Catfish Stew - Nupe Style!

I am a Nupe girl and proud! Although I didn't grow up in Nupe land I have learnt a lot about my culture from my relatives and from reading many books. 

I still visit Lafiagi, Kwara State the village my great Aunt and some relatives still live. We love to eat rice and guinea corn in different forms as we grow them in the swampy areas because the Nupe land is located in the heart of Nigeria below the River Niger and river Kaduna. And also for this reason fish is very common in Nupe dishes. I still get my mum to send me some dried fish straight from the river! I don't mind the rice "forms" but I must admit that I cannot stand the meals made out of guinea corn!

One of my favourite Nupe dishes is made with fish and very few ingredients yet it tastes amazing! When I used to return home for the holidays during my school days, my mum would ask me before I boarded the flight what I wanted to eat when I arrived. I always asked for this catfish stew pronounced Eni Ikan Fun Furu in the Nupe language. Even if I arrived at 4 am, I would still go straight to the kitchen and get down! It was impossible to eat and not stain my clothes. As I usually ate it with my hand, you will find me trying to prevent the oil from running down my hands. Till today this still happens to me.

I used to be really scared of preparing this dish because I didn't want to tamper with the good memory  I had of it. I used to ask myself,"what if its not as good as mum's?". So for a very long time I was content with having it once a year. The first time I braved it was in my second year at university. M was my flatmate at the time and very curious about the dish especially when she saw the ingredients. She thought it was really good but it didn't taste like mum's so I gave up. Last year though I walked into an Asian store and saw frozen catfish while searching for prawns and I thought it was high time I mastered this stew that was very important to my tribe. I prepared it for some guests and they were blown away. I was also pleased with what I had cooked. Phew! At last! I swear no dish had ever made me this nervous. 

This is all you need!

Cat Fish Stew


Ingredients:
1 cat fish
1 medium onion (finely chopped)
1 tablespoon dried chilli powder
1 Knorr cube
4 table spoons of palm oil
Salt to taste

Directions:
Chop the catfish into five to six pieces:

Place the pieces in a bowl and pour hot water over them just to cover them  for a minute, you will notice the slimy stuff coming off the fish. Rinse them again in cold water, pat dry and keep aside.

In a sauce pan large enough to contain all the fish in a single layer, heat the oil for a minute and add the chopped onions and fry for another minute. Then place the fish in a single layer, sprinkle the Knorr cubes and dried pepper over the fish. Pour warm water over the fish just to cover it and let it cook on medium heat for about 20 minutes or until you notice a thicker smooth stew. Add salt to taste.

Serve with rice or Tuwo Shinkafa.

Grilled Creamy Pesto Chicken

I find that I come up with recipes when food in my fridge or pantry is about to go off or when I have a lot of left overs, just like the Oven Baked Plantain recipe. This fear of throwing away food has its advantages, doesn't it?

Anyway I had baked a cake earlier in the week and had an opened tub of double cream in the fridge and about a quarter of a jar of pesto left. This is what I came up with:

Grilled Creamy Pesto Chicken

Ingredients:

2 chicken thighs (with skins on) and 3 drumsticks (you can use any chicken parts)

5 table spoons of double cream

3 table spoons of green pesto

1 scotch bonnet (fresh chili), finely chopped

1 medium onions, thinly sliced

2 teaspoons of mixed herbs

1 table spoon of Sunflower oil

1 Knorr cube

Salt to taste

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Wash the chicken portions with cold water and pat dry. Place in an oven dish and add all the ingredients. Mix properly, cover with foil paper and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until its cooked through. After its cooked through remove the foil paper and place the chicken under the grill for about 5 minutes on each side. What you are trying to achieve here is a crispy outer layer and a succulent creamy chicken.

Note: If you place the chicken in the oven for long enough, you will get a crispy texture and you may not need to grill the chicken.

 

Niger-Delta, Abuja

There is this local "restaurant" in Abuja called Niger-Delta. The first time my friend Samirah took me there 3 years ago, I was like errr... It is not a place I would normally go to. It wasn't much of a restaurant. It looked like the owner had just cleared some bush area and threw together some worn out plastic chairs and tables. The kitchen was located a few distance from the plastic settee. I could see the smoke from the firewood stove from where we were sat, the smoky smell feeling up my lungs. I reached for my inhaler while fighting off flying insects. With a confused look across my face, I glanced at Samirah and she laughed "I am not trying to sell you, Sasa. Trust me you will love the food." As we grabbed our seats we felt eyes boring holes in our backs. We looked like lost puppies in there and it didn't help we were the only females there except the some waiters and the cook.

Before my trip to Abuja, she had been raving about this place some of her colleagues had lunch and said the food, was so good you could eat your own fingers without realising it. As a self confessed foodie in my mind I was already there!

When the waiter came to take our order, Samirah decided to order for me. I let her because for one we weren't given any menus to order from. You had to be a regular there to know what was being served. It was like a club I wasn't part of, yet. Samirah ordered Banga soup with pounded yam. The food arrived sizzling in clay pots and the waiter was kind enough to bring a bowl of water for us to wash our hand in. He had assumed that we were going to eat with our hands. Thinking back now I don't think a knife and fork would have done the food justice. It was so delicious I could have gone for two more rounds but I decided to respect myself. 

This wasn't my first time of ever eating this meal but I have to say its the best I have ever tasted. And because it was so good we made it our thing. So anytime I am in Abuja, Samirah and I make sure we go and have Banga soup and pounded yam. I know we should try something else but when ever the waiter comes to take our order, I just blurt out Banga soup before she even finishes asking her question.

Last year the owner of Niger-Delta had built a roof over the sitting area. Last week Samirah told me that she has moved to a much bigger place that looked like a very massive dinning room at a boarding school complete with benches. Business must be really good!

I was thinking about the finger licking soup and decided it was high time I learnt how to prepare one of my favourite dishes incase Madame Niger-Delta decides to pack shop (heaven forbid!):

Banga Soup

Ingredients:

800g of Palm Nut Sauce 

2kg of cooked assorted Meat (beef, goat or chicken)

500ml of Beef stock

1/2 cup of dried cat fish

1/2 cup of dried king prawns

1/2 onion bulb, finely chopped

1 scotch bonnet, finely chopped
2 tablespoons of Banga Spice Leaves

1 Knorr cubes

Directions:
Heat the palm nut sauce in a sauce pan until you see the palm oil rising to the surface. Add some stock (this will depend on how thick you like your soup. Make sure you don't exceed 500ml). Add the onions, fish, scotch bonnet and dried prawns and Knorr cubes. Cook for about 5 minutes and then add spice leaves.

Cook for a further 2 minutes and your Banga soup is ready. Serve with Pounded Yam or Eba.

Banga Soup