African American cooking, with ingredients from the New World to Africa and back, gives us a hint to this. Mealie, the African name for corn, is used to make the soft cornmeal mush and batters that are a characteristic of African and American Southern foods today. Fufu, brought to America by Nigerian slaves, is a stiff cornmeal or yam mush, directly related to southern spoonbreads and cornmeal. Porridges and ground millet, sorghum, teff, barley and cassava flour make up the fritters, batters, flatbreads, griddle cakes, and grits known not only in the American South, but is part of the homemaker's repertoire in Africa. The prime characteristic of native African meals is the use of starch as a focus; accompanied by a stew containing meat or vegetables, or both. Starch filler foods, similar to the rice cuisines of Asia, are a hallmark. Cassava and yams are main root vegetables. Steamed greens, mixtures of hot spices with root vegetables, stew with or without meat, particularly chicken, are all African inspired. Peanuts, called "groundnuts" in Africa, feature heavily in many dishes from a garnish to peanut soups. Melons, particularly watermelon, are popular. Nigeria and the coastal parts of West Africa are fond of chilies in food. Coastal recipes include fish marinated in ginger, tomatoes and cayenne, cooked in peanut oil. French cooking influence in Senegal uses touches of lime juice, chopped vegetables including scallions, garlic, and marinades. Peanut oil, palm oil, and often coconut oils are common. The black eyed pea is a staple of West Africa. Okra, also known in the American South, is native to Africa; used in many dishes to thicken soups and stews. Tropical fruits, particularly the banana and coconut are important ingredients. Outside of Muslim Africa, alcoholic beverages are part of the diet. South Africa is known for the production of good quality white and red wines. South Africa also produces a tangerine based liqueur called 'Van Der Hum'. Tusker, the famous Kenyan beer, is exported for those who want to recreate a meal. Beer goes well with most African cuisine. The most famous alcoholic drink in the interior is the Ethiopian honey wine, 'Tej',which has been made for centuries. Bees are the earliest domesticated animals. Wine made from their honey is a slightly acquired taste, similar to the mead of Old England. Ethiopia lays claim to another first, the cultivation of coffee. The Ethiopian coffee ceremony includes lighting of incense, passing around the beans for guest's approval, and roasting on the spot! From Ethiopia, coffee spread to Yemen, and on through the Arabic world to Europe. HOW TO BUY, OPEN AND PREPARE A COCONUT Before buying a coconut, shake it to make sure it is full of liquid. The more there is, the fresher the coconut. Coconuts without liquid, or those with moldy or wet “eyes”, are likely to be spoiled. The average coconut weighs about 1-½ pounds and will yield from 3 to 4 cups of chopped or grated meat. TO OPEN THE COCONUT Puncture 2 of the 3 smooth, dark eyes of the coconut by hammering the sharp tip of an ice pick or screwdriver through them. Drain and discard all of the coconut water. Loosen the meat inside the shell by holding the coconut in one hand and tapping around the outside in a dozen or so different places with the blunt edge of a cleaver, a kitchen mallet or even a hammer. When the shell begins to split, give the coconut one or two sharp blows with the implement to break it. The meat should fall away from the shell in large sections. If not, rap the outside of each piece to loosen the meat further and then cut it out with a small, sharp knife. TO GRATE COCONUT With a swivel-type peeler or small, sharp knife, pare off the brown outer skin of the coconut meat. Then grate the meat, piece by piece, with a hand grater. TO MAKE COCONUT MILK Pare off the brown skin and chop or break the meat of the coconut into small chunks. For each cup of milk needed, drop 1 cup of chopped meat into the jar of an electric blender and add 1 cup of hot, not boiling, water and blend at high speed for 1 minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the jar with a rubber spatula. Then blend again until the coconut is reduced to a fairly smooth puree. (To make the coconut milk by hand, grate the peeled coconut, piece by piece, into a bowl. Stir into each cup an equal amount of hot, not boiling water.) Scrape the entire contents of the jar or bowl into a fine sieve lined with a double thickness of dampened cheesecloth and set it over a deep bowl. With a wooden spoon, press down hard on the coconut to extract as much liquid as possible. Bring the ends of the cheesecloth together, to enclose the pulp, and wring the ends vigorously to squeeze out the remaining liquid. Discard the pulp. One cup of coarsely chopped coconut meat combined with 1 cup of water should produce 1 cup of coconut milk. Tightly covered, coconut milk can be safely kept in the refrigerator for 2 or 3 days, or in the freezer for several months. HOW TO HANDLE HOT CHILIES Hot chilies are cousins to the familiar green bell peppers, but they require special handling. Their volatile oils may make your skin tingle and your eyes burn. While working with the chilies, wear rubber gloves if you can and be careful not to touch your face. To prepare chilies, rinse them clean under cold running water. (Hot water may cause fumes to rise from the dried chilies, and even these fumes can irritate your nose and eyes.) Cut or break off the stems if you wish to leave the seeds (the hottest part of the chilies) in the pods. If a chili is to be seeded, pull out the stem and the seeds with your fingers. In most cases the ribs inside are thin, but if they seem thick and fleshy you may cut them out with a small, sharp knife. Follow instructions in the recipes for slicing or chopping chilies. After handling hot chilies it is essential to wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water. GLOSSARY ATJAR: Pickled fruits and vegetables (Green Bean Atjar and Lemon Atjar) BERBERE: Hot pepper seasoning essential for most Ethiopian cooking. BESKUIT: Hard twice-baked sheet cake (similar to biscotti), typically served with coffee in the morning (English: Rusk) BILTONG: Long pieces of meat salted and dried, similar to jerky. BLATJANG: Fruit chutney. BOBOTIE: Chopped or minced beef baked in a curry sauce with raisins and almonds with custard topping. BOEREWORS: Homemade spiced beef or pork sausage. BRAAIVLEIS: Afrikaans word for barbecue. BREDIE: Stew. CAPE KEDGEREE: Fish and Rice specialty that originated in India. CARDAMOM SEED: Small aromatic black seed found in the cardamom pod. Available in the pod, whole without the pod, and ground. CARAMONGSCRAPS:Cardamom and Coconut Cookies. CASSAVA: (Also called manioc, yuca, mandioca) Long, irregularly shaped starchy root at least 2 inches in diameter with a rough brown barklike skin and hard white interior. Available year round at most Latin American groceries and vegetable markets. Refrigerated, the root will keep safely for 2 or 3 weeks. No substitute. CHICK-PEA FLOUR: (Also called gram flour) Flour made by grinding dried chick-peas. Available in Indian specialty-food stores and some gourmet shops. No substitute. CHILIES AND BELL PEPPERS: Every podded pepper - sweet, pungent or hot - is a capsium pepper and a native of the New World. Hot peppers, or chilies, vary greatly in shape, color, size and degree of hotness. Most ripen from green through orange-yellow to red, but color does not indicate pungency. Chilies lose their flavor quickly and must be stored in the refrigerator. Even dried chilies must be stored in a cool, dry place in a tightly covered jar or tin. Available in Latin American markets and often in other well-stocked markets. Bell peppers, also known as sweet peppers or Mango peppers, may be green or red. Available everywhere. CHIPPOLATA: Tangerine and ginger custard. CHUTNEY: Sweet and sour fruit condiment. CORIANDER, FRESH: (Also known as cilantro and Chinese parsley). Aromatic herb that resembles flat-leaf parsley in appearance, but has a much more pungent flavor. Sold by the bunch. Available mostly everywhere. CRANBERRY BEANS, DRIED: Small oval pink beans mottled with reddish brown, about ½-inch in length. Substitute pink beans (rosadas) or pinto beans. CURRY POWDER, MADRAS TYPE: Like all curry powders, the Madras variety is a blend of as many as 20 ground spices that give the cooking of the Madras region of India its characteristic taste. Most curry powders include tumeric, fenugreek, cumin, coriander, ginger, dried chilies and black pepper. The Madras type is distinguished by the relatively larger quantities of dried chilies, cumin and coriander and often the addition of asefetida, a pungent dried gum resin. It is, therefore, hotter, and more pungent and less yellow in color than other varieties. If substituting a milder curry powder, you may increase the quantity called for in a recipe. DENNINGVLEIS: Spiced Lamb Fricassee. DUTCH CHICKEN PIE: Traditional chicken pot pie topped with crust. FENUGREEK SEED: Small reddish-brown seed of a plant of the pea family. It has a pleasant bitter flavor and a strong, sweetish odor reminiscent of burnt sugar. FISH, DRIED SMALL: Dried whole fish (anchovies, whitebait or others) about 1 ½ to 2 inches long with a pungent, salty flavor. Used whole or crumbled as a seasoning in West African soups and stews. Available in most Oriental grocery stores. Store in the refrigerator in a tightly closed plastic bag or covered jar. No substitute. FISH PIE: Fish casserole topped with mashed potatoes and baked. FRIKKADELS: Braised meat patties. GEELRYS: Yellow rice with tumeric and raisins. GESMOORDE HOENDER: Braised chicken with green chile peppers. GESMOORDE VIS: Salt cod and potatoes with tomatoes. GINGERROOT, FRESH: Gnarled brown root about 3 inches long with a more pungent flavor than dried ground ginger. Sold by weight in Oriental and Latin American groceries and markets. Dried ground ginger is not a true flavor substitute, but if no other form is available, use it in half the quantity of fresh ginger called for in a recipe. GREEN BEAN BREDIE: Traditional mutton and green bean stew served with rice. HANEPOOT: Local grape eaten raw, dried for raisins, cooked for jam, or used in winemaking. HOENDER PASTEI: Boer Chicken Pie with hard-boiled eggs and ham and topped with a crust. INJERA: Pancake-like bread that usually accompanies Ethiopian food. KAFFIR CORN: Grain resembling barley. KALTSCHALE: Cold buttermilk soup sweetened with cinnamon and nutmeg. KLAPPERTERT: Coconut pie. KOEKSISTERS: Braided pastry crullers with cinnamon and lemon syrup. KRAKELINGE: Figure-8 cookies dusted with sugar and chopped nuts. MANGO: Sweet tropical fruit usually oval in shape. The skin is smooth and usually turns from light green to greenish yellow (often with splotches of scarlet), depending on ripeness. MANIOC MEAL: (Farinha de mandioca) Fine grainy flourlike meal prepared from the dried pulp of the bitter cassava, widely used throughout sub-Saharan Africa as a staple food and thickener. Available by weight in Latin American food stores. Store in tightly covered container. No substitute. MASA HARINA: Very fine white cornmeal, or corn flour, available in Latin American groceries and some supermarkets. Substitute fine white stone-ground cornmeal. MEALIE BREAD: Corn bread. MEALIE-PAP: Stiff dry corn meal "porridge", often served instead of bread (a staple starch of native South Africans similar to polenta). MEALIES: Corn. MECHOW: Drink made from fermented cornmeal. MELKTERT: Custard and Cinnamon Pie. NAARTJIE: Relative of the tangerine. NITER KEBBEH: Spiced clarified butter. PAPAYA (PAWPAW): Cylindrical or pear-shaped tropical fruit, ranging from 3 to 20 inches in length and weighing up to 10 pounds. The skin is thin and green when unripe. Available in Latin American markets, some fruit stores and supermarkets. PLANTAIN: Fruit of the banana family and similar in shape, but larger and not so sweet; it must be cooked before it is eaten. Available in Latin American markets in all degrees of ripeness. No substitute. QUINCE: A tart fruit in the same class as the apple, used mainly to make preserves and jellies. Shaped like large apples or pears. When cooked, a quince turns red. Tart green apples may be substituted. ROCK LOBSTER TAIL: Regional lobster specialty. ROOIBOS TEA: Strong herbal tea. SAMBAL: Condiments served with curries to "cool" them, such as chopped vegetables, chutneys, pickles, and coconut. SHRIMP,DRIED, GROUND: (Also called dried shredded shrimp or camaron molido): Pulverized dried shrimp with a sharp, salty flavor, sold in 2-ounce jars in Latin American markets and also available in Oriental markets. SOETKOEKIES: Traditional spice and wine cookies of Dutch origin. SOSATIES: Lamb and apricots on a skewer marinated in curry-tamarind sauce. TAMARIND: Tart brown fruit of the tamarind tree. The dried pulp of the seed pod is brittle and cinnamon-colored. The juice produced by soaking the fruit in boiling water is very acid, akin to both vinegar and lemon juice. Tamarind water can be made more or less strong simply by increasing or decreasing the amount of soaking water. Substitute equal parts lemon juice and water. Available in Middle Eastern, Indian, Indonesian and Latin American food stores, and sold in gourmet shops. VAN DER HUM LIQUEUR: Sweet South African brandy flavored with the peel of the naarje, a small tangerine. Available at some large liquor stores. Substitute any orange-flavored liqueur. VETKOEK: Fried Corn Bread. YAM: Large tropical tuberous vegetable that may weigh as much as 100 pounds. It is quite starchy and has a subtle nutlike flavor.