Simply Pastalicious!

Every nation has a set of staple meals peculiar to her people. 

For Nigerians, irrespective of what part of the country you are from, Rice and any other derivative from Cassava,Rice and Maize, Yam, Plantain,Beans, Wheat (whether ground or stirred in hot water. E.g: Eba, Amala, Tuwo, Fufu, Pounded Yam, Akara, Moi-Moi, Pap etc.) form our staple meal across the geographical landscape.

However, things really get interesting when our world class, local sauces and soups are thrown into the whole mix.

Until relatively new, our food chart largely consisted of the above mentioned meals, except of course for the occasional punctuation of the food story with foreign stuffs like cornflakes, oatmeal and of course, beverages.

A not too new entry into our food chart is pasta. A type of noodle of traditional Italian cuisine.

Pasta is made from an unleavened dough of a durum wheat flour mixed with water and formed into sheets or various shapes, then cooked and served in any number of dishes.

Pasta may be divided into two categories, dried (pasta secca) and fresh (pasta fresca). While most dried Pasta is commercially produced via an extrusion process, Fresh Pasta is produced by hand, sometimes with the aid of simple machines.

As a category in Italian cuisine, both dried and fresh pastas are classically used in one of three kinds of prepared dishes. 

As pasta asciutta (or pastasciutta) cooked pasta is plated and served with a complementary sauce or condiment.

A second classification of pasta dishes is pasta in brodo in which the pasta is part of a soup-type dish.

The third category is pasta al fomo in which the pasta incorporated into a dish is subsequently baked.

Some pasta dishes are served as a first course in Italy because the portion sizes are small and simple. The servings are usually accompanied by a side of meat.

Pasta sauces vary in taste, colour and texture.

It might interest you to know that pasta was originally eaten plain with the fingers, until the late 18th century when it began to be eaten with tomato sauce requiring the use of a fork.

When choosing what type of pasta and sauce to serve together, there is a general rule that must be observed.

Simple sauces like pesto are ideal for long and thin strands of pasta while tomato sauce combines well with thicker pastas.

Thicker and chunkier sauces have the better ability to cling onto the holes and cuts of short, tubular, twisted pastas.

In Nigeria, we have different ways of preparing pasta meals, borrowing a thing or two from the original recipes from Sicily.

A very common pasta meal is Jollof Pasta! Yes. Jollof Pasta!

 Just like our very own Jollof Rice. Aside having different primary constituents from its rice cousin (Pasta and Rice), jollof pasta is quite faster to prepare, and may be yummier to eat, particularly when you remember that it is sticky and chunkier, and involves the rolling of portions around the fork, every time a chunk makes a trip to the mouth.

We would just look at how this interesting localized, global recipe is prepared...of course the Naija way.

RECIPE

½ kg of chicken lap                           

500g of pasta

Table salt

Seasoning

Thyme

Curry

75d of groundnut oil

Onions

Red pepper

Water

Green pepper

Spring onion

Carrots

Cucumber

Tomato paste

PROCEDURE

Clean up the chicken laps, put them into a pot. Chop a small bulb of onion into the pot as well as a little quantity of thyme, curry, salt of about ½ teaspoon and 2 cubes of seasoning. All to taste. Add some water and allow to boil until the chicken laps become tender.

(a)   Get another pot or sauce pan heated on fire to prepare the jollof pasta while the chicken laps get cooked.

(b)   Put about 2 cooking table spoon quantity of vegetable oil into the pot. Add a bulb of chopped onion, red pepper, tomato paste, salt

(c)   4 cubes of seasoning, a teaspoon of curry and thyme each. Stir and fry.

Add some water and allow to boil. Put in the pasta to cook for about 15mins. Chop the spring onions, carrots, cucumber, and green pepper and add when the pasta has been properly cooked. Stir and leave it for........Ooops! Not to forget the chicken laps, it must be crying for help now. Check to see if it is tender now, drain out the stock in a strainer.

Put some vegetable oil into a frying pan, heat up and fry the chicken.

Serve the pasta and the chicken on each plate. It is ready to be eaten now. You can drown it with either a glass of fresh juice or better still, cold water.

TIPS TO REMEMBER

Vegetables in or with pasta balances the diet.

Never allow the vegetables to cook for long. They should be crunchy, fresh and green.

Always ensure a clean environment when cooking.

Wear safety gloves to avoid scalding.

Now, i am really hungry from all this talk about pasta....*Dashes off to the kitchen*

CIAO!