An African Eggplant Exposition

             
               “I have never seen these before in my life!” I myself have uttered these words several times in reference to new vegetables I’m encountering through ECV research but today it is Patricia Amegashie who is perplexed by the small, smooth fruits I’ve just produced from my bag. What is slightly ironic about this situation is that Patricia is not the student in this scenario; she is the teacher! We stare at the dozen green African eggplants sitting on the counter, exchange confused looks, and burst into laughter. It’s not the most confidence-inducing start to a cooking lesson when neither instructor nor student recognizes the lesson’s central ingredient. “Well… let’s just go ahead as planned and see what happens,” Patricia suggests. This sounds good to me. If there’s one thing I can say for sure about learning to prepare new foods it’s that uncertainty in the process is half of what makes it fun! 

                So how is it that I have gotten myself into a situation where I am learning to prepare a variety of African eggplant that neither I nor Patricia have ever seen? So far during my research in Guelph grocery stores I have yet to find African eggplants available. As a result, while I was aware that African eggplants have been identified as a highly preferred vegetable amoungst Afro-Caribbean Canadians I was not entirely sure what these eggplants looked like. Patricia, who is originally from Ghana, had generously agreed to teach me how to prepare a Ghanaian recipe using African eggplant if I were able to locate it. On a trip to Toronto one of the ECVOntario team members found the eggplants in a Chinese grocery store. Although they were being sold under the label ‘Thai eggplants’ my coworker recognized and confirmed that this variety of eggplant is also consumed throughout Nigeria. Differential labeling of ethno-cultural vegetables (ECVs) is often evidence of cross-cultural vegetable preferences. However, while my Nigerian colleagues identified these eggplants as ‘African eggplants’, my Ghanaian hostess was expecting me to procure a much different variety. While the eggplants I brought to Patricia’s were green and looked like smaller versions of miniature pumpkins she was envisioning the cream-colored, oval ‘garden eggs’ common to Ghana. I was reminded, not for the first time, how easy and how erroneous it is to underestimate African diversity and was grateful that Patricia wanted to forge on with our lesson in spite of this initial mishap.

                For our eggplant cooking lesson that afternoon Patricia suggested that we make two versions of a popular stew: one using the African eggplants and more traditional Ghanaian ingredients and a ‘Canadianized’ version using ingredients more readily available in local stores. She had already prepared the smoked mackerel we would be using by placing the fish, whole, on a baking sheet lined with paper towel and baking it in the oven heated to 350° for an hour. This was done to remove excess oil from the fish in order to improve its taste and texture for our stew. She had also pre-prepared a seasoning paste made of several cloves of garlic, a two inch slice of ginger root, dried Ghanaian chili peppers and several chopped shallots which have been combined in a blender. Having collected together all of the necessary ingredients we were ready to prepare the stews.

                 We began preparing the Ghanian eggplant stew by preparing the eggplants themselves. Patricia explained that she would be using the dozen small African eggplants I brought along in one stew and about half a dozen fist-sized dark purple Indian eggplants in the other. Indian eggplants are easily accessible locally and are therefore often used in substitution for African varieties. The limited availability of several ECVs preferred by Afro-Caribbean Canadians often results in a greater acculturation of this population’s food choices compared to other Canadian immigrant populations. We washed the eggplants, quartered them and set them to boil in pots of water on the stovetop for about 10 minutes until they were soft. While they boiled, Patricia placed two large frying pans on burners heated on medium heat. To one she added enough vegetable oil to coat the bottom of the pan. To the other she added the same amount of palm oil for a more authentic preparation of our stew. Into both pans she added two sliced shallots, frying for several minutes before adding two pureed tomatoes and a heaping teaspoon of tomato paste to thicken the base of our stew. Both pans also received a generous ladling of the spicy paste Patricia had already blended together. As the tomato base started to bubble and thicken Patricia stirred in shredded pieces of smoked mackerel into one pan and added a smoked fish head into the other. Sensing my apprehension about the fish Patricia reassured me that I would not be eating the fish head and that it will be removed once it’s smoky, salty flavor is released into the stew. I’m now starting to recognize, correctly, that this stew is a different regional variation of the egusi stew I learned to make with Rosetta. Patricia confirmed this as she added about a cup of group egusi seed paste to our fish head stew. 

                No stranger to culinary multi-tasking, Patricia left the tomato mixture to simmer and switched her attention back to the eggplants. I assisted her to peel the outer skin off both varieties of eggplant by hand after they had been drained and cooled. It was immediately apparent that the fleshier Indian eggplants would add a much different texture to our stew than the seedier African eggplant variety. Patricia explained that an earthenware tool similar to a large pestle and mortar is used throughout Ghana to mash the eggplants into a thick paste for this dish. She let me try my hand at this mashing technique on the Indian eggplant in her own earthenware but suggested we use a blender for the seedy African variety so that our stew would not taste gritty. 
                      
In spite of its granular texture the African eggplant was slightly sweet and pleasant tasting I discover after sneaking a sample. We added the mashed Indian eggplant to the shredded mackerel pan and the African eggplant to the pan with the fish head.  Patricia sprinkled a crumbled Maggi cube into the pan without egusi but our other pan has been well seasoned by the fish head and does not require additional flavouring. After removing the fish head and any accompanying bones from the pan we spooned the stew onto a plate of rice. Lunch is served!

Although both versions of our stew are seasoned with fish I wouldn’t describe either version as ‘fishy’. The eggplant and tomato mixture absorbs a smoky, salty flavor which is punctuated with a pepper-y heat from the chili and garlic seasoning paste. I am grateful to Patricia for showing me how to prepare this dish and am equally appreciative  that she has answered my many inquiries as to where she is able to access the traditional ingredients for Ghanaian dishes. Similar to other Afro-Canadians whom I have spoken with, Patricia pointed out that it is often difficult to find quality African produce even in specialty Afro-Caribbean groceries. The long distances that produce such as African eggplants typically travels before reaching grocery stores negatively impacts the freshness of these products. For as long as new Canadians continue to cook traditional dishes which incorporate global tastes there will exist many opportunities for Canadian producers to attend to these diverse preferences with fresh, locally grown produce. 

Stacie Irwin - ECVOntario Research Assistant, University of Guelph. 2011