What on God's green earth is Starch?

It's been hectic week since the HBK launch. I have worked long hours at the office and at home. As I came home every night, I've been running around in circles trying to figure how to build a website, find a supplier for African food, keep food warm when moving from my kitchen to event venues, and even new additions to the HBK menu. It's been quite intense to say the least.  I have resolved the issue of keeping food warm relatively quickly. The two things haunting my dreams now are the website and finding a supplier. I found one African store and there were a good number of things there. However, I'm still not sold on their yams and their snails. The snails looked like they had been there for an eternity. Some of the yams were black and blue on some parts of the surface. The effect of poor aeration I suppose. Nevertheless, I dug in there and found a good, happy looking yam. I made a beeline for my basket and snagged that yam like it was a nugget of gold! I also got a few non perishables from there. Exeter corned beef (the sight of the red paper wrapped can is so nostalgic for me), Heinz Salad Cream, Pounded yam flour and Fufu flour. Next weekend I will embark on another search, this time with someone who knows a ton of African stores in the area, to find some beautiful snails.

I had another unanswered question that came to mind while trying to build new dishes to add to my existing menu. "What exactly is starch made of?" Nigerians will know that 'starch' is a staple fondly enjoyed with a myriad of soups. However as many people do love it, very few know what exactly it is. The best answer anyone gave me so far was that it's made from cassava. Well, that's a good start I suppose, except that many other things are made from cassava also - garri, fufu, tapioca, just to name a few. Then I got really curious, and started to research. I found out after about half a day's research that Nigerians left out a descriptive part of the food's name by calling it 'starch'. Starch is nothing more than a food item I've seen so many times but never gave a second thought, tapioca starch. I saw this in a Filipino grocery store about two weeks ago and thought, what on earth do they do with a powdered form of tapioca? I had assumed it was used by Filipinos for desserts much like the lumpy form of tapioca. I quite like my tapioca with some texture, and I couldn't imagine anyone enjoying a pudding made from the powder. Little did I know, that tapioca starch was a lot closer to home than I'd imagined.

Funny that I'd make this discovery at the time that I did because my next 'Iron Chef' battle will be featuring soups that usually accompany starch; Banga soup and Edikaikong soup. It is a battle because I really have never seen either of these soups made, and I've tasted them only once! That should give me a good challenge and force me right out of my comfort zone. I love the idea of taking a tour around the world through food so it looks likes this Honeybee is heading to the east of Nigeria soon. I welcome all tips, pointers and funny tales associated with these soups from those of you who grew up eating them. You never know I just may name the gourmet rendition of these dishes after your story or even after you. Be rest assured that I shall have funny tales to follow after I make these soups.
In the meantime I've found a website that allows me to make a slideshow of pictures. I put together a collection of pictures from the HBK launch (pictures were taken by Dayo Adefulu), because embedding pictures in a blog format is incredibly annoying. I shall make more slideshows in the future. Just you wait!

HBK Launch: http://slideroll.com/?s=nxm1w1vh

A Dream is Born

April 17th, 2010. My baby was born. For years I’d wondered when this would come to pass, if it would come to pass. I had been carrying this dream for a long time and I finally kicked it into existence and had a little gathering to welcome it. It didn’t take very long to give it a nickname, HBK. HBK which stands for Honeybee’s Kitchen, is the medium through which I plan on bringing my dream of showcasing African food especially Nigerian food in the most creative and delicious way. Gourmet and African are not always two words that people necessarily put together. I don’t know of many people who think it’s possible to make Nigerian dishes “fancy”, probably because they don’t think anyone will go for it. Personally I believe that all African countries have wonderful foods with amazing colors, textures and flavors just waiting to be introduced to the world. I don’t think of what I do as 'trying to make it fancy' but more as dressing it up and bringing it to the forefront; so that someone, anyone who might have any misgivings about trying it out, would strongly reconsider. Also, I think there are many Africans who would love to see a marriage of the different cuisines, cultures and flavors of Africa; and see it presented in the most beautiful form and of course, eat it too.

I called on some people to come over to my place and give me feedback on some of the recipes I’d been toying with in my head. I really wondered if anyone would find the things I’d dreamed up appealing, and I was dying for an opportunity to find out. So I embarked on creating a five course meal and a cocktail that highlighted some of my favorite Nigerian meals and memories.

This was the menu I eventually came up with:

Cocktail: Sweetcheeks - Grapefruit juice and Vodka cocktail

First Course: The Danielle – Suya Sliders

Second Course: Modupe’s Moin-Moin – A rendition of a classic named after my mother

Third Course: Olumo Rock – A rendition of a popular dish of pounded yam and Efo-riro

Fourth Course: Eko Bangkok – A fusion of two cultures, Nigerian and Thai. Pan-seared chicken in fried stew with Basil Fried Rice

Fifth Course: The Nneka – A dessert of tapioca served over brandy infused tropical fruits

As excited as I was to put this meal together, I couldn’t help but think to myself, "you are ABSOLUTELY crazy for trying to do all of this in one day in your home kitchen". However thanks to the support of some wonderful people, I was able to make all the courses. I also found that I made a lot of people happy by bringing a fun mix of personalities together over a meal of surprises.

I’m sharing some pictures from the dinner. This served as a kick-off event for a small venture I’m launching to take on small gourmet catering venture, that will focus mainly on African cuisine and taking it to the next level. I will share my contact details shortly for people interested in getting their small events catered by Honeybee’s Kitchen.

Enjoy!

Humble beginnings

Welcome to Honeybee's Kitchen

Take a card or two

Setting up the living room for the launch

Ladies chatting it up as we wait for everyone to arrive

The making of Sweetcheeks by Sweetcheeks

The Sweetcheeks cocktail

 Dinner gets underway... 

The Danielle

The Second Course named after my momma

A deconstructed classic

The third course: A tribute to Olumo Rock

The fourth course: Eko Bangkok

 East by way of Thailand meets West, Western Nigeria that is...

Fifth Course: Dessert named 'The Nneka'

Sweetness that packs a punch

 Lade aka Sweetcheeks ~ The inspiration behind 'Sweetcheeks'

Danielle ~ The inspiration behind 'The Danielle'

Nneka ~ The inspiration behind 'The Nneka'

Salmon Says

I love, love, love salmon. While salmon may not be the king or queen of fish, it's my little princess and I treat it as such. On a Saturday night, I could be painting the town pink, salmon pink that is, instead I'm thinking of enjoying my Easter Sunday with a trusty favorite: Salmon sautéed with Peppers and White wine.
I love to eat this with potatoes or with rice. When I want to dress up this salmon dish, I seek out red potatoes. I love those little potatoes, they are so cute. I know it sounds like I'm not talking about food using terms like "dress up" or "cute" but that is entirely a matter of opinion.. Ha!
I digress... After scrubbing the potatoes in warm water and rinsing off. I prepare the my browning them with garlic and butter in a pan for about 10 minutes. Then I cast them away into a baking pan or better a cast iron skillet and add rosemary, and 2 cups of red wine (yes cooking with wine is my thing, I'd say more but that's a conversation for another day). A pinch of salt and black pepper sprinkled evenly over every last red, round potato. I leave that for 35-40 minutes in a preheated oven (about 400°F).
Now I suppose you're wondering what about the salmon? Where the heck is the salmon recipe? Very well, I shall let you have it. It is hard to rush a little princess, or share them - yet share it I will...

Ingredients

*Quantities are based on 1 whole fillet of salmon, assuming a whole salmon was halved*

Salmon Fillets (skinned) – Canned (3 cans) or Fresh (1 cleaned fillet)

2 Red Peppers

2 Green Peppers

½ Red Onion

1 tbsp Tomato sauce (blended tomatoes)

6-8 tbsp White cooking wine (optional but I love it)

3 tbsp Vegetable Oil (I use Canola oil - healthier)

1 tsp Oregano

1 tsp Thyme

1 ½ - 2 tbsp Chili Pepper Flakes (you can use more depending on how spicy you want your food, but don't use too much b/c it'll drown out other flavors)

2 tbsp Minced Garlic

1 tsp Pureed Ginger/ finely chopped ginger

½ tsp Salt

Marinade

1.5 tbsp Adobo

In case this isn’t available: it is a blend of salt, garlic powder, black pepper, oregano, turmeric (in equal parts)

Directions

With fresh salmon, after slicing the fillet into serving-size pieces, rub in the marinade at least 2 hours before preparation. Leave to marinate in the refrigerator. With canned salmon, do nothing, it will be added last to the other ingredients as it’s already cooked.

Clean the peppers, and remove stalks, then cut peppers in half, length-wise. Remove seeds and pith of the peppers. Slice the peppers in thin strips about ¼ of an inch. Slice onions as thinly as possible in thin strips as well.

Heat oil in the sauté pan on the highest heat setting, and once oil is hot (after about 1 minute), add the onions, ginger, and thyme, and chili pepper flakes.

Once the onions starts to get a little translucent add the peppers and sauté for about 1 minute, and then add in the white wine. Stir briefly and allow to rest for another minute on medium heat.

Add the tomato sauce and stir in oregano.

Add the fresh salmon and cover the pan, and leave for 3 minutes. The turn the fillets over, and cover the pan for another 2-3 minutes.

With the canned salmon, just add it in at step 6 and allow it to simmer for 4 minutes, no more than 6 minutes so it doesn’t start to disintegrate. With canned salmon, don’t add any salt to the dish. It is most likely loaded with sodium already.

The red potatoes with Rosemary waiting to be browned

Red and Green Peppers cleaned and sliced

Slice the red onions thinly

Add white wine into peppers and salmon to finish the dish