum or bourbon?) or pumpkin & spice with hazelnuts? Or a fruit cake version which would be awesome toasted with ice cream. Sigh, people, just go forth into...
How to Make Starch, Usi
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 to have with Banga soup. And fresh fish pepper soup. And other oily soups like Owho. A few things are essential: Good Starch The best starch come from the south of Nigeria. My Grandma used to make when she was younger, and stronger. At 93,...