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The Afrocentric Diet

August 7, 2011 By
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Red, Orange and Yellow Tomatoes

Image by My Burnt Orange via Flickr

For those of you out there who know me and what I am like when I am relaxing at home, you will know very well that one of my favourite pass times is cooking. I have decided to shift gears a little bit and share more about my love of cooking… and eating. It is a very safe topic for me to blog about and will ensure I stay out of trouble… for a little while at least.

Well, I went completely tomato crazy this week when I suddenly decided that I just had to get my hands on red, orange and yellow tomatoes. Read here to see where I found them.

Now that I finally had them, almost 3 kilo grams of them, I realised I had to put them to good use. I will share what I made with the tomatoes over a series of posts on my blog, where you can view all the steps in photos. I have made pasta sauces and followed a recipe inspired by a celebrity chef, but I will reserve the recipes with the African flavour for Africaontheblog.

As I write, I have to ask myself, “What makes a dish Afrocentric?” I think there are 2 answers to that question. The first is that we will always get the very traditional meals which are authentically linked to a country or region. Meals like jollof (Nigeria), fufu (Ghana), ugali (Uganda: the widely eaten African white polenta if you like), guru ne matumbu (Zimbabwe) and seswaa (Botswana). The second factor which makes a meal Afrocentric is the actual ingredients. Ofcourse our standard onion and tomato based stews could easily be Italian, but what makes it different is what we add, and perhaps, as a third factor, how we present and eat the dish.

Included in my recipes reserved for AOTB are dishes made with ingredients such as Palm Oil, scotch bonnet chillis, goat and other key ingredients I will share as I cook.

Just as an aside, Palm Oil for one, is a very unique ingredient. And I am talking about palm oil in its natural unrefined state, where it is red in colour. This is very different to the palm oil which has been exported out of Malaysia and Indonesia as one of the world’s cheapest vegetable oils; a highly sought after commodity, and widely used in soaps, cosmetics and confectionary. The high demand and production of this refined, deodorised and bleached form of palm oil has been viewed as unsustainable and damaging to the environment, its impacts include: deforestation, habitat loss of critically endangered species such as the Orangutan and Sumatran Tiger, and a significant increase in greenhouse gas emissions. (source: Wikipedia)

But back to my palm oil; red and with a distinct smokey smell in its natural unrefined state. This is what I am growing to love and appreciate about nutrition from “back home.” The afrocentric diet is filled with natural and unrefined ingredients. You seldom hear of sugery ingredients, highly refined grains and processed foods as part of our staple diet. There is certainly something to be said about this, and I wonder whether we can teach the world about a better way to eat. I will explore this as well on my blog.

Until the next post, please tell me “What makes a dish Afrocentric” for you?

Please keep in touch and follow the journey at MyBurntOrange.

Follow this link for photos giving you a sneak preview of the recipes coming your way.

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Filed Under: African Culture, African Food, Emang, Ghana, Latest, Out of Africa Tagged With: , , ,

Red Fresh Mackerel Stew

July 25, 2011 By
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Red Zomi Palm Oil

Image by My Burnt Orange via Flickr

Today I am going to share one of the quick dishes I make if I have to cook after a hard day’s work. We all know how a modern working mum and wife with a taste for good old “home food” has to juggle her career, motherhood and family all at once, and time is of the essence. This meal is my adaptation of what my mother would have cooked for us at home, a Ghanaian inspired dish. It is quick and easy and will not stress you out if you cook it in the middle of the working week.

Fresh Mackerel Red Stew
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This is in fact a very simple dish. There is so much more you can do with it; add coriander or add more of your favourite spices, but the natural flavours of the ingredients are simply enough to give you that authentic fusion of West African influence.

Chop 1 onion
Chop 2 red tomatoes
Chop a fresh red chilli
1 tbspn tomato puree
1 clove of garlic
1 tsp fresh ginger
2 de-boned mackerels halved
2 to 3 tbsn palm oil, sit in hot water if it is solid

Fry the onions, garlic and ginger in the palm oil. I like everything with a touch a raw freshness to it still, so don’t worry about browning the onions unless you love them caremelised. Add 1 tablespoon of tomato puree, fry for a minute then add the fresh tomatoes and fry for a further 5 minutes. Add your seasoning, simply sea salt will do the trick. Add the mackerel and allow to brown for 5 minutes on each side. Be careful not to mash the fish. Add the chillies and serve on a bed of rice.

Throw on a simple salad on the side. Salads in many parts of Africa will consist of the African style of cucumber (you know what I mean right?) and some sliced onions. The closest I got to this was an ordinary English cucumber and red onions, but it did just the trick to get me thinking of having a meal as though I was back in Accra. Happy eating.

Follow this link for more step by step photos in this series.

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Filed Under: African Culture, African Food, Emang, Ghana, Latest, Out of Africa, West Africa Tagged With: , , , , ,

4 Must Have Ingredients for Jollof Rice

June 17, 2011 By
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Ingredients for making a fermented salsa. Cloc...

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Why would I want to share my 4 must have ingredients for Jollof Rice? Well, have you ever wanted to make a recipe and found out you were missing certain ingredients? Have you ever wished the recipe writer would say “if you don’t have these ingredients don’t bother” or “without these ingredients save the recipe for another day?” Today, my DH asked me to make him some Jollof Rice and I didn’t have all the ingredients but I knew those without which my recipe would be a disaster. So, I thought I’d share them with you:

1. Tomato Paste – Adds the rich tomato taste everyone enjoys.
2. 1 litre of Olive Oil – Prevents clumpy rice and makes the sauce rich.
3. Bell Pepper – It balances the taste of the tomatoes.
4. Garlic – Adds lots of flavour and tones down the sharpness of the tomatoes.

Jollof Rice is the meal most of my non-Nigerian friends ask me to make for their parties. I often tell them the internet is flooded with recipes but they still insist. Well, since I don’t mind cooking (it’s the cleaning that gets to me) I usually oblige. However, if you’re looking for a recipe to whip up you can use the below:

4 cups (or about 1 liter) white long grain rice
tomatoes and 1 bell pepper (without seeds if you don’t like things too hot)
OR 8 tins of plum tomato sauce and
3 tins of tomato paste
1 large Onion
Salt to taste
Dry Red Pepper to taste (like Cayenne pepper)
Meat or chicken stock (about 1 cup or ¼ liters) or seasoning cubes (about 4)
Hot water to thin out the tomato paste
16 kitchen size serving spoons of Olive Oil
2 bay leaves or a tablespoon of bay leaf
1 tablespoon of garlic powder

To start with blend the plum tomatoes, bell pepper and onion. Add hot water to the tomato paste and stir it into the blended onions and tomatoes. Put everything on the fire then add the salt, cayenne, bay leaf, garlic powder, chicken or meat stock and oil. Leave to simmer until it looks like a proper tomato sauce with the oil separated.

Next, parboil the rice to get rid of excess starch. This means putting the rice in boiling water then bringing it to a boil and rinsing it under cold water. Stir in the rice making sure there are no clumps.

Reduce the heat to simmer and for the rice to absorb the sauce. Once all the sauce has been absorbed, stir once with a wooden spoon and serve. You may also want to put the rice in a casserole dish and pour over the sauce. Put it in the oven to cook for 30 minutes on 180 degrees. Make sure you check it regularly for readiness.

What are your Jollof Rice tips? Please share them.

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Filed Under: Adetola Popoola, African Food, Latest Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Monsanto Out to Monopolize African Agriculture

June 13, 2011 By
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A Bakweri farmer working his cocoyam field on ...

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Monsanto, a U.S. based, multinational, agribusiness company, first came to my attention a few months ago when I watched the documentary Food, Inc. If you haven’t watched this documentary, I strongly recommend that you make some time to do that. You can watch the full movie in 11 parts on YouTube; you will never look at your food the same way again.

While Monsanto touts itself as an agricultural company whose aim to help farmers produce more while conserving more through their Genetically Modified (GM) seeds, the reality is that it’s all about the bottom line for Monsanto. The company simply wants to monopolize the seed market in the world and make the highest profits it can, with no concern for the adverse effects their actions have on the livelihood of farmers. In other words, it’s all about greed.

In the documentary, Food, Inc., I saw an American farmer who was driven out of business because he refused to buy Monsanto’s non-reproducing seeds. Since his neighbors all planted Monsanto seeds, this farmer was advised he would be in trouble if any of his reproducing seeds somehow got carried by wind and other pollinating agents into his neighbors’ farms. Monsanto harassed the farmer regularly and made it impossible for him to grow his reproducing seeds, that he eventually went out of business.

Now this same company is out to dominate the agricultural sector in Africa by partnering with governments to introduce Monsanto’s products to African farmers under the guise of development. In South Africa, where Monsanto has essentially been running the Massive Food Production Program (MFFP) on behalf of the government, 80% of Monsanto’s Genetically Modified maize failed to produce a crop in 2008/09. The farmers also expressed concerns about the GM crops which were inferior in quality to traditional maize, made people and animals who consumed it sick and which made the soil useless after a few years due to the chemicals farmers were instructed to use on their crops.

Africa, wake up and smell the coffee! Monsanto is not interested in developing your countries agriculturally. Rather, it’s prime interest is to establish a monopoly in African markets in order to fatten its coffers. Monsanto already has a monopoly in the American market with drastic consequences for American farmers and consumers. In scouring the web, news about Monsanto is generally negative. It makes me wonder whether African governments or organizations do any research before agreeing to these aid projects.

Despite Monsanto’s attempt to portray itself in a positive light on its website, reports lead to the conclusion that the company has violated its pledges for integrity, dialogue, transparency, sharing, benefits and respect again and again, leading some farmers to commit suicide. Let’s have more people stand up in Africa and say no to Monsanto. We should not allow GM crops to destroy farmers’ livelihoods, their health and the environment; nor should we let Monsanto monopolize agribusiness in Africa.

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Filed Under: Africa Matters, African Development, African Food, African Nations, African Politics, Latest, Minda Magero, Out of Africa Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Top 5 Must Eat Meals When Visiting Nigeria

June 3, 2011 By
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Jollof rice, also called 'Benachin' meaning on...

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1. Moin Moin – This is a sort of cake made with beans. Don’t let that put you off because I’m not a fan of beans either but if you get your hands on some really good moin moin believe me you will start to love beans. There is Moin Moin and then there is Moin Moin with seven lives (elemi meje). Moin Moin with seven lives is simply Moin Moin that has fish and other bits and bobs in it. It sometimes has pieces of corned beef or egg. I never liked the egg version till I tasted that made by a take away shop called Sweet Sensations. I hope they still serve the best Moin Moin. Please comment below if you know of better tasting Moin Moin apart from your Mum’s.

2. Jollof Rice – If none of your Nigerian friends has cooked this delicacy for you then they should be crossed off your Christmas gift list. Jollof rice rocks and you will find recipes for it all over the internet. Back home, I particularly like Mr Biggs’ Jollof Rice. Yes. I know a lot of people can’t stand Mr Biggs but their Jollof Rice was good to me. So, go for it. It’s a simple meal made with rich tomato sauce and rice. It’s simply wicked.

3. Edikaikong (not sure of spelling): If you like seafood then this is the sauce you’ve been waiting for all your life. As it’s a seafood vegetable sauce it won’t be served on its own. Edikaikong is served with balls of pounded yam or Eba. One of the vegetables used – Ugwu is very rich in iron and highly recommended for women of child bearing age. I know quite a number of take away shops sell this but I would recommend sitting down to eat this at a proper restaurant like B-Jays or at if you’re being hosted in a home.

4. Ogbono: This is another super sauce I only discovered about 10 years ago. I had often heard of it but had never tasted it. It’s excellent! Make sure you ask for the goat meat version. Of course if you’re vegetarian all you need is the fresh fish version. I would recommend eating this meal as well at B-Jays. They know how to do Nigerian food and their presentation is very good. Ogbono is very versatile and I normally throw a handful into my slow cooker with some spinach, egusi, dry fish and palm oil then go to work. All I need to do when I get back is make some pounded yam, Eba (cassava balls) or Amala (Dried Yam Balls). So you can also choose what to eat it with. I love it with Eba.

5. Gari and Suya: Not a meal that my Mum would serve but it was impossible to put this list together without adding it. This was the meal you had at Uni when you were either kind of skint or lazy. If you have quite a number of Nigerian friends then you might have heard of Suya. It’s quite simply barbecued meat but then it’s not that simple because it tastes soooo good. Very well seasoned and garnished with a melange of hot spices, tomatoes and onions.

Having grown up on a University campus, I can only recommend Suya spot. I know there were quite a number of good Suya spots on Allen Avenue and the National Museum in Onikan has its own Suya gurus. Gari is ever flowing in Nigeria but be very particular and ask your host/hostess for fresh Ijebu Gari with iced water – refreshing. Note fresh as it will still have that crunch from being freshly roasted.

So, there you go. You now have 5 meals to rotate while you’re visiting Nigeria. I must warn you though always make sure you taste a bit first especially if you’re not used to spicy food. Then, make sure you have loads of water on hand and try not to talk too much while eating.

Please feel free to update any of the information regarding the best places to eat these meals for first-time visitors. Also, if you have any questions about any of the dishes please feel free to ask.

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Filed Under: Adetola Popoola, African Food, Latest, Out of Africa

Pilau Recipe

May 26, 2011 By
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Pilau is a rice-based dish of Indian origin that has been adopted by Kenyans as their own. Many people serve Pilau at their weddings or prepare it when they have special guests coming to visit. It is commonly eaten with kachumbari, but you can substitute salad or other vegetable sides for kachumbari.

Spice Ingredients
3 Tablespoons Pilau Masala (a blend of spices obtainable in Kenya) or make your own by mixing the following spices:

1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp whole black peppercorns
1 Tablespoon whole cloves (not to be confused with garlic)
1 cinnamon stick (or 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon)
1/2 tsp cardamom pods (or 1/4 tsp ground cardamom)

Meal Ingredients
3 cups basmati or jasmine rice
1.5lb beef, chopped in bite-sized pieces
2 medium onions, chopped (red onions are best)
3 medium tomatoes, diced
2 tsp fresh ginger
6 cloves of garlic
2 Tablespoons cooking oil
1 tsp salt
6 cups water*

Directions
Combine the spice ingredients in a small bowl, cover with warm water, stir, and set aside.**
Press or pound the garlic and ginger together and set aside. Wash the rice, drain, and soak for an hour.

Heat oil in a dutch oven or deep pot. Add onions and sauté until glazed, stirring occasionally. Stir in the garlic and ginger and sauté for a minute. If using the Pilau Masala blend, stir in the masala and sauté for another couple of minutes. If using the soaked spices, wait to add them a little later.

Add the beef, cooking on high heat until browned. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Drain and add the rice to the meat, stirring thoroughly to coat each grain of rice with the oil. Stir in the tomatoes and simmer for a minute. If using soaked spices, mix them with water to make a total of 6 cups of water and add them now. If you added the spices earlier, just add 6 cups of water. Stir, cover and bring to the boil.

Reduce to low-medium heat and let simmer, stirring occasionally to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pot. Simmer until all the liquid has been absorbed. Remove from stove and serve hot with a side of kachumbari, salad or seasonal vegetables.

*You may substitute coconut milk for 3 cups of water, for added richness.
**If you don’t want the whole spices in your food, tie them in a sack or tea infuser before soaking them in warm water.

Image: Marilyn Barbone

Filed Under: African Culture, African Food, Latest, Minda Magero, Out of Africa Tagged With: , , , , ,

Kachumbari a tasty salad dish

January 25, 2011 By
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East African Salad dish

I was asked to post two blogs when starting here, and I have been wondering what to write which would be interesting. In the process of looking for ideas, I realised that every time I kept thinking of a tasty salad dish and everytime Kachumbari came to my mind. Well I thought I might share my receipe with those who would like to try Kachumbari my way!
Ingredients:
3 different types of capsicum (red, green and yellow)
Mango (I prefer the hard many as the ripe one is a bit difficult to chop into small pieces)
Spring onion, Onion, Tomatoes, Cucumber
Spices to taste:
Salt
Black and White pepper
Chillies
1 – 2 tablespoon Olive oil
1 – 2 teaspoon Vinegar
2 – 3 teaspoon Lemon juice
The next step is very easy. Chop all the ingredients into small cubes, but in a salad bowl, add all spices, then the olive oil, vinegar and lemon juice. Mix well and put in the fridge to rest. End voila you have a tasty Kachumbari salad.
Bon appetite

Filed Under: African Food, Elizabeth Horlemann, Latest, Out of Africa Tagged With: , , ,

Mandazi, a Kenyan Delicacy

January 3, 2011 By
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Mandazi (Andazi, singular), a delicacy enjoyed by Kenyans, are donut-like, deep-fried pastries similar to the West African puff puff or the American beignet. They can be served warm for breakfast or afternoon tea. Or even eaten cold as a snack or as dessert. In Kenya they say anytime is teatime; therefore, anytime is mandazi-time as well.

Ingredients:
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk, tepid
1/2 tsp cardamom/cinammon/ ginger/ all-spice (or a 1/2 tsp combination of all 4)
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 Tbsp. butter, melted
2 cups white flour
2 tsp. baking powder (or 1 tsp dry yeast)–or use self-rising flour to skip this step
Enough oil for deep frying

If using refrigerated milk, warm it before use, but make sure it’s only lukewarm. First mix the dry ingredients together, then add the liquid ingredients until the dough is soft but not sticky. Add more flour, as needed. Cover the dough and let stand for at least 2 hours at room temperature.

Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface until it is about 1/4 inch think. Cut into desired shapes and fry in hot oil. You may use a deep fryer. Fry until both sides are golden brown. Remove mandazi from oil and drain on paper towels. Serve when sufficiently cool.

Image: Food, Fun & Farm Life

Filed Under: African Culture, African Food, Latest, Minda Magero Tagged With: , ,

Top 10 Nigerian Snacks

December 26, 2010 By
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Dodo Chips

They say everyone loves chocolate but in Nigeria it would have to be Dodo or am I wrong?  Is it Hotel Chocolat or Cadbury’s this Christmas?

Although If I needed a snack back home I would not be looking to fry some plantain first. I’d probably head to Aboki (small tuck shop) and pick a few packets of Okin but how boring!

Shortly before I left home, my mum created a special bucket full of all sorts of good old Naija (the Nigerian way to say Nigerian) snacks.

It would regularly have chin chin, Dodo chips aka ikpekere, Dodo sticks aka Dodo kindo, chook chook, coconut candy, candy nut, sweet KoKoro (which I hate), Ofio or Ginger Nut (not my favourite either), roasted groundnut and coconut balls.

Puff Puff

I used to love when she’d come home with a cooler full of hot puff-puff from Lagos Island especially in the morning. There was nothing quite like hot puff puff sprinkled with sugar and a cold glass of Milo on a hot Saturday morning.

Anyway, I don’t think any of those snacks are in the same category as chocolate. Now, I would hate myself for sitting down to guzzle a box of chocolates in front of the TV when I could have sold it and even in the past I would have felt gross.

However, sitting down with a bag of chin chin or Dodo chips watching a really good Naija movie like Violated would make me feel really in my element.

Be sure to share what your favourite Naija snack is before you click away. And don’t worry if it’s a large mug of cold gari full of roasted groundnut or fried yam and Dodo with fish sauce from Anthony Village. I’m sure you’ll be in good company with those of us who like roasted yam on Modakeke-Ife road.

Also, please visit again as I will be experimenting with if Chin Chin can be baked as opposed to fried. I’ve already succeeded with grilling Dodo and not deep frying. Just wanted you to know before you crucify me for sprinkling sugar on puff puff.

Filed Under: Adetola Popoola, African Food, Latest, Out of Africa Tagged With: , , , ,

Not Home for the Holidays

December 24, 2010 By
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"Peruvian Christmas Angels" by Minda Magero

"Peruvian Christmas Angels" by Minda Magero

As far back as I can remember, my family in Kenya never celebrated Christmas the same way twice. The only consistent thing was that we would try to see extended family. This was partly because the country virtually ground to a halt in the period leading up to Christmas and stretching into the New Year, making it easier for family members from all corners of the country to convene in one location.

My family didn’t put up a Christmas tree or exchange gifts, but all around us the air was filled with Christmas songs, mostly sung by the Jamaican disco group Boney M. The group seemed to be the Christmas favorite when I was growing up. A friend here in the U.S. recently acquired some of their songs and was excited to walk down memory lane as he played them for me.

Christmas day itself was a simple affair in our family. We often attended a church service in the morning and then came home to a scrumptious meal of chapati, greens, and various meat dishes: beef, chicken, goat. I’m sure there was more, but these were my favorite dishes. My mom loves to cook and we love to eat. It was a thoroughly good partnership, except for having to do the dishes afterwards.

In the years that I’ve been away from Kenya, I have continued the tradition of celebrating Christmas a different way each year. It’s been fun to celebrate Christmas with friends from other parts of the world.

When I lived in Germany, I realized that their celebration begins on Christmas Eve. Most churches had late night or midnight services on this night, rather than on Christmas Day. Many of my friends celebrated Advent–the four Sundays leading up to Christmas. Christmas trees were ubiquitous, and the exchange of gifts was the big event on Christmas Day. The U.S. is not much different, except that there seems to be less emphasis on celebrating Christmas Eve and a bigger to-do about the exchange of gifts.

Last year I had a white Christmas when it snowed in Washington, DC; I was visiting friends. This year I will probably have a warm and sunny one in temperamental Texas. Whatever the weather, it’s always a fun and festive celebration of life. Having lived in so many different places, I carry pieces of each of these places with me. Sometimes I miss being with family in Kenya, or visiting the Weihnachtsmarkt and drinking Glühwein in Germany, but I don’t dwell too much on these things. There are far too many reasons to be joyful, even when I am not home for the holidays.

Filed Under: African Culture, AFRICAN DIASPORA, African Food, Latest, Minda Magero Tagged With: , ,
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