Trendy West-African foods That You Must Try!
A lot of the recipes that I have posted here, as well as in my cookbook are typical traditional recipes. Did you know there are lots of African bloggers who actually dish out amazing contemporary and trendy African dishes, that are a wonderful mix of elegance, flavour as well as are a visual treat?
I am sharing a few of those recipes with links to the amazing blogs of these bloggers, I am sure you too will be thrilled to read them.
You must have come across my Ataro-spiced grilled chicken recipe in my cookbook. This is one example of a trendy recipe. You can vary the spice you have used to make a new dish. You can use the Suya spice rub for instance, to change the flavour of the grilled chicken.
Here are a few other contemporary recipes that I thought I must share with my readers.
Check out this interesting recipe by Funke Koleosho, she has mixed and matched the staple plantain from West-African cuisine with middle eastern cuisine to make Plantain and Bean Hummus. That I think is an awesome way to bring two cultures together. It looks so lovely when plated.
Another interesting dish that Funke Koleosho has shared is the Jollof Rice Salad. I think this is brilliant in a way that the West-African gourmet scene can be made to look so elegant with the way the recipe of the traditional Jollof Rice has been used. When you give a whole new makeover to the traditional dishes, even those who have never heard of it will want to eat it. I am sure this would be on the menu cards of star hotels and West-African food is here to stay!
Plantains as you know, are a part and parcel of our West-African cuisine. I saw this recipe on 9jafoodie.com and it made me float in food heaven – check out this minced meat recipe that also has a plantain sauce to go along. Isn’t that a tantalizing way to recreate our traditional recipes? You could vary the meat and the seasonings and spices to bring out a whole new flavour.
I think a drink should be there on every list of contemporary dishes and I would like you to try out the Kunnu Gyada, which is a traditional drink from northern Nigeria. When we vary the ingredients i.e the nuts basically, we get a new drink. And that is one thing I love about our cuisine, we can vary the ingredients to suit our tastebuds and get a whole new dish. Isn’t that wonderful! Check out the recipe from Naija Chef.
Suya is one such dish that can be made into one of the most trendiest dishes in town. It can be served as a starter, it can be served as a side to some rice dish, depending upon what the dish is. You can also vary the meat and the seasonings/spice rubs and create an altogether new dish. The options are endless, all it needs is a little bit of imagination.
So what are the trendiest dishes in your cuisine? Let me know in the comments section.
You can purchase the spice rubs and seasonings from my online store and also purchase my cookbook here.
