Fruits of my labour

Cassava "scotch" egg

Precious purchases from Abai store( see previous entry) found their way into some interesting West African recipes this week. Coconut pancakes with spicy sugar were delicious. A variation on Scotch eggs, with a layer of cassava puree and spicy peanut crust with Shito sauce was also tasty- the cassava puree could have been creamier…The Shito sauce (a hot pepper sauce with shrimp, and smoked fish) was tastier than the commercial variety I compared it to- here’s the recipe.  Ingmar 

Shito sauce

For 1 jar

Preparation time: about 30 minutes

2 red chillies,

1 red bell pepper/paprika,

2 cloves garlic, crushed

20 g dried shrimp

10 g dried smoked fish

2 cm fresh ginger, grated

200 ml sunflower oil

2 tablespoons tomato puree

1 teaspoon salt

Place the shrimp and fish in a medium sized bowl and cover with boiling water. Soak for 20 minutes.  Meanwhile toast the chillies and pepper over an open flame until the skins blister and blacken. Place them in a bowl, cover with cling film and leave for 15 minutes. They will start “sweating” and the skins will loosen. Scrape most of the blackened skin off with a sharp knife, remove the pith and chop. Place the flesh in a small saucepan with the rest of the ingredients and cook for about 30 minutes. Puree, allow to cool and transfer to a screw top jar.