by Dave Dewitt
2
pounds lean pork, coarsely ground
3
cloves garlic, mashed in a press
¼
cup vinegar
1
teaspoon oregano
¼
cup hot pimentón
1
teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2
teaspoons salt
¼
teaspoon ground cumin
1
teaspoon oregano
1
yard of sausage casing
In a large bowl, combine all ingredients. Using the sausage stuffer, force the mixture into the casings and twist off links and tie them.
CHICKEN TIKKA MASALA
yield
6 to 8 servings
heat scale
medium-hot
British foreign secretary Robin Cook once commented: “Chicken Tikka Masala is now a true British national dish, not only because it is the most popular, but because it is a perfect illustration of the way Britain absorbs and adapts external influences. Chicken Tikka is an Indian dish. The masala sauce was added to satisfy the desire of British people to have their meat served in gravy.” There are dozens and dozens of recipes for this dish, but this one is typical. Note: This recipe requires advance preparation.
THE CHICKEN
¼
cup yogurt
3
teaspoons minced ginger
3
teaspoons crushed garlic
¼
teaspoon white pepper
¼
teaspoon cumin powder
¼
teaspoon ground mace
¼
teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼
teaspoon green cardamom powder
½
teaspoon hot red chile powder
¼
teaspoon turmeric
3
tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
¼
cup vegetable oil
2
pounds boneless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch cubes
Melted butter for basting
THE TIKKA SAUCE
¾
cup tomato paste
1
cup tomato sauce
2
large tomatoes, chopped
2
teaspoons minced ginger
2
teaspoons minced garlic
2
green chilies, such as serranos, seeds and stems removed, minced
1
tablespoon red chile powder
2
teaspoons ground cloves
8
green cardamoms
Salt to taste
3
tablespoons butter
2/3
cup cream
1 teaspoon ground fenugreek
2 teaspoons minced ginger
Honey to taste, if needed
In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients for the chicken, except the chicken and melted butter, and mix well. Add the chicken and marinate overnight in the refrigerator.
The next day, allow the chicken to come to room temperature and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake the chicken for 8 minutes, basting with the butter twice. Drain the excess marinade and bake for another 2 minutes. Turn off the oven but don’t remove the chicken.
To make the sauce, heat 4 cups of water in a pot and add the tomato paste, tomato sauce, chopped tomatoes, ginger, garlic, green chiles, chile powder, cloves, and cardamoms, and cook over medium heat until reduced to a thick sauce. Strain the sauce, adjust the salt, and return it to the heat. Bring to a boil, then turn off the heat. Add the butter, cream, fenugreek, and ginger, and stir. If the sauce tastes too sour, add honey to taste.
On each plate, serve the chicken and spoon the sauce over it.
MOLHO DE PIRI-PIRI
yield
1 ¼ cups
heat scale
medium
Thanks to Blaise Lawrence for contributing this recipe. This is the traditional sauce or marinade that is offered throughout Portugal in restaurants, cafés, and bars. The recipe can vary a little from place to place, but this is the basic one. Note: This recipe requires advance preparation.
1
cup olive oil
1 ½
tablespoons ground piri-piris, or substitute piquin or Thai chiles
½
tablespoon paprika
1
clove garlic, minced, or more to taste
2
teaspoons sea salt
½
teaspoon dried oregano
Combine the ingredients in a jar and shake vigorously. Then store in a refrigerator for a few weeks to blend the flavors.
CHICKEN BASQUAISE WITH ESPELETTE PIPERADE
yield
4 to 6 servings
heat scale
mild to medium
Piperade is a colorful pepper sauce that is only spicy when made in the Basque region. This simple but delicious dish is often served at the Celebration of the Peppers. Serve it boiled with potatoes and green beans.
½
cup olive oil
4
medium onions, chopped
3
cloves garlic
4
green bell peppers, seeds and stems removed, chopped
2
red bell peppers, seeds and stems removed, chopped
4
large tomatoes, peeled and chopped
3
tablespoons Espelette powder, or more to taste (substitute hot paprika or New Mexico red chile powder)
Pinch of thyme
1
chicken, cut up
Salt and pepper to taste
Heat ¼ cup olive oil in a large sauté pan and sauté the onions and garlic for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the bell peppers and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes and Espelette powder and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the thyme, salt, and pepper, and transfer to a bowl. Wipe out the pan and heat the remaining ¼ cup of oil. Brown the chicken in the oil until golden, turning often. Pour the piperade over the chicken, reduce the heat, cover, and simmer until tender, about 30–40 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.
SPICED COCONUT BEEF (RENDANG)
yield
4 to 6 servings
heat scale
medium
In Indonesia, this is the preferred method of cooking water buffalo, a fairly tough meat. Since these animals are scarce in Amsterdam, this recipe from Indrapura Restaurant features beef. It is served over rice. The chef at Indrapura notes: “Use mature coconuts. Taste before you add salt during the cooking.” To make coconut milk from scratch, grate the coconut and soak the flesh in hot water.
SPICE PASTE
20
shallots, peeled and chopped
5
cloves garlic, peeled
½
teaspoon turmeric powder
1
small fresh piece of ginger, peeled
½
teaspoon salt
7
fresh red chiles, such as jalapeño, seeds and stems removed, chopped
Small amount of water, if needed
THE RENDANG
1
3-pound chuck steak, cut into 1-inch cubes
8
cups coconut milk (unsweetened)
2
lemongrass stalks, bruised
1
whole tamarind pod
In a blender or food processor, combine the ingredients for the spice paste and puree until smooth.
Place the beef and spice paste in a wok over high heat and sauté for 5 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients. Stirring continuously, bring the mixture to a boil and cook until the coconut milk has thickened.
Turn the heat down to low and cook until the oil comes out of what is left of the gravy, and sti
r continuously. Let the meat and spices fry in the oil until the color is deep dark brown, still stirring. The length of the cooking process should be around 4 hours. Remove the lemongrass stalks and the tamarind pod before serving.
Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden near Cape Town. Photograph by Dave DeWitt.
six
AFRICA LOVES THE BIRD’S EYE
Chile peppers are ubiquitous in Africa. We saw in chapter 5 how they took over the entire country of Hungary, but here they conquered a continent. They are produced commercially by every country on the continent and have entered every possible niche in the complex cuisines in Africa countries, which not only have their own culinary creations but also have those of the colonizing countries of England, France, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, and Germany. Out of the 54 African countries and 2 disputed territories (Western Sahara and Somaliland), only 2 were never colonized: Ethiopia and Liberia.
According to the 2009 statistics provided by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 7 African countries are among the world’s top 20 producers of fresh chiles and peppers: Egypt (#7), Nigeria (#8), Algeria (#11), Tunisia (#12), Morocco (#14), Ethiopia (#16), and Ghana (#18). Hungary finished at number 20. In the production of dried chiles and peppers, Hungary did a little better, finishing 19th to Morocco’s number-20 position, but it was still beaten by 6 African countries: Ethiopia (#6), Ghana (#10), Nigeria (#12), Egypt (#13), Benin (#16), and Côte d’Ivoire (#18).
Because the subject of chile peppers and cooking with them in Africa is so complex, the standard region-by-region examination will not suffice here. To show the depth of the chile pepper’s adoption by the Africans, I’m going to use a cuisine-based model rather than the regional model simply because there are too many countries to cover for the geographical approach. From the pods themselves, I’m going to move on to spice mixtures and curries, hot sauces and pastes, and finally the most common types of other chile foods, from snacks to main dishes. Hopefully, this will be a better way to demonstrate the use of chiles with both native African ingredients and the imported New World foods.
PILI-PILI AND THE PODS THEMSELVES
Since the Arabic countries north of the Sahara are linked culturally, economically, and gastronomically more closely with the Mediterranean region than with the rest of Africa, there is little doubt that chiles first appeared in North Africa. In the first place, the Strait of Gibraltar separates the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa by only a few miles, so it is a logical assumption that chiles would filter southward from Cadiz to Tangier by at least the early 1500s. In the second place, the Turks completed their conquest of North Africa in 1556, and since they had already introduced chiles into Hungary, it makes sense that they also carried them to Tunisia, Algeria, and Libya.
Although chiles probably appeared first in North Africa, they did not spread into the rest of Africa from that region but rather were brought by Portuguese explorers and traders. Even before Columbus, Portuguese exploration of Africa had proceeded down the west coast of the continent between 1460 and 1488. When Vasco de Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope, crossed the Indian Ocean, and landed in India in 1498, he established the trade route for spices and other goods that the Portuguese controlled for more than a century.
By 1482 the Portuguese had settled the western “Gold Coast” of Africa, and by 1505 they had colonized Mozambique on the east coast. By 1510 they had seized Goa in India and had established a colony there. During this time, it is suspected that chile peppers were introduced by way of trade routes between Lisbon and the New World. By 1508 Portuguese colonization of the Pernambuco region of Brazil meant that both the annuum and chinense chiles prevalent there were made available for importation into Africa. The introduction of sugarcane into Brazil in the 1530s and the need for cheap labor was a cause of the trade in slaves, and an active passage of trade goods between Brazil and Africa sprang up.
The most likely scenario for the introduction and spread of chile peppers into Africa south of the Sahara is as follows. Varieties of Capsicum annuum and chinense were introduced into all West and East African Portuguese ports during the 40 years between 1493 and 1533, with the introduction into West Africa logically preceding that into East Africa. The chiles were first grown in small garden plots in coastal towns by the Portuguese settlers and later by the Africans. Although it has been suggested that chiles were spread throughout Africa by Europeans during their search for new slaves, the simplest answer is the best. The Portuguese may have been responsible for the introduction of chiles into Africa, but spreading them was for the birds. History—and evolution—repeated themselves. Precisely in the same manner that prehistoric chiles spread north from South to Central America, chiles conquered Africa.
African birds fell in love with chile peppers. Attracted to the brightly colored pods, many species of African birds raided the small garden plots and then flew further inland, spreading the seeds and returning the chiles to the wild. Chiles thus became what botanists call a subspontaneous crop—newly established outside of their usual habitat, and only involuntarily spread by man. From West Africa, birds moved the peppers steadily east, and at some time chiles either reached the coast of East Africa or met the advance of bird-spread chiles from Mozambique and Mombasa. They also spread chiles south to the Cape of Good Hope. We must remember that these chiles were being spread by birds centuries before the interior of Africa was explored by Europeans. So when the early explorers encountered chiles, it was only natural for them to consider the pods to be native to Africa.
A nineteenth-century traveler to Angola, Joachim Monteiro, commented on the wild chiles he saw there.
It grows everywhere in the greatest luxuriance as a fine bush loaded with bunches of the pretty bright green and red berries. It seems to come up spontaneously around the huts and villages, and is not otherwise planted or cultivated. . . . It has a most violent hot taste, but the natives consume it in incredible quantities; their stews are generally of a bright-red colour from the quantity of this pepper added, previously ground on a hollow stone with another smaller round one. Their cookery is mostly a vehicle for conveying this chili pepper.
This bird-planting cultivation was still evident in 1956 when Pierre de Schlippe, a senior research officer at the Yambio Experimental Station in the Congo, reported that chiles had become the most important cash crop after cotton in the Zande District with, as he put it, “very little encouragement and no supervision whatsoever.” When he asked a Zande tribesman whether he preferred chiles to cotton as a cash crop, the farmer replied, “Do the birds sow my cotton?” De Schlippe noted in his book on the Zande system of agriculture that the tribesman was suggesting that one should never do for oneself what others will do. “It is safe to assume that chiles as a cash crop had no influence on agricultural practice whatever,” wrote de Schlippe.
The famous and notorious African bird’s eye chile is both wild and domesticated and is also known in English as African devil chile, in Swahili as pili-pili, and in Kamba (a Bantu language) as ndul. It should be pointed out that pili-pili (also spelled piri-piri and peri-peri) simply means “pepper-pepper” and is a generic term for any African chile. Most sources state that the bird’s eye is Capsicum frutescens, making it a relative of the Tabasco chile. It has grown wild in Africa for centuries but has been under commercial cultivation for many years in Uganda, Malawi, and Zimbabwe. Growing African bird’s eye chiles is very labor-intensive and they require handpicking. Pungency can vary according to precise variety of bird’s eye, where it is grown, and environmental conditions. The bird’s eye, particularly the Ugandan variety, is thought to be the most pungent chile that is not of the chinense species (hence its notoriety), measuring up to 175,000 SHU. In a test of a variety provided by German chile gardener Harald Zoschke, the Malawi bird’s eye variety from Africa was measured at 112,226 SHU, and the same variety grown in Harald’s garden was measured at 99,579 SHU.
Bird peppers; clockwise from top:
malagueta, Arizona chiltepín, ‘NuMex Bailey Piquin’, Sonoran chiltepín, commercial piquin, Brazilian wild chinense, wild piquin, tabasco. Photograph by Dave DeWitt.
Reputedly, the hottest African chiles are those called “Mombasa” and “Uganda,” which are Capsicum chinense, probably introduced by the Portuguese from Brazil. In some parts of Africa, these habanero-type chiles are called “crazy-mad” peppers, and “in Manyuema and Urua [in the Congo] there grows a pepper so excessively hot that Arabs who would eat bird’s eye chilies by handfuls were unable to touch it,” writes Verney Lovett Cameron in his book Across Africa (1877). “It is a small, round, red fruit about the size of a marble.” One of the most notorious, the ominously named fatalii of the Central African Republic is a superhot chinense that analytical chemist Marlin Bensinger has measured in his laboratory at 350,000 SHU.