A Taste of Africa
This week’s special offer is PERI PERI CHICKEN - the name actually comes from Swahili in Africa – but what other African dishes have we adopted or should we give more prominence to? This week we have a look at some of the glorious tastes of Africa.
Piri Piri It takes its name from Swahili – 'piri-piri' means 'pepper-pepper' – and has morphed into several iterations, including 'pili-pili' and 'peri-peri'. The latter translation is widely used in South Africa, home to countless chicken shops and the first-ever Nando's. Like all chilli peppers, piri piri is descended from plants from the Americas, but it has grown in the wild in Africa for centuries.
Barbecued meat and maize porridge is a much loved dish across many cultures in Southern Africa.
“Pap en vleis” (literally, “maize porridge and meat”) is a colourful umbrella of a term that encompasses virtually any combination of starch and braised or stewed meat, with an obligatory side-serving of spicy gravy, relish or chakalaka.
A simple, spicy one-pot dish comprising of rice, tomatoes, onions and pepper. It’s often served at parties and other festive gatherings, along with other Nigerian favourites such as egusi soup (made with ground melon seeds and bitter leaf), fried plantains and pounded yam (iyan or fufu).
These are both based on rice and the exotic array of spices which have become synonymous with Zanzibar.
Both are delicious accompanied by kachumbari, a fresh onion and tomato salad popular across East Africa. Another quintessential dish of Zanzibar is Urojo, a yellow soup made with many different ingredients including pieces of meat, chili, mango, ginger, tamarind and lime.
A complex dish which is both sweet and savoury flavours.
It’s a pie comprising of shredded cooked squab (or, more often, chicken, when pigeon is hard to find) thickened with egg sauce and interspersed with paper-thin pastry and layers of nutty, spicy filling.
No grand celebration in Morocco would be considered complete without B’stilla.