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West African recipes

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Re: West African recipes

Postby Pepper Pig » Sun Oct 04, 2020 5:39 pm

I think the Hairy Bikers did an Africa series too but I only remember the Namibia episode.

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Re: West African recipes

Postby Stokey Sue » Sun Oct 04, 2020 9:23 pm

I remember Namibia - I think it was the point at which I decided I quite liked them.

But (I just checked) - it was part of a series called The Hairy Bikers Cookbook, they went to a rather random delectation of locations, they never claimed to have covered a region

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Re: West African recipes

Postby Amber » Wed Oct 07, 2020 12:00 am

Sorry for the late reply, we’ve had family visiting.

Thank you KDK, that’s very kind of you, but it’s not something we’d have often enough to warrant lots of research. I’m currently thinking the peanut butter, with a few experimental touches of extra ‘oomph’! Nadia Hussein does a similar traybake using peanut butter too, which we love. I can see lots of similar meals over this winter. :)

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Re: West African recipes

Postby karadekoolaid » Wed Oct 07, 2020 4:36 am

Here you go then, Amber. This is the peanut sauce I use for Indonesian recipes:
KKA’s Peanut Sauce
200 gms roasted peanuts or 150 gms peanut butter
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled}
1 medium tomato, chopped
Zest of 1 lime or two pieces lemongrass, chopped
2cm ginger
4 fresh green chiles ( fewer if you’re not a heat fan)
1 tbsp peanut oil
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 tbsps sugar
Salt if necessary
Water to thin

The method is simple. Just chuck everything in the blender and adjust to taste!

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Re: West African recipes

Postby Badger's Mate » Wed Oct 07, 2020 10:09 am

That sauce looks good. I used to do a simpler one but the details are a bit hazy now. Peanut butter, lime juice, fish sauce & chilli, iirc, perhaps with coconut milk or that block stuff. Mrs B is a great fan of the Karimix peanut relish - again that's in the Asian style.

By coincidence my ex-colleague rang out of the blue the other day, our first conversation for a couple of years, although we'd exchanged texts last year about meeting up this Spring before events overtook us. She pointed out that we hadn't visited Nigeria (they live in Kent) in our travels. My experience of Africa is limited to a couple of safaris in Botswana and Tanzania. We were supposed to be going again this month but of course that has gone now. In another life, Mrs B went to somewhere in North Africa but I've not been anywhere near. We would be even less qualified to write an African recipe book! :D

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Re: West African recipes

Postby scullion » Wed Oct 07, 2020 11:40 am

karadekoolaid wrote: This is the peanut sauce I use for Indonesian recipes:[...] The method is simple. Just chuck everything in the blender and adjust to taste!

i cheat - even simpler.
after being given a block of sambal pecel a few years back and then being told how the friend's mother in law made it and what with (even down to the removal of the growing tip in the peanuts to stop any chance of bitterness) - i use chunky peanut butter and a good sambal oelek. it may not be authentic but it's a pretty close match.

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Re: West African recipes

Postby Amber » Thu Oct 08, 2020 1:38 am

Thank you, KDK. :)

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Re: West African recipes

Postby Pepper Pig » Mon Feb 08, 2021 12:55 pm

This has just popped up on the Guardian travel pages. Nkate Nkwan from Ghana.

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2021 ... hana-accra

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Re: West African recipes

Postby Pepper Pig » Sat Feb 27, 2021 4:36 pm


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Re: West African recipes

Postby Stokey Sue » Sat Feb 27, 2021 6:12 pm

I was looking a African land snails on sale in the market yesterday, I thought they were no longer imported? Perhaps they are bred here
They are the size of oranges!

I just Googled - it seems there are current UK standards for farming them, so they are probably fine, is you like them

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Re: West African recipes

Postby ZeroCook » Sat Feb 27, 2021 8:23 pm

.

Also sold as pets :shock:

Slow cooked giant African land snails
http://www.northsouthfood.com/slow-cook ... ican-land-
snails/

How To Make Stew With Giant African Land Snails
https://www.wlrn.org/culture/2013-08-29 ... and-snails

Taste and texture
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyl ... ails-video

.

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Re: West African recipes

Postby karadekoolaid » Sun Feb 28, 2021 2:14 am

Ghanaian fritters and one for KK.

Thanks,Pepper!
Yotam is wayyyyyy off with his arepas. Sorry, mate, arepas don´t need egg yolks any more than scones do.All you need is 2 1/2 cups of water, a tsp of salt and 2 cups of masa harina. Dump the whole lot into a bowl and mix. The dough will gradually absorb all the water. Knead till smooth, then divide the dough into 8-10 equal parts and make a flattened ball of them.
Cook the arepas on a hotplate; just a tiny amount of oil because you don´t want to fry them. If you haven´t got a hotplate, a robust frying pan will do. Medium heat, 5 minutes each side, until they´re just browned a bit. If you then put them in a hot oven for 20 minutes, you´ll end up with hockey pucks, and for anyone with less than stainless steel teeth, you´ll be taking a visit to the dentist afterwards. You can put them in the oven to keep them warm, if you want, but usually, they´re served almost immediately.
His filling was ok - white cheese is very common as a filling, as is avocado, and chile? Why not! Classic fillings are:
White or yellow cheese
Pulled beef or pork
White cheese & black beans
"Perico" - which is scrambled egg with peppers, tomato, onion and coriander
Reina Pepiada - cooked chicken with avocado and mayonnaise
Cazón ( dogfish), which is cooked with sweet chile, onion, a touch of cumin and coriander.

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Re: West African recipes

Postby Badger's Mate » Sun Feb 28, 2021 11:37 am

I've certainly enjoyed African snails when my friend cooked them. As the links suggest, they are not unlike European snails or whelks, more the former. Only bigger. :D

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Re: West African recipes

Postby Stokey Sue » Sun Feb 28, 2021 11:42 am

Unfortunately Tim Hayward's video on the Guardian link seems to have expired

I would eat them but I've no wish to go to the trouble of preparing them just for me, I was just surprised to see them on display as I thought they'd gone from the market with the bush meat

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Re: West African recipes

Postby Earthmaiden » Sun Feb 28, 2021 12:37 pm

African Snails aren't such a 'thing' here in the Provinces :o, I have never seen them for sale. I'd try them but wouldn't much want to prepare them.

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Re: West African recipes

Postby PatsyMFagan » Sun Feb 28, 2021 12:42 pm

During my 5 years living on a narrowboat, I remember someone throwing a few of these giant snails into the canal ... I can't recall whether they were live or dead, nor can I remember what happened to them. All I know now those is that I didn't realise how irresponsible the perpetrator was :roll: :roll: :roll:

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Re: West African recipes

Postby Badger's Mate » Sun Feb 28, 2021 1:15 pm

African Snails aren't such a 'thing' here in the Provinces


They haven't got this far up the Lea valley either, but they're much more of a thing where I started from. In the intervening years, they'd have had time to crawl here. :D

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