Holidays : Culture Cooking

Throughout the years I have often been asked what food is best suited for Kwanzaa, an African-American cultural celebration observed by millions nationwide and around the world. One of the highlights of this seven-day holiday, which begins the day after Christmas, is a feast called the karamu .

During my lectures on Kwanzaa and my talks on black positive thinking and success, at my book signings and at private parties, adults and even children approach me and ask about food for their Kwanzaa celebration. My reply is always the same: any food from the African Diaspora that inspires you; any food created by blacks or that has a special meaning for you and your family.

Kwanzaa, which celebrates the principles of black family and unity, is derived from the Swahili for “first fruits of the harvest.” Dr. Maulana Karenga, now head of Black Studies at California State University Long Beach, started the holiday in 1965.

My first Kwanzaa dinners were comprised of dishes from my childhood (collard greens and corn bread) and my trip to Africa (peanut butter soup). Ideas for your own Kwanzaa might include: cooking only the dishes of a specific people or country of the Diaspora; creating a menu in which no two recipes come from the same land; throwing a potluck karamu where everyone contributes a course that comes from the place where they were born or the country from which their ancestors came; taking one type of food, such as rice, and cooking a variety of dishes that use that food. The possibilities are as wide as your imagination.

Here I’ve given a recipe for yassa , spicy marinated chicken in onion sauce from Senegal, which may use lamb, pork or fish instead of chicken; and ginger beer, a favorite drink in West Africa and the Caribbean. Both recipes were given to me by Audie Odum-Stallato, a cooking instructor based in New Jersey. Bountiful black bean soup was given to me by Catherine Bailey, a teacher who lives in Boston. All appear in my book, “Kwanzaa: An African-American Celebration of Culture and Cooking” (Morrow).

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“The first time I had yassa I was in Harlem,” says Audie Odum-Stallato of this quintessentially Senegalese dish. “I was at a fast-food restaurant in an arcade that had only black proprietors. The people who owned the restaurant were from Africa. They gave me a heaping portion, not the skimpy portions you usually get at fast-food places. I asked African friends of mine about the dish, looked it up in recipe books and eventually developed this variation. You can be very flexible with this dish. If you want to put something other than carrots and celery into the dish, go right ahead. I’ve done it with cassava leaves and foo foo (yam or cassava pounded into a paste) or yam dumplings, and eaten it with a bowl of rice or couscous.” Other variations of yassa use lamb, pork or fish instead of chicken.

Yassa is normally served as the main attraction at a feast, in enormous proportions, heaped onto a mountain of rice. (The recipe is easy to multiply for large-scale celebrations.) This is a version of manageable size, sure to become one of your favorite poultry dishes.

As the marinated chicken simmers on the bed of onions, the onions cook down into a luscious sauce, a faultless topping for rice. To serve it African fashion, heap the chicken and onion sauce onto hot steaming rice or couscous and forgo forks and knives.

YASSA

(Spicy Marinated Chicken

in Onion Sauce)

4 large onions, thinly sliced

1/2 cup lime juice

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 (3 1/2-pound) chicken, cut into 8 pieces

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium carrot, chopped

1 medium celery stalk, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 jalapeno chile, seeded and minced

1/2 cup chicken broth, homemade or canned

Hot cooked rice or couscous

Combine onions, lime juice, salt and pepper in large bowl. Add chicken and toss to coat well. Cover and refrigerate at least 3 and up to 6 hours. Remove chicken from marinade and pat dry with paper towels. Drain marinade in colander set over large bowl. Reserve both liquid and onions.

Heat oil in 5-quart Dutch oven. Cook chicken in batches over medium-high heat, turning often, until browned on all sides, about 6 minutes per batch. Transfer chicken to plate and set aside.

Add reserved marinated onions, carrot, celery, garlic and chile to Dutch oven. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring often, until onions are tender, about 8 minutes. Stir in chicken broth and reserved marinade liquid. Bring to boil. Return chicken to Dutch oven. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, until chicken shows no sign of pink at bone when cut with tip of sharp knife, 35 to 40 minutes.

Serve over hot cooked rice or couscous. Makes 4 servings.

Each serving contains about:

599 calories; 848 mg sodium; 152 mg cholesterol; 41 grams fat; 17 grams carbohydrates; 40 grams protein; 1.19 grams fiber.

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“Black bean soup has become the most popular soup to welcome guests while we are waiting for the main feast,” says Catherine Bailey, a teacher who lives in Boston. “As guests arrive, we offer them soup and tea and a starchy tidbit such as plantain chips, or homemade herb bread that has been thinly sliced, coated with a mix of olive oil and crushed garlic, then toasted.”

A passel of vegetables gives this ebony-dark soup its sumptuous richness. Many black bean recipes call for a smoked ham hock, Madeira wine or herbs for flavor. This soup doesn’t need any frills, but you could experiment with your own ornamentation. Try it in all of its unadorned splendor first. You may be pleasantly surprised.

BOUNTIFUL BLACK BEAN SOUP

1 pound dried black beans, rinsed and picked over

1 gallon chicken broth, homemade or canned

1 bunch celery with leaves, chopped

1 pound carrots, chopped

2 large onions, chopped

Grated zest 1 large lemon

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 large lemon, thinly sliced, then slices quartered

Place beans in large saucepan with enough water to cover by 1 inch. Bring to boil over high heat. Boil 1 minute. Remove pan from heat. Cover tightly and let stand 1 hour. Or soak beans overnight in large bowl with enough cold water to cover by 1 inch. Drain beans.

In 5-quart Dutch oven or soup kettle, combine drained beans, chicken broth, celery, carrots, onions and lemon zest. Bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low. Simmer, uncovered, until liquid is just below surface of beans and ingredients are very tender, 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

Using slotted spoon, transfer soup solids, in batches, to food processor and puree. Transfer puree to large bowl. Add cooking liquid. Or puree solids and liquid together in blender. Or pass soup through coarse sieve or pass through food mill. Discard skins left in sieve or mill.

Return soup to Dutch oven. Stir in lemon juice, salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until heated through. Place 1 quartered lemon slice in bottom of each bowl. Ladle in soup and serve immediately. Makes 10 to 12 servings.

Each of 10 servings contains about:

258 calories; 1,531 mg sodium; 2 mg cholesterol; 3 grams fat; 38 grams carbohydrates; 19 grams protein; 3.29 grams fiber.

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Ginger beer is a favorite drink in West Africa and the Caribbean, where it floats from island to island in slightly different forms. Audie Odum-Stallato created her version from one she had in West Africa. “I love the way the pepperiness of the ginger in this drink plays on your tongue,” she says.

Honey gives this version an elusive sweetness, tempering the spicy sharpness of the fresh ginger. There’s no reason to peel the fresh ginger (in this or any other recipe) unless the aesthetics of the skin bother you. If you insist on peeling, a vegetable peeler does a quick and efficient job. Yes, the drink is very fine with a little rum sneaked into the glass, but it’s not de rigueur.

WEST AFRICAN GINGER BEER

2 quarts water

1/2 pound ginger root, thinly sliced

1/2 cup lemon juice

1 cup honey

Ice cubes

In medium saucepan, combine 2 cups water with ginger root and simmer over medium heat 20 minutes. Stir in lemon juice and honey. Let cool completely.

Strain ginger mixture into large pitcher. Add remaining 1 1/2 quarts water. Add ice cubes. Let stand until well chilled before serving. Makes about 2 1/2 quarts or 10 servings.

Each serving contains about:

122 calories; 5 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 0 fat; 32 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram protein; 0.23 gram fiber.

* WHEN TO CELEBRATE: Kwanzaa is observed annually from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1.