African Recipes
| Chicken in Cumin Sauce |  |
from: Central Africa cooking method: boiling-simmering
An easy-to-make chicken stew. Cumin is a popular spice in Africa.
What
you need
• two onions, finely chopped
• one can tomato paste (or tomato sauce)
• one large can of stewed tomatoes or several fresh tomatoes
• four cloves of garlic, minced
• one teaspoon cumin
• cayenne pepper or red pepper, black pepper, salt (to taste)
• one chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
What you do
• In a large stew pot combine everything except the chicken. Stir until
all is well mixed. Bring to a slow boil then reduce heat, cover, and simmer
for about twenty minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Add chicken, cover, and simmer for another half hour or more, stirring
occasionally, until chicken is throughly cooked.
• Serve with Baton de Manioc / Chikwangue, or Fufu, or Rice.
| Baked Fish & Eggplant |  |
from: Central Africa cooking method: baking
African eggplants are usually the smaller, more bitter kind, but any kind will do. Bitter eggplant cooked with hot chile pepper is a common side dish in Central Africa.
What you need
• one pound of filleted fish (fillet of sole is good)
• one large eggplant (aubergine, or guinea squash), (or several small
ones), peeled and diced
• a few fresh tomatoes, chopped; or one can stewed tomatoes
• one onion, chopped
• one cup water
• cayenne pepper or red pepper, black pepper, salt
What you do
• Combine eggplant, onion, tomatoes, spices, and water in large pot.
Cover and simmer until vegetables are tender. Remove from heat and mash.
• Oil baking pan with oil. Place half of the vegetable mash into pan.
Layer fish over vegetables. Top with remaining mashed vegetables. Bake until
fish is fully done. (If you are afraid it might burn, cover it with foil.)
• Serve with Baton de Manioc / Chikwangue, or Fufu, and African Hot
Sauce.
| Brochettes |  |
from: all over Africa cooking method: broiling-grilling
Kebabs, kabobs, or shish kebabs (from the Turkish, siskebabi, roasted meat) are popular all over the world. What could be more basic than roasting meat on a stick? Scholars think that meat (or other food) was first cooked in Africa tens or hundreds of thousands of years ago -- and Africans have been roasting meat ever since. In French-speaking Africa, sticks of roasted meat are called brochettes, (from the French word for "skewer"), and they are often sold by vendors on city streets. There are lots of ways to prepare brochettes. Lamb (meat and kidneys) is preferred in Northern Africa; in Sub-Saharan Africa various meats are used. The basic process is to marinate the meat, thread it on a skewer, and grill it over a fire. There are no quantities for the ingredients in these recipes: how you make your marinade depends on how much meat you're cooking and what ingredients you like. (However, as a guide, the ingredients are listed by volume from largest to smallest.)
What you need
• a few pounds of beef (or lamb, or goat; or beef or lamb liver, kidney,
or heart); cut into bite-sized pieces (kidney, especially, should be rinsed
several times in cold water)
• onion, sweet green pepper, tomatoes (optional); cut into bite-sized
pieces
• Marinade # 1 (Peri-Peri style)
o oil
o fresh hot chile peppers (red peppers are typical), finely chopped
o lemon juice or lime juice (or cider vinegar)
o garlic, minced
o cayenne pepper or red pepper, or dried red pepper flakes
o paprika
o salt
• Marinade # 2 (Coupé-Coupé
style)
o oil
o Maggi® sauce (L'Arome Maggi®) or Maggi® cubes mixed with water
o cayenne pepper or red pepper, to taste; (try "Sand's" brand from
Nigeria)
• Marinade # 3 (Western Africa
style)
o oil
o vinegar (or cider vinegar)
o tomato, chopped
o onion, finely chopped
o garlic, minced
o fresh ginger, minced
o cayenne pepper or red pepper
o salt
• Marinade # 4 (Northern Africa
style)
o oil (olive oil if possible)
o vinegar (or cider vinegar)
o onion, finely chopped
o chile pepper, finely chopped
o parsley, minced
o cumin
o black pepper
o paprika
o salt
• Marinade # 5 (Northern Africa
style)
o oil (olive oil if possible)
o pimentos, finely chopped
o black pepper
o salt
What you do
• Use a mortar and pestle or a food processor to grind together all
of the marinade ingredients. In a glass bowl mix the meat and marinade, thoroughly
covering the meat. Allow the meat to marinate for at least an hour, several
hours if possible.
• Place the meat (and vegetables, if desired) on skewers.
• Cook the skewered meat on an outdoor grill, or under the oven broiler.
Baste with the remaining marinade, being sure that the marinade is fully cooked
after the last basting.
• Serve with Rice or bread, and African Hot Sauce or Pili-Pili Sauce
| Elephant Soup |  |
from: Central Africa cooking method: boiling-simmering
In African villages, a successful hunt means a share of fresh meat for everyone.
After traveling in equatorial Africa one observer wrote, "...the gorge
they all go in for after a successful elephant hunt is a thing to see--once".
(Mary Kingsley, Travels in West Africa, 1897.) There can still be more meat
than can be immediately consumed, especially when there are no refrigerators
or freezers, so a tradition of preserving meat by drying or smoking has developed
throughout Africa. Dried meat, called biltong (similar to jerky) is often
eaten as is. This recipe shows how dried meat can be used to make a soup or
stew.
What you need
• one-half pound of biltong, or dried or smoked meat like beef jerky
(the original recipe mentions elephant meat coated with salt and honey and
dried in the sun)
• six to eight cups of beef broth or beef stock
• one cup of mirepoix [diced carrots, onions, celery and herbs sautéed
in butter] (optional)
• two onions, finely chopped
• one cup shelled, roasted peanuts (or one-half cup peanut butter)
• one cup boiled chana dal (or any lentils or dried peas)
• one small leek, finely chopped
• one cup of Wumubu mushrooms (or any kind of mushrooms), (the original
recipe says that Wumubu are "a type of black African mushroom")
• two tablespoons of butter
• salt, black pepper (to taste)
• one-half cup cream
What you do
• Wash the biltong or dried meat in hot water, and cut it into bite-sized
pieces.
• In a large pot or dutch oven, combine the meat with enough cold water
to cover it, and cook over a low heat for twenty to thirty minutes.
• Add the mirepoix and beef broth and simmer for two hours.
• Add the onions, peanuts, and dal (lentils), mushrooms, and leek. Cook
until the dal are completely disintegrated.
• Adjust the seasoning. Add the butter and cream.
| Boiled and Mashed Vegetables |  |
from: Western Africa cooking
method: boiling-simmering
Various combinations of vegetables--boiled, or boiled, mashed, and seasoned--are
eaten in Western and Central Africa. The combination of various similar ingredients
in one dish (for example, maize and beans, yams and plantains, or chicken
and beef) is typical in African cookery.
Boiled Vegetables
What you need
• Any two or three of the following; washed, peeled, and cut into serving-sized
pieces:
o sweet cassava tubers (also called manioc, or yuca)
o plantains
o red potatoes or white potatoes
o sweet potatoes
o taro (also called cocoyam)
o yams
• salt
What you do
• Heat water and salt (to taste) to boiling in a saucepan. Add vegetables.
Cook until tender. Serve with any main dish.
Mashed Vegetables
What you need
• Any one of the vegetables listed above; washed, peeled, and cut into
serving-sized pieces
--or--
beans (such as red beans, kidney beans, black-eyed peas, cowpeas, or any other)
with one of the vegetables listed above
--or--
beans and corn (maize)
• salt
What you do
• Heat water and salt (to taste) to boiling in a saucepan. Add all ingredients.
Cook until tender. Drain water from pan, and mash (like mashed potatoes or
refried beans). Season with any or all (or none) of the following: fried onion,
palm oil, cayenne pepper or red pepper, hot sauce, ground dried shrimp, dried
fish, salted fish, or smoked fish.
Msickquatash
The combination of corn and beans seems very similar to succotash (corn and
lima beans, sometimes with sweet peppers), a favorite in the Southeastern
United States. So similar, that one might suspect an African origin for succotash
(especially since so much of the traditional cuisine of the Southeastern United
States has African influences). But gastronomic authorities state that succotash,
the recipe and the word, come from the Naragansett (Narragansett or Nanhigganeuck)
Indians of the Northeastern United States who made a corn dish called msickquatash.
It is interesting to note that succotash is most associated with the Southeastern
United States--might msickquatash been readily adopted by Africans in America
who were used to similar vegetable combinations?