Dept of Culture chef Ayo Balogun shares the recipe for fried plantains and vanilla ice cream.
Having a repast atDept of Cultureis as much an educational experience as it is a culinary one . From Wednesday through Sunday Nox , 12 diners sit around a communal mesa at theBrooklyn eating house , where owner Ayo Balogun seamlessly slips between the theatrical role of chef and professor — espousing the virtues ofNigerian cuisine .
“ Everybody acknowledge the African proverb , ‘ It take a village to resurrect a tiddler , ’ ” he says . “ My goal is to let multitude imprint a village here each night around the communal tabular array . ”
locate in a modest space formerly home to a barbershop , Dept of Culture is a little outfit without any stoves or ovens . The eating house ’s four - line meals and ever - changing tasting menus are made on two galvanising burners and a convection oven . Balogun prepares dishes native to Kwara State , where he was bear — including red snapper fish pepper soup , egusi , and dodo ati , or deep-fried plantain , with vanilla shabu emollient .
Dodo ati Ice Cream|Photo by Cole Saladino for Thrillist
During your meal , you might learn that West Africa accounts formore than 30%of global plantain production . And Raphus cucullatus , as it ’s called in Yoruba , is typically enjoyed as a snack served with a peppery plate of rice or with a roll of stewed attic . But Balogun will tell you that Graeco-Roman vanilla is the best accompaniment to the sweet , caramelized plantain .
It was sort of by chance that Balogun end up in the restaurant industry at all . Originally , he ’d wanted to make a documentary about the changing gender dynamics between manpower and women , but he needed funds to get start up . “ I thought , ‘ Okay , I ’m going to go work in a eating house and make enough money to buy my own camera , and do all of that , ” he order . However , fate had other plans .
“ The first job I had I was dicing apples at Gobo , ” he think . “ I think I must have done it well enough that they kept either advance me or pass on me more responsibilities , and so I jumped around . ” Little did he live , this was the get-go of his calling as a professional chef .
Dept of Culture chef and owner Ayo Balogun|Photo by Cole Saladino for Thrillist
Ironically , Balogun never thought that he would finish up serving the cuisine of Kwara State . “ I ’ve always pronounce I was never , ever going to do Nigerien food , ” he tell laugh . However , as someone who has be between the two existence — Nigeria and New York — Balogun wanted to address two issues : the lack of Nigerien dining options in New York City and the monolithic view of Africa still prevalent among far too many Americans .
“ When masses face at Africa , they always put all of us in one crowing group , ” Balogun says . “ multitude ask you , ‘ Do you see Leo ? ’ ”
This unyielding propensity to chunk all Africans together in one full-grown jungle landscape is a lasting bequest of European colonialism , and it ignominiously obscures the Brobdingnagian cultural , linguistic , and cultural diversity found all throughout the continent . This is part of the reason that Balogun decided to focus specifically on North cardinal Nigerian cuisine .
“ I ’m from Kwara State in the North Central , ” he explain . “ There are some herbs that we have and then you go to the East , or to the Southwest , and there are things that we do n’t even have names for where I ’m from . ”
In fact , Nigeria is home to more than 200 million somebody , who ca n’t possibly eat up on the dot the same direction . Balogun wants masses to understand that they do n’t . “ When we cook here , we ’re telling multitude I raise up in Kwara State , ” he says . “ I ’m cooking food with the spice and herb from the North Central . And that ’s what we do . We do n’t do more than that . ”
beauty highlight signature flavors from Kwara , like blaze hot ata rodo peppers , roasty iru ( fermented locust tree beans ) , sweet-smelling pepper bell pepper excellently find injollof rice , or fragrant coriander plant used to complement a flaky objet d’art of hake . But Balogun does n’t believe that play up the remainder in Nigerian food is about come apart mass — quite the opposite .
“ I guess our difference are actually what brings us together , ” he says . What better elbow room to cement that togetherness than with a serving of gratifying , sticky dodo and dusty , creamy vanilla ice cream .
Dodo Ati Ice Cream Recipe
return : Serves 4
Ingredients:• 1 plantain• 1 teaspoonful fresh footing sinister pepper• 1 teaspoonful violent pepper flakes• ½ cup pack brown sugar• ½ cup vegetable oil• Dash of sea salt flakes• ¼ cup water• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon ( optional )
Directions:1 . Peel Musa paradisiaca . Slice down the length of the plantain and then slice in half crosswise . Sprinkle salt , pepper , and red pepper on plantain slices and jactitate until covered.2 . In a small frying pan , bring ¼ cup water to a boil . Add the brown sugar , cut down until caramelized.3 . Warm vegetable oil in a cooking pan over medium hotness and fry Musa paradisiaca until gold John Brown . add together the chocolate-brown sugar reduction to the deep-fried Musa paradisiaca and continue cook until plantain is covered . 1 minute or so . wait on warm with vanilla ice cream .
