A Taste of Africa

Cookbook
Brought to you by Zawadee — Bring Africa Home
table of
contents
3 leftover turkey stew
5 harissa rubbed turkey
10 moroccan chickpea stew
12 spicy african chicken stew
14 gages: eggplant, tomatoes & onions
16 slow cooker chicken marrakesh
18 sambal slaw

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leftover turkey stew
Many similar recipes for this
delicious stew start with turkey
legs. We use leftover turkey
most of the time. If you like
your stew a little "juicier",
reduce the amount of
turkey. Play it by ear and vary
this recipe and you will end up
with a family favourite, we're
sure.

INGREDIENTS
 2 cups of leftover turkey, cut into bite size pieces
 1 litre of chicken stock
 2 orange (or yellow) bell peppers
 2 red bell peppers
 1 tablespoon chopped garlic (we use chopped garlic in oil- comes in a jar - much
easier)
 4 hot peppers (your choice but chop them up fine and be careful handling them)
 6-8 plum tomatoes (cut up into chunks) You can use canned plum tomatoes if
you want. We do and it works just fine. We use an entire can because we like
our stew with lots of juice.
 1 sweet onion (cut into bite size chunks)
 3 tablespoons tomato paste
 salt (to taste)
 1 cup of olive oil (it is okay to use vegetable oil - we just prefer using olive oil)

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leftover turkey stew
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Put your leftover turkey into a big saucepan and then pour in the chicken
broth. It must cover the turkey meat.
2. Bring it to a boil slowly over medium heat and cook until the broth has been
absorbed/reduced by at least half.
3. Cut your bell peppers into bite size chunks and blend them roughly along with
the onions, hot peppers, garlic, tomato paste and tomatoes. We use our food
processor. Don't puree them until they are a paste! Make sure some of the
pepper and onion chunks are still recognizable.
4. Now heat up your olive oil in another big saucepan and pour in your vegetable
mixture from the step above. Watch (and stir) carefully as you simmer the
mixture in the oil. It will take about 30 minutes for this to be done. Don't let it
burn.
5. Now add your turkey and simmer for another 15 minutes or so. Add salt to
taste.
Now, here's the nice thing about this recipe. Sometimes we add some more
chicken broth and a can of black beans. Other times, we add more chicken
broth and tomatoes to make a juicier stew - adding some beans (you can use
black beans, navy beans - whatever you like). Sometimes we don't puree the
bell peppers. This recipe really lends itself to variations.

We often serve this recipe over rice. And sometimes couscous. We often serve it
with fresh, hot biscuits. This is a good basic recipe to enjoy any way you want
to! It freezes fairly well so, if you find you like it, make a double batch for the next
rainy fall day you need something warm in your tummy!

Enjoy! And please let us know how you enjoy this recipe and any creative culinary
modifications you make.

Photo Source: Wikipedia (Creative Commons - Labeled for Reuse).

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harissa rubbed turkey
This recipe is a North African inspired
take on a roast turkey. Harissa is a
spice often used in Moroccan foods.
Basically, a hot chili sauce comprised
of several varieties of peppers,
spices and herbs. This kicks up the
flavour immensely!
You can keep any leftover rub in the
fridge for a couple of weeks and
enjoy it on all sorts of things. We
use it on both chicken and
steak. Delicious!

INGREDIENTS
While there are quite a few ingredients, don't be discouraged. This recipe is quite
easy to put together and the results are well worth it.

Harissa Spice Rub

 3/4 cup olive oil
 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
 1 teaspoon salt
 2 minced garlic cloves
 1 teaspoon ground caraway seed
 1 cup chili powder
 1 tablespoon ground coriander

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harissa rubbed turkey
Roasted Turkey
 12 to 14 pound turkey
 3 cups chicken broth
 1/2 cup olive oil
 salt
 black pepper (we like a rough ground pepper)
 1/2 cup kosher salt
 6 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
 1 cup of Harissa plus at least a tablespoon more
 2 red onions (quarter or chop into large pieces depending on size)
 2 cups of sweet potatoes (cut into large cubes, about 1/2 inch or a bit bigger)
 2 springs of fresh thyme, roughly chopped

Stuffing
 1/2 cup olive oil
 1 tablespoon of chopped parsley
 1/2 cup of raisins
 1 teaspoon of salt
 5 to 6 cups of cubed white bread (suitable for stuffing)
 2 tablespoons of finely slivered almonds
 3 parsnips, cut in cubes (about same size as sweet potatoes)
 2 tablespoons of fresh thyme, chopped
 1 tablespoon of honey
 2 cinnamon sticks
 3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
 3 shallots, diced
 2 quinces, cubed (preferred fresh but use canned if you can find them)

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harissa rubbed turkey
Note: We have substituted apples and/
or pears for the quince very
successfully.
 1 tablespoon of Harissa rub
 1 cup of chicken stock
 1/2 cup of freshly squeezed orange
juice

INSTRUCTIONS

Harissa Spice Rub

1. Heat up the olive oil in a small frying pan. Use about medium heat.
2. Then add the garlic and saute it until it turns a golden colour. Should take 3-4
minutes.
3. Take your frying pan off the burner and then add the caraway, coridander, chili
powder, mint and salt.
4. Stir all your spices in the oil and set the mixture aside to cool off.
5. You can store any leftover rub in an airtight container in the fridge for a couple
of weeks.

Note: You can buy Harissa Spice in a variety of formats including dry rub mixture
and paste. We highly recommend you make your own, though. It is easy and the
results are far superior in our opinion.

Turkey
1. You need to cure the turkey overnight in a brine made from stirring 1/2 cup of
kosher salt into 8 cups of water. You can use a large pail or any large container
with a lid that will accomodate the turkey and brine.
2. A really good suggestion from a friend of ours is to line the container with a
garbage bag. It makes cleanup easy!
3. The container must be kept chilled.

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harissa rubbed turkey
4. In the morning, put the onion, garlic, sweet potatoes and thyme in a bowl with
1/2 tablespoon of the Harissa Spice Rub and toss ingredients until well coated/
mixed.
5. Preheat the oven 4o 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
6. Rinse the turkey with cold water and pat dry.
7. Sprinkle salt and pepper both inside and outside of the turkey.
8. Place the vegetable mixture inside the turkey cavity and then use a skewer to
seal up the turkey.
9. If you have extra vegetable mixture, just place around turkey in roasting pan.
10. Tie the drumsticks together with some kitchen string and afix the wings with
small skewers.
11. Then place the turkey in your roasting pan. We cover the breast with some
foil.
12. Roast for 20 minutes.
13. Remove from oven and pour two cups of broth into the roasting pan.
14. Stir the roasting pan to scrape up the good brown bits!
15. Place back in oven and roast again for 40 minutes.
16. Remove any "extra" vegetables from the pan and reserve.
17. Now, turn your oven down to 350 degrees F and continue roasting the turkey.
18. Baste with pan juices.
19. When the turkey reaches 170 degrees, it is done. Test with a thermometers
but totaly roasting time is usually about 3 to 3.25 hours for us.
20. We take the foil off for the last half hour so the bird browns nicely.
21. To make gravy: Skim excess fat from pan juices. Over medium-low heat (not
too hot) add 1 cup of water and stir, scraping all the caramelized bits off
bottom of pan. Heat to a simmer.

Stuffing
1. Heat up 1/4 cup of oil in a big frying pan and add the bread cubes.
2. Saute the bread cubes for about 5 minutes, until they are nicely toasted.
3. Then add the finely slivered almonds and set pan aside off the heat.

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harissa rubbed turkey
4. Now, combine the rest of your oil with the parsnips and the cinnamon sticks in
a "Dutch Oven" type casserole dish and saute everything for around 4 to 5
minutes.
5. Then add the quinces (or apples and/or pears), the harissa rub, shallots, and
garlic and continue to saute until the garlic has softened up.
6. Once garlic is soft, you can add the stock, honey and orange juice.
7. Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for around 15
minutes.
8. Now add the thyme, salt and raisins, as well as your bread cubes and almond
mixture you set aside back in Step 3.
9. Cook over low heat, making sure to stir frequently. Don't let anything stick to
bottom!
10. Once well heated through, you can stir in the chopped parsley.

We have given you the basic rundown of what we do. As always, our
amounts are sometimes a range and our cooking times and methods
are relating "how we do it". There are some Harissa Turkey recipes
online that you can use as a reference as well. Ours always turns out
well but, by all means, check out other versions.
Again, the Harissa Rub is incredibly delicious and can be used to flavour
other dishes. Here's a recipe that caught our eye
from familyeducation.com. Harissa Rubbed Grilled Skirt Steak with
Orange Fennel Relish. We're going to try that one!

Photo Source: Wikipedia (Creative Commons - Labeled for Reuse).

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moroccan chickpea stew
This super simple stew is so
tasty you will make it over and
over again. We often do a
double batch and enjoy it for
several meals.

The recipe calls for 1 teaspoon

of garam masala which is a
mixture of a variety of
spices. AllRecipes has a
failsafe garam masala
recipe. You can buy it pre-
mixed, but it is so easy and economical to make it yourself.

As always, we've tried to approximate our family method of preparing

this recipe. We have some finicky eaters in our family, who aren't big
on meats, so this recipe is a great way to get some protein into them.

INGREDIENTS
 1 tablespoon olive oil
 1 pinch of salt
 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (you don't have to use cayenne, we often use a
rough ground black pepper)
 1 teaspoon garam masala
 2 teaspoons ground coriander
 2 teaspoons ground cumin (as always, experiment - we like a bit more cumin)
 2 cloves of minced garlic
 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped (as always, we substitute broad leaf parsley as
we don't like cilantro)
 1 bunch of kale with the ribs removed, chopped
 3 potatoes, cubed

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moroccan chickpea stew
 1 small onion, chopped (we always use a
sweet onion)
 1 cup of tomato sauce
 1 can of diced tomatoes (14 ounces or
thereabouts)
 1 cup of golden raisins
 1 can of chickpeas, drained and well rinsed
(about 14 ounces)
 Water (just enough to cover the mixture when you get to that point)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Saute the onion and garlic in olive oil until the onions are cooked through. We
like ours slightly caramelized.
2. Then stir in all the spices and cook for around a minute. Until the spices smell
terrific!
3. Add the diced tomatoes and tomato sauce and the potatoes and raisins.
4. Pour just enough water over everything to cover the mixture. Bring it up to a
nice simmer for about 15 minutes. You're done when the potatoes are cooked
through.
5. Add the chickpeas and kale and simmer everything until the kale wilts. It won't
take very long 3-4 minutes at most.
6. Sprinkle the cilantro or broad leaf parsley over the top.

This recipe makes 4 servings (depending on the size of your bowl or

appetite!). We almost always make a double batch because we look
forward to having it several times. This stew goes well with almost any
bread or biscuit.
Cover Photo Source: Wikipedia (Creative Commons - Labeled for Reuse).

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spicy african chicken stew
There's just nothing like a hot,
satisfying bowl of stew to cheer
everyone up as the weather turns
cold. This is our "go to" recipe for the
fall season.

INGREDIENTS
 500 ml of chicken stock, heated up
 2 peppers, seeds removed, cut into rough chunks (we use 1 red and 1 yellow or
orange)
 2 onions, thin sliced (we use sweet onions)
 3 sweet potatoes, cut into bite sized chunks
 340 gram jar of smooth peanut butter
 3 tbsp sunflower oil (or canola oil is fine too)
 3 tbsp of fresh ginger, finely chopped up
 1/2 to 1 tsp of cayenne pepper (you can vary the amount according to taste, or
use black pepper if you prefer)
 1.5 kilograms of chicken thighs (skinless, boneless)
 2 bay leaves
 1 to 2 scotch bonnet chilies, deseeded and chopped (again vary the amount
according to your own taste)
 3 tsps of ground cumin
 3 tsp ground coriander
 400 gram can of diced tomatoes
 handful of chopped broadleaf parsley (some people like coriander but we use
parsley)
 Prepare rice (whatever kind you prefer). Serve the stew over a ladle of rice at
bottom of bowl
Cut some lime wedges up. The stew is delicious with a slight squeeze of lime
over the top.
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spicy African chicken stew
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Pour your already heated chicken
stock over the peanut butter and stir
until all the peanut butter is dissolved.
2. In a large frying pan, saute the onions
in the oil until they are soft.
3. Then, add the cayenne and/or black
pepper, coriander, chilies, bay leaves,
cumin and ginger and saute for a
couple of minutes.
4. Add the diced tomatoes and your
chicken/peanut butter stock mixture.
5. Add your chicken thighs. (Cut your chicken thighs up into large bite sized
pieces)
6. Cover your pan and simmer for about a half an hour. Stir often, making sure
nothing is sticking to bottom of pan.
7. Add the sweet potatoes, peppers and the chopped broad leaf parsley (or
coriander). Reserve a bit of the chopped parsley to sprinkle over the top of each
bowl.
8. To serve, place a ladleful of rice at bottom of a large soup bowl. Then ladle
chicken stew over rice. Serve with reserved chopped broad leaf parsley and lime
wedges.

This recipe is a snap to make and serves 6 to 8 people. We often make two
batches and freeze one for a future quick meal. This stew freezes well for at least a
couple of months. Although, it never lasts that long in our house!
Experiment at will! We find this recipe lends itself well to modification. Sometimes
we add a carrot or some chopped cabbage. Recently, we had some leftover baby
spinach and added that just at the end of the cooking process. In our house,
recipes are often "tinkered" with, often with delightful results!

Photo Source: Wikipedia (Creative Commons - Labeled for Reuse).

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gages: eggplant, tomatoes
& onions
Gages is a deceptively simple vegetable dish that originates in Sierra
Leone. We say "deceptively simple" because the taste is extraordinary!

This easy to prepare recipe combines all sorts of lovely fall colours together with a
few unexpected ingredients! Pairs well with all sorts of things - chicken, beef or
seafood or enjoy it as a stand alone vegetarian meal.

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Gages: Eggplant, Tomatoes
& Onions
INGREDIENTS
 1 tablespoon of butter
 1/4 cup of unsalted, dry roasted peanuts
 1/4 cup of unsweetened flaked coconut
 1 eggplant, peeled and sliced thin
 1 red chili pepper, chopped and remove seeds
 4 nice ripe tomatoes (we use any tomato we happen to have but plum tomatoes
are our favourite)
 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil (we actually use a blend of canola and olive oil)
 1/4 cup of vinegar (we use red cider vinegar but we have used red wine vinegar
as well)
1 large red onion (we rough chop the onion)

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Melt your butter in a large frying pan (we use our wok).
2. Fry the eggplant slices until they are slightly browned (or more if you like a little
char).
3. Remove from the heat and set to cool to almost room temperature.
4. Now combine everything in a big bowl, mixing the vinegar and oil together and
pouring it over all other ingredients.
5. Cover your bowl with saran wrap and place in fridge for several hours. We like
to make this the night before and refrigerate overnight.
6. Just before serving, sprinkle the coconut and peanuts over the top and toss.

This recipe is a snap to make and serves about six people as a side. If
using it as a main dish, it serves about 4.

Vegetable Photo Source: Wikipedia (Creative Commons - Labeled for Reuse).

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slow cooker chicken marrakesh
Chicken Marrakesh hails from
(obviously) Morocco. It is a hearty,
filling dish and super easy when
prepared in the slow cooker.
There are a number of online recipes
for the slow cooker but don't hesitate
to experiment.

For example, AllRecipes and food.com both have a terrific recipe which calls for
garbanzo beans.
We use red kidney beans, or, frankly, whatever we have in the cupboard. Quite by
accident, we ended up using black beans, and the results were quite delicious!
We recently purchased a Ninja Cooking System, which is a slow cooker, stove top
cooker and oven all in one. We can't praise this device enough. You can brown,
heat up, slow cook all in the same pot. Cuts down on storing appliances as
well. We make all sorts of things in it - spaghetti sauce, soups, stews, ribs - even a
cake! It has a steam feature which works really well for poaching fish.
As always, we've tried to approximate our family method of preparing this recipe.
This recipe gets varied from time to time, depending on what ingredients we have
on hand (or need to use up) and who is preparing the dish.

INGREDIENTS
 1 can of diced tomatoes - large (if you don't have diced, just break up a can of
plum tomatoes)
 1 teaspoon of dried parsley
 1 teaspoon of salt
 1 large sweet onion, rough chop
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slow cooker chicken marrakesh
 3 cloves of garlic
 2 big sweet potatoes, diced in fairly large chunks
 3 big carrots, also diced in fairly large chunks
 approximately 2 pounds of chicken cut up into about 1-1/2 to 2" pieces (we use
whatever chicken we have on hand, thighs or breasts)
 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric
 1/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
 1/2 teaspoon of cumin (we actually use a bit more - probably just shy of 1
teaspoon)
 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of black pepper (to taste and we like roughly fresh ground
pepper)
 1 can of beans - drained (traditionally garbanzo beans but we've used kidney
beans, black beans, navy beans, etc.)

Just bung everything into the slow cooker and stir well to mix all the
ingredients and spices.
Cook on high for about 5 hours. Then yum, yum!
This recipe makes 6 to 8 servings (depending on the size of your bowl or
appetite!). We like it with a variety of breads and it is especially tasty with biscuits
to sop up what's left at the bottom of the bowl.

Cover Photo Source: Wikipedia (Creative Commons - Labeled for Reuse).

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sambal slaw
Sambal is the perfect side to accompany almost any dish. Fresh and
flavourful, this lovely combination is easy to prepare. Grated carrots
and apples pair up with garlic, ginger and rice wine vinegar to produce
a tasty slaw.

There are many varieties of Sambal, showing up from Sri Lanka to South Africa,
incorporating different ingredients - cucumber, tomato, onion and even
pineapple! Most Sambals have a common trait - they are crisp and fresh versions
of a slaw salad.

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sambal slaw
As always, we've tried to approximate our family method of preparing this
recipe. This one is from a favourite Auntie. We recommend having a good look
online as well for different types of sambal recipes.

INGREDIENTS
 2 cups grated carrots
 2 cups grated apples (we like a tart apple rather than a sweeter variety)
 1/4 cup lemon juice
 1/4 cup chopped broad leaf parsley (many people use cilantro but we don't like
the flavour)
 1 teaspoon minced garlic
 1 teaspoon salt
 1 teaspoon minced ginger
 1 tablespoon sugar
 1-1/2 teaspoons chopped red chilies
 fresh ground black pepper
 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

Just toss the carrots and apples along with the lemon juice and the salt
and let it sit for about a half an hour. Carefully pour off the excess liquid
and then combine all the other ingredients. Cover with saran wrap and put
in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours before dinner.
As with all our recipes, this is just sort of the basics. We have both experimented
and substituted when an ingredient wasn't at hand. For example, if we don't have
chilies, we've chopped up some bell peppers and used a bit of hot sauce for
heat. You can adjust the seasonings to your own tastes. We like a bit more ginger
than most recipes call for.
If you have any of this delicious slaw left over (and you probably won't),
we find it to be very tasty on chicken sandwiches.

Cover Photo Source: Wikipedia (Creative Commons - Labeled for Reuse).

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just for you
Getting to know Africa includes experiencing the vastly different - and
yummy - expressions of each culture through food.
We love sharing our family recipes with you but please remember you
can search online and find lots of variations of our dishes and other
terrific African recipes.
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don’t miss any of our upcoming recipes or collections.

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An online recipe site we use over and over again is The Congo
Cookbook. My East Africa Journal is also a great source for recipes, as
is another terrific culinary resource - African Cuisine Made Easy.
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