Cashew Butter & Bacon Soup {Inspired by Goober Peas & African Groundnut Stews}

This month's Creative Cooking Crew Challenge - hosted as ever by the lovely and talented Joan of Foodalogue and Lazaro of Lazaro Cooks - centers around four key ingredients: green apples, bacon, nut butter, and vinegar.  Participants have been tasked with creating any dish they like, using as many or as few ingredients as they please, as long as it  incorporates some version of these four components.

For good or ill, I will cheerfully turn just about anything into soup, and this challenge has done nothing to discourage this propensity of mine. Here I took inspiration from a Southern American dish, goober pea soup, a peanut-based soup eaten by the Confederate Army during the Civil War.  The ancestor of this dish is of course West African groundnut, or peanut stew. Goober is an African word for peanut, an example of the indelible imprint that African ingredients and foods, via the slave trade, made on the cuisine of the American South.

Rustic Tomato & Coconut Fish Soup

For this soup, I took inspiration from mtuza wa samaki, an incredibly spicy Kenyan fish dish with onions, tomatoes, vinegar and a bunch of Scotch bonnet peppers. I felt lazy about chopping things perfectly, so I am calling it "rustic."

"Cochon de Lait" a l'Afrique, Black Eyed Pea Croquette, Caribbean Mango Salsa: The Main Course at Voodoo, for the 5 Star Restaurant Wars Challenge

This month's edition of the 5 Star Makeover Challenge is a real doozy: Restaurant Wars. Two months ago, our hosts, Lazaro of Lazaro Cooks! and Natasha of 5 Star Foodie divided participants into groups of three, tasking us each to create a virtual restaurant based on a single theme or ingredient. Each team member would be responsible for one of the three courses.

And am I ever happy with the team members fate dealt me. Jessica of Cajunlicious and Maya of Foodiva's Kitchen were fabulous to work with, and it didn't take us too long to hammer out a name, theme, and dishes for our restaurant.

Coconut, Black-Eyed Pea, Pepper & Pandan Rice: a Spicy M'Baazi Mash Up

Remember when I told you about how the fabulicious Maya of Foodiva's Kitchen unexpectedly gifted me with fresh pandan leaves from Brunei? Naturally, the first thing I did with it was make a boozy cocktail.

But then I was inspired to go a more solid and nutritious route when Nancy of Spicie Foodie - another beneficiary of Maya's ingredient largesse - posted her pandan coconut rice dish.

West African Pepper Soup, for Whatever Ails Your Body or Soul

I cannot explain my peculiar affinity for West African food. Certainly nothing in my middle class meat-loaf-and-pork-chops middle-of-nowhere American upbringing prepared me for the rich flavors of palm oil, stew meats, and salted fish, or for the fiery heat of Scotch bonnet peppers. But, as I have discussed here before, in posts about red red and kelewele,  Liberian bean soup,  and even maharagwe, an East African dish to which I obstinately added hot peppers, something about the cuisine speaks to me.  But then, who knows what memories may lurk in the ghostly ancestral memories of our tastebuds?

Moroccan Chicken, Preserved Lemon, & Olive Tagine with Dried Cherry & Almond Couscous

If you've followed this blog at all, you may be a bit surprised - or even, if you're vegetarian, disappointed - to see me writing about a chicken recipe. In fact, this is the first meat dish - other than fish - that I've ever featured here.

So, what has gotten into me? Let me explain ...

Mtuza wa Samaki: Kenyan Curried Fish, for World Africa Day

It's all about the hot peppers ...

... and of course, the fish

When Casey of  Eating,  Gardening, and Living in Bulgaria challenged food bloggers to cook an African dish to highlight the incredible culinary diversity of the continent in honor of World Africa Day, I was eager to participate.  After all, African cuisine - particularly the hot and spicy variety - is one of my very favorite things in the world. (I have the sweat-inducing and curiously addicting West African pepper soup at Sumah's carryout in Washington, DC to thank for it. )

Of course, saying "African cuisine" is a gross oversimplification.  Each region and country has its own signature ingredients, spices, and cooking techniques.  Ethiopian, Senegalese, Tunisian, Ghanaian, Kenyan, South African - these cuisines, and many more I didn't list,  are as different from one another as French is  from Viennese.  I hope that more and more people begin to discover the depth and breadth of flavors this continent has to offer.

Senegalese Yassa, My Way

When we moved into our current neighborhood, Poppa Trix and I were super excited to see that there was a Senegalese restaurant within walking distance of our house. All the cab drivers eat there, which  in my book is usually a very good sign.  Unfortunately, it turns out that if you're not from Senegal and/or a cab driver yourself, your meal may take upwards of an hour to eventually find its meandering way onto your table.

Now, that wouldn't be so bad if the food were stellar. But the kitchen always seems to have just run out of the very thing I want, and the dishes they do have are literally swimming in deep rivers of palm oil. After several attempts to love this place, I realized that I had no choice: If I want Senegalese food, I'm just going to have to make it myself.

North African Eggplant & Chickpea Tagine-less Tagine, The Third and Final Installment of the Preserved Lemon Trilogy

Okay, so technically a "tagine" is a North African (usually Moroccan) dish that is cooked in a clay pot of the same name. I don't have one (yet), so I'm not sure if I can correctly call this a tagine.  Maybe I should just say "stew."  But that might give you the incorrect impression of  heaviness and heft. In fact, while this is far more stew than soup, the spices and layers of flavor combine to create an overall sensory effect of scented, perfumed lightness.  Perfect for winter, but absolutely appropriate for warm weather as well.

Maharagwe, a Spicy Kenyan Red Bean Dish with Cashew Curry Rice

Everything about maharagwe makes me happy. The spicy peppers make me euphoric, the red beans remind me of New Orleans, and the coconut tomato broth is pure comfort. And there's that color -  the vibrant yellow ochre the turmeric imparts to the liquid feeds the eyes before the tastebuds even get involved.

Although Kenyan, maharagwe is an example of the influence that Indian culture has had on some of the cuisine of East Africa. The turmeric, tomatoes, coconut milk, cardamom, and green peppers are all things you might find in any number of Indian dishes, but it all comes together with a distinctly East African feel. Typically maharagwe would be served with ugali, a starchy cornmeal mush. But I thought I'd play off of the Indian influence and serve it with a cashew curry jasmine rice.

Fiery Liberian Bean Soup

This is another one of those West African dishes that is so much more than the sum of its relatively few parts. The order in which the ingredients are added to the pot helps create layers of flavor and a very pleasing slow build of spicy heat.  

Mmmm, Mmmm, M'Baazi: Kenyan Black-Eyed Peas in Coconut Milk

You may have figured out by now that I'm a huge fan of African food. While I'm often cooking up spicy West African style dishes, I also love to make meals inspired by the flavors of East Africa.

Spicy West African Style Greens & Peanut Stew with Fufu

My first exposure to African food was Ethiopian cuisine, and I was hooked from the first bite. This was many years ago, at the now-defunct Blue Nile Restaurant  in Baltimore. At the time, I could barely boil spaghetti and had certainly never heard of anything as "exotic" as ghee or injera.  The rich heady flavors and brand new smells, spices, and textures were entirely mysterious and magical to me.