From journeys to Dubai souks, to cupboards in my kitchen, many spices are resident in my kitchen. From nutmeg to saffron and fragrant tea mixes, full of rose and jasmine. There are the thickest shavings of dried garlic, carob pods that hold ‘frozen’ glistening pools of flavor, dried galingale – I’ve never seen that before, accustomed as I am to the bright yellow rhizomes of Turmeric and the wrinkled slices of dried ginger– ever present in my Zobo, for the warm, back-of the throat-heat it brings. There’s nutmeg in its shell, rich, dark, shiny. This is how I see it...
Mango & Passion Fruit Eton Mess
Layers. Last of the season’s mangoes. Fruit. Cream. Whipped gently with sugar. Meringues. Fruit puree. Lime. Done. Got that?
How to Make Fish Pepper Soup
Winter and spring flee cooler climes, bringing warmth in their stead and we, here in Nigeria embrace the cool wetness of our rainy season. We celebrate corn, ube and days tucked in bed. We welcome steaming bowls of pepper soup, of fish, chicken and the like. Fish pepper soup, for life on the coast. Fresh or dried, there are a few suggestions to produce a tasty pot. Considering that fish cooks in a short time, infusing the soup with flavour, from pepper soup spices and also from the fish is a balancing act, one though that is important. Here are...
In Season/ Rainy Season
This is the season of waking up to storms – skies thick with grey and streaked with silver. Thunder, lightening, all are part of the rainy season. I need to equip myself well – ditch blue flannel blankets for tartan ones. Find good books to bury my head in, not necessarily buy but dig up and out from bookshelves and hidden drawers. Make cups of tea, from mint to spiced ones. And delight in fruits and vegetables of the season. Even ones past, and leaving, and those to come. Last weekend, my friend, N visited from Port Harcourt. She came...
The End. Of Mango Season
The season’s coming to an end. At least for the variety of mangoes I hold dear. They are going fast out of season. The mangoes are smaller, softer. Fewer trays are out. Stacked high before, they are now plateaus. I’m holding on hard. Its slipping away fast. I’m doing everything I can to keep it here forever. Eat one before I sleep, the taste lingering on my hands and pillow. Make fruit purees, strain and jar them. Make ice cream. Sigh. Though no way is this a valid way of lengthening time and love for I know the ice cream...
Five (5) Savoury Fruit Salads
Normally fruit – sweet and fresh are confined to desserts…but I like to go savoury with them sometimes. One of the first explorations was a mango salsa and I haven’t looked back since. While I won’t venture out yet to make a Banana salad…though now I think of it, I will…here are a few I’ve made recently. Though they end up looking and tasting different, there are a few guidelines for me, from flavour to textural considerations. Chili Some heat, to counter and balance the sweet. Could be fresh, could be dried. It would depend on personal preference…I like fresh chilies with...
Sunday Lunch – Scent Leaf Soup
One of the things I love the most about scent leaves is the fragrance and aroma when bruised – fresh, clean and citrusy. I’m from Edo state where Egusi is king. I’ve heard that there’s a soup, black soup is its name but I’ve never had it babe. One week day I came home from work. I had cooked beef and stock, an abundance of scent leaves which were beginning to age and not so gracefully, freshly washed bitter leaf and water leaf, about to go to sleep in pots outside, dry fish and energy. It was ‘soup night’ and...
Friday Cocktails: Nostalgic for Green Sands Shandy
If you were born in 19 whatever, you mightn’t have the foggiest idea about Green Sands Shandy. My Lord, it was the height of refreshment. Do you remember it? In its green bottle? It is what we drank when we graduated from Maltina and Chapman. And today and forever, it is the measure of the kind of alcohol I like to drink – weak, sparkling and refreshing. Judge me please :). The first time I thought about it after so long was in 2010, on a trip to Barcelona. We’d taken a cable car across the city and ended up...
Tres Horrible/ Lagos Polo Club Suya
So when I was done exploring the suya at Glover court, I decided to try out the suya at the Lagos Polo Court. And so it was that one evening, in a taxi home from work, I veered off Awolowo road, glad to be rid of the thick traffic that had built up thanks to the scarcity of petrol which had cars queuing up and spilling out of the gas stations. We arrived at white gates, crested with crossing polo sticks. From there, I got a view of sand, grass, ‘stables’ and buildings. I made to enter the ‘compund’ but...