Brik is a famous Tunisian pastry that many people the world over who have tried it just cant stop thinking about.  This North African Filo pastry is a classic in itself and is cheap and very fun to play with. But there is a small twist to this. You will have to work really quickly with it before the sheets of brik start to dry up.

Ingredients

• Two medium sized sweet potatoes
• One and a half teaspoons coriander seeds
• Two dried red chillies
• Half a teaspoon ground cinnamon & a little extra
• Some salt
• Fresh ground black pepper
• Two spring onions finely chopped
• 1 large egg beaten
• 150 grams Butter
• Six Sheets of Filo Pastry
• One red finely sliced onion
• One bunch fresh sliced Watercress
• One bunch of fresh mint leaves
• A bunch of fresh flat leaf parsley
• 4 Tablespoons of fat free natural yoghurt
• Three lemons 2 cut in half and 1 juiced
• Some extra virgin olive oil
• One pinch ground cumin

If you want to learn how to make biltong then you have definitely come to the right place. Making biltong the South African way can be extremely gratifying and not only will you win friends over especially the pub loving ones, but you will also save money from buying it in stores.

Ingredients you will need for Biltong

• Meat 2 kilos or more( your choice of meat but I recommend beef)

• 250 mls of Vinegar (for basting)

• Half a cup ground coriander

• 2 tablespoons ground black pepper

• 2 tablespoons salt

• 2 teaspoons of paprika

1. You will have to start by removing  the excess fat if any from your meat. This ensures a better drying process and a longer life of the final biltong product. You can still leave a little bit of fat for some extra flavor.   
   
2. Cut your meat into slices but not to thick as these will take longer to dry. Make them roughly 20 centimeters in length and 1 centimeter thick. Get rid of the sinews and gristle in the meat as these tend to become very tough to chew once dry.
   
3. Now make your basting by adding up all the ingredients in the list above in a wide flat dish or tray. One of the easiest ways to prepare your meat for drying is to season and baste simultaneously.
   
4. Add your seasoning spices and basting mix to the bottom of your tray and lay your meat flat in the dish. Add another layer of basting and spices on top of the meat. Some additional spices like peri peri and paprika can be added according to your taste. Now let the steak marinade in the fridge for two hours before you begin to dry it.
   

Bobotie is a traditional South African dish that is taken with yellow rice and can be traced to the eastern influence on South African culture. Especially from the malay society. Bobotie is not very hard to prepare and now I will give you the whole process of its preparation for your enjoyment.

• Minced Lamb (1 KG)

• Milk 125Mls

• One thick slice white bread with the crust removed and soaked in milk

• 2 onions roughly chopped plus salt and butter

• Curry powder 1 tablespoon

• One piece of Chilli finely chopped( optional that’s if you like your food extra hot)

• Half a cup of vinegar

• Lemon juic 1 tablespoon

• Brown sugar 1 teaspoon

• One tablespoon Chutney

• 8 to 10 almonds crushed(optional)

• 2 tablespoons korma paste

• 3 Eggs

• One clove of Garlic finely chopped and crushed.

• Six Bay leaves

• One Orange sliced in Wheels

• One lemon Sliced in wheels

• Vegetable oil for cooking

1. Heat some oil in a pan and add in the minced lamb to brown it and break larger lumps with a spoon. Add in the chopped garlic,onions, curry powder and some korma paste and cook on medium heat for at least 3 minutes.
2. Add in the grated carrot, chutney and vinegar plus the raisins. Add in a little bit of water and let it simmer for 8 to 10 minutes until the raisins swell up and the carrot is soft. Add in some salt and black pepper to season.
3. Now pour 125 mls of milk over your bread until it is saturated and mix the remaining milk & eggs together till well combined.
4. Now mash the soggy bread into your minced lamb until it is no longer visible. Now add the mince mixture into an oven proof pyrex dish spreading evenly with a spoon. Pour the egg custard over your mince and put a bay leaf in the middle.
5. Bake your mixture at 160 degrees celius for 25 to 30 minutes until your egg custard has settled.

Akara also known as Acaraje is a Nigerian breakfast recipe that is made from beans. It is also known as bean balls, bean cakes or bean fritters.

Akara Ingredients

• One cup Beans(brown beans or black eyed beans)

• Two Habanero chilli peppers 

• One Onion (medium)

• Some salt to taste

• Cooking oil preferably vegetable oil for frying

• A blender

• Pestle and mortar

1. You will have to remove the beans coats and do not let the beans come into contact with salt as it is believed that salt destroys the leavening property of the beans. This is really what will prevent the spattering of the beans when frying them.
2. After this you should soak your beans in some water for 2 hours to make them soft enough for the blender. If you have a heavy duty grinder that you can use then it will not be necessary to soak the beans for these extended periods of time.
3. Now cut your onions and pepper into desirable sizes.

1. Grind your beans in the blender making sure that you add in as little water as possible. The water should be enough so that the blades of your blender can move. When using heavy duty grinders for the Akara, some people do not even add in water. The less water added into the beans during grinding, the more the bean batter will stay together when frying which reduces spattering. At the grinding stage don’t add any other ingredients into the beans. It is known that if ingredients are added in too early this reduces the ability of the beans particles to stick together.
2. Now put some cooking oil on your stove to heat up. The vegetable oil should at least be 3 inches deep.
3. Put some of your grounded beans into the mortar. This quantity should be one that you can fry in one go.
4.  Now Stir your beans in some puree with your pestle in continuous circular motion. You will need to apply some pressure so that the beans particles can energizein the puree.
5. The stirring technique makes sure that gas in the beans is released which acts like a leavening agent for the beans particlesmaking them to rise and stick together. This is just like yeastmaking the dough rise in the making of puff puff.Keep on stirring until the grounded beans appear whiter and you can see its peculiar aroma. 
6. Now add in some water until you get some consistency.
7. Now check to make sure your oil is hot enough. It should be just hot enough to sizzle and not too hot because if it gets too hot the Akara will spatter everywhere as soon as the batter hits the oil.
8. Once the oil is hot and ready add in the pepper and onions to the beans pureein your mortar and stir.
9. Put in some salt to taste then stir again. The salt should be added in just before scooping the beans mixture into your oil. If the salt stays in your mixture for longer periods of time it destroys the leavening property in the beans. This leavening property is what makes the Akara to float in the oil and prevents spattering during frying.
10. Now to fry your Akara scoop  the beans mixture with a table spoon and pour it into the oil.
11. Fry it till the underside is brown then flip it to fry the top side.
12. When the Akara is brown all over remove it and place it in a sieve lined with paper towels.

Jollof rice  which is also known as party jollof rice is a Nigerian dish which is very popular in Nigeria. The dish is a very big party favourite with a lot of people just like Nigerian fried rice. This is a meal that is highly recommended for those of you who have not yet tasted any Nigerian dish.

Ingredients For Nigerian Jollof Rice

• 2 cups of precooked rice (preferably long grain rice)

• 5 tablespoons of tomato paste (extremely important)

• 4 big ripe Tomatoes

• 1 Red Bell Pepper (AKA TATASHE)

• 2 scotch bonnet Pepper / Atarodo

• 100 mls of vegetable oil

• 600mls chicken stock or meat

• 1 small sliced onion

• 1 Tablespoon ground crayfish (optional)

• Half a teaspoon each of curry and thyme

• 2 bay leaves small (optional)

• 1 teaspoon of salt to taste

• 1 cube stock

• Enough water just as needed

Egusi soup is a Nigerian dish famous all over the country that is made mainly from Melon seeds and is consumed mainly in the southern part of the country where the yorubas and igbos are found.

The Ingredients:

• Egusi Seeds (Melon) 3 cup fulls or 600 grams

• 2 cooking spoons of Red Palm oil

• Beef, dry fish and fish stock

• Some crayfish and shaki cow tripe

• Salt and pepper to taste

• Some vegetables. Either bitter leaf or pumpkin leaves

• Some seasoning. Knorr or royco cubes (3)

• Traditional seasoning. Okpei (optional)

1. Firstly soak the dry fish for half an hour. If using  tough stockfish boil for twenty minutes then leave standing for an hour.
2.    When the stockfish and the fish are soft enough debone them and break them into smaller chunks.
3. When you are just about to cook grind your egusi (melon Seeds) with a dry mill or use a spice grinder like this one. Grind the pepper and crayfish separately and cover in a bowl. Wash your vegetables and cut into small pieces.
4. Boil your stock fish, shaki and dry fish in a 1 litre pot of water with your three cubes of knorr until they are thouroughly done. When the shaki is done it will start curling on itself and that’s when you know its ready.
5. Wash your beef for the soup then add it to the pot and cook while on medium heat until ready.         

1. First put two spoons of oil in to a pot and heat. When the palm oil becomes clearer add in the grounded Egusi and fry it. This should be on low heat so that it doesn’t burn. Keep on frying until you see that the Egusi is getting dry. Do not let it stick to the bottom too much.
2.  Now add the fish stock/shaki  a little at a time and stir the egusi. If the fish stock is exhausted and you still feel the soup is too thick add in more water. At this point you can add in the bitter leaf.
3. Cover it and cook on medium heat for about thirty minutes. When the palm oil rises to the top of the mix separating from the egusi then it is done. At this point add the meat and shaki and peppers plus salt to taste. If you used pumpkin leaf which is softer instead of bitterleaf you can add it at this point.
4. Cover the soup and let it boil for at least 15 minutes.