African street food: 3 easy-to-adopt BMK recipes

BMK Paris - Bamako is THE cool and devilish hipster African canteen-grocery store imagined by Fousseyni and Abdoulaye Djikine , two brothers from Mali who grew up on the East side of Paris . In the kitchen, their mother revisits mafé , yassa and other gourmet dishes. On the shelves, we find spices, plantain chips or attiéké, a form of semolina made from cassava roots.

On the occasion of the release of their book BMK: Cuisines d'Afrique de Paris à Bamako published by Hachette , the two brothers bring together all the advice and recipes they have learned from their family and repeated trips to different corners of the continent. African.

We share with you three traditional recipes for a menu in the colors of Africa: Braaibroodjie , Dabléni and Dégué .

Ingredients for 8 people

1 large red onion

1 large tomato

100 g butter

At least 500 g of aged cheddar

16 slices of sandwich bread

100 g of spicy papaya confit or apricot chutney

Recipe

Peel the onion then cut it into thin slices. Likewise, cut the tomato into thin slices. Cut the cheddar into slices about 0.5 cm thick (or more for gourmets!).

Spread out the equivalent of 1 tsp. of butter (about 5 g) on half of the slices of sandwich bread (one side only). On the other side, spread the equivalent of 1 tsp. papaya confit of coffee or apricot chutney.

On the confit / chutney, place 1 slice of cheddar, 1 slice of onion, then 1 slice of tomato per sandwich . Finish by closing the sandwich with the second slice of sandwich bread. Compose all of your sandwiches the same way.

Put the equivalent of 1 tsp. tablespoons (about 10 g) of butter to heat in a pan. Once the butter is hot, place 1 sandwich on its already buttered side. Cook for 2 minutes over medium heat.

When the cheese has started to melt, add the equivalent of 1 tsp. full of butter on the ungrilled side of the sandwich. Then turn it over to cook the second side. Cook for 2 minutes over medium heat.

Repeat with all the sandwiches and serve hot!

The ingredients for 1.5 liters of juice

25g dried hibiscus leaves
1 branch (or about ten leaves) of mint
150 g brown sugar
1.5 liters of water
Optional: orange blossom, vanilla sugar, red fruit syrup, pineapple juice, nutmeg ...

Recipe

Before you start. The bissap juice stains very strongly, be careful with your clothes and prefer steel utensils. We offer here a traditional version of bissap juice. For a “ Summer body ” version, you can halve the amounts of sugar for the same amount of water.

Rinse the hibiscus leaves under cold water to remove any impurities. Likewise, rinse the mint leaves . It is not necessary to remove leaves from the branches.

Boil the water in a large saucepan or pot. Reduce heat to low, then gently immerse the hibiscus leaves in still boiling water. Add the mint leaves. Leave to infuse over low heat for about 10 minutes. The infusion should turn dark red.

Remove from the heat, then filter the preparation using a colander. You can filter 2 times (or more if you're bored) to make sure you don't leave residue in the drink.

Add the sugar , then stir the preparation. Taste and rectify at your convenience.

Let the preparation cool down in the open air, then put it in the fridge for at least 2 hours. Serve very chilled.

Bamakool & the Gang tips:

• “Depending on the variety of hibiscus, you will get a more or less dark color: wait to taste before correcting immediately by adding water or sugar!

• For a herbal tea, you can serve the preparation while still hot and add other ingredients that make you happy: for example 1 tablespoon of red fruit syrup to accentuate the fruity taste, 1 teaspoon of orange blossom for a note of sunny bitterness, cinnamon, fresh pineapple, vanilla, etc. ”

“ The degué can be declined in 1,000 ways. Add dried fruit, jam, fresh fruit… as you see fit! ”

Ingredients for 4 to 6 people

For the semolina

100 g of millet semolina
12.5 cl of water
1 knob of butter
25 g of dried fruits (raisins or pieces of candied orange)
25g grated coconut

For dairy preparation

125 g of cottage cheese
125 g of fresh cream
50 g unsweetened condensed milk
75 g of powdered white sugar
1 sachet of vanilla sugar
½ tsp. 1 teaspoon orange blossom
½ tsp. nutmeg

Recipe

Prepare the semolina . Boil the water and add a pinch of salt to it. In a salad bowl, pour the semolina and add hot water on top. Let swell for 15 minutes, covering your bowl. Add a knob of butter then stir. Add the dried fruits and the grated coconut and stir everything.

Prepare the dairy preparation. Mix the fromage blanc , crème fraîche and unsweetened condensed milk in a large bowl. Add the white powdered sugar, vanilla sugar , orange blossom water and nutmeg . Reserve in the refrigerator at least 1 hour before serving.

For dressage. Gradually add the milk preparation to the semolina while stirring. Serve and enjoy chilled.

BMK: Cuisines d'Afrique de Paris à Bamako , Abdoulaye Djikine, Fousseyni Djikine and Marie-Liesse Cabaret, Hachette Cuisine, € 29.95

Extracts from BMK by Abdoulaye Djikine, Fousseyni Djikine and Marie-Liesse Cabaret. Styling, artistic direction and photographs of the recipes by Zoé Armbruster and Blaise Gargadennec. At Hachette Cuisine.

© Quentin Dressy

Also discover the unmistakable cheese soufflé of Amandine Chaignot