Nigerian Food in Brooklyn!

First, some confessions.  I haven't been able to keep up with my original 2012 schedule because of unforeseen real life events.  I won't subject you all to the gory details but suffice it to say that work has been crazy and I've had some apartment renovation emergencies.  I'm still going to try my best to complete all 12 countries this year but I won't be able to stick to any predetermined schedule.

Anyway, onwards and upwards to Nigeria! 

First for some interesting facts about this West African country:
- Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and the most populous country in the world where the majority of people are black
- Its economy is one of the fast-growing in Africa partly due to large oil reserves
- Nigerians are about 50% Muslim (in the north) and 50% Christian (in the south)
- The country gets its name from the Niger river and also borders the Atlantic ocean (hint:  fish is important in Nigerian cuisine)
- The largest city is Lagos, along the coast
- Nigerian cuisine has been heavily influenced by trade including the spice trade from Asia (hint:  Nigerian cuisine is hot and spicy)

I decided to organize a trip to an authentic Nigerian restaurant and was pleasantly surprised to find several good options in the outer boroughs.  I decided on Buka in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn because it had good reviews and wasn't too far afield:  http://bukanewyork.com/

My friends and I went for lunch and let's just say we tried a little of everything.  When we first arrived the place was completely empty but by the time we were midway through our entrees several hundred Nigerians showed up as part of a school reunion.  Talk about getting slammed - none of us could figure out how the kitchen accommodated the sudden onslaught!

Here are some pics of the restaurant before it got crowded:

Appetizers:
Moi moi is a characteristic Nigerian dish described on the menu as "ground steamed honey bean cake with hard boiled egg and flaked fish." I wasn't sure quite what to expect but it was really delicious.  Moi moi has a texture like pudding and tastes starchy, spicy and savory.

To round out the starters we also had akara (fried bean cakes with spicy dipping sauce), dun dun (yam fries with tomato and onion dipping sauce), suya (beef kebab with special local spices), and grilled shrimp with suya spices.

Main Dishes:


Spicy stew with Fufu:  This is the most popular meal in Nigeria according the Buka's menu.  Fufu is made from a root vegetable (either yam or cassava), similar to mashed potatoes in both taste and texture.  Fufu is served with a spicy tomato-based stew made with a variety of meats and sauces.  It is customary to eat fufu with your hands, dipping a small piece in the stew, and so the dish is served with a bowl of water to wash your fingers.  We chose the goat stew with efo, a sauce made with shredded spinach and dried fish.

Beef with Buka sauce:  The sauce is made with a special kind of beans and lots of peppers.  Delicious, but  be warned, this may be the spiciest dish known to man!

Grilled shrimp with fried rice:  Like the appetizer dish, shrimp kebab with the suya spices.

Asaro (yams cooked with fresh herbs in broth) and yam and eggs:  Yams are of course a staple in African cooking.  African yams a little different from yams in this country, firmer and lighter in color.

Igbin (large West African land snails!!):  Yes, we were actually adventurous enough to order this dish but no one was really crazy about it.  Very, very chewy with a somewhat muddy flavor.  Still, we were glad to say we tried it.  The snails are in the dish on the right in this picture:

Side dishes:  Joloff rice (with tomato and spices), brown beans, and fried plantains.

Like I said at the beginning, we tried a little of everything!


Beverages:

Probably the most unique thing we saw at Buka was the "Nigerian Viagra" behind the bar.  Apparently it's a sort of cure-all for aches, pains, etc.  The bartender told us it tastes terrible so no one was brave enough to try it.

We did, however, try palm wine, a lightly fermented drink with a fresh citrus taste, as well as some good Nigerian beers. 

And here is a picture of the group:

UK Fish 'N' Chips - Party

To begin with, let's just say that if you're having a fish 'n' chips party, plan on the cooking process being interactive.  You cannot make this dish very far in advance or it will get soggy.  So have plenty of appetizers, munchies, and beverages for your friends at the beginning.

Ploughman's Platter & Salad:

The ploughman's platter is a genius idea for an appetizer because you don't have to cook anything, just assemble.  The most important thing is the quality of the ingredients.  I used the following link as a very loose guide in creating my ploughman's platter (note, I did not attempt to make my own pickles):  http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/11532

I used rustic brown bread and some beautiful English cheddar and Stilton.  To be traditional, I threw in some cornichons on the side along with a pat of good quality butter.  I also included some sliced sopressata, just because I like it.

In addition to the ploughman's platter, I had plenty of nuts, chips and other munchies on hand.  I also made a salad with mixed baby greens, sliced grape tomatoes, Parmesan cheese and balsamic vinaigrette.

The Main Event:

First, the ingredients:  the vast majority, about 65% of English fish 'n' chips, is made with cod, so the choice of fish was easy.  For the chips you need to use a floury potato, with plenty of starch.   I used russet potatoes.

Next, I needed a really good traditional beer batter:
http://www.food.com/recipe/real-english-fish-and-chips-with-yorkshire-beer-batter-183399

I added a little old bay to the batter for extra flavor.  I was afraid the beer I used made it too bitter, so I added just a touch of sugar, as well as a splash of malt vinegar and fresh lemon juice.

For the frying process itself, I considered purchasing a deep fryer but decided against it because of the expense and the space needed to store an extra appliance.  Instead I opted to use my le creuset dutch oven and a deep fat thermometer.  My makeshift fry station looked a bit like a science experiment gone wrong but it actually worked out nicely.  My friends were standing by with a fire extinguisher just in case!

Good fish n' chips is all about the frying technique.  I followed the instructions in the beer batter recipe (link above) with great success.  Some extra tips:  sprinkle salt on the food as soon as you take it out of the oil and keep it warm in a 200 degree oven.



 



Sauces and Condiments:

I made sure to have plenty of traditional condiments on hand:  malt vinegar, tartar sauce, curry sauce, HP brown sauce, and, of course, ketchup.

The tartar sauce recipe could not have been easier and got rave reviews:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/tartar-sauce-recipe/index.html

The curry sauce took a little more love but was well worth the trouble:
http://norecipes.com/blog/fish-n-chips-with-curry-sauce/


Dessert:

My friend Fleur volunteered to make desserts, which was a huge help.  She brought traditional English shortbread cookies (dipped in chocolate, no less), some cookies with caramel and chocolate, and carrot cake.  Delicious!



And here's an extra pic of me enjoying the fruits of my labors:



Mushy Peas - An Epilogue:

Although I didn't have time to make it for the party, I really did want to try this modern version of English mushy peas:   http://britishfood.about.com/od/psrecipes/r/peapuree.htm 

I had some leftover fish n' chips ingredients and leftover sauces so I decided to try it on my own.  The addition of fresh mint makes the pea puree special.  It really adds a beautiful color to the plate of fish 'n' chips.

UK Fish 'N' Chips - Research and Planning

 

When I selected the UK as one of my countries, I knew I had to do fish n' chips.  My friends wholeheartedly agreed and so I began planning my fish n' chips party, my first event of 2012. 

First - some fun facts about fish n' chips, considered by many to be the English national dish:

• Chips originated in either Belgium or France, depending on who you ask; fried fish was brought to England by Jewish immigrants from Portugal and Spain.
• The idea of serving fish and chips together likely orginated in England but no one knows where or when.
• Charles Dickens' novel Oliver Twist, published in 1838, refers to a "fried fish warehouse" where the fish was served with bread or baked potatoes.
• Fish n' chips was one of the few foods never rationed during World War II, helping maintain morale on the homefront.
• The practice of serving fish n' chips wrapped in newspaper survived until the 1980's when newspaper ink was deemed unsafe to touch food.

So fish n' chips has a rich and lengthy history in the English diet, a very worthy star attraction for my little party.  But what else should I serve for UK night?

One obvious answer:  traditional condiments.  Everyone knows about malt vinegar and my American friends would expect tartar sauce.  I also discovered that curry sauce was a popular accompaniment at English fish n' chips shops or "chippies" as well as "brown sauce,"  a somewhat sweeter version of A1 steak sauce.

Mushy peas are the classic fish n' chips accompaniment.  Traditionally, the dish consists of dried marrow fat peas soaked overnight and boiled to a mush-like puree.  Although the traditional version does not sound appealing to American tastes, I did find some modernized recipes calling for fresh garden peas pureed with fresh mint.   A simple green salad would also make an excellent accompaniment.

I needed at least one more dish to round out the meal.  My friend Christi suggested a "ploughman's platter," a selection of cheeses, meats, and bread, as an appetizer.  Then my friend Fleur jumped in with an offer to make traditional English cookies for dessert.

Planning completed!

Plan for 2012

Get ready - I've set the schedule for 2012:

The goal is one country per month.  Some will be full-on dinner parties, some will be just a meal at home with me and my dog.  Restaurant and food shopping excursions may be on the agenda, as well, to help get into the spirit.

I selected the countries through a semi-random process, trying to get a good mix of well-known/lesser-known countries as well as a variety of regions and cultures.  Enjoy!

Jan - UK
Feb - Pakistan
Mar - Nigeria
Apr - Kuwait
May - Spain
Jun - Paraguay
Jul - Jamaica
Aug - Costa Rica
Sep - Singapore
Oct - Hungary
Nov - Georgia
Dec - Norway

Holiday Extra - Desserts

During the year I try to limit my dessert-making because, well, I eat too much of the finished product.  But the holidays are meant for a little indulgence, right? 

Looking back over my experiments in 2011, my favorite new dessert recipe was for alfajores, the Argentinian shortbread cookies with dulce de leche (milk caramel) filling:

http://southamericanfood.about.com/od/snacksstreetfood/r/alfajorpe.htm



I really wanted to share this with my family when I was home in Virginia for Christmas but could not find dulce de leche in the local grocery store.  So I went on-line and discovered the coolest thing ever - you can make milk caramel at home by simmering an unopened can of sweetened condensed milk in a pot of water!  It takes 2 hours of simmering, then just let the can cool, open and voila! - beautiful, thick caramel.  Here's a pic in case you don't believe me:

Also, since the UK will be my first country in 2012 I decided to try a recipe for sticky toffee pudding.  This English dessert has gotten quite a bit of buzz this year on the Food Network, etc., and so there are a lot of recipes out there.  I chose this one because it says you can make the cake part in advance, then heat it up with the butterscotch sauce right before serving:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sticky-toffee-pudding-with-butterscotch-sauce-recipe/index.html

The cake contains chopped dates but you would really never know it, the dates seem to disappear in the batter.  And the butterscotch sauce is what makes this dessert awesome! 

Azerbaijani Nights - Part 2

And now for the results of my Azerbaijani dinner party..

I kept everything small and casual - 2 simple appetizers, plov (the famous rice dish), and 2 other main dishes.  My friend Linda brought some baklava for dessert.  Linda and her friend Jane were kind enough to come early and help prepare.

The Appetizers:
http://www.azcookbook.com/olive-walnut-pomegranate-medley-zeytun-perverde/
http://www.news.az/recipes/27251  (Eggplant with tomato and garlic)

The olive-walnut-pomegranate medley is technically from Northern Iran but close enough to capture the right spirit.  I elected to use dried cranberries instead of pomegranate seeds since I was already using pomegranate in another dish (see lamb with pomegranate and chestnuts, below).  The recipe calls for "nasharab" or pomegranate paste which is the same thing as pomegranate molasses. 

Now I just needed something resembling Azerbaijani "tandoor" bread to serve with it.  After researching pictures and descriptions on the internet I decided that a selection of breads from a neighborhood Indian restaurant would work.

As second appetizer/side dish I chose an eggplant, tomato and garlic combination.  The recipes calls for salting the eggplant slices and letting them sit for several hours to draw out any bitterness.  One tip:  go light on the salt because the eggplant will soak up more than you think.  Also, you might try baking the eggplant slices with olive oil instead of frying to save time.

Plov:
http://www.azcookbook.com/layered-rice-pilaff-with-dried-fruits-chestnuts-parcha-dosheme-plov/

For the plov I used real basmati rice rather than American rice because it has a subtly different flavor.  You could definitely experiment with different types of meat and dried fruit in this dish.  One thing I found challenging was getting the saffron threads to dissolve in water even after grinding the threads as small as possible beforehand.  Afterwards I did some internet research.  The consensus was that saffron threads never completely dissolve and so a few visible threads in the finished dish are OK.

Other Main Dishes:

http://www.azcookbook.com/braised-lamb-with-pomegranates-and-chestnuts/
http://www.azcookbook.com/fish-bughlama/

For the lamb dish the most difficult part was extracting the pomegranate seeds or "arils."  Jane was incredibly patient dealing with those pomegranates!  Keep in mind that you can always spend a little extra money to buy the seeds already peeled.  The most important part of the dish is sauteing the onions with the meat until they are a deep golden brown, letting the flavors develop. 

The lemony fish with vegetables and herbs was simple and delicious and also very healthy.  Linda and Jane said the dish reminded them of Chinese-style steamed fish.

Finally, here are a few extra pics of the girls finishing preparations:

Azerbaijani Nights

For those of you who are wondering, Azerbaijan is a country in the Caucasus region straddling Europe and Asia, a member of the former Soviet Union.   It borders Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Iran and Turkey.  Oh, and it also borders the Caspian Sea - home of the sturgeon - so Azerbaijan is a major caviar producer.

Azerbaijani (or Azeri) cuisine has a lot in common with Turkey, Iran, and countries of the Middle East.  One particularly interesting factoid I discovered:  Azerbaijan boasts nine of the world's eleven climate zones.  The land is very fertile, producing a wide range of fruits and vegetables.  Fresh herbs are an important component of the cuisine. 

This picture of light snacks, Azeri style, sort of drives home the importance of fresh produce:

The national dish is Plov, otherwise known as rice pilaf.  To Americans this may seem like a humble dish but to the Azeris it is the star of the show, the guest of honor at every wedding feast.  Plov comes in a mind boggling number of different varieties involving various meats, herbs and dried fruits.  It is usually prepared in layers and includes saffron.   Here are some visuals:

As I was reading about the cuisine, especially the extensive use of herbs, I became more excited about it than I expected, so I decided to have a small dinner party rather than just fixing a single dish.  Plov for sure would be a prominent item on the menu.  Kebabs are also popular in Azerbaijan but without a charcoal grill I wasn't sure I could do them justice.  So I went searching on the web for recipes.

Compared to some other countries (Egypt and Argentina, for example) it was difficult to find Azeri recipes written in fluent English.  Many of the recipes I found appeared to be Russian in origin, written by people for whom English was obviously a second language.  Not that I'm being critical - my Russian is terrible - just saying...

Finally, I discovered this wonderful website created by an Azeri woman living in California:  http://www.azcookbook.com/  What a life-saver! 

Here I discovered a terrific recipe for plov made with chicken, chestnuts and dried fruit:    http://www.azcookbook.com/layered-rice-pilaff-with-dried-fruits-chestnuts-parcha-dosheme-plov

And some other great recipes:

-  Olive-walnut-pomegranate medley (to serve as an appetizer with bread):  http://www.azcookbook.com/olive-walnut-pomegranate-medley-zeytun-perverde/

- Braised lamb with chestnuts and pomegranate: http://www.azcookbook.com/braised-lamb-with-pomegranates-and-chestnuts/

- Lemony fish with vegetables and herbs (calls for sturgeon but helpfully recommends swordfish steaks as a substitute): http://www.azcookbook.com/fish-bughlama/

On another website I found this recipe for eggplant with tomato: http://www.news.az/recipes/27251

Bread is extremely important - tandoor bread cooked in a clay oven:

So I decided to order a selection of breads from an Indian restaurant to serve my guests.

Stay tuned for the results of my Azerbaijan experiment!