Mbuzi Baby

Two wonderful things I came home with from Kenya-

One was a very groovy dance number- Nwa Baby by Nigerian hiphopper- Flavour 

The other was this very wonderful kitchen tool called a mbuzi (which also means goat in Swahili), to which I promised to dedicate a post.

It is an ingenious gadget, a seat and coconut grater in one- who could think of such a thing?

At the risk of looking (very) foolish I decided to have documented my attempts to use it. It looked simple enough, it was demonstrated to me by its seller and I’ve also seem a picture or two, but in reality it takes a lot of skill, just the right swirl of the coconut and just the right pressure so one just grates the soft white fruit and not the brown shell… I have to get a lesson, pointers anyone?

The grated fresh coconut was so succulent, I wanted to eat it right there from the bowl, but excercised restraint, to use it in a pimped version of wali wa nazi- coconut rice laced with pieces of ripe mango, chilli, mint, fresh coriander, lime zest and juice, toasted peanuts and crisply fried onions, all in a delicious salad. We had it with roast chicken.

Wali wa nazi with mango

300 g basmati rice

1 teaspoon salt

400 ml thin coconut milk

1 red chilli, finely sliced

2 red onions, chopped

1 small bunch of fresh mint leaves, chopped

1 small bunch of fresh coriander leaves, chopped

grated zest and juice of 1 lime

6 tablespoons sunflower oil

3 shallots or small onions, thinly sliced

1 teaspoon sugar

1 large ripe mango, peeled and flesh cut into 1 cm cubes

100 g (10 tablespoons) fresh grated coconut

3 tablespoons toasted peanuts, chopped

Method: Preheat the oven to 200°C. Put the rice in an ovenproof saucepan with the salt, coconut milk  and 300 ml water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring, then place in the oven for another 20 minutes. Scoop into a colander and allow to cool. Mix the chilli, onions, fresh herbs, lime zest and juice with 2 tablespoons of the oil.  Meanwhile heat the remaining oil and fry the shallot slices with the sugar  to a crisp golden brown over a medium heat. Drain on a piece of paper towel. Mix the rice into the dressing and gently mix in the coconut, peanuts and mango cubes.  Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with the fried onions and serve.

Serves 4    

In search of tree tomatoes

Last week in Kenya, I was really looking forward to sinking my teeth into a dripping, juicy tree tomato after joining recently an FB discussion about the fruit started by writer Binyavanga Wainaina.

I was told by Kenyans in the know(you know who you are) I would find tree tomatoes (aka tamarillo) a plenty in Mombasa. 

I searched from Malindi to Mombasa old town and didn’t see a single one.. the closest I came was a not so nice tree tomato white chocolate and mousse in a very posh Mombasa eatery...

Fortunately I was cleverly distracted by a number of other gastronomic delights, not the least of which were the cooking untensils I brought home.. a handsome sieve, Kenyan made by Lion and a Chapti pan from the local Nakumatt( supermarket chain).

And this wonderful handmade mbuzi( coconut grater), to this ingenious gadget I want to dedicate a whole post (later).

Then the food- starting up North, in Malindi the best pizza and espresso I’ve had ouside Naples. I can’t decide whether to love or hate the Mediterranean flavour the Italians have added to this quaint town…

In Mombasa, the most delectable rice dishes- biriani, subtly spiced pilau, fluffy “wali wa nazi”- rice cooked in coconut milk. Spicy chicken tika and crisp “kuku choma” ( barbequed chicken), heavenly fresh naan bread baked in a tandoori oven and the small tangy,  juicy “katchumbari “(salads) on the side.

 A expert pavement chip-maker, producing the freshest, crispiest, potato chips with a sprinkling of a very fiery spice blend- perfect with a “bia biridi”( cold beer). Ingmar

“Mombasa Pilau, rice with all the spices you can think of!"

This was Agnes Maitha’s answer when asked for her favorite food.

 A short interview with Agnes about Kenyan Costal cooking.

Agnes is Mombasan born and bred. She speaks English, Swahili and Kamba.  She went hotel school where she learnt to cook but now works as a beautician.

What are the most frequently used ingredients here?

 Spices, everything contains spices. Fresh chillies, coconut and people eat a lot of rice.

Where or from who did you learn to cook?

I learnt quite a lot at school- hotel school and from my mother.

What is the staple food here?

I would say rice.

Do people here snack? What is typical snack food.

Oh yes they love their snacks- you’ve seen the baobab sweets and simsim balls sold on the streets? Then there's some of my favorites- potato bhaji,  also mkatewasinia- a sweetend baked rice pudding.

Do Coastal people eat out?

Yes, restaurants, café’s snack bars, street food, people are eating everywhere.

What are typical meals served for breakfast, lunch and dinner?

Lunch and dinner are mostly birianis, curries, kuku choma (grilled chicken), with a delicious simple salad- kachumbari- and rice, chapati’s, naan bread or chips But for breakfast we serve different food. Mahambri is a favorite, and a cassava dish called minogoya nazi.

coastal cooking food decoder

potato bhaji- small potatoes boiled, battered and deep fried to a fritter

simsim- sesame balls

biriani- spicy rice casserole served with meat, chicken, seafood or vegetables

kuku choma - grilled chicken

kachumbari- salad of tomato, onion, some fresh coriander, salt and lemon juice 

mahambri - a triangular shaped spicy fritter, sweentend and laced with coconut and cardamom.
minogoya nazi- cassava pieces stewed in sweetend coconut milk

Lunch: chicken tikka, naan and kachumbari,
 above left: chicken biriani, right baobab sweets, dried mango

  

Here's what happened to the grains

Back tracking to a previous post "Bag of Grains"- 8 August 2011.  Rather than cook these grains traditionally, the idea was to try something different, Even when raw, these grains have a lovely nuttiness. I wanted to enhance that but keep the recipes distinctly African- taking a look at what food-friends Nadia and Merijn from café Arabia-( see www.arabiacafe.nl) -have been doing with couscous and bulghur ( short of building a tower with the stuff, they’ve tried just about every variation) and I love how they combined the grains with lots of spices or fresh herbs and lemony flavours.. ok so hear goes-

First I toasted my grains and set off to work-

Fonio pilav

3 tablespoons oil

250 g white fonio

1 large onion, chopped

1 large carrot peeled and chopped

3 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced

1 cm piece of ginger, peeled and grated

1 teaspoon coriander seeds

½ teaspoon cumin seeds

750 ml vegetable stock

1 large ripe tomato, chopped

2 spring onions, chopped

Method: Heat a large frying pan and toast the fonio, for about the minutes. A nutty aroma will rise fro the pan. Stir with a wooden spoon to prevent burning. Remove from the pan. Toast the coriander and cumin seeds in the same pan. Grind the spices coarsely in a pestle and mortar. Heat the oil in the pan and soften the onion and carrot.  Add the garlic, ginger and spices and cook for a further 3 minutes. Add the fonio and fry for 2 more minutes. Add the stock and bring to the boil. Cook for about 30 minutes until done. Add more water if the fonio becomes too dry.  Remove from the heat and stir in the chopped tomato and spring onion.

Serves 4

Sweet millet couscous with mango

Somali Cuisine by Barlin Ali, is a very unusual cookbook.  In it there is a dessert recipe called Adriyad, from Nothern Solmalia spiced sweet angelhair pasta eaten with rice!

I’ve used it as inspiration for this millet recipe.

30 g butter

125 g toasted almonds, chopped

125 g golden raisins

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

125 g millet couscous (couscous de mil)

2 tablespoons of sugar

a pinch of salt

2 tablespoons honey

grated rind of 1 orange

a few drops of orange flower water

½ lemon

1 large ripe mango, peeled and sliced

Melt the butter in a pan and the nuts, raisins and spices and couscous and toast for a few minutes until the mixture releases a nutty aroma. Add 400 ml hot water, salt and sugar and bring to the boil. Cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and leave to swell. Loosen the grains with a fork, drizzle over some honey and mix in the orange rind and flower water. Season to taste with a few drops of lemon juice. Leave to cool to room temperature and serve with slices of ripe mango.
Serves 4. 

Jamie magazine

A fine opportunity for us to spread the word- guest blog about African food on the Dutch version of Jamie magazine's site.( Sorry to the English readers- you’ll get the idea..)

Take a look on www.jamiemagazine.nl - blog post for 18^th August and let us know what you think.

What is safou?

Safou is a tropical fruit which belongs to the trees Dacryodes edulis L. This  is an evergreen, tropical fruit tree which grows in the humid and sub-humid climates of West and Central Africa. It grows to about 20-30 meters  and can grow to be about 100 years old.

Why should you grow the safou tree? - The tree is well known for its fruits (safou), which are rich in protein, fat, fibre, minerals and essential amino acids. The oil, which is extracted from both the pulp and the seed, is rich in palmitic, oleic and linoleic acids. The tree is easy to cultivate It can provide a good income from sale of the fruits and their products.

The fruit is harvested when other crops are out of season and provides a staple food for 3-4 months of the year in some areas.

The safou tree is not yet a plantation crop, but is currently grown in small orchards.

If you ever come across the fruit, here is a tasty recipe-

Add the safou to the tomatoes

 

Roast tomatoes with safou

 6 ripe plum tomatoes, halved

3 tablespoons oil

3 clove garlic, peeled an coarsely chopped

salt an pepper

1 tablespoon honey

1 sprig fresh rosemary, chopped

6 safou fruit, washed

course sea salt

 Preheat the oven to 180°C. Place the tomatoes in a baking tray an sprinkle with the oil, garlic, salt  and pepper, honey and rosemary. Place in the oven and roast for 30 minutes. Place the safou between the tomatoes and bake for a further 15 minutes, turning the safou halfway. Break open the safou and scoop out the soft flesh. Sprinkle with course salt. Eat with the tomatoes and steaming white rice.

Serves 6 . 

Paris –Africa

For the price of a metro ticket you can travel from the Champs Elysees to the heart of Africa. Get off at the Chateau Rouge stop and you’ll be in the thick of it. Rue de Poissoniers host a fabulous market, busiest on a Sunday, fresh produce and much, much more. Leg of goat &  pigs trotters at the Boucherie d' Afrique, the ripest, pungent mangos at the fruit stalls.

Watch the constant movement of the street vendors, as they duck and dive from the “gendarmerie..” selling fresh ears of corn piled precariously  high onto supermarket trollies. And these strange vegetables called "safou" in the Congo and “prunes” in Cameroon They taste something like a slightly tart avocado with a large pip.. I've had them roast on a fire, but was told that stewed with tomatoes they're superb. 

Safou

I found alot of my goodies at El Mundo store, 28 rue Poulet. Monsieur the store keeper was most helpful and ever so gracious about  us taking lots 
of fotos in his shop. Look at these "Kikwanga" fufu sticks-  I’m still learning to appreciate their taste and strange texture, but they look so wholesome and appealing-l I WILL find a way to enjoy them..

Kikwanga

and  these shredded greens “mfumbwa” found in another shop. Mfumbwa which is a general name for wild greens in Congo, Angola and other central and west African countries. Spinach is always a good substitute.

shredded mfumbwa