TASTE & SAVOUR
Enjoy the rich diversity of African food
IN THIS VIBRANT AND generous celebration of food, friendship and conviviality, photographer Aline Princet and Anto Cocagne, a young chef from Gabon, invite musicians, writers, artists and creatives from all over African, south of the Sahara, to share their recipes and bring the spotlight to focus on the rich diversity of African food.
The 80 authentic recipes showcased here include the best dishes from Gabon, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Congo and Ethiopia, and with each recipe comes information on its origins, its key ingredients and tips and advice for the home cook on how to cook them to perfection. They use fruit, grains, vegetables, spices and are delicious, healthy, often vegetarian or vegan and some gluten-free. Interwoven throughout are interviews with the artists who talk about what African food means to them. Saka Saka pays tribute to food-loving Africans and African culture and invites us all in to taste and savour.
SAUTE´ ED BEEF with SPINACH SAUCE
Difficulty: Easy
Preparation: 20 minutes + 1 hour chilling time
Cooking: 30 minutes
Ingredients
500g beef fillet (or eye fillet)
2 Tbsp red nokoss (see below)
500g English spinach
Splash of vinegar, for washing
50ml red palm oil
4 Tbsp orange nokoss (see below) 100g ground African pistachios or pepitas (see tip)
Salt and pepper
For serving
A few mustard greens
Roasted African pistachios or pepitas
Method
Slice the beef into thin strips. Put the strips in a bowl with the red nokoss and mix well. Cover and set aside for 1 hour in the fridge.
Remove the stalks from the spinach. Wash the spinach leaves in vinegared water and then in clean water, swishing around well. Drain and set aside.
In a frypan, heat half the red palm oil and saute´ the beef in small batches for around 2 minutes or until well browned.
Set aside. In the same frypan, sweat the orange nokoss with the remaining palm oil for 5 minutes. Add the spinach and saute´ briefly, then add the ground African pistachios and stir for 5 minutes. Add a little water if it starts to stick. Add the beef slices and cooking juices and heat briefly. Season with salt and pepper.
Serve the saute´ ed beef and spinach with white rice. Garnish with a few mustard greens and roasted African pistachios.
Chef Anto’s tip:
This dish is a variation of e´ gousi, a dish that is very popular in West Africa. It is generally eaten with offal, especially tripe, but if you are not a fan, a beef fillet will work really well.
African pistachios are nothing like the pistachios we are used to in the West. In Africa, what we call a pistachio is the almond-shaped kernel found in squash or marrow. When these seeds are ground, they have the same properties as almond meal.
Red nokoss (for meat)
Difficulty: Easy Preparation: 10 minutes Cooking: none
Ingredients
1 red capsicum (pepper) 2 mild/sweet red chillies 1 red onion
3 garlic cloves
20g (3⁄4 oz) fresh ginger 1 tomato
1 celery stalk
2 sprigs thyme
2 sprigs flat-leaf parsley 1 Tbsp soumbala powder
Method
Deseed the capsicum and chillies. Peel and roughly chop the onion, garlic and ginger. Roughly chop the tomato and celery. Using a blender, blend the capsicum, chillies, onion, garlic, ginger, tomato, celery and herbs into a smooth paste. Add the soumbala and 3 Tbsp water, then blend again.
Keep the paste in a glass jar in the fridge.
Orange nokoss (for vegetables)
Difficulty: Easy Preparation: 20 minutes Cooking: 10 minutes
Ingredients
1 carrot
1 brown onion
3 garlic cloves
20g fresh ginger 2 mild/sweet chillies 1 leek, white part only 1 celery stalk
2 sprigs thyme
2 Tbsp turmeric 1 Tbsp dried smoked fish
Method
Peel the carrot, onion, garlic and ginger. Deseed the chillies.
Add the carrot to a pot of salted water and bring to the boil. Cook for 10 minutes, then remove from the water. Roughly chop the carrot, onion, leek, celery, garlic, ginger, chillies and thyme and combine in a blender.
Blend everything into a smooth paste. Add the turmeric, smoked fish and 3 tbsp water, then blend again.
Keep the paste in a glass jar in the fridge.
It is generally eaten with offal, especially tripe, but if you are not a fan, a beef fillet will work really well.