Peanut Soup

Peanut Soup Recipe : How to Make Ghanian Peanut Butter Soup

Chef Chidi

Peanut soup is native to the Hausa people in Northern Ghana/Nigeria. This is an easy to make soup that I usually serve with rice balls (tuwo shikafa) or any kind of fufu (swallow).

Snail Soup

Nsala Soup

Nsala soup (white soup) is one of the most delicious of all Nigerian soups, this year alone I have made and eaten more of it than any other.

Ofe nsala, as we call it, is a delicacy in Igboland.

I enjoy lots of the foods in Nigeria but there are quite some of them that kinda tastes better and more delicious to me. 😀

Melon soup (ofe egusi) for instance is like the number one for me.

The reason is that… sometimes we like to eat a combination of two or more different soups in our home and egusi blends perfectly with most of the soups in Nigeria, sometimes I even blend with nsala soup (also called white soup).

The image below is a combination of both white soup and eba

It is the only soup in Nigeria that is made without palm oil… just like pepper soup and ewedu soup, the use of palm oil is not necessary.

You can use plain beef or assorted meat for this soup. I used chicken

It is very popular in the south and eastern part of Nigeria, the efiks and Igbos are the top makers and consumers of this delicious soup.

So if you are dating or married to a man from the south or eastern part of Nigeria, you can try giving him a meal of pounded yam and ofe nsala tonight.

Below are the ingredients for nsala, the ingredients below would serve about five persons for three consecutive times.

Soups in Nigeria can be refrigerated for up to two weeks, most times it is better to make lots of soups and then refrigerate the remainder.

White Soup Ingredients

Serving 12

Preparation time: 80 minutes

Yam (six to eight slices…baby fist size)
Ground crayfish (1 cup)
3 seasoning cubes
1 teaspoon Uziza seeds
1 cup sliced uziza leaves
Dried or smoked fish (two medium sizes)
Snails (Optional)
1.3KG / 3lb Chicken
Small dawadawa
handful sliced utazi leaves
Salt and Pepper to taste.

Here are some of the ingredients used for this soup.

You might wanna start by peeling and boiling the yam, this should be pounded with a mortar and pestle.

Pounded yam serves as the thickener for nsala soup

Combine the crayfish, uziza seeds, dawadawa, and grind to a powder.
Wash and slice the leaves.

You can wash snails with lemon/line juice to remove the slimy fluid, although, you would be amazed to learn that there are people in Nigeria that cooks snails with the slimy fluids, sometimes without even removing the shell.

I am talking about a delicious Ijaw Recipe – Keke Fieye

Parboil the chicken with all the necessary ingredients, season with 2 stock/seasoning cubes, a teaspoon of salt, half a cup of sliced onions, and half a teaspoon of ginger/garlic.

You can see the video below.

I made this soup with chicken, alternatively, you could use a combination of different parts of cow meat – assorted meat.

Parboil the meat for about 7 minutes… until it is soft enough for consumption then you can go ahead and add the hot-water-washed dry fish. This could be added earlier if you are using a strong dry fish like mangala.

Add about 3 cups of cold or boiled water.

The amount of water for nsala soup depends on the ingredients/thickener available and the number of people that you are making the soup for.

Boil the combination for another 7-10 minutes until they are both soft for consumption then go ahead and add the ground crayfish/uziza seed/dawadawa combination, and ground red pepper (pls taste before adding red pepper, the uziza seeds are also very pepperish).

Your pot should be looking like this.

Taste your soup at this time and add a seasoning cube and salt to improve the taste if it doesn’t taste nice yet.

Add the pounded yam.

It should look like this.

You can add half and watch the soup for the next five minutes if it is not thick enough you can add a little more; I just don’t like the soup to be very thick. I like a very light nsala soup, it tastes better that way.

Once your white soup is thick enough and the pounded yams are well dissolved.

You can now go ahead and add the sliced uziza and utazi leaves. The utazi should be used sparingly for white soup; the reason is just to add a faint bitter taste.

Allow for the next few minutes and you can go ahead and serve your delicious ofe nsala with pounded yam, fufu or eba.

it should look like this.

Cassava Salad

This cassava salad recipe is an ode to Ozoz of Kitchen Butterfly. A few years ago, Ronke of 9jafoodie and I went to Ozoz’s house where we ate to our hearts content and her pot never ran dry. I was dangerously stuffed that day but with great food and great memories but this particular dish stuck out to me so much.

Growing up in an efik household, we grew up eating cassava but in larger chunks and it was called “Edita Iwa”. We ate it with a flavorful fish with tons of pepper and onions or salted pork. Sometimes we had it with coconuts on a rainy day. My memory of cassava also spans to Queens College were the igbo teachers after school will order a bowl of abacha that had some fish (mostly fried mackerel), drenched in palm oil, peppers, and a vegetable with a slight bitter note called utazi, onions and bob’s your uncle.

Inspired by Ozoz, I decided to explore the depth of freshness in the salad a bit more and also pair with smoky/gamey notes. I have played with smoked guinea fowl, smoked chicken, regular chicken, prawns, crabmeat for the milder flavours and sometimes just coconut.

My cassava salads have fresh bell peppers, green apples, pomegranates, sesame seeds, sometimes a garlic dressing or a smoky aioli made with bleached palm oil. Nigerian cuisine is so versatile and I believe the newness of a dish is heavily founded in a creators experiences of other dishes. Enjoy my cassava salad or the many variations of it I serve at my events.

Ingredients for Cassava Salad

200g Cassava thin slices (Fresh or Dehydrated) – Abacha
4 Tablespoons of Cooked Crab Meat (You can substitute with a cooked protein of choice)
1 Green Apple
1/2 Green, Red, Yellow Bell Peppers
1/2 cup of Pomegranates
2 Tablespoons of Lemon Juice
2 Tablespoons of Chopped Parsley
1 cup of Sweetened Coconut
2 Teaspoons of Sesame Seeds (Mixed)
2 Tablespoons of Garlic Dressing

Method
If your cassava is dry, use hot water to rehydrate it by soaking it till its soft again. Allow it to cool then mix the ingredients in.
Chop your apples and bell peppers and mix in with the cassava then add your coconut, crabmeat and lemon juice. Then add your parsley, pomegranate and your dressing and then finally sprinkle your sesame seeds to garnish. Serve your cassava salad cool.

Waffles

Waffles are easy – same ingredients as pancakes, just different ratios so they’re crispy outside, soft and fluffy inside. You can make this waffle recipe right now, though if you make the batter the night before they’re even better!

Which is better: pancakes or waffles??

Pancakes are great. But waffles are better. Because they have maple syrup and butter catching pockets. And they’re crispy. Whereas pancakes get soggy when they absorb maple syrup.

You can also make multiple waffles in one go with a waffle maker, whereas pancakes are made one at a time. Though I do acknowledge that pancakes don’t require any special tools – unlike waffles for which you need a waffle maker.

But if you take the need for a waffle maker out of the equation, for me, it’s a no brainer. Waffles for the win, every day!!!

Just on waffle makers….

Yes, you need a waffle maker to make waffles. There’s no way around that, sadly! Waffle makers – or waffle irons – cook the waffle when batter or dough* is placed between hot plates that have grids that create the indentations.

However, not all waffle makers are created equal. Better quality ones (read: pricier) will yield thicker waffles with a crispier crust that’s evenly golden (I’ve got this one – a bit of an investment for people serious about waffles). More economical ones are not quite as crispy – like my Kmart one. But I am still very happy with my Kmart waffles made with this waffle batter!

* Dough? Yes! Real Belgium waffles are made with a yeast-dough, not a batter, cooked in a waffle iron. They are magnificent! A recipe for another day. 🙂

What you need for waffles

Seriously, just the same ingredients as pancakes. Just different ratios so it cooks up crispy. 🙂

• Flour – Just plain / all purpose flour. You can substitute the flour and baking powder with self raising flour (which has baking powder built in) and it works fine, but it is not quite as soft inside. That’s just the case with anything you make using self raising flour rather than flour + baking powder.
• Baking powder – On baking powder, if yours has sat unused in the back of your pantry for months and months, check it is still alive else you may end up with dense waffles!
• Sugar – Caster/superfine sugar is safest because it’s smaller grains so you know it will easily dissolve. However, regular/granulated sugar is fine to use too.
• Eggs – At room temperature, so they incorporate easily into the batter. Use large eggs which are ~55g / 2 oz each, an industry standard so the eggs will be labelled “large eggs” on the carton. More on eggs for baking here.
• Milk – Full fat please! Lower fat in light milk will make the inside of the waffles drier. Warm it slightly so it’s not fridge cold, else it can bring down the temperature of the batter too much and cause the butter to solidify when mixed through. Just use the microwave (30 seconds) or stove.
• Butter – For flavour! Melt then cool slightly so it’s not piping hot.
• Salt – Just a touch, to bring out the flavours. This is good general practice for all (well, most!) sweet baking recipes.
• Vanilla – For flavour!

How to make waffles

For the tastiest waffles with extra soft insides, make the batter the night before and rest overnight. Or, at least 2 hours. Makes the flour grain swell because it absorbs the liquid. Bonus: handy. Wake up to freshly cooked waffles!

1. Whisk dry ingredients – flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Just whisk to mix them up.
2. Whisk in wet – put the milk, eggs and vanilla in first and whisk to combine. Once incorporated, add the butter then whisk until lump free.
3. Batter – The batter is thicker than a pancake batter (which should be thin enough to spread in a pan) but thinner than a muffin batter (which semi-mounds in muffin tins).
4. Recommended overnight or 2 hr resting – for the tastiest waffles, rest the batter overnight in the fridge or for at least 2 hours. This makes the flour grains absorb the liquid so it makes the inside of the waffles softer. And if you rest overnight, the batter develops more flavour – in the same way overnight bread and pizza dough does!

5. Fill waffle maker – Preheat a waffle iron until hot (see below for settings note). You won’t need oil if your waffle iron is non-stick, as is standard. Then use a ladle to fill with batter, just until the iron is covered. Don’t get greedy – it will leak out the sides!
6. Cook until the exterior is golden. In a quality waffle iron, this might take 3 1/2 minutes. In a more economical one, it can take 6 minutes plus. (See above for quality v economical waffle irons). The faster it cooks, the more moist the inside is!

   Remove from the waffle iron using a butter knife of similar, then serve immediately while they are hot and crisp. (They soften as they cool).

* Waffle maker settings – my Breville Waffle Pro has setting options. I use heat setting 3 of 5, “Classic” option (as opposed to Belgium, buttermilk, chocolate etc), with the colour dial set midway between Light and Dark. My Kmart waffle maker has no options. 🙂

Waffle toppings

You really don’t need anything more than maple syrup or honey plus a pat of butter. Though I do recommend making sure your butter is at room temperature so it melts as intended even if your waffles are not piping-hot out of the waffle maker when it hits your plate.

Nobody likes un-melted ice-cold rock-hard butter on their waffles!

As for other topping suggestions: icing sugar/powdered sugar for dusting plus whipped cream and strawberries are my indulgence / pretty plate toppings of choice, extensively pictured through this post. 😇

Some more ideas for you: other fresh fruit (especially berries), any kind of fruit sauce (think – strawberry, blueberry), fruit compotes, jam, lemon curd, passionfruit curd, chocolate or caramel sauce, melted Nutella, ice cream (absolutely, why not!), creme fraiche, marscapone, double cream or yogurt (a lightly sweetened vanilla one would be lovely).

So many options! Share what you top yours with so you can inspire me and others! –

Chocolate Cream Pie

A magnificent Chocolate Cream Pie with a chocolate biscuit base, a creamy smooth chocolate custard filling, topped with clouds of cream. Also known as a chocolate pudding pie, it tastes like a cross between chocolate mousse and Chocolate Bavarian Pie!

Chocolate Cream Pie

As a kid, I’d get so excited on the rare occasion my mother would splurge on a chocolate bavarian pie. I’m talking about the kind sold in the freezer section of supermarkets. Not a fancy patisserie cake made with the beautiful French bavarian cream, crème bavaroise.

I thought it was the best thing ever. Just the right amount of crumbly biscuity base. That chocolatey creamy filling.

And it would still be the best thing ever had I not learnt to cook it myself! While the biscuit base isn’t too different, the chocolate layer is absolutely no comparison. Homemade has real chocolate flavour and a mouthfeel that store-bought never will.

My childhood bavarian pie also evolved with the addition of a generous cloud of whipped cream, which is just heavenly with the chocolate filling, Hence, re-christened as a Chocolate Cream Pie.

I could eat this every day. I predict you will feel the same!

What’s in a Chocolate Cream Pie

This Chocolate Cream Pie is a classic combination with:

1. chocolate cookie base – made from Oreo cookies which gives it an extra intense chocolate flavour.
2. chocolate filling – it’s essentially a pudding, a creamy-but-light custard chocolate filling. If you want to get fancy, it is in fact a type of French chocolate custard called crème pâtissière. Fancy it may sound, but it’s actually a surprisingly simple custard that you see contestants in reality cooking shows frantically stressing about making silky smooth and thick, rather than gritty and runny.

   I’m sorry, but I don’t get it. It’s not hard to make. Not if you follow the very few simple steps required to make it! You’ll see in the recipe video. 🙂

3. whipped cream – the pie is topped with a mound of fluffy lightly sweetened vanilla whipped cream.

Dreamy is a word that comes to mind!

Ingredients in Chocolate Cream Pie

1. Chocolate filling ingredients

This custard / pudding is thickened with a combination of cornflour/cornstarch and egg yolks, enriched with butter and cream and flavoured with melted chocolate. It is DIVINE!

• Chocolate – I use a combination of 70% cocoa dark chocolate and milk chocolate for my ideal balance of chocolate flavour intensity (70% cocoa) and creamy chocolatey-ness (milk chocolate).
• Egg yolks – This helps the custard thicken and set as well as giving it a luxurious mouthfeel that frozen Sara-Lee chocolate bavarian pies can ever compare to!

  Also, here is a list of what I do with leftover egg whites.

• Cornflour / cornstarch – This is also used to thicken the custard.
• Cream and milk – The liquids for the custard. Cream is not typical for custards but it adds richness here! You can just use milk, if you’d prefer.
• Butter – This adds yet more richness into the custard.
• Sugar for sweetness (this is not overly sweet), vanilla for flavour and a pinch of salt to bring out the flavours (standard sweet baking practice these days).

**Forget Cool Whip** Shortcut recipes for chocolate pie fillings are pretty common on the internet. Some are made with Cool Whip (Australia, we don’t have this and I hope we never do, it’s an artificial thickened “cream” filling), or boxed chocolate pudding powder, marshmallows (too sweet for my taste), or a simple ganache filling (which is very dense and very rich).

For me, I believe that there are some things that should be done right. And if we’re going to make a homemade Chocolate Cream Pie – let’s make the best one we can! I promise it trumps boxed pudding powder. 🙂

2. Oreo Cookie pie base ingredients

I like making Chocolate Cream Pie with an Oreo Cookie pie crust. Made with crushed Oreo cookies, there’s terrific texture contrast with the creamy filling and an extra hit of chocolate. I also like the dark almost-black colour.

Here’s what you need:

• Oreo biscuits – I like using Oreo cookies for the texture and flavour, I find they’re more chocolate-y than most other chocolate biscuits. But any plain chocolate biscuits / cookies will work fine here, such as Arnott’s Chocolate Ripples.
• Melted butter – This is what makes the Oreo crumbs hold together to form a crust.

vanilla Whipped cream

And here’s what you need for the fluffy mound of whipped cream:

• Whipping cream – Make sure you use cream that can be whipped. Not all creams are, some are made for just pouring or dolloping. Read the label to check. And – NO LOW FAT! 🙂
• Vanilla for a touch of lovely flavour.
• Sugar – Not too much. Just a bit, to lightly sweeten.

How to make Chocolate Cream Pie

This is an almost no-bake recipe. The crust is baked for 10 minutes to make it extra crisp. The custard-pudding filling is cooked on the stove, poured into the crust then refrigerated overnight to set.

1. how to make the pie crust

I use a food processor to blitz the Oreo cookies. It takes seconds!

1. Blitz – Roughly break up the Oreo cookies by hand and drop into a food processor. Blitz into fine crumbs (~5 – 10 seconds). Add melted butter then blitz briefly just to mix through. The mixture should resemble wet sand.
2. Press – Pour into a 22.5cm/9″ pie tin. Use your hands / rubber spatula / something flat to press the crumbs firmly into the base and walls.
3. Bake for 10 minutes at 180°C/350°F (160° fan-forced). This makes the pie crust crisper.
4. Deflate – The crust puffs up in the oven. Gently deflate using a rubber spatula or similar – the base and walls. This too makes the pie crust crisper and firmer.

2. how to (EASILY) CUT A ROUND FROM PAPER

Before we get into the fun chocolate filling making part, a quick little tip for how to cut a circle from paper. Do this before you start the custard so you can cover the custard as soon as you pour it into the crust. It prevents a skin from forming on the surface which starts pretty quickly.

1. Baking paper – Tear a sheet of baking paper larger than the pie tine, then fold in half.
2. Fold in half again.
3. Then fold into a triangle.
4. Keep folding to form a long thin triangle.
5. Measure how large your pie dish is by placing the tip of the triangle above the centre of the pie tin. Cut off the end.
6. Then unfold. Voila! Neat circle that covers your pie!

3. how to make the chocolate filling

The chocolate filling ingredients are simply whisked on the stove which thickens into a custard as it heats up. The custard is pourable when hot, then sets so it’s cuttable once refrigerated.

1. Whisk dry – Place cornflour, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan. Whisk to combine.
2. Add liquids – Add milk, cream and yolks. Whisk to combine. Then whisk every now and then over medium high heat (or medium for strong gas stoves) as the mixture is heating up. Once the liquid is hot (around 3 – 5 minutes, you’ll see steam), turn the stove down to medium low and start to whisk constantly to ensure the base doesn’t catch. You will feel and see the mixture starting to thicken into a custard.

   45 second whisk to finish – When the mixture starts bubbling (around 4 minutes), whisk constantly for 45 seconds then take it off the stove. To see the bubbles, you will need to pause whisking. They will be slow, lazy bubbles! See video at 1:49 here.

   Lumps? Don’t fret! Take it off the stove and whisk vigorously, you should be able to whisk them out. Once smooth, return to the stove and continue. As a last resort, you can strain the custard at step 5.

3. Melt in chocolate – Remove off the stove. Add butter, chocolate and vanilla and whisk until the chocolate melts and the filling is smooth.
4. Thickness – The custard should have a thickness like honey. It will be pourable, but won’t mound.

5. Pour the custard straight into the pie crust.
6. Smooth the surface.

4. Setting and decorating

7. Cover – Immediately cover with a round piece of baking/parchment paper, pressing lightly so it is in contact with the surface. This will prevent a skin from forming. (Don’t use cling wrap, you’ll peel a thick layer of custard off which I know you’re thinking well then I get to lick it all off! But the reality is it’s actually quite difficult to do off cling wrap. Yes, I know from first hand experience. Stick with paper!!)
8. Refrigerate for 12 hours+ – Cool on the counter. Then refrigerate for 12 hours+ to ensure the custard fully sets.

   Don’t try to shortcut it and don’t think that you can cut a slice at the 3 hour mark because it seems pretty set! If you cut out a slice before it’s fully set, you will break the custard in the whole pie and it will never set again. Again, I know this from first hand experience from testing variation iterations of this Chocolate Cream Pie as well as this recipe, this recipe and this recipe!

9. Cream – Carefully peel off the paper then top with whipped cream.
10. Garnish with a sprinkle of grated chocolate, if desired. Then, it’s ready to devour!

Matters of serving and eating

Because it’s a pie, it’s best to serve it out of the pie tin. Removing the whole pie would be risky! Cut in the pie tin and lift (pulling the first slice out neatly is always a little tricky, if necessary, I will resort to a rubber spatula to get right underneath). The Oreo cookie crust holds together when sliced (see video and photos) but it crumbles a bit as you start eating it which makes the whole eating experience even better. Because, imagine this:

A big mouthful of rich, smooth, chocolatey filling with clouds of fluffy cream PLUS little bits of crumbled Oreo cookie…..

It’s just perfection!