Reading and Eating our way through West Africa

We found so many books in our library about countries in West Africa!  If Katherine gets really quiet, I can usually find her in the book nook reading through the many picture books we checked out.  The other place I can often find her is in the kitchen creating.  I like getting to be her sous chef!  Tonight, she made African Onion Sauce for supper, and it was delicious.

I Lost My Tooth in Africa by Penda Diakite
A Story, A Story by Gail E. Haley (this book won the Caldecott Award)

Uncommon Traveler: Mary Kingsley in Africa by Don Brown

The Water Princess by Susan Verde

Why the Sky is Far Away: A Nigerian Folktale by Mary Joan Gerson

The Name of the Tree: A Bantu Folktale retold by Celia Barker Lottridge

The Iroko-Man: A Yoruba Folktale retold by Phillis Gershator

Master Man: A Tall Tale of Nigeria by Aaron Shepard

The Magic Tree: A Folktale from Nigeria by T. Obinkaram Echewa

The Magic Gourd by Baba Wague Diakite

Mrs. Chicken and the Hungry Crocodile by Won-Ldy Paye &  Margaret H. Lippert
My Rows and Piles of Coins by Tololwa M. Mollel
The Spider Weaver: A Legend of Kente Cloth by Margaret Musgrove
Anansi the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti by Gerald McDermott (another Caldecott winner)

Aunt Kadja's Djaba Dji (African Onion Sauce)

from "I Lost My Tooth in Africa"

Peanut oil for sautéing onions and meat

1 cut up chicken, or stew beef (optional)

6-10 medium onions, sliced

5 cloves of garlic, peeled

1 tsp. dried onion

1 tsp. curry

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

2 thumb-sized pieces of fresh gingerroot, grated

3 tbsp. tomato paste

2 cups chicken broth

2 cups water

1/2 head of cabbage, cut into 2 pieces

5 small potatoes, peeled and quartered

1 medium eggplant, cut into 8 pieces

1 cup green beans

3 medium carrots, halved

1 cup of the tiniest noodles you can find

4 cups uncooked rice

Heat oil.  Sauté meat (if you are using meat) then, onions.  Crush garlic in a garlic press, then add along with dried onion, curry, salt, and pepper.  Add grated ginger, tomato paste,, and stir.  Reduce flame and close lid for 3-10 minutes, until meat and onions are covered with a thick paste.  Pour in 2 cups of chicken broth and 2 cups of water, add potatoes, and bring to a boil.  Turn down heat and simmer with the lid off for at least 5-10 minutes, mixing from time to time.  Then add vegetables and uncooked noodles and simmer 15-20 minutes, until the vegetables have softened.  Taste and add salt, if needed.  Pour over cooked long grain rice.  This will taste even better the second day!  Feeds a family of 6,