African Recipes

How to cook Ghanian Avocado with Smoked Fish cooking method

2009-12-12T05:43:00.000-08:00

How to cook Avocado with Smoked Fish cooking method

Avocado with Smoked Fish

Ingredients
1/2 lb smoked fish 4 eggs, hard-boiled, with whites separated from yolks 1/4 cup milk 1/4 cup lime juice 1/4 tsp sugar 1/2 tsp salt 1/3 cup light cooking oil 2 tblsp olive oil 2 large ripe avocados 1 large red bell pepper, or a dozen pimentos from a can or jar

Steps in Preparation.

Remove the skin and bones from fish and flake the flesh with a fork. In a deep bowl, mash the egg yolks with the milk until they form a smooth paste. Add sugar, salt, and 1 tablespoon of the lime juice. Then beat in the vegetable oil, a teaspoon or so at a time. Add the olive oil in the same gradual manner. chop egg whites finely and add them to the bowl, along with the fish. Combine thoroughly but gently.

Just before serving, cut the avocados in half, remove pits, and fill cavities with the fish mixture. Garnish with pepper or pimento, and pass around the remaining lime juice to sprinkle on individual servings.

How to prepare the Calabar Edikaikong Soup.

2009-12-12T05:28:00.000-08:00

How to prepare the Calabar Edikaikong Soup.

Ingredients.

Ugu Leaves (subsitute Spinach) -- 2 Heads (2 standard Packages of Spinach)
Waterleaf -- 2 Heads
Crayfish -- 1 Cup
(Dried Fish -- 1 Medium
Giant Snails (escargo) -- 4
Beef or Goat Meat -- 1.5lbs
Kpomo* -- 1 lb
Palm Oil -- 1.5 cups
Onions -- 1 Whole Large
Pepper -- 6 to 10 fresh hot or to taste
Seasoning -- 1 or 2 cubes of beef stock
Salt -- about 2 teaspoons (use discretion

Steps In Preparation
If necessary wash the ugu leaves. Pluck the leaves from the stem. Discard the stems. Collate and chop the leaves into thin (1/4 inch) slices. Set aside. Do same with waterleaves.
Blend crayfish into coase powder using electric grinder.
If african giant snails are available prepare them by cleaning the meat by rubbing with lemon or soaking and massaging in vineger until all slime is gone and meat is gritty to the touch. Canned escargo is a poor substitute for african giant snails. another substitute for snail may be scallops or any other sea mullusk. However, if any of these are not available, this part of the recipe may be omitted altogether.
Break up the dried fish in a bowl pour in boiling water, add about 2 spoon heaps of salt. Wash the fish in the hot salt water to remove sand and other dirt. Remove fish from salt water and set aside.
Grind peppers to a paste. Set aside.
*Traditionally, kpomo or hide of beef, is also added when preparing Edikaikong soup

What you do (The Cooking)

In a medium sized covered pot, bring all meats (beef, kpomo) but not snails to steam without adding water.
Add beef stock seasoning, 1/4 cup of water and salt, and cook till meat is tender (5 to 15 minutes).
Add waterleaves to meat and beef stock. Stir.
Add the crayfish, stir and let boil until most liquid in the pot evapourates.
Add the snails at this stage so that it will cook just right. Over-cooked snails are leathery, cooked just right, the snails are crunchy and easy to chew.
Add pepper and salt. Stir.
Add the ugu or spinach, stir and allow to boil over (about one minute).
Add the palm oil, stir and let boil for five more minutes.
Turn off heat and serve. Should be able to feed four adults.
African soups are mostly used to eat solid foods e.g pounded yam.

African Foods and Vegetables

2009-12-05T08:05:00.000-08:00

Making African Vegetables and Dishes.
Everybody needs food to maintain body growth. We all know MALNOURISHMENT is not a thing to show off. Getting the right food to eat in terms of balanced diet and sweetness has posed a great problem for quite a number of people. Also getting African recipes so to say with the African taste and value has also become a great problem for both Africans and foreigners.
The most exciting thing about African dishes is that an African food on its own can serve 3 or 4 out of the 6 classes of human food meaning that in terms of being delicious and nourishing you and I have no doubt that African Dishes are ranked #1.
1 Nigerian Dishes.
1.1 Water leaf African name (Gbure).
Water Leaf is a very nutritious vegetable with a great amount of vitamins widely eaten among the Yoruba’s in the western part of Nigeria.
INGREDIENTS
Fresh water leaf, Palm oil, Tomatoes, Fresh Pepper, Onions, salt, Prawns, Crayfish, Cooked Diced Meat, Cooked cat fish, Seasonings.
PREPARATION
1. Get your fresh water leaf and remove both the root and the flower and chop the vegetable (water leaf) into chewable sizes then wash it with warm water.
2. Wash the tomatoes, pepper and onions and blend them either with a blender or manually using grinding stone but preferably manually in order to have the African taste.
3. Get a clean pot on the cooker and add the palm oil. When the oil is hot add the blended mixture in 2 above, add salt and other seasonings i.e. prepare your stew.
4. When the stew is ready, add the water leaf and stir uniformly N.B the water leaf must be plenty so that the food will be thick it is not tasty when watery. Add other seasonings and all other ingredients listed as preferred.
5. Leave to boil for about 4 – 10 minutes and serve stylishly along with any carbohydrate say Semolina.

1.2 Beans cake African Name (Moi Moi).

Beans cake called moi moi in Nigeria as served as a very good breakfast eaten along with Bread, pap and Flakes to make a nice combination and give a balanced diet.
It looks beautiful with its light brown color and sweet aroma.
INGREDIENTS
Beans, pepper, onions, oil, boiled egg, crayfish, smoked fish, salt and seasonings.
PREPARATION
1. Soak your beans in water for about 1 – 2 hours then wash till the back is peeled off and the water is clean and clear then sieve off the beans.
2. Add pepper and enough onions to the beans and blend. After blending add enough water but avoid being watery.
3. Add oil, seasoning, crayfish, salt and diced smoked fish to the grinded beans and stir thoroughly.
4. Now you have the option of either making your meal with big leaves or nylons but to have the real African taste the leaves are needed. N.B for a beginner it is advisable to use nylons (preferably water nylons) because only the experts know the kind of African leaves that spices up your food and not make them bitter.
5. Pour an equal quantity of the mixture in all the nylons (say about 1 glass cup) and put into each nylon a boiled egg.
6. Put the pot on the cooker and add a little amount of water then put the nylons into the pot. Watch constantly in order to put more water incase the water dries up and avoid letting water cover the nylons.
7. The mixture solidifies when cooked and can be served along with pap for breakfast, rice for lunch and bread for dinner or any other considerable meal.

1.3 Baked yam African name (Ojojo).

The name baked Yam sounds so funny and impossible, but this snack or meal has served Africans a good way of combining carbohydrates, vitamins and fats and oil into a single one.
Africans are full of creativity when it comes to cooking.

INGREDIENTS
Water yam, salt, crayfish, palm or groundnut oil, egg, seasoning.

PREPARATION

1. Get the back cover of the fresh water yam peeled off.
2. Grate the yam.
3. Add salt to the grated yam.
4. Cut the boiled egg into pieces.

1.4 ikokore
Ikokore is a wonderful diet widely eaten among the ijebu people of Nigeria and with its wonderful spices and texture, you can be sure it will give you the right satisfaction.
INGREDIENTS
1 water yam of medium size,
chopped meat or chicken stock,
448g of smoked dry fish ,
1 onion ,
½ teaspoon locust beans ,
2 teaspoons tomato paste ,
0.1litre of palm oil ,2 teaspoons fresh pepper (grinded and dry) ,
other seasonings,
Salt.
PREPARATION
Peel water yam then wash and grate the yam. Put the grated yam in the cooking pot then add all the ingredients except fish and salt (make sure the onion is grinded). Add little water say about 300 ml of water and cook gently for 1 hour.
Cleanse your fish of all bones and impurities and wash then you add it to the mixture.
Mix the grated yam together, and add salt and other desired seasoning or spices. Simmer for about 35 to 45 minutes till the yam is cooked and make sure the meal is served hot to really feel the African taste.

2 Senegalese dishes.
2.1 YASSA
This is a delicious Senegalese Dish. It is best eaten in the traditional way by putting the chicken and the sauce over rice while in the pot.
Let everyone sit around the pot and everyone gets his/her own rice from the pot and then the chicken as desired. To most Senegalese, asking someone else for help to break
Some part of the chicken is the real fun.

INGREDIENTS
- Laps of chicken, clean and washed
-0.5 cup white wine vinegar
-red pepper
-0.5 cup peanut oil
-1 .5 cup of lemon juice
-2 or 3 sliced onions, -4 bay leaves
-2 sprigs of thyme
-2 cups of water

Mix the lemon juice, the vinegar, half of the specified oil, the onions and pour the mixture on the chicken pieces in a bowl. Soak in sauce (marinade) overnight, or longer. Remove the chicken and the onions from the marinade. Partially cook the chicken i.e. brown the chicken on both sides. Fry the onions in the remaining oil for a few minutes. Add the marinade, thyme, hot pepper, water and bay leaves. Cook just below boil or simmer on medium heat for about 10 minutes. Return the chicken to the sauce and cook until done, about 30 to 45 minutes and serve stylishly.