Category Archives: World Eats

September 3, 2021 · 9:04 AM

Koulou’s Marketplace: A new African Grocery Store in Cleveland

We are happy to report that there is a new pan-African grocery store in Cleveland, Koulou’s Marketplace, which opened in 2020 in the Ohio City neighborhood (4700 Bridge Ave., Cleveland OH 44102). You can find dry, frozen and fresh foods from all across Africa at Koulou’s, alongside an assortment of American, European and Middle Eastern goods. The shop is run by Siba and Kolou Beavogui a Liberian/Senegalese couple who usually preside over the shop’s daily operation.

Koulou’s is a relatively small store with a few rows of dry goods, fresh vegetables in the back of the store, and a particularly exhaustive frozen goods section: including hard-to-find Egyptian molokhia leaves and Nigerian ugu leaves. Though there is a focus on African goods, the selection is wide-ranging: we went in looking for a few specific items that we figured would likely be available: fufu (fermented cassava) and palm oil. Not only did we find those items, we ended up getting a ton more interesting stuff, which is really to best part of visiting any grocery store. Fortunately, Koulou’s is very organized and easy to navigate, making browsing easy.

On our latest visit, we bought a bag of Cameroonian groundnut sweets (nuts covered in caramelized sugar), one of the most popular street snacks in Cameroon (groundnuts are related to, but distinct from peanuts) to snack on at the beach. Other recent finds include the incredibly umami Shito pepper sauce from Ghana (which M now puts on everything), and Hawaij spice seasoning, a East African spice mix we plan to utilize when making recipes from In Bibi’s Kitchen. Among the other ingredients we spied were Egusi seeds – from a gourd- used to make the iconic Nigerian dish, Egusi stew, giant bags of cassava flour and rice, various types of tahini, international canned beans, teas from around the world, and bulk spices. We are excited to visit Koulou’s again soon and unearth some more treasures.

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July 30, 2021 · 10:39 AM

Eating the World at the Queens Night Market

We were lucky enough to visit the Queens Night Market when we went to New York this July, our first trip outside of the Midwest since October 2019 (when we last visited New York, incidentally). The 100% outdoors Night Market is held weekly on Saturdays at Flushing Meadows Park, next to the New York Hall of Science (site of both the 1939 and 1964 New York World’s Fairs). You can purchase $5 tickets in advance for admission at any time during the night (currently 6 to midnight). The Fair is slated to run until October this year, though it would be wise to check for updates.

Visually, the Queens Night Market looks like your typical outdoor food fair, with several rows of tented booths and signs advertising their wares. However, the type of food on offer was nothing like the average food festival, and we were absolutely floored by the scope and variety. The restaurants and catering companies featured were selected for their international flavors, and dozens of countries were represented on the night we visited, from Belize to Burma. We were most pleased that we got two new countries under our belt in one shot: Sudan and Antigua & Barbuda. Each booth had a short menu of offerings, most ranging from $5 to $10, making it one of the most reasonable eating options in NYC.

The Sudanese booth – Sambuxa NYC – had a truncated menu featuring meat and vegetable sambuxas, lending their name to the restaurant. Sambuxas are the East African cousins of Indian samosas, deep-fried phyllo dough pockets full of savory fillings, brought to Sudan through trans-Indian Ocean migration. These surprisingly-light, tasty morsels came served with two sauces: yogurt and garlic.

The Antiguan & Barbudian booth, La’Maoli had a large variety of dishes representing the small island nation. The codfish fritters, rum bread pudding, and blood sausage all looked enticing, but we settled on the ducuna and saltfish, which was was billed as one of the national dishes of Antigua & Barbuda. Ducuna is made with sweet potato and is something akin to a slightly-sweet Caribbean take on a tamal. Along with the ducuna and saltfish was a generous helping of sauteed greens and veggies, also known as chop-up. The key to this super-flavorful dish was getting each of the components together in one bite, the resulting combo was an explosion of sweet, salty, and savory tastes.

Bangladesh was well-represented at Jhal NYC, where we sampled Jhal Muri, a puffed rice snack mix filled with contrasting salty, tart and spicy flavors. However, our absolute favorite dish of the night was the classic Peruvian ceviche from Don Ceviche. We couldn’t believe the price: a made-to-order, restaurant-sized amount of high-quality ceviche for just $6! This was a delectable dish with tender fish, a citrus-filled tiger’s milk marinade, all topped with the requisite accoutrements of sweet potato, onions, and choclo (XL dried corn kernels).

There were a variety of sweet options at the Night Market as well, which as you know is one of our weaknesses. We loved Moon Man‘s avant-garde Southeast Asian sweets. We sampled an enticingly-green steamed pandan cake that had a light, citrus-forward flavor. Moon Man was also selling jarred versions of some of their wares, including their pandan, ube and original Kaya Jam. Another surprise for us were the hard-to-find-in-the-US pasteis de nata (Portuguese custard tarts) from Joey Bat’s Cafe. Even in the inhospitable format of an open-air booth, these tarts were delicious! For those seeking a cooler treats, bubble tea and Filipino Halo-Halo were also on offer.

The best part of the night market was that, in a single place, you could sample dishes from around the world for a shockingly reasonable price. We enjoyed trying old favorites and new-to-us dishes, and our group was happy with the variety, including the ample options for vegans and vegetarians. Granted, some of the more popular booths had lines, which only grew as the night went on, but they moved relatively fast. Towards the end of the night we were getting pretty full, and therefore were not able to sample everything, including the two most popular booths: Treat Yourself Jerk Chicken and Gi Hin Mama Food (Squid & Lamb Skewers).

If you are planning to visit the Queens Night Market, we recommend perusing the list of vendors in advance so you can note which ones will be must-dos. The vendors also appear to change from week to week, so some of my picks may not be there when you visit, though many vendors also have physical locations scattered throughout the city. It is also worth it to check out the line-up of live entertainment, when we were there we enjoyed the all-female Brazilian samba drumming group Batalá. If you won’t be in NYC and are looking for a taste of the Queens Night Market they even have a recipe book featuring some recipes from the Night Market, The World Eats Here. We hope to visit again next year!

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November 14, 2020 · 9:11 AM

Cadbury Chocolate for Diwali

India Flag

Today marks the start of the Hindu celebration of Diwali, the festival of lights. The holiday is celebrated throughout India and the Indian diaspora, usually with festive foods and a variety of small sweet treats, called Mithai. However we were interested to learn that a popular alternative to Mithai in India is chocolate, and Cadbury chocolate in particular. Writing for the New York Times, Priya Krishna describes the long-seated dominance of Cadbury, a British confectioner now owned by the multinational brand Mondelez, and their sweet milk chocolate “Dairy Milk” bars, in India. The company first got its foothold in India during British colonization, and it is still the main player in the Indian chocolate market. While many other food categories are dominated by local companies, Cadbury has only been growing in recent years. While Cadbury may still be synonymous with chocolate in India, Krishna describes a small handful of artisan Indian and Indian-American chocolatiers are trying to beat the company’s monopoly in India and the diaspora with their innovative small-batch chocolates.

A Cadbury Chocolate bar by Trevor Coultart

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September 18, 2020 · 9:36 AM

A Persian Rosh Hashanah Menu

Today marks the start of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, a day of renewal, celebration, and of course food! Honey-based or dipped foods are also a culinary tradition on this day, with the thought that they will usher in, and symbolize, a sweet new year. Searching for some Rosh Hashanah inspiration, we came across Jewish Food Society, a site that covers a diverse variety of Jewish foods from across the diaspora. We love that the site includes all of the different roots (and routes) the recipe went through to reach its current form, in the case of the Texan honey cake, a peripatetic path of Białystok, Poland > Manhattan > Houston. We were delighted to see an entire comprehensive Persian Rosh Hashanah menu on the site. The dishes, shared by Israeli cookbook author Rottem Lieberson, had the route of Tehran, Iran > Sha’ar Haliyah (near Haifa), Israel > Jerusalem > Tel Aviv. We are seriously tempted by Lieberson’s recipes including Fried Eggplant with Mint Vinaigrette, Rice with Barberries, Saffron and Potato Tahdig (seen below), and Toot (Persian Marzipan). Check out the Jewish Food Society’s impressive list of posts to discover more family recipes with roots from around the world.

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September 4, 2020 · 9:36 AM

Pastry Post-Doc: Brazilian Coconut Pudding, Manjar Branco, for Yemanjá

September 7th is an important day in Brazil: it is both Brazilian Independence Day and a festival day for Yemanjá, the goddess of the sea in the Afro-Brazilian religion of Candomblé. It is traditional to serve white foods for Yemanjá, including creams, hominy-like canjica, and rice pudding (info link in Portuguese). One popular dish for Yemanjá is Manjar Branco / Manjar de Coco (coconut pudding, not to be confused with Peru’s Manjar Blanco, which is similar to Dulce de Leche). This Brazilian flan-like cream is flavored with coconut milk, and is super simple to make. Similar starch-thickened cream dessert dishes are found in Middle Eastern and European cuisines, including French Blancmange. In Brazil, Manjar Branco is traditionally served with a plum sauce, as you can see below. Check out Manjar Branco recipes from Olivia’s Cuisine, Mani Snacks, Ricardo Cuisine and Sabor Brasil. In addition to its presence at celebrations honoring Yemanjá, Manjar Branco is a popular dish to ring in the New Year! Odoìyá Yemanjá!

Manjar de Coco from Chef Percaso

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August 28, 2020 · 8:20 AM

A tale of two fritters: Akara and Acarajé

The transatlantic connection between Akara and Acarajé, bean fritters from Nigeria and Brazil respectively, is unmistakable. I wrote about this connection in 2014, noting the research of Nigerian food scholar Ozoz Sokoh at the time. I was really excited to see a short film on this topic by Sokoh, where she cooks both of these dishes. Seeing each being made really visually illustrates the unmistakable connection between these two Transatlantic dishes.

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July 31, 2020 · 8:14 AM

Lagman House: The spot for Dungan cuisine in NYC

kazWe recently saw a Munchies video on Vice about the lone Dungan restaurant in NYC, Lagman House (2612 E 14th St, Brooklyn, NY 11235), and quickly added it to our list of places to visit when we can travel again. The Dungan people are descendants of Muslim Hui Chinese who migrated to Central Asia over the course of centuries, and are now most commonly living in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. NYC’s Lagnam House is the only restaurant serving Dungan cuisine in the US, and is located in the neighborhood of Brighton Beach, which is heavily populated with immigrants from the former USSR. The family running this restaurant, the Azimovs, immigrated from the town of Zhalpaktobe in southern Kazakhstan in 2012, and family members act as cooks and servers.

The cuisine of the Dungan is imprinted by all of the different threads influencing the Dungan culture: Chinese, Islamic, Soviet and Central Asian. The signature dish is Lagman, hand pulled noodles (known as La mian in China) topped with beef, from which the restaurant gets its name. Handmade noodles are the stars of many of the dishes including Dappan Ji, noodles with fried chicken and peppers, and Ash lan fin, cold noodles with vegetables, bean jelly and eggs. The Central Asian and Russian influence can be seen clearly seen in dishes like Dungan samsa, pastries filled with beef and onion, and beshbarmak, a beef and noodle soup. Fortunately, you can still order from Lagman House on Seamless during the epidemic.

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July 17, 2020 · 3:35 PM

Bellies En-Route’s Egyptian Cookbook

flags_of_EgyptWhen we were in Egypt in October 2018 (has it really been that long)? We took a food tour in Cairo with Bellies En-Route, led by Mia. Eating our way through Cairo with experts was definitely one of the highlights of our trip, and you can read the summary of our tour here. When we learned that the Bellies team had released their first cookbook, Table to Table, this year, we knew we had to get a (virtual) copy. We love making cuisine from all of our travels, so we were delighted to see that the Bellies had highlighted some of the dishes that we had sampled on the Cairo food tour, particularly the Macarona Béchamel, which is an Egyptian cousin to macaroni and cheese. Along with recipes, the book is really well-designed, and contains a heaping helping of cultural insights that you would not normally see in a cookbook.

TabletoTable

All in all, you receive 16 recipes including including 2 soups, 3 appetizers, 8 mains, and 3 desserts. We are particularly looking forward to making the lentil soup (shorbet ads), the potato & chicken casserole (seneyet batates bel ferakh), moussaka, and the basbousa, a classic semolina-based dessert that we tried for the first time on our tour (pictured among other desserts on our tour below). All of the recipes are handed down from family members, which makes them extra special. With the uncertain Covid-19 situation, runnign a food tour business is precarious, so go and help out these amazing entrepreneurs. You can buy the Table to Table eCookbook, which comes as a handy PDF download (or a file to send to a Kindle). from Gumroad here for $16.99. Follow Bellies En-Route on Instagram to learn about their latest adventures.

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July 13, 2020 · 9:04 AM

Making Angela Dimayuga’s Chicken Adobo

philippinesWe have been cooking our way around the world during quarantine, since we can’t go anywhere. So far, it has been helping our quell our wanderlust a little bit. A few weeks ago we tried to make Adobo, the de facto national dish of the Philippines. Chicken Adobo can be made a thousand different ways, but generally has a vinegary sauce base. Chef Angela Dimayuga shared her family’s recipe which includes soy sauce, garlic, and three types of coconut: coconut oil, coconut milk and coconut vinegar. You can find the recipe here on New York Times Food. This dish was super easy to make, and was deliciously savory and tangy. We especially loved the spicy pop of the whole peppercorns. This would be the perfect dish for entertaining (someday).

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May 13, 2020 · 11:20 AM

What is Cheese Rolling?

united_kingdomOne of the more bizarre food-related competitions we have heard about in the recent past is the Cooper’s Hill Cheese-rolling competition in Gloucester, UK. The event, which was supposed to be held on May 25, 2020, was unfortunately cancelled because of Covid-19. So what exactly is going on? A 7-9 lb. round of Double Gloucester cheese is rolled down the hill (in 2013 only a stunt cheese was used) and many, many people go rolling along after it! The first person to the bottom of the hill wins the wheel of cheese. The Double Gloucester cheese used for rolling has been produced in Gloucestershire for centuries and is worth seeking out in its own right. The true origins of this competition are shrouded in mystery, and range from celebrating pagan roots to obtaining grazing rights. In any case, the competition has been held in some form since at least 1826 (when the first written record emerged)! Hopefully this video of the event in action will bring you a few laughs today. If you want to partake at home we suggest buying some Double Gloucester from your favorite cheesemonger, and it is commonly available at most grocery stores. You can even buy a 5-lb wheel for $97 online!

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May 7, 2020 · 11:08 AM

Trying Australian Damper and Vegemite in the Outback

AustraliaWhen we were in Australia last summer, we spent 4 days camping with a group tour in the Australian Outback en route to Uluru, eating well on a menu of camping cuisine. It was on this trip that we were introduced to the iconic Australian Damper. Damper is a type of soda bread, that is typically baked in a camping stove in the coals of a campfire (as below), and has long been associated with outback lore and camping cuisine in Australia. Now that we are in quarantine times, some people are turning to bread-baking as an activity – evidenced by the fact that flour and yeast are nowhere to be found – and this bread couldn’t be any simpler.

Damper just out of the fire by Matthew Klein

The Hook and the Cook has a nice video (below) on how to make damper in a camp oven over coals, which is how we experienced it. Adventure Dining Guide has a hack on how to cook damper in coals in aluminum foil if you don’t have a cast iron pot. You don’t even have to cook the damper over coals, an oven will do, as in this recipe from Taste, though of course it won’t have the same outdoorsy charm.  You can add anything into damper as a filling or flavoring, as in the Blueberry Damper from Dirty Drifters.

While we were on our Outback adventure, we also had our first taste of Vegemite, slathered on our damper bread. Vegemite is a salty, savory spread made from brewer’s yeast that is iconic, but quite divisive, even among Australians. Our Australian guides instructed us on the proper way to consume Vegemite, in a very thin layer, mixed with a healthy dose of butter. Tom Hanks recently drew some playful criticism for layering his on too thick. So what did we think? The Eaters were split down the middle, one for an one against. To me (pro Vegemite), the Vegemite had a very strong umami flavor, and kind of smelled like anchovies!

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April 29, 2020 · 9:28 AM

New Orleans’ Secret Noodle Dish: Yaka Mein

The New Orleans Jazz Festival, one of the biggest music events of the year, which was supposed to be happening right now, was cancelled this year due to Coronavirus. The cancellation of JazzFest really drives home how out-of-the-ordinary everything is…. Along with the amazing music, you could get some of the best New Orleans cooking at JazzFest every year, ranging from Creole to Cajun to Vietnamese and back again. You could also get Yaka Mein soup, a hybrid dish that originated in New Orleans. Yaka Mein (also known as Ya-Ka-Mein or simply “Yock”) is a simple dish of beef, noodles, green onions, hard boiled eggs and soy sauce (plus some secret seasonings). Its actual origins are shrouded in mystery, though a likely theory points to roots in New Orleans’ old Chinatown, and similar dishes under the name yat/yet gaw mein are sold in Chinese-American restaurants in New Orleans and throughout the US.

Yakamein

Ms. Linda’s Ya-Ka-Mein in San Francisco by Gary Stevens

This hearty and filling dish has become associated with second line parades, and Jazzfest in particular, due to the presence of “Ya-ka-mein Lady” Ms. Linda Green. When Anthony Bourdain visited New Orleans he paid a visit to Ms. Green, and you can check out another interview with her by Zagat below. But even if you are not going to these events, you can get yakamein soup all over New Orleans from convenience stores to high-end restaurants to bars where it is touted as a great hangover cure (it is sometimes called “old sober”).  If you are not lucky enough to sample Ms. Linda’s creations while in New Orleans, you can make Yaka Mein from just a handful of ingredients, using recipes from Just a Pinch, Epicurious and Deep South Dish.

 

 

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April 24, 2020 · 1:13 PM

Chebakia: Moroccan Sesame Cookies for Ramadan

Flag_of_MoroccoYesterday at sunset marked the start of 2020’s Ramadan, which will be quite a different celebration given that large gathering are not allowed in many countries. One of the most important parts of Ramadan is usually communal, the nightly breaking of the fast with a special meal known as Iftar. Even though we are not able to gather together, we can still make some pretty tasty treats for fast-breaking celebrations. One cookie reserved for special occasions like Ramadan is the flower-shaped Moroccan chebakia (also spelled shebakia or known alternatively as mkharka) that is deep fried, and glazed with honey and sesame seeds. The preparations for chebakia start in the weeks before Ramadan because it is so labor-intensive, and large quantities are required for Iftar celebrations. In French, the name for these cookies is la rose des sable, which translates to “rose made out of cookie.” The shape of the cookie is pretty intricate, so we found it helpful to watch Cooking with Alia’s video demo. You can find recipes for Chebakia from Spruce Eats, Cooking with Alia and My Moroccan Food. Maroc Mama even has a gluten-free recipe. At Iftar, chebakia is traditionally served with harira, a tomato soup, giving a really interesting sweet/savory twist.

Chebakia

Chebakia piled high in Rabat, Morocco by Gerald Stolk

 

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April 14, 2020 · 2:23 PM

Madagascar’s Street Candy: Koba

640px-Flag_of_Madagascar.svgThis marks our first post on Malagasy food! When we were watching a video about street food in Madagascar, from The Best Ever Food Review Show, we were struck by the mysterious, ubiquitous food wrapped in banana leaves. Other street food dishes of rice, noodles and sausage were easier to identify, but this banana leaf-shrouded mystery was something completely different. Of course, we had to wait to the end of the video to find out that this was Koba, an emblematic Malagasy sweet made primarily of glutinous rice flour and peanuts steamed in banana leaves. This simpler version of Koba is known as Koba Ravina (or kobindravina), and is often the one sold by street vendors in giant portions. There is also a version called Koba Akondro, with other mix-ins like banana and honey. After steaming the banana leaves, the sliceable cake has a chewy, mochi-like texture with a molasses-colored center. Though on the streets of Antananarivo, koba is sold in giant banana-leaf-wrapped logs, you can make a smaller portion for yourself at home, provided you have banana leaves. Mada Magazine has a recipe on how to make koba akondro at home, as does Afro Tourism.

Koba

Koba Ravina sold in Antananarivo, Madagascar

 

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April 1, 2020 · 1:01 PM

How to Make Your Own Taiyaki

JapanInadvertently, this is an appropriate post for Poisson D’Avril / April Fool’s Day, but the recipe is no joke! Cartoon-fish-shaped Taiyaki may be the cutest dessert there is. Originating in Japan, Taiyaki has a waffle-like base, and is traditionally filled with red bean paste. The hand-held snack has a centuries-long history and the fish shape, tai, symbolically conveys wealth. We first experienced Taiyaki at Japanese restaurants in the US, and in frozen packets at the Mitsuwa grocery store.  Fortunately, in the past few years more restaurants in the US are taking cues from the Taiyaki’s homeland of Japan, and are making these fish waffles fresh to order (we have had them recently at Taiyaki NYC and Mini Mott). However, my sister gave us a Taiyaki iron for Christmas, so we have been able to recreate Taiyaki at home for the first time. Though the fish shape is intricate, Taiyaki are really no harder to make than waffles (albeit with a hand-held iron instead of an automatic one).Taiyaki3b

There are many Taiyaki recipes out there, and we started with one from Just One Cookbook. This recipe called for cake flour, which was easier to come by pre-pandemic. If you don’t have it, here is way to substitute All-Purpose Flour + Corn Starch. You may be able to find canned or jarred red bean / azuki paste in a local Asian supermarket. If not, you make your own red bean paste with some of your pantry reserves. Or for even more variety, you can fill these with custard or even Nutella! The only tricky part is the timing of cooking the Taiyaki, we have a gas oven, and it took us a while to find the right cook time, which may also vary for your oven. If you make extra Taiyaki, you can freeze them and then reheat in a 350 oven for a few minutes. Enjoy!

How to make your own Taiyaki (recipe adapted from Just One Cookbook).

Ingredients
Makes 5 Taiyaki
  • 1¼ cup cake flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 egg
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 3 Tbsp sugar
  • 5 Tbsp red bean paste (about 1 Tbsp per Taiyaki, or substitute with Nutella, Cream, etc.)
  • 1 Tbsp vegetable / canola oil

Taiyaki

Instructions
1. Sift the cake flour, baking powder and baking soda into a large bowl.
2. Whisk in sugar.
3. In a second bowl, whisk the egg, add the milk and whisk together.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and whisk well. Let batter rest in refrigerator for one hour (there should be roughly 1.25 cups of batter).
5. When your batter is done resting, preheat your Taiyaki pan over a low heat (taking care to keep the plastic handle away from heat source).
6. When you are ready to make the Taiyaki, brush vegetable oil into the Taiyaki depressions
7. Raise heat to medium and fill the Taiyaki depression just over halfway with batter.
8. Spoon in one tablespoon of Azuki paste
9. Pour batter over the top to cover the paste, but do not overfill.
10. Close the two halves of the pan and turn to flip.
11. Cook each side 2-3 minutes, depending on the heat of your stove-top, until the Taiyaki is golden brown on each side.
12. Cool on a baking rack and serve warm!
Taiyaki2

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March 27, 2020 · 4:09 PM

What are Carinderias?

philippinesWe have been focusing a bit on the Philippines this week during our online food explorations, and have become enthralled by its diverse food culture. We are already itching to visit in person some day and try all the street food! One of the major restaurant types in the Philippines is the Carinderia, which is a combination of a street food stall and a buffet restaurant. The origin of the name is tied to the word kari, which means spice/curry. At a Carinderia, which is often open air and found street-side or in a market, you can select from maybe a dozen or more rotating local Filipino home-style dishes. Options vary by restaurant and region, and may include chicken adobo, lechon (roast pork), sisig (chopped pork and onions), Tinolang manok (chicken soup), pancit (fried noodles) and more. You can find Carinderia restaurants throughout the Filipino diaspora, from the US, to Australia to Bahrain. Mark Weins has a blog post and video a Carinderia he visited in Manila, giving insight into the various dishes. We also love the Carinderia crawl videos from the Filipino channel Coconuts.tv. Each video follows a different person visiting their favorite Carinderia and it is awesome to see the variety in both setup and food!

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March 25, 2020 · 7:34 AM

Enjoying Agege Bread in Nigeria

nigeriaOur ETW Armchair Travel destination today is: Nigeria! We have eaten our share of Nigerian food in the states, but we have never tasted one of the iconic foods of Lagos, Nigeria: Agege Bread! Brought to Nigeria by a Jamaican immigrant, and named after the Lagos suburb of Agege, Agege bread is now a completely ingrained and revered part of Nigerian food culture. This slightly-stretchy and chewy bread is made with few ingredients, and baked into a perfectly rectangular shape in special pans, and then fired in a clay oven. We really enjoyed this short documentary on the history of Agege bread, directed and produced by filmmaker Chika Okoli and featuring culinary historian and researcher Ozoz Sokoh aka Kitchen Butterfly [Instagram]. Ozoz does a great job describing Nigerian Food culture and the winding history of Agege bread. Making your own Agege bread seems to be somewhat difficult, but there are recipes out there, check out these options from K’s Cuisine, My Active Kitchen, and Africaparent. In the US, you can even get Agege bread baked fresh in Brooklyn.

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March 23, 2020 · 3:46 PM

ETW is back with Armchair Travel!

You may have noticed that I have been back to posting on ETW more frequently recently. I will admit that things had been busy in the past 6 months with a cross-country move, purchasing a house and starting a new job, and ETW has fallen by the wayside. Just as things were starting to settle down, Coronavirus hit the US, and now it looks like all of our traveling will be curtailed for the foreseeable future. As you may have guessed from this blog, some of our favorite things are traveling, dining out at restaurants, and planning future trips, none which are possible or safe in this current environment. Thank goodness for the internet, where there is a wealth of information, videos, etc., which allow you travel virtually (and at a safe social distance!). So, at least a few times a week I will be highlighting some of my favorite videos, recipes, and other resources in a new series, “ETW Armchair Travel” so we can all be armchair travelers for a while.

Our first ETW Armchair Travel link comes directly from my sister, and is a mesmerizing video of Portuguese Custard Tarts – Pasteis de Nata – being prepared at Pastéis de Belém in Lisbon, Portugal, which we visited several times when we lived in Lisbon. We must admit that Belém does not have our favorite pastel de nata, but you can’t argue with their scope of production or longevity! Hope you enjoy the video, and stay safe inside!

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October 28, 2019 · 1:50 PM

Soan Papdi for Diwali

India FlagHappy Diwali! Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, started yesterday, October 27, 2019, but it is not too late to get in on some delicious treats to celebrate this holiday. Today, for Diwali, we will be making Soan Papdi (aka patisa, son papri, sohan papdi or shonpapdi), a North Indian confection with an amazing melt-in-the-mouth texture. Really, it is unlike anything I have had before, somewhat like cotton candy, but with flaky layers, often formed into cubes. You definitely have to experience it for yourself! This treat was first introduced to me by my friend from Delhi, who brought the treat back directly from a favorite sweet shop. Soan Papdi is popular throughout India, especially during festivals. With a base of ghee (clarified butter), gram flour and sugar, soan papdi is often flavored with cardamom, but you can now find it flavored any number of ways, including mango, pistachio or chocolate. Check out Steemit, The Times of India and Awesome Cuisine for Soan Papdi recipes.

Soan Papdi in Delhi by Georgia Popplewell

 

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April 26, 2019 · 12:15 PM

Treats from Okinawa

Our friend Jose from NYC has a second home in Okinawa, where his wife’s family is from, and the last time we saw him he was generous enough to shower us with Okinawan treats! We have long been fascinated by the unique culture of Okinawa, the largest of a chain of islands located south of the rest of Japan. Due to its relatively remote location Okinawan culture is completely different than in a place like Tokyo, which means Okinawa has its own unique, amazing food.

Local brown sugar, kokutu, is a prized commodity in Okinawa, made by slowly cooking down sugarcane juice (instead of adding molasses back in), imparting it with a unique flavor. Jose brought us two kinds of brittle made with Okinawa brown sugar: Black sesame & crushed peanut and coconut chunk. Plus we got Japan-exclusive Kit-Kats – almond and cranberry and dark chocolate.

There were also beautifully wrapped little cakes, which turned out to be – Sata Andagi – Okinawan fried doughnuts. Our variety had peanuts, white sesame and orange peel, though they can come in a variety of flavors, including the emblematic Okinawan sweet potato (also very popular in Hawaii). Thank you Jose for bringing us these wonderful Okinawan treats that we could have never gotten anywhere else!

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