Vegetarian Foods Archive

Early in the week, whilst I was doing some research for work (honestly I was), I stumbled on The Best Jollof Rice Competition held in Brixton, London today.  It the UKs first ever Jollof competition, in past there have been Best Rum Cake. Its hosted by The Afrikan Family Works . I  love these grassroots community spirited competitions.  I thought I would compete virtually with my vegan Jollof variation, but I sincerely wish the hosts and the participants the best and hope the event is a success.   For those of you unfamiliar with Jollof.  Jollof rice or Benachin which means 'one pot' originates in Senegal.  Jollof  is eaten all across West Africa and has recently become appreciated alongside the South Indian Pilaf and the Spanish Paella. So here it is my vegan Jollof  rice.  I added peppers, okra and chickpeas to the Jollof rice only because I didn't have an accompaniment with it.  I am no expert at making Jollof, in fact this is ...

Okra Star or Okra Sun, whatever fancy name I want to give it, this is really a light snack called Oven Baked Cornmeal Okra.   I actually have an ulterior motive for sharing this post today and presenting it like the sunshine ray of sorts, I am off on my first long (more than a long weekend) holiday in years - I am going to South of France, the journey begins tomorrow, so I will be taking a proper rest from blogging for a week or so. Back to the Cornmeal Baked Okra.  Think crispy 'fish' fingers, crispy 'chicken' wings and you get the idea.  This is awesome and I say that as someone who has become a convert of the okra, lady fingers aka Bindi .  I absolutely hated it when I was growing up, but in the last 10 years or so, I have come to appreciate okra  much much more.   The viscous texture associated with okra disappears completely on baking.  What is more delightful about this finger food is that the okra is enhanced with  spices and crunch fr...