Hangouts with Mai Koose; The Food Hut Pict-ionary: 'K' is for Koose

To this I can totally relate. Whilst studying in Zaria, northern Nigeria, the Mai Koose or Mai Shai joint was a regular feature in the social life of most students.

It is comparable to an English man stopping over at the 'Fish and Chips' joint and sitting down to the savour the nice hot meal with a sprinkling of vinegar and or salt, whilst eating it straight from the paper.

Back to Koose. It is commonly made from blended black eyed beans and served as a fritter. Mai Shai, (i.e. The local Tea Man), serves it up hot into paper and 'yaji' if required. Yaji, is a nutty blend of spices that can be dipped into while eating and can be extremely hot!🔥. For those who want a may more filling meal, fried yam (doya) is never far. Mai Shai also serves up fried egg and bread and tea on demand.

So, you can imagine Student life, when sometimes on a reading break or on your way back to the hostel and no cooking plans. Mai Shai always comes in handy and for the typical young African, a spicy snack always goes down better than a sweet treat. Koose has long been a valuable stop gap snack. 

I can recall, often, friends using the time to catch up with others while waiting for their order to come off the fryer. If Mai Koose, has tables, even better. You buy a cold bottled drink and chat with your friends via the light of Mai Koose's stick fire and watch the world go by. A little respite, chill out time and when all is done, you go back to your work.

P.S. some used their Koose as literal 'burgers' between hard dough or sweet bread to go. No time to wait, so  much to catch up with and the need for a filling warm tasty meal is met on the go. 😃. Fast Food 😆

Good job Mai Koose, keep it up. 

Koose is making appearances at some get togethers these days, so remember this blog and have a taste if you have never tried it before. 😊

Till next blog, I remain;

Fally Jay

'I' is for Injera. Let us celebrate with Ethiopia!

Hip hip hip hooray!

There seems to be no end to the good and exciting news coming out of Ethiopia.
So many progressive moves following a period of great turbulence.
We at The Food Hut are definitely happy for them.

First, their newly elected Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has made many reforms for good since being elected in April. Half of his cabinet are women including the 'defence minister'!

Next, we just heard today that they have nominated a 'female President' in the person of Ms Sahle-Work Zewde. What a landmark event. We hope she gets every necessary support to really get down to 'Work'. 😊.

This week, our food in focus happens to be 'Injera', made from grains that are unique to Ethiopians and Eritreans, called Teff'. 

Why don't we all make the healthy choice and at the same time help Ethiopia progress and celebrate by buying into their economy.

Let us eat Injera or even use Teff flour for our flour based recipes too.

Here's a clip of an Ethiopian Vegan Food Stall often found at Greenwich Market near The Cutty Sark.
They were adding colour to our recently concluded Woolwich Carnival

Congratulations Ethiopia!

Fally's Food Hut Pictionary; Letter F. 'F' is for Fufu.

Where I come from,

Fufu, 

is largely known to be a meal made from fermented cassava and is commonly eaten in West Africa.
It is popular due to it's longevity or longer 'shelf' or 'table life'. It is also known to last longer in the tummy serving as a deterrent to 'hunger' during a long day's job.
Each tribe in all our African communities have different names for this type of food but another general term for it and any such variants  is  'Swallow'.
This tells us about the way in which the food is consumed, which is by

 simply 'using your fingers 👋 to part a morsel from the cooked dough, 

dipping it in the accompanying sauce or tasty soup serving as a lubricant,

then....swallow. 😁. Belly full. Job done.

Here is a video showing how typical Fufu is made.

You will also find a whole list of alternative sources of flour or 'batter' for making healthier versions of swallow here.

We love our Fufu (swallow) and you can't blame us for looking for other ways to enjoy our rich soups. Even 'Cauliflower' has joined the queue.

Never tried such before..? Think bangers and mash and no sticky fingers 😂.

Hey, 😄 join the fun and make your own Fufu or Swallow variants.

Thanks for keeping us company and thanks to ALL NIGERIAN RECIPES for being so resourceful.
Next down the line in our Food Hut Pict-ionary  would be the Letter G;

Till then,

Fally Jay.