Book Recommendation: Lerato Umah-Shaylor's 'Africana'
Two recipes and a giveaway
Today I’m very excited to share a couple of recipes Lerato Umah-Shaylor's new book, Africana: Treasured recipes and stories from across the continent. I first met Lerato at a Zoom talk I gave to last year’s group of Substack fellows on food writing on Substack (where I also met a pile of other foody Substack friends). Lerato helms the newsletter Cook with Lerato, where she shares recipes and writing inspired by her West African heritage, her life in the United Kingdom, and beyond.
Africana was released in the UK in 2022, and in the US earlier this year. It contains more than 100 recipes from all parts of Africa, both traditional ones and others inspired by African dishes and flavors, both savory and sweet.
Africana is a gorgeous book (in part thanks to Tara Fisher’s vibrant photography), filled with recipes I want to make.
Lerato has shared two recipes from the book: Medfouna, or Berber Buns, which are lamb (or mushroom) stuffed breads inspired by Berber “pizza,” a Moroccan stuffed flatbread often baked in a sand fire pit or mud oven, along with a Smoky Tomato & Date Jam meant to be served alongside the buns.
I have one copy of Africana to give away to one Wordloaf paid subscriber, chosen at random a week from today. If you’d like to be in on the drawing, just leave a comment below describing your favorite African dish or cuisine, and why.
You can find Lerato and her work in the following places:
Website: www.leratofoods.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leratofoods/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leratofoods/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/leratofoods
Cook with Lerato Newsletter:
—Andrew
I had the opportunity to try egusi stew, served with fufu, both for the first time, a couple of weeks ago at an international food festival and I loved them!! The egusi stew was made with spinach and was so so delicious. It’s been a long time since I’ve had Ethiopian food but that’s always so delicious too. My husband used to make a tagine sort of stew that we really enjoyed ... we should make it again.
My most memorable was Ofada Stew. Honestly, I made it at home though I can’t remember where I got the recipe. My motivation was I had a jar of Iru from Burlap and Barrel and read Iru was traditional in that dish. Goat, smoked dry catfish and shrimp, ofada rice, Iru, etc. Not sure how close I was but I had to make it 3 times to get the heat right (called for LOTS of habanero peppers). Second is Jollof rice - recipe from Abena Foli. (Milk jug was safe on that one. :) There is an Ethiopian restaurant in Atlanta I’ve visited but nothing is more memorable than the burn you give yourself.