Riad Tayba
lundi 22 juillet 2013
Gingered Green Tomatoes
jeudi 18 juillet 2013
The order of mixing is important in its effect in batters and dough’s
Examples of the type of mixing are: · Sifting, or putting materials through a fine mesh, is used to lighten flour that has been packed down, to remove coarse portions, or to mix thoroughly several dry ingredients.
· Stirring is done with a spoon, and is a round and round motion, used for mixing a liquid and a dry ingredient.
· Rubbing is used for combining a dry ingredient with a semi-solid substance like butter. Creaming is a term used for the rubbing of butter until it becomes soft and creamy. A spoon should be used, not the hand.
·“Cutting in” with a knife is used for combining butter with flour in biscuit and pastry where the butter should not be softened.
· Beating with a spoon, or beater of the spoon type, is a free over and over motion, the spoon being lifted from the mixture for the backward stroke. This is used for increasing the smoothness of the mixture after the first stirring, and for beating in air. It needs a strong free motion of the forearm. Beating is also accomplished by the rotary motion of a mechanical beater like the Dover.
· Cutting and folding is the delicate process of mixing lightly beaten egg with a liquid or semi-liquid without losing out the air. The spoon is cut in, sidewise, a rotary motion carries it down and up again, and it folds in the beaten egg as it goes.
· Kneading is a motion used with dough, and is a combination of a rocking and pressing motion, accomplished by the hands. A good result can be obtained by some bread machines, and this is the cleaner method.
· Rolling out is just what the term denotes, a rolling of a thick piece of dough by means of a cylindrical wooden “pin” to the thickness proper for cookies and crusts. Dry bread is also rolled to break it into fine crumbs.
·Pounding and grinding are usually accomplished for us now in factories in breaking of spices and coffee. It is better to have a coffee mill at home.
mercredi 17 juillet 2013
What is a recipe?
A recipe is a bit of experience handed down for us to make useful. Someone experimented at some time long ago, perhaps failed at first, tried again, finally succeeded, and passed on the result by word of mouth to others. There were doubtless good cooks long before there were printed or written recipes. Some recipes, however, have been handed down word of mouth from Africa to America, and recipes were printed as early as the sixteenth century. Modern recipes are much more accurate than the old, as you may see if you have opportunity to read some old cookbook. Make some plan for recording new recipes that you test and find good. It may be a printed recipe, or one that a friend gives you.
At first in using a recipe follow its directions exactly. Notice the proportions, and read carefully the directions for combining the ingredients, noting those points that are most important. Have the whole process well in mind before you begin work. Do not let it be necessary to refer to the printed page at every move you make. This is poor technique.
When you are no longer a novice you may take liberties with a recipe, even a new one, scanning it with a critical eye, and perhaps giving it a cool welcome. It may not be new at all! For this is the secret of recipes,—there are really only a few, and the key to their use is the recognition of the old in the new garb, and the having of a few type recipes clearly in mind. Each kind of prepared dish has one, or two, or three basic forms or mixtures. Learn these, and then with experience you will become inventive, and make your own variations. For example, there are but two kinds of cake,—those made with butter (or other fat) and those without butter. You will not attempt to memorize many recipes, but you will find that in studying these type recipes you have learned a few proportions so well that you cannot forget them. When you have reached this stage of freedom you will still do exact work, but your ingenuity and taste will have free play and you will not be tied to other people’s recipes. But you cannot well begin at this end.
mercredi 10 juillet 2013
A Personal Thank You from The African Gourmet
The main objective of our blog Everyday African Food is to promote a cross-cultural understanding of Africa through its food and art. Thank you for your support over the last four years!
Eating with your hands
The hands must be thoroughly washed; hands are washed before and after eating. Typically you eat with your right hand since bodily functions are taken care of with your left hand. Therefore, obviously it is considered rude and improper to use your left hand. You may think you are reaching into the plate of food with your naked hand however; you will actually use a small piece of bread to scoop up the food. Just think of it as you are replacing utensils for pieces bread the same way some recipes replace a bowl for a large loaf of hollowed out bread. You will reach for food with your bread in hand from the side of the bowl that is facing you, not across the bowl. This is your space in which you eat but please don’t lick your fingers. Eating is a physical and social act and you should enjoy eating with your hands as much as possible. Eating with your hands enables you to feel closer to people you are dining with because you are sitting around the same table sitting close together eating from the same plate. Still think eating with your hands is weird? Well consider the fact that you eat with your hands from shared plates when you:
1. Eat dip at a social event
2. Eat from a large platter of wings
4. Eat shared appetizers such as nachos
5. Let me have a piece… ok, I did not bite from that side go ahead and break off a piece
mardi 9 juillet 2013
The Story of the Lightning and the Thunder
At last the people could not stand it any longer, and complained to the king.So the king made a special order that the sheep (Thunder) and her son, the ram (Lightning), should leave the town and live in the far bush. This did not do much good, as when the ram got angry he still burnt the forest, and the flames sometimes spread to the farms and consumed them.
So the people complained again, and the king banished both the lightning and the thunder from the earth and made them live in the sky, where they could not cause so much destruction. Ever since, when the lightning is angry, he commits damage as before, but you can hear his mother, the thunder, rebuking him and telling him to stop. Sometimes, however, when the mother has gone away some distance from her naughty son, you can still see that he is angry and is doing damage, but his mother's voice cannot be heard.
lundi 1 juillet 2013
Why the Cat kills Rats
At last he thought of the king's store, so in the night-time, being quite small, he had little difficulty, having made a hole in the roof, in getting into the store. He then stole corn and pears, and presented them to his sweetheart.
At the end of the month, when the cat had to render her account of the things in the store to the king, it was found that a lot of corn and pears were missing.
The king was very angry at this, and asked the cat for an explanation. But the cat could not account for the loss, until one of her friends told her that the rat had been stealing the corn and giving it to the girl. When the cat told the king, he called the girl before him and had her beaten. The rat he handed over to the cat to deal with, and dismissed them both from his service. The cat was so angry at this that she killed and ate the rat, and ever since that time whenever a cat sees a rat she kills and eats it.
Stewed Ox Tongue
In a large coved pot braise a tongue with two glasses of wine, 1 cup carrot, 1 cup onion, thyme, bay-leaf, for two hours on low. Take tomatoes, carrots, pearl onions, and braise them all together, add salt and pepper. Braised tongue eats very well with spinach and carrots.
Speak Zulu
Zulu is the language of the Zulu people with well over 9 million speakers most of whom are in South Africa. Zulu is one of South Africa's eleven official languages since 1994.
Below are four easy Zulu words with their English phonetic pronunciation: iGoli [e-go?li]- Soil ihembe [e:him:mbe]- Bed uju [oo?jew]- Jumpisibili [is:see:bill?li]- Bead
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Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.dimanche 30 juin 2013
Pickled Beef Tongue
1 1/2 cups white distilled vinegar
Cover tongue with water and salt. Cover tightly and cook slowly until tender 3 hours. Slice tongue crosswise about 1/8-inch thick. Drain all but 2 cups of the water from pan. Add the remaining ingredients and return sliced meat to pan. Simmer, covered, for 1 hour. Serve cold or warm.
The Man Who Never Lied
Once upon a time there lived a wise man by the name of Mamad. He never lied. All the people in the land, even the ones who lived twenty days away, knew about him.The king heard about Mamad and ordered his subjects to bring him to the palace. He looked at the wise man and asked:" Mamad, is it true, that you have never lied?""And you will never lie in your life?""Okay, tell the truth, but be careful! The lie is cunning and it gets on your tongue easily."Several days passed and the king called Mamad once again. There was a big crowd: the king was about to go hunting. The king held his horse by the mane, his left foot was already on the stirrup. He ordered Mamad:"Go to my summer palace and tell the queen I will be with her for lunch. Tell her to prepare a big feast. You will have lunch with me then."Mamad bowed down and went to the queen. Then the king laughed and said:"We won't go hunting and now Mamad will lie to the queen. Tomorrow we will laugh on his behalf."But the wise Mamad went to the palace and said:"Maybe you should prepare a big feast for lunch tomorrow, and maybe you shouldn't. Maybe the king will come by noon, and maybe he won't.""Tell me will he come, or won't he?" - asked the queen."I don't know, he put his right foot on the stirrup, or he put his left foot on the ground after I left."Everybody waited for the king. He came the next day and said to the queen:"The wise Mamad, who never lies, lied to you yesterday."But the queen told him about the words of Mamad. And the king realized, that the wise man never lies, and says only that, which he saw with his own eyes.http://www.worldoftales.com/African_folktales/African_Folktale_2.htmlLove for Africa
Each individual has, also, his own special attractions and repulsions. There is love at first sight and friendship at first sight. We feel some persons pleasant to us; to be near them is a delight. Generally such feelings are mutual—like flows to like, or as often, perhaps, differences fit into each other. We seek sympathy with our own tastes and habits, or we find in others what we lack. Thus the weak rest upon the strong, the timid are fond of the courageous, the reckless seek guidance of the prudent, and so on. Frikkadelle, an Afrikaner dish of meatballs
Frikkadelle
Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1 medium onion finely chopped
1 cup of dried bread crumbs
1/4 cup whole milk
3 tablespoons of your favorite Chutney
1 large egg
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon Worcester sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Soak bread crumbs in milk then mix all ingredients well with clean hands, roll meat into medium size balls. Bake for 45 minutes. Serve warm with chutney or mustard on top of each meatball.
Pomade d'Hebe
samedi 29 juin 2013
Vegetable Relish
2 tablespoons grated horseradish
Add all ingredients except vinegar into a large bowl and mix well. Place in hot sterilized jars and seal.
Methods of curing meat
For curing the meat the farmer usually uses salt, salt peter, white or brown sugar or molasses. These are the necessary preservatives. The others such as boracic acid, borax and soda are often used for sweetening the brine and to keep it from spoiling but are not absolutely essential. The salt extracts moisture and acts as a preservative. The sugar or molasses imparts a nice flavor and has a tendency to keep the muscle tissue soft in contrast to the salt, which has a tendency to make it hard and dry. So the salt and sugar have two distinct functions to perform, the one to harden and preserve, the other to soften and sweeten. If you have a favorite recipe that has proved satisfactory and you want to use sorghum or molasses instead of sugar add one pound more of the molasses. If you have been accustomed to using 2 pounds of sugar then use 3 pounds of the other sweetening.
Salt peter is not absolutely necessary as far as the preserving is concerned but it helps to hold the red color of the lean meat. If salt peter is not used the lean meat will be gray in color. It may possibly be a little tenderer if the salt peter is not used as the salt peter tends to harden the meat. Chili salt peter can be substituted in place of salt peter, if only four-fifths as much is used.
The sugar brine cure All formulas for the sugar brine cure are practically the same varying only a little in the proportions of sugar, salt and salt peter. If you have a formula that you have tried for years and have found it to be satisfactory there is no reason you should attempt a new one. But for those who want to try a different formula or recipe I will give you this reliable one that is widely used and indorsed by several agricultural colleges.
The container should be scalded thoroughly. Sprinkle a layer of salt over the bottom and over each layer of meat as it is packed in, skin down. When full, cover meat with boards and weight down with a stone so that all will be below the brine, which is made as follows:
Weigh out for each 100 pounds of meat, 8 pounds of salt, 2 pounds of sugar (preferably brown) or 3 pounds of molasses, and 2 ounces of salt peter. Dissolve all in 4 gallons of water. This should be boiled, and when thoroughly cooled, cover the meat. Seven days after brine is put on, meat should be repacked in another barrel in reverse order. The pieces that were on top should be placed on the bottom. The brine is poured over as before. This is repeated on the fourteenth and twenty-first days, thus giving an even cure to all pieces. Bacon should remain in the brine from four to six weeks, and hams six to eight weeks, depending on the size of the pieces. When cured, each piece should be scrubbed with tepid water and hung to drain several days before smoking; no two pieces should come in contact. For all curing always use dairy salt and not table salt, as the latter contains starch to keep it dry and this starch may cause the meat to spoil. If you carefully follow these directions you will have delicious sugar-cured hams and bacon.
Pickled Green Beans
Clean and cook whole green beans. Place them in a sterile pint jar. Boil the water, vinegar, sugar and ? teaspoon salt. Pour over the beans and seal jar.
Chekelea means Smile in Swahili
Peanut Soup
Ingredients:
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 medium onions, chopped
1/2 large red bell peppers, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 ripe medium size tomato, chopped
2 cups vegetable broth
1 teaspoon pepper
2-3 tablespoons crunchy peanut butter
1/4 cup uncooked rice
Directions:
1. Heat oil in a large stock pot over medium high heat. Cook onions and bell peppers until tender, add garlic. Stir in tomato, vegetable broth, and pepper. Reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. Stir in rice, cover and simmer 10 minutes then add peanut butter until well blended and serve warm with crusty bread.
Curry Sauce
Stir a small quantity of curry powder in some gravy, melted butter, or onion sauce. This must be done by degrees, according to the taste, taking care not to put in too much of the curry powder.
vendredi 28 juin 2013
Fermentation with dry salting
After the cabbage is shredded pack at once into a clean barrel, keg or tub, or into an earthenware crock holding four or five gallons. The smaller containers are recommended for household use. When packing distribute the salt as uniformly as possible, using one pound of salt to forty pounds of cabbage. Sprinkle a little salt in the container and put in a layer of three or four inches of shredded cabbage, then pack down with a wooden utensil like a potato masher. Repeat with salt, cabbage and packing until the container is full or the shredded cabbage is all used.Press the cabbage down as tightly as possible and apply a cloth, and then a glazed plate or a board cover which will go inside the holder. If using a wooden cover select wood free from pitch, such as basswood. On top of this cover place stone, bricks or other weights—use flint or granite; avoid the use of limestone, sandstone or marble. These weights serve to keep vegetables beneath the surface of the liquid. The proportion of salt to food when fermenting with dry salt is a quarter pound of salt to ten pounds of food. Do not use more, for the product will taste too salty.
Allow fermentation to proceed for ten days or two weeks, if the room is warm. In a cellar or other cool place three to five weeks may be required. Skim off the film which forms when fermentation starts and repeat this daily if necessary to keep this film from becoming a scum. When gas bubbles cease to rise when you strike the side of the container, fermentation is complete. If there is a scum it should be removed.
As a final step pour very hot melted paraffin over the brine until it forms a layer from a quarter to a half-inch thick, to prevent the formation of the scum which occurs if the weather is warm or the storage place is not well cooled. The cabbage may be used as soon as the bubbles cease to rise. If scum forms and remains the cabbage will spoil. You may can the cabbage as soon as bubbles cease to rise and fermentation is complete. To can, fill jars, adjust rubbers and partly seal. Sterilize 120 minutes in hot-water bath, or 60 minutes in steam-pressure outfit at five to ten pounds pressure.
Easy Baked Bananas
Remove the skins from the bananas, scrape the surface as in Fig. 14, and cut them in half lengthwise. Arrange the halves in a shallow pan. Melt the butter and mix it with the sugar and the vinegar. Pour a spoonful of the mixture over each banana and then set the pan in the oven. Bake in a slow oven for about 20 minutes, basting frequently with the remainder of the sir during the baking. Remove from the oven and serve hot.
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Of the Pretty Stranger who Killed the King
The Itu people had an old woman who was a witch and could turn herself into whatever she pleased, and when she offered to kill Mbotu, the people were very glad, and promised her plenty of money and cloth if she succeeded in ridding them of their worst enemy.
The witch then turned herself into a young and pretty girl, and having armed herself with a very sharp knife, which she concealed in her bosom, she went to Old Town, Calabar, to seek the king. It happened that when she arrived there was a big play being held in the town, and all the people from the surrounding country had come in to dance and feast.
Oyaikan, the witch, went to the play, and walked about so that everyone could see her. Directly she appeared the people all marveled at her beauty, and said that she was as beautiful as the setting sun. Word was quickly brought to king Mbotu, who, it was well known, was fond of pretty girls, and he sent for her at once, all the people agreeing that she was quite worthy of being the king's wife.
When she appeared before him he fancied her so much, that he told her he would marry her that very day. Oyaikan was very pleased at this, as she had never expected to get her opportunity so quickly. She therefore prepared a meal for the king, into which she placed a strong medicine to make the king sleep, and then went down to the river to wash. When she finished it was getting dark, so she went to the king's compound, carrying her dish on her head, and was at once shown in to the king, who embraced her affectionately. She then offered him the food, which she said, quite truly, she had prepared with her own hands. The king ate the whole dish, and immediately began to feel very sleepy, as the medicine was strong and took effect quickly.
They retired to the king's chamber, and the king went to sleep at once. About midnight, when all the town was quiet, Oyaikan drew her knife from her bosom and cut the king's head off. She put the head in a bag and went out very softly, shutting and barring the door behind her. Then she walked through the town without anyone observing her, and went straight to Itu, where she placed king Mbotu's head before her own king. When the people heard that the witch was successful and that their enemy was dead, there was great rejoicing, and the king of Itu at once made up his mind to attack Old Town, Calabar. He therefore got his fighting men together and took them in canoes by the creeks to Old Town, taking care that no one carried word to Calabar that he was coming.
The morning following the murder of Mbotu his people were rather surprised that he did not appear at his usual time, so his head wife knocked at his door. Not receiving any answer she called the household together, and they broke open the door. When they entered the room they found the king lying dead on his bed covered in blood, but his head was missing. At this a great shout went up, and the whole town mourned. Although they missed the pretty stranger, they never connected her in their minds with the death of their king, and were quite unsuspicious of any danger, and were unprepared for fighting.
In the middle of the mourning, while they were all dancing, crying, and drinking palm wine, the King of Itu with all his soldiers attacked Old Town, taking them quite by surprise, and as their leader was dead, the Calabar people were very soon defeated, and many killed and taken prisoners.
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Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.Cream of Carrot Soup
Cook the carrots in the water until tender. Melt the fat, add dry ingredients, add gradually the 1 cup water in which the carrots were cooked and the milk. When at boiling point, serve with a little grated raw carrot sprinkled over top of soup. Any vegetable, raw or cooked, may be used in the same way, as cauliflower, cabbage, peas, turnips, etc.
jeudi 27 juin 2013
Soup Fritters
Beat the egg, and to it add the milk, salt, and flour. Drop the batter in tiny drops into hot fat, and fry until brown and crisp. Drain on paper and serve with the soup.
Preserved Pumpkin
Cut slices from a ripe pumpkin, and cut the slices into chips about the thickness of a quarter. Weigh them and allow to each pound of pumpkin equal to a pound of sugar. Cut 2 lemons in half, and squeeze the juice into a bowl along with the rind of one lemon.
Place the pumpkin into a large pan laying the sugar among it. Pour the lemon-juice over it, Cover the pan, and let the pumpkin, sugar and lemon-juice, place in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours.
Place the ingredients into a large pot, and boil (skimming it well) 30 minutes or until the pumpkin becomes clear and crisp, but not till it breaks. It should have the appearance of lemon-candy. You may if you choose, put some lemon-peel with it, cut in very small pieces. Put the pumpkin into large preserve jars and enjoy.
The storing of fresh vegetables
Must be kept cool with slight degrees of moisture. Use either cellar or cave methods. No potato should be more than four ft. from air if stored in barrels, boxes, crates or bins.Potatoes must be dug before the ground is crusted with frost. Frosted potatoes will spoil, one after another. Impossible to sort out frosted potatoes.Require warmth and dryness. In crates or on shelves in warm dry room. Can be spread on the floor in the room above the kitchen where they will have plenty of heat, especially for the first 2 or 3 weeks after they are dug.When the sweet potatoes are dug they should be allowed to lie in the sun and wind for 3 or 4 hours so as to become perfectly dry. They must be well ripened and free from bruises. Can be kept on shelves in a very dry place and they need not be kept specially cold. Sweet potatoes keep best when they are showing just a little inclination to sprout. However, if they start growing the quality is greatly injured.Are best stored in sand in cellars, caves or pits; or in tightly covered boxes or crocks. Must be kept cold and evaporation must be prevented, for otherwise they become wilted.Can remain in the ground until the weather is quite cool; then be pulled, the tops cut off and then stored.May be rooted in earth in a cellar or cave and if watered occasionally will keep fresh until Christmas. The soil, earth or sand, in which the celery is set should be 2 or 3 inches deep. This soil must not be allowed to become dry.Can remain in the ground until the weather is quite cool.Can be wrapped in paper with the outer leaves left on for immediate use and stored in ventilated barrels or large crates in the cellar. But as few cellars are cool enough to keep cabbage in good condition it is more advisable to store it in a long shallow pit in the garden.Is not injured by moderate frost while in the pit but should not be disturbed while frozen. The pit should be long and narrow. Pull the cabbage, stem, root and all, and then laid with heads down about 3 heads in width can be placed in the pit. Cover lightly with soil and as the weather becomes colder add a little more soil until there is a layer 6 or 7 inches thick over the cabbage. Keep the ends of the pit partially open for ventilation until the weather becomes very cold.
mardi 25 juin 2013
Riad Tayba