Hello Africa, Tell Me What You’re Cooking

Written by Vincent Verrydt
Thursday, 07 July 2011 17:01

Finally! The Western world has woken up to Africa’s greatest secret – the secret of spice, of flavour and of soul. Africa’s “new cuisine” is a melting pot of diversity and cultural influences and now the newest trend on the global food scene. VINCENT VERRYDT unearths some home truths about African food and its newfound fame.

I challenge you to describe “African food”. Think about all its ingredients, its methods and its flavours – and don’t leave one delicious variable out. If you’re battling to complete this seemingly simple task, then you’ve probably realised that due to diversity and richness of internal and external cultural influences, African cuisine simply can’t be boxed or categorised.

Not only is the African continent home to hundreds of different tribes, but there is also an abundance of external cultures such as India, Asia and Europe (Portuguese, Dutch, German) that have influenced modern African cuisine. From all these influences “new African cuisine” was born and has grown to become a popular culinary trend in major cities around the world.
More and more Western people are becoming intrigued with ‘African’ food in all its spicy and flavourful glory. New York’s cultural hotspots such as Chinatown and Little Italy may soon have to step out of the cultural-culinary spotlight as emerging African establishments such as Xai Xai South African Wine Bar in Hell’s Kitchen and Africa Restaurant and Braai NYC in central Manhattan have opened their doors and soared in popularity.

And even traditional menus at well-regarded local US establishments are offering more African-inspired options on the menu – specifically those options from Ethiopia and Morocco in North Africa. Essentially, at the heart of this new African culinary craze is spice. Northern African countries have strong roots in the Mediterranean spice trade, and these spices are what bring most of the food styles found in Africa together.

Top chefs across the globe are not only using African recipes and ingredients but they are also integrating African spice such as cumin, paprika, saffron, coriander, caraway and turmeric into their own traditional recipes, thus creating new dishes that have managed to seduce even the most traditional of Western palates. And besides all the flavour, international foodies are also seeing the health benefits of African cuisine.

Unlike French and Italian dishes, African food does not traditionally use cream and butter in the cooking process. The flavours are natural, from the spices and ingredients themselves, and therefore African food contains less fat. Another win! While North Africa may currently be riding the popularity wave to international shores, it’s only a matter of time before the West discovers the rest of our African culinary secrets including

LM Prawns in peri-peri, Mopani worms, milk tart, bobotie and good old shisa nyama. Not to mention our game meat…

It’s a good thing foreigners have no idea how delicious zebra meat (simply marinated in olive oil and seasoned with coarse salt) really is, otherwise, before you know it, along with our A-grade fruit and vegetables, we’d be exporting all our stripeys!

Recipe

• Bitter Stout Salmon and Prawn Parcels
• Feeds: Four people
• You will need:
• Tin foil (cut into 20cm x 30cm squares)
• Oven tray
• Ingredients:
• 4 x pieces of salmon (+/- 180g each)
• 8 x queen prawns (de-shelled and deveined)
• 1 x punnet of snow peas (cut into 1cm pieces)
• 1 x red onion (thinly sliced)
• 80ml olive oil
• 20g fish spice or Maldon salt
• 60ml honey
• A handful of fresh coriander leaves to garnish
• For the marinade
• ½ can of Castle Milk Stout
• 50ml soya sauce
• 10ml fish sauce
• 5ml sesame oil
• 2 cloves of garlic (chopped)
• 10g fresh crushed ginger
• 20g brown sugar
• Juice of 1 lime

Method:

Combine all the marinade ingredients (make sure the sugar dissolves). Place salmon and prawns in a container and pour the marinade over the fish, and place in the fridge. Allow the flavours to be absorbed for at least 30 minutes.

Method for the parcels:

• Preheat the oven to 180º.
• Place the foil with shiny side facing up.
• Arrange the cut snow peas, baby corn and red onion in the centre of the foil in a small mound.
• Place the marinated fish on top of the vegetables.
• Intertwine two prawns and place on top of the fish.
• Drizzle with olive oil and honey and season with fish spice or Maldon salt.
• Pour two tablespoons of marinade over the fish.
• Bring the top and the bottom of the foil together and make airtight downward folds. Fold both sides of the parcel to make it airtight.
• Repeat the process for the other three salmon pieces.
• Place parcels on a baking tray and bake for 10 minutes.
• The foil parcel will puff up and steam the ingredients, infusing them with the rich caramel flavours of the milk stout.
• Remove from the oven, tear the foil on one side (burn alert) and slide the contents gently onto a bed of basmati rice.
• Garnish with fresh coriander and serve immediately.
• Note: This dish can also be served with Asian noodles or wasabi-flavoured mash.
• A whole side of salmon can also be done over live coals.

Voilà! Enjoy!