1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List (182 page)

Resembling a cross between pumpkin and watermelon, the Nigerian melon known as
egusi
isn’t cultivated for its dry, bland flesh, but rather for its seeds, which become beloved toasty, salty nibbles in the countries of West Africa. Quickly roasted or sautéed in hot peanut or palm oil and then liberally sprinkled with salt, the seeds are a popular street snack (as salted nuts are the world over) and an excellent source of protein and healthy fats.

Skillful Nigerian cooks do much more with the seeds than snack on them, however, often pounding them to add flavor and thickness to slowly simmered dishes. Among the more delicious results are the stews made with egusi seeds,
tomatoes, onions, cayenne, and black pepper, plus various kinds of fish and shellfish or chicken that have been sautéed until golden brown. Spinachlike greens are a standard addition as well, and
fufu
dumplings made with yam, cassava, or potatoes—or steamed white rice—are the expected accompaniments.

Where:
In Bronx, NY
, Papaye, tel 718-676-0771,
papayeny.com
.
Mail order:
For egusi seeds, amazon.com.
Further information and recipes:
Iron Pots and Wooden Spoons
by Jessica B. Harris (1989);
Cooking the West African Way
by Bertha Vining Montgomery and Constance Nabwire (2001);
celtnet.org.uk/recipes
(search egusi).

A sunny bowl of chicken yassa over white rice.

Style is at the heart of Senegalese cuisine, with its raffish dishes bold in color, flavor, and texture. And if the rapidly growing number of Senegalese restaurants throughout the United States is any indication, it’s on its way to becoming the newest player in the culinary fusion game. Some Senegalese specialties may already seem vaguely familiar, probably because they inspired much of the cooking of the southern U.S., particularly Louisiana. Slaves from Senegal, which was later part of French West Africa, brought their culinary traditions with them, and even when preparing French and American dishes in plantation kitchens, they “seasoned to taste.” The influence stuck, fortunately, and can still be detected in many southern dishes.

Jollof
rice, for example, cooked in various forms throughout West Africa, suggests meat-enriched rice specialties like jambalaya. If West African rice isn’t available, basmati rice (see
listing
) has the perfect, gently perfumed aroma and silky texture for this dish, in which it is simmered in chicken stock and combined with crisply browned chicken, sausages, or smoked ham, along with tomatoes, hot chiles, cabbage or other green vegetables, and spices that might include cinnamon, coriander seeds, pepper, cumin, and more.

Another rice-based pride of the Senegalese kitchen is
thiebu djen
(pronounced chee-boo chen)—the country’s national dish. Featuring smoked or dried and fresh fish, this stew combines tomatoes, garlic, onions, chiles, calabaza squash (see
listing
), carrots, eggplant, turnip, cabbage, sweet potatoes, okra, and manioc or cassava root. At its most odiferously authentic,
thiebu djen
is made with the hyper-fishy dried fish called
guedge
, which takes some getting used to. Heaped on a big mound of rice, it is served communal style, much in the manner of couscous (see
listing
).

Tart lemon, sweet onion, and hot chiles make the sunny marinade for chicken
yassa.
For this easy-to-like dish, pieces of chicken browned on a grill or under a broiler are simmered in the marinade along with onions and chiles that have been lightly sautéed to add an extra burnish of flavor. Sometimes prepared
with fish instead of chicken, it is simplicity itself, and easily adaptable to a home grill.

Peanuts, also called groundnuts, are the basis of many African stews, including the lamb
mafe
of Senegal. Creamy peanut butter, lightly sweetened, adds richness and body to the gravy, while seared lamb pieces are accompanied by an array of vegetables such as cauliflower, potato, okra, and carrots, and ignited by hot chiles. The antidote is a pile of steamed white rice, which always appears alongside.

One of West Africa’s best-loved stews is the oddly named palaver sauce, an intensely flavored combination of soft-cooked meat or poultry and spinachlike greens, with an accent of chiles and smoked fish such as kippers, served over rice, red beans, or both. Why palaver? One theory links the name to guests chatting with each other while waiting to be served; another says it refers to quarrels that broke out over the stew pot, as diners crowded in for a bowlful and got splattered with the ropy, messy greens. Whatever the true origin, there is no arguing with this crowd favorite.

To accompany your Senegalese meal, try a quenching ginger beer (see
listing
) or karkade, rose-red hibiscus petal juice (see
listing
), or a light, crisp Senegalese beer such as Flag or Gazelle. And for dessert, rejoice if
thiakry
is on the menu, a cooling whip of couscous or millet and yogurt, studded with fresh fruits, raisins, and nuts and topped with grated nutmeg.

Where:
In Dakar, Senegal
, Chez Loutcha, tel 221/33-821-0302;
in New York
, Africa Kine, tel 212-666-9400,
africakine.com
.
Further information and recipes:
The Africa Cookbook
by Jessica B. Harris (2010);
“My Cooking” West African Cookbook
by Dokpe L. Ogunsanya (1998);
Cooking the West African Way
by Bertha Vining Montgomery and Constance Nabwire (2001);
foodandwine.com
(senegalese okra stew);
foodnetwork.com
(search jol-off rice);
saveur.com
(search thieboudienne);
celtnet.org.uk
(search senegal).

The baobab tree is known as the Tree of Life.

Native to sub-Saharan Africa, the fuzzy, bronze, football-shaped baobab fruit (
Adansonia digitata
) grows on a tree that has many uses—so many, in fact, that the baobab tree is known as the Tree of Life. To be fully appreciated,
the baobab must be tasted in all of its varied forms. Eaten fresh, the fruit’s soft white flesh, popularly called monkey bread, has a sweet–tart, citrusy quality and a dryish, powdery texture. Rich in calcium and vitamin C, that flesh can be dried and ground and used in cooking to thicken sauces, or it can be whipped into creamy smoothies. The seeds are also dried and ground into a seasoning or soaked to make a drink; roasted and salted, they are a satisfying snack whose nutty flavor is somewhere between almond and pistachio. Baobab leaves are also edible, and are generally simmered to thicken soups or cooked on their own, much like spinach or sorrel.

The towering, weirdly tapering baobab tree—nicknamed the “upside down tree”—with its spongy bark, looks half animal, half plant, and almost ready to lope away. Considered by many Africans to be something of a panacea that supposedly alleviates mild and serious ailments alike, baobab-derived products might eventually find their way to pharmacies as well as gourmet food shops across the globe. (In recent years, the EU and the U.K. approved importation of baobab fruit, amid much controversy due to the tree’s scarcity in its native lands.) Should you find yourself on the savannah, however, keep this legendary advice in mind: Drink the water in which baobab seeds have soaked and crocodiles won’t touch you. But pick a baobob flower and you’re likely to become a lion’s plat du jour.

Mail order:
For baobab jelly, Zingerman’s, tel 888-636-8162,
zingermans.com
; for fruit powder, Z Natural Foods, tel 888-963-6637,
znaturalfoods.com
; for seeds, Trade Winds Fruit,
tradewindsfruit.com
; for various baobab products,
baobab.org
.
Further information and recipes:
The Africa Cookbook
by Jessica B. Harris (1998);
African Cooking
by Laurens van der Post (1970);
baobab.org
(click Baobab Recipes).

The brilliant South African writer Laurens van der Post, in his text for the Time-Life volume
African Cooking
, from 1970, recalled the many clove-scented dishes he ate as a youth in his homeland. Among them was a slow-roasted leg of lamb studded with this exotically scented spice, and a braised, aromatic duck that he enjoyed many times along the East African coast. He dubbed it Zanzibar duck, honoring the Tanzanian island that (along with neighboring Pemba) produces what are arguably the world’s best and most
pungent cloves. (“Arguably” because many, particularly in Britain, consider cloves from Penang in Malaysia to be the best.)

Having originated in Indonesia, clove trees were introduced to Zanzibar and Pemba in the nineteenth century, and those areas rapidly became the world’s leading sources of the thorny spice. Dried for safe storage, cloves are best purchased whole and fragrantly fresh, before the oils, and therefore the flavor, have evaporated. If powdered cloves are called for, grind them just before use in a spice mill or coffee grinder.

The following is adapted from van der Post’s recipe for the savory, meltingly tender duck. Lemon, which also flourishes in this region, seasons the pungent sauce and brightens the unctuously rich duck meat. He recalls having the dish with plain steamed rice, but a more festive if much heartier accompaniment would be Zanzibar rice
pilau
, enriched with bits of shrimp or poultry and redolent of cardamom, ginger, cumin, pepper, cinnamon, and of course, clove.

Serves 4

1 duck (about 5 pounds), preferably a moulard

Duck giblets, trimmed and cleaned

15 to 18 whole cloves

1 hot red or green jalepeño chile pepper (about 2 inches long), seeded and diced