Couscous

Having been away for a while, you would think that today's post would be nice and chilled. Infact, today's post is a bit of a rant, so bear with me.
I am getting a bit fed up of some of the supermarkets and other stores offering poor qualities of ethnic foods. Why do they not get help or advice from people in the know? Why do they continue to impose these absolutely awful concoctions on people which in turn makes people averse to eating ethnic foods? There are two dishes that seem to have entered the main stream (by that I mean supermarket shelves) which are being done so badly that I am thinking of writing to the offending supermarkets and stores. One is tabbouleh and the other is couscous.
Who told the supermarket food technologists that tabbouleh is a lot of bulgur with a bit of coriander and tomatoes? If it was would it be called a salad? Having said that I have seen rice and pasta salad by which they mean cold rice and pasta. Tabbouleh when it is done properly is so beautiful, fragrant and light. Can someone please tell the supermarkets, the food stores and the cafes that tabbouleh is a mixture of herbs with a little bit of bulgur? I would love to tell them but I have lost my voice shouting.
Speaking of shouting, I decided to take a short walk to my local supermarket to do some research on couscous. This was a bad idea as all I wanted to do at the end was shout. Couscous has also entered mainstream because of a number of chefs using it in their cooking. One of these chefs does a couscous in a packet, one of these pre-steamed and dried things with lemon and lime flavour or something to the effect. How on earth do these people live with themselves offering such rubbish to the public and calling it food? Especially when you think he is a chef and is unlikely to serve that crap in his home. When you try and educate the person who has been eating nonsense called couscous about how couscous whould be light and fluffy and not gummy all you get is "that's not really how chef X does it". My reply is usually: "what does chef X know about couscous? Has he been making couscous all his life? Is couscous with chicken his mother's signature dish? No, he just happened to jump on the passing bandwagon which he will soon alight once another one comes along."
So give me a break people. Make tabbouleh the herb and spice salad that it is, not a main course accompaniment. Couscous should be steamed and not boiled. Of course if you come from a certain part of Africa, you are allowed to have couscous as a dessert and that's all.

Probably the best falafel in the world

I spent the whole of this week in Shepherd's Bush on a business course. Going somewhere new always bothers me a bit because I never know where the best places to eat are. And because lunch was not being provided, I either had to prepare lunch and take it with me or I had to find the best places to eat. Suffice to say that I didn't take my lunch with me. So I had to find the best places to have lunch in Shepherd's Bush. The other problem was that for the first two days of this course, we only had 30 minutes for lunch. This is just not enough time to go looking for a restaurant or to order food which takes too long to be made. The only option was to get a takeaway.
If you know Shepherd's Bush, you will know that there are a great number of different ethnic restaurants and takeaways including Syrian, Caribbean and a whole host more. Hidden inside Shepherd's Bush market was The Grill, a small and very clean place serving Middle Eastern food. I opted for the falafel and my friend had the chicken samosa. The falafel was fantastic freshly fried before my very eyes, served inside a flatbread filled with all the trimmings of fried aubergines, hummus, pickles, chopped salad, tahini and hot sauce.
I loved the falafel so much that I went back there a second time. Two wonderful things happened. Firstly, the guy serving me remembered my and my friend's order from the previous day and secondly, he told me where I was going wrong with my falafel preparation and why my falafel never tastes as good as I have had elsewhere. One of the things he said is that falafel is made in two ways - either with a mixture of broad beans and chick peas as with the Turkish or Egyptian falafel or with chick peas alone for the Arab or Israeli falafel.
I do know that I prefer the mix of beans and chick peas in my falafel and from now on that will be my way of making falafel. I have, however, been warned about making sure I soak the beans well to avoid poisoning.

Bread and Cakes

What has everyone got against bread? Since God said in Deuteronomy in the Bible that: "man shall not live by bread alone", some diet pedlers have taken it to mean that carbs are bad and have therefore, banned the eating of bread. It is not just the diet people who have got the knives out for bread, it seems that the market is also against us eating bread. Not content with higher potato prices thus increasing the price of fish and chips, we now have to contend with the rising price of wheat. This means that the price of bread will rise for the second time in six months (in the UK anyway). Be very afraid, because it is not just the price of bread that will increase; pizzas, biscuits and cookies will all become more expensive. This is to add to the increase in the cost of coffee, chocolate and dried milk.

One nice thing to come out of all these price rises is that more and more poeple are going for fair trade cocoa and coffee. For too long, the people who grew these sought after commodoties did not get the price that they deserved. Now companies have been forced by western consumers (hurrah for the consumer!) to make sure these people receive a fair wage for their work. So what do we do when prices around us are rising? We bake of course. That is what any sane person must do. I know for a fact that there are very few things which a cup of coffee and a slice of chocolate cake cannot fix.

In honour of fair trade products, I ask that you use at least one fair trade ingredient in the recipe. If you would like to know more about fair trade, try www.fairtrade.net.

Chocolate Cake
This recipe is an adaptation of one given to me by a Swedish friend.

You will need:
For the cake
50g butter
150ml evaporated milk
2 eggs
150g granulated sugar
200g flour, sifted
3 tablespoon fairtrade cocoa powder
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
For the icing
100g butter
200ml double cream
4 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 teaspoon flour
2 tablespoon fairtrade cocoa powder
50g desiccated coconut, roasted

What to do
1. Preheat the oven to 190°C/Gas Mark 5. Grease a 26cm springform cake tin.
2. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over a gentle heat. Turn off the heat and stir in the milk.
3. Place the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl and whisk together until well combined. 4. Stir the butter mixture into egg yolk mixture.
5. Mix in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and vanilla essence.
6. Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake for 20-25 minutes.
7. Meanwhile, to make the icing, melt the butter in a small saucepan. Stir in the cream, sugar, flour and cocoa. Cook for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool.
8. When the cake has cooled enough for you to touch it, spread the icing over the cake and sprinkle the desiccated coconut all over the cake.
9. Have a slice or two of cake with freshly brewed fairtrade coffee.

Do you not feel better already? "Price rises? What price rises?" I hear you ask.

Curry, Kari

I love curries probably because I am of West African descent and I grew up eating spice. Curry is a word which is used to describe most Indian food but there are so many different curries of which most people are unaware. I don't always like Indian curries. I am, however, quite fond of the curries from South East Asia.

Before I met my friend Mikki, a Malaysian Chinese, I tried to avoid curries because I hadn't been introduced to the Malaysian curry and the Rendang. I also had never had a good Thai curry either. Then it was explained to me that it is not possible to not like curry. Why? Because curry is just a mixture of different spices which means that you can invent your own. You can prepare your curry just with the spices you like. One of the reasons why I don't like Indian curries is because of the turmeric and food colourings that they sometimes add to the sauces. Now, I have learnt to make a curry to my taste. I use very little turmeric and lot more of the other things I love like lime leaves and coriander.

Yesterday I prepared one of my favourite mixtures. It is perhaps my own version of an Indonesian curry. I use coriander (seeds and leaves), cumin, allspice berries and cinnamon. I also add peanut butter and coconut milk. It is one of the easiest and tastiest dishes I prepare. The recipe is at the bottom of this post.

Here is my Simply African Curry recipe
You will need
6-8 tablespoons vegetable oil
4-5 allspice berries, crushed
1 teaspoon coriander seeds, crushed
3 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
1 large onion, peeled and finely sliced
1-2 tablespoon crushed dried chillies
1 red pepper, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 medium courgettes, diced
1 chicken stock cube
1 tablespoon peanut butter
400ml coconut milk
400ml water
3-5 whole lime leaves
500g chicken or turkey breast, cut into 1½ cubes
salt to taste
a handful of coriander leaves, roughly chopped

What to do
1. Heat the oil in a pan.
2. Fry the allspice and coriander for about 30 secs.
3. Add the potatoes, onions and chillies and fry for 4-5 minutes, stirring constantly.
4. Add the vegetables, stock cube, peanut butter, coconut milk, water and lime leaves.
5. Stir well and put the lid on the pot. Let it simmer on medium heat for about 20 minutes.
6. Add the meat, put the lid back on and simmer for a further 10 minutes.
7. Add the coriander, check the taste and add some salt if needed.
8. Let it continue simmering at low heat for a further 5-10 minutes.
9. Serve with boiled white basmati or Thai fragrant rice

Going Bananas

Today's post is to share with you the recipes of a number of my favourite dishes made with bananas. Bananas are seen as the ultimate tropical food. They are highly nutritious and are recommended as part of our daily diet. They are full of fibre, low in calories and contain potassium, vitamin C, vitamin B6, folic acid and a number of amino acids which are bodies cannot make. Infact, research reported in the New England Journal of Medicine stated that eating a banana as part of a regular diet can cut the risk of strokes by as much as 40%.

There is a little problem associated with our lovely banana. The world's favourite fruit is facing extinction according to scientists. Scientists tell us that because we have tampered with the banana too much, it has now been rendered sterile and seedless. Selective plant breeding has made sure that the 300 or so varieties of bananas we have are pretty much the same (genetically). This means that if one banana falls ill, they will pretty much all fall ill. So what are we to do?

This is a good time for you to make all the banana bread, banana pies, rice bread and banana pudding you can muster. For we do not know how long we are going to have this lovely fruit around for. In honour of this major bake session, I have a listed a few of my recipes here.

Firstly, Rice Bread which is baked in Sierra Leone and Liberia. it is wonderful and I encourage you to try it.
You will need
6 large overripe bananas
1½ cup rice flour
¾ - 1 cup sugar (depending on the ripeness of the bananas)
1 whole nutmeg (finely grated)
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
6 tablespoon vegetable oil

What to do
1. Mash or blend the bananas into a smooth paste.
2. Mix in the flour slowly to avoid bumps.
3. Mix in the sugar slowly. Add enough sugar to your taste.
4. Add in the grated nutmeg, cinnamon and oil.
5. Make sure everything is mixed in properly and pour the mixture into a non-stick loaf tin. If you are using a loaf tin that sticks, rub in a drop of vegetable oil.
6. Bake for 45-60mins at 190°C/Gas Mark 5. You can put a skewer in to check for doneness.
7. Leave on a wire rack to cool.

Next is a recipe for Banana Pie which is taken from the book Desserter - Festligt och Gott, put together by the supermarket ICA in Sweden.
You will need
5 medium overripe bananas
1 can sweetened condensed milk
3 eggs
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 x 24 cm baked pie shell*

What to do

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C/Gas Mark 5.
2. Peel the bananas and mash with a fork. Add the sweetened condensed milk, eggs, nutmeg, allspice and the cinnamon. Mix well.
3. Pour the mixture into the pie shell. Turn the heat of the oven down. Bake the pie for around 30 minutes. Let the pie cool.
4. To serve, cut a slice and place in onto a plate. Dust with a mixture of ground cinnamon and icing sugar, serve with a spoonful of vanilla ice cream.

*I haven't included a recipe for the pie shell but if you do need one, please email me or leave a comment.

Finally, the easiest of the three recipes, by my reckoning is the Baked Bananas. It is another good recipe for using up those overripe bananas.
You will need
4 bananas
6 tablespoon orange juice
2 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 tablespoon melted butter
2 tablespoon roasted flaked almonds or desiccated coconut

What to do
1. Preheat the oven to 190°C/Gas Mark 5.
2. Poor the melted butter into a roasting dish. Peel the bananas and place in the dish. Pour the orange juice over the bananas and sprinkle the sugar. Bake for 15 minutes.
3.Sprinkle the almonds or desiccated coconut on top. Serve with some whipped cream or ice cream.

Not Just Indian!

So I am talking to a guy about ethnic food and about my new blog and he happily tells me that curry is one of his favourite foods. “Have you eaten any African food?” I ask him. With a sheepish grin, he replies faintly, “No.”

Why is it that when you talk about ethnic food, the foremost dish in most people’s minds is curry? Why is it that most of the people I talk to about ethnic eating only think of Indian, Chinese or Thai? Why haven’t many people living in London ever sampled African food or been to one of the many different South American restaurants springing up all over London?

I am quite surprised that the majority of people living in Europe’s most cosmopolitan city where you can hear people speak upwards of 300 different languages would not take the opportunity to experience the different cultures and food available. And this is not only aimed at the white population but also the majority of immigrants who also tend to stick to the food of their fathers.

It is a little bit like the Brits who go to Spain only to have fish and chips from a chip shop run by a British expatriate. I have to admit that when I lived in Sweden I took my own tea bags as I could not buy strong enough tea. I also bought clotted cream from the English shop in Stockholm. Shame on me! I made up by making sure I tried lots of different Swedish food and learnt to prepare them also. My favourite still is Jansson’s frestelse (Jansson’s temptation) made with potatoes and anchovies.

Now is a good time for us to embrace each other, learn about other foods, try to prepare things we’ve never had. You could even prepare your ‘exotic’ dinners to coincide with festivals or important dates in that culture. The modern British cuisine is changing and the taste for exotic and spicy foods continues.