It’s fruit season in Nigeria and all over the world I presume. There are fruits everywhere I turn, grocery stores and the markets, so, I’ve been indulging in my favorite fruits and fruit vegetables. This season I’ve had more of Yellow Melons, African Pear and Bananas. I want to share how I’ve been enjoying these fruits in easy peasy recipes or non-recipes.
pardon my overcooked eggs. i'm not a chef :-D
When it comes to butters and spreads for bread I prefer to go naturally unprocessed, though I enjoy Nutella and fruit jams a few times, but avocadoes used to be my go-to natural butter until I discovered the delicious taste of African Pear on bread.So, I’ve substituted Avocadoes with African Pear. The African or Bush pear is popularly called Ubeamongst the Igbos. It has a tangy, mildly sour taste of which I’m fond, but since it is commonly eaten with boiled or roasted corn, which isn’t my go-to kind of meal I’d occasionally indulged until I discovered I could go without the corn and enjoy the pear as a spread. I’ve loved the mildly sweet taste of avocadoes on bread and enjoy getting them to eat with bread when they are in season, but I’ve put a pause to that because I needed something new.Sometimes I skip the egg albumen and whip together the bush pear and egg yolk to make a proper butter consistency for the bread. What can I say I’m a bush girl. ;-) I can’t recall how I got introduced to the yellow melon fruit. This fruit is super delicious when chilled. Tip:The more the yellow the more the sweetness. There are three ways I enjoy taking yellow melon. 1. As ring slices on noodles. 2. Blended in with other fruits, preferably watermelon, as a smoothie. 3. In fruit salads (topic for another day)Bananas! I have this love-hate relationship with bananas, especially eating them straight as is. I always like them mixed in with something else like the oatmeal smoothie I shared with you here. This time I want to share how I enjoy it with Akamu/ogi (pap made from corn).First I prepare the already processed corn meal using hot water, you can see the method of doing that described by All Nigerian Recipes, then I toss two medium size bananas, some protein powder (soybean or groundnut), and some oatmeal (optional) into the blender. Sometimes I sprinkle in some grounded crayfish. Next, I mix the blended mixture into the prepared Akamu/ogi, add in some honey, sweetener or sugar and enjoy. Remember that banana oxidizes so it turns brown during blending, but the brown protein powder masks that and it’s better that way than adding a dash of lime or lemon to combat the oxidation. Adding the blended smoothie into the pap maintains the pap’s smooth consistency for days I tell you, Sometimes, I unintentionally make more than I can consume in the moment and I put it in the fridge. I find that when I heat it up by gently steaming it, the consistency does not curdle at all. You know that pap turned agidi/eko situation? Nada.How do you enjoy fruits during fruit season? Share with me?