Africa on a plate
Distilling the diversity of the Mother Continent into one cookbook is no mean feat, but Nigerian-British chef and travel junkie Lerato Umah-Shaylor makes an excellent start with her awardwinning debut, Africana
When I was a baby, my mother had a restaurant in Lagos called Checkers. I remember hearing stories about her carrying me tied around her back, Africanmama style. So, I was raised in a restaurant, and I just love that. Her egusi soup, made with ground melon seeds and greens and served with pounded yam, was one of the most popular dishes on the menu. It’s also possibly the first Nigerian recipe my mum taught me to cook.
We had a family cook called Papa.
I think it’s because of him and the many other cooks who fed us as kids that I’ve become such a picky eater. Papa worked at a hotel for expats before joining our family, and his food was exquisite, varying from curries, samoosas and pies to casseroles. My mum cooked more of the traditional Nigerian foods such as fried rice and moin moin, the slow-cooked beans that I love so much.
As kids, my brother and I also lived in the Republic of Benin. About an hour across the border from Nigeria; it was very different there, especially as it’s a Francophone country. We lived and studied in Cotonou, and one of my favourite treats was patate douce, which simply means sweet potatoes. They were crispy on the outside and soft inside, if we were lucky to eat them fresh out of the frying pan. If not, they would be wrapped in newspaper and accompanied by sauce piment – a fiery chilli sauce for dipping. We weren’t really allowed to eat food that wasn’t cooked at home, so perhaps the thrill of being naughty added to the excitement of this dish! I could never wait to unwrap the potatoes, usually steaming within the newspaper, and dive in, devouring them while still hot, dipped into the chilli.
There are many places in Africa I have yet to visit, from Namibia to Botswana; Gambia to Somalia. My travelling style doesn’t include running through a checklist of countries. I go where the food, stories, family and friends take me. I’ve just returned from Morocco, travelling across the red city of Marrakesh, the rolling Atlas Mountains and Berber chic Essaouira, and then I was off to Ghana, where I recently hosted my first cookery retreat. In Ghana, I’m always excited for freshly grilled fish with yam or plantain chips and shito – a deep, dark umami-flavoured chilli sauce, and freshly squeezed juices – mango, watermelon, orange with a strong hit of ginger. In Tanzania, I’ll be going after a home-cooked fish curry with chapati, like the spice island fish curry in Africana. And I can’t resist the mandazi – a triangular doughnut, served with free-flowing cups of spicy Kenyan chai.
It’s impossible for me to single out a favourite recipe from Africana.
I adore the malva pudding, which is a huge hit among cooks and at my events; the smoky tomato-and-date jam is a bewitching condiment that marries beautifully with many other recipes within the book and beyond; the stews are sumptuous; the spice blends are magical … If I had to pick just one, I’d choose the slow-cooked black-eyed beans. This is inspired by a dish my mother used to wean me as a baby. A dish that comforts me, a dish I call “home”.
“I created this specially for anyone, like myself, who hates Christmas pudding”
The stories interspersed through Africana are truly the beating heart of the cookbook. A personal favourite is “Under the mango tree”. On a hot day while in the northern part of Nigeria – after badgering my mum for fresh mangoes, which were at the beginning of their season and yet to be transported to the city – we set off inland, closer to the villages. It became a wonderful learning experience for me as I was not only able to bag a lot of lush mangoes, but I was able to visit a shea butter co-operative, learning about how this golden produce makes its way from the shea nut tree to my skin, [thanks to] the tenacity of some wonderful women.
The last time I tried a new ingredient was on a recent trip to Ghana’s gold coast, where I was hosting guests on my first cookery retreat. I’d never tasted the inside of a fresh cocoa pod and wanted us to experience it together, so we cracked open a shell of the cocoa fruit and, to our surprise, the most fascinating thing wasn’t the cocoa beans, but the white pulp surrounding them. It tasted like a mix of mango, litchi, pineapple and a mellow citrus. It was wonderful and I would love to eat that every day. I can imagine it in ice cream, a mango fool or a smoothie.
I adore South Africa and I am often mistaken for a South African because of my name. To me, the most exciting place to eat in South Africa is at a braai organised by friends or family. Juicy boerewors, hot off the grill, with chakalaka stuffed in a roll, is a firm favourite. The next time I’m in SA, I’ve challenged myself to try umqombothi. After all, it is one of my alltime favourite songs by Yvonne Chaka Chaka! Even though I’m not a beer drinker, I hear it was all the rage during lockdown. W @leratofoods; leratofoods.substack.com
“The next time I’m in SA I’ve challenged myself to try umqombothi, even though I am not a beer drinker”