In Before Times, I spent a lot of time in Africa in the line of duty. In particular, I visited Nigeria and one of the best parts of these trips was the food. In particular, the meat was delicious, cooked well and accompanied by incredible flavour combinations that I wouldn’t usually think of if I was cooking at home.
Now I am in the weird position of not having been on a plane for more than a year, which I must admit I still struggle with. It’s a serious first world pain, I know, not being able to fly off to foreign countries almost every month for work but I really miss it. Obviously, I had to do proper work on these trips, such as attend oil and gas conferences and conduct interviews with serious people, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the socialising, the buffets, the gala dinners, the cocktail parties…
For the foreseeable, I will have to console myself with creating African flavours at home. To this end, I invented a pork glaze that I used on roast gammon. It would work equally well on pork legs, ribs or steaks, as well as chicken or even fish. It’s quick, easy and packs a massive flavour punch – I would never accuse the food in Nigeria of being bland.
Easy Nigerian-style pork glaze
Ingredients
3 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons crushed peanuts – I put them into a ziplock bag and beat with a meat tenderising hammer before finishing the job with a mortar and pestle
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons garlic granules or one crushed garlic clove
3 tablespoons tamarind paste
3 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon groundnut oil or coconut oil
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon ground ginger
Ground chilli to taste – I don’t like to be too prescriptive on chilli because everyone’s mileage varies
125ml (1/2 cup) chicken stock
Instructions
- Put all ingredients in a small mixing bowl and combine well. For larger cuts of meat, you may want to double or even triple the quantities. The above quantities are enough for a supermarket gammon.
- Cook your meat as usual but set the oven timer so it’s 10 minutes short of the suggested time.
- When the timer goes off, smooth the glaze onto the meat in an even layer.
- Return to the oven and cook for 10 minutes. Keep an eye on it as the high sugar content means it can burn easily. I found 10 minutes was enough time for the glaze to caramelise perfectly on gammon at 190 degrees Celsius.