The oily charms of West African cuisine
My egusi entree at Bukom Cafe does not exactly activate the salivary glands. The pieces of stewed, bone-in goat meat are slathered with a thick paste built from West African melon seeds called egusi. The seeds give the dish its name and its slightly nutty flavor, sort of a cross between peanut and sesame seed. Truth be told, though, the dish’s dominant flavor is palm oil, which covers my plate like a petroleum slick on the ocean’s surface, seizing all manner of organic matter in its clutches.
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