The Concept This concept is about my love for Brazil and the beautiful combination of palm oil and coconut milk which at first glance sounds weird but then, when cooked is so delightful in a moqueca. Moqueca (IPA: [moˈkɛkɐ] or IPA: [muˈkɛkɐ] depending on the dialect, also spelled muqueca) is a Brazilian recipe based on salt water fish stew, tomatoes, onions, garlic and coriander. It is slowly cooked in a terra...
‘Nigerian Seasonal Produce’ is a monthly column published on the last Saturday of each month to celebrate Nigerian fruits & vegetables, and personal stories. In this column, a writer explores a specific seasonal fruit, vegetable or leafy green assigned by the editors of Kitchen Butterfly and based on the Nigerian Seasonal Produce Calendar. This month of September, we’re celebrating...
There are some connections I never make. I start in a certain place and move on and up from there, so the discovery of a fundamental aspect of the thing that leads to a discovery is amazing. Like Bitter Kola – seen on street corners, in trays, papery brown skin wrapping creamy, bitter white crunch...
So, here are the recipes Casesario promised – Passion Fruit Caipirinha and twists on the regular – I can tell you it is delicious – fragrant with the citrus and the rich tropical fragrance of the passion fruit. So I made a single serve cocktail using cubes of sugar and I love the way it was sweet...
Kilishi – Nigerian beef Jerky has been on my mind for the last few weeks. I’ve been reading a bit about the Afro-Brazilian culinary connections and came across Arroz de hauca, Hausa rice which is white rice cooked till soft and served with beef jerky and a few other sides, served to the gods and important...
I’ve always been fascinated by Mingau. By always, I mean since I learnt about it, about it’s existence. In trying to find out more about it, to classify it and understand it, I happened upon lots of Brazilian/ Portuguese references. Mingau, from the old Tupi mina’u means ‘that which is soaked‘. To this end, there...
The ‘Around the World’ series is my way of showing and sharing all the ways we are similar even in all the ways we’re different. Rice tables, Rice buffets are some of my favourite things, ever. I am very much a ‘buffet’ person but the idea of this focus – a central dish around which...
Mingau, a place on the north eastern coast of Brazil, in Bahia Mingua, a porridge of tapioca popularly eaten over Easter on Lagos island, Nigeria Mingau, in literature, of Brazil mentions repeatedly, ‘a sweetened hot drink of tapioca, water, and milk.‘ Mingau is a porridge made from milled cassava, cooked in coconut milk and finished with...
Smoke as a flavour is alluring, hardwired into our DNA, the DNA of homo sapiens since the discovery of fire. It’s why bottom pot is present as a desirable dish in many cultures around the world. From the discovery of fire to the preservation of food, it’s wormed its ways into our palates but for the longest time,...