African night

Last night for our cooking group, we went to Francesca's house to learn how to make African stew and African soup. Francesca's family is from Nigeria and it was absolutely fascinating to learn about the foods from her culture. She said they had so much more variety of seeds, roots, spices than over here. Just with mushrooms she could reel off 100 different types which all had completely different tastes.

Francesca said the main staple meals were stew and soup but that you could make so many varieties of them to keep them from being boring. One of the side dishes she made was semolina mixed with water which turned out a bit like mashed potato but more dense. Over in Nigeria they eat with their hands and they would dip the semolina into the soup to eat.

A big thankyou to Francesca for a wonderful night that we could all learn and appreciate a different culture.

groundnut soup and semolina

chicken stew

STEW

1 large chicken or 10 pieces of drumstick chicken, 1kg beef, pork, goat meat (lamb), sheep or kangaroo.
225g fresh chillies or pepper (optional)
1.5kg fresh tomatoes (put thru blender) or tinned
2 large onions sliced
4 cloves garlic
2 small tins tomato puree
1/2 to 1 tsp thyme, coriander seeds, chilli powder, ground ginger, Allspice, ground parsley flakes, cinammon, mixed herbs, curry
250g mushrooms
salt to taste
500ml oil

Wash and cut meat into pieces (not drumsticks) Season with salt, onions and other spices. Add mushrooms and cook in 1/2 to 2 litres of water for 20-30mins until meat is tender. Use 1/2 the oil if you then want to fry cooked chicken until brown (this is optional). In another pot, heat 250ml oil and fry onions, garlic, chillies and fresh tomatoes for 10-20mins until fairly dry. Add tomato puree and chicken stock (what is left after chicken or meat removed) next. Stir thoroughly and add chicken or meat pieces. Simmer gently for 10mins until well blended. Drain off excess oil and stir in any chopped vegetables you want. Serve with boiled rice, semolina, sweet potato.

In Africa they serve it with yam cocoyam, cassava or cooked or fried plantain.

Groundnut Soup

500g roasted groundnut (peanuts) blended in processer
1litre of chicken stock (use from chicken stew)
4 fresh tomatoes.
Spices if desired.
Silverbeet
bok choy
fresh mushrooms
50g blended fresh or dry pepper
2 onions
1 capsicum
salt to taste
Optional - washed meat or fish, dry crayfish

Place wash meat in pot and add chicken stock. Season with salt and spices, mushrooms and pepper and boil for 10-20mins. Add fish and cook for another 5-10mins. If not using meat or fish, go straight to boil blended fresh tomatoes, onions, pepper and groundnut for 5-10mins until smooth. Add vegetables and rest of stock and simmer for 3 mins. Serve with same side dishes as above.