This would be Nigerian pesto if there ever was such a thing. Take scent leaves and coconut and aromatics, season and combine with crushed, toasted egusi seeds. Have it with abacha. Think of that as the pasta of our nation :). Add some fish. And you’re good to go. I’ve been thinking of ingredients which could lend texture to a Nigerian pesto, from garri to melon seeds. I’m the end, I went with the latter because I wanted nutty flavours. Flavours that could act as pine nuts and parmesan cheese at the same time. This works beautifully. It also allowed me ‘launch’...
The Art of Pita Bread
Pita. Pita Bread. A delightful flatbread, the best of which is barely sweet, soft and with good ‘pocket’. The best pita bread I’ve had in my life has been from a Lebanese restaurant called Jedoudna in Dubai. I love Jedoudna because they bake their pitas to order. What does that deliver to you? Me? The freshest bread ever – warm and sweet. Can you tell I’m enamored? And from them, I learnt 5 things and more about pita. Here’s how the best pitas are made. You begin with a batch of dough, made to certain specifications. I like this (not-yet-tried though) recipe because the...
How To Make Some Kind of Peanut Brittle
Making toppings for desserts like brittles and pralines are relatively easy. They involve nuts and caramel. But easy doesn’t mean you should hurry through the process which might lead to ‘caring less’, it means a few steps with utmost care to accomplish great results. Brittle is a type of confection consisting of flat broken pieces of hard sugar candy embedded with nuts such as pecans, almonds, or peanuts.[1] It has many variations around the world, such as pasteli in Greece,[2] croquant in France,[3] gozinaki in Georgia, chikki in India and kotkoti in Bangladesh.[4][citation needed] In parts of the Middle East,...
Six (6) Drinks from & with Agbalumo
You can do a number of things with both the skin and the flesh, and seeds of the African Star Apple. At the start of my exploration, I didn’t realise how much of the flavour was in and could be extracted from the flesh. The notes below chart my progress with this fruit that can be drunk hot or cold, used in mocktails and cocktails. All hail the versatility of le fruit. I’ve observed that drinks with the skin and seeds tend to be clear while those involving the flesh end up cloudy. Interesting. Agbalumo Drink (Skin & Seeds) Quite frankly,...
Three (3) Sweet Recipes with Pawpaw
Pawpaw. Papaya. Suited to sweet.and savoury preparations. Spiralised Pawpaw. Fruit & Tea. Bruleed Toast. By now, you would know I have OCD. Compulsiveness in most of my ways. Like when I discover a new ingredient or see it in new light. You must know that I become consumed with it, using, learning, smelling, tasting, photographing it. I’ve had Pawpaw for most of my life, in its ripe form. Then a few years ago, I discovered the beauty that was it, ‘green’, in a salad. I also learnt that in parts of Nigeria – northern parts, it is used like a...
Don’t Bother With This Amarula-Tamarind Cocktail
As in seriously, trouble not yourself. For if you seek rich and cream, you’ll end up with yuck, the texture of grit and curd. When tamarind syrup meets cream at first, nothing much happens but gravity. I marvel at the gorgeous whirls stirred up just by pouring one drink into another. I get the umbrellas out. And then I stir and the result is disgusting – curdled milk. I can’t imagine this is what those of old enjoyed in possets. It ends up down the drain. No time-wasting. Proof that pretty to start off with, isn’t always pretty in the...
Friday Mocktails: Tsamiya Soda
or Tamarind Soda, in the manner of Jarritos’s Tamarindo. All that is required is tamarind syrup, topped up with soda water, tonic water or ginger ale. The plain tamarind syrup is nice, but I love the tamarind-ginger version as the flavours are very gingerale’sque. You’ll need ice, a stirrer and an umbrella. Just because. You’ll pour the syrup on the rocks and top it up with soda water and not much will happen but gradients. Worry not, the best is yet to come. Sit and stare. Watch it for soon, the transformation will occur. Get your stirrer ready. And in coordinated fashion,...
The Makings of Tamarind Syrup
I opted for cold-brewing dried tamarind. I rinsed the pods in water and put them in a jar. Then I topped up with sugar and water and refrigerated overnight. I gave it a few shakes in the course of its rest, to encourage the sugar dissolve and extract some of the earthy flavour of the tamarind. The next morning, the liquid had turned a nice brown and had thickened a bit. I cooked the mixture, two ways. One batch was plain, with additional sugar – tasting to sweeten. The end result was a brown liquid – sweet and tart, sour...
How To Process Agbalumo
Another look. Consider this the follow-up to The Anatomy of Agbalumo post. In the last few months, I’ve learnt more about agbalumo than I ever though, from its versatility as an ingredient to its nutritional qualities, its provenance across West Africa from Nigeria to Ghana, where it is known as Alasa, Alansa, Adisaa in Twi. The sweetest ones I’ve had are the ones I got this week – red-fleshed, huge and soft to the touch. Really juicy and from Benin Republic. These are the ones I used them in my Agbalumo liqueur. Looks Udara. Agbalumo. White star apple. Chrysophyllum albidum. African star apple,...