Peanut Chicken + Fufu

(This week, Anna and Veedat eat a Nigerian after-church feast with neighbors.)

Midnight Snack: Meals From the Nightward
Peanut Soup and Fufu

👧🏻 Veedat, my boots-on-the-ground informant, assures me that it’s still too risky to venture back into the Ward. My mugshot is still circulating. I’m a wanted woman. I keep asking him to grab a poster for me to show fans of the blog. He doesn’t think that’s funny. To cheer him up, I asked if he would like to try his hand at writing this week’s article on daytimer food. He reluctantly agreed (see FN1).

My neighbor across the hall, Oosabi, hosts an after-church lunch on Sundays, to which I have a standing invitation. Perfect. At this point, I’ll pass the pen to our guest reporter in the field, Veedat Cobel.

🧛🏻 Thank you, Anna. What an honor.

Okay, so.

We walk through an open door into a very bright and loud apartment. The moment he sees us, Anna’s neighbor greets us warmly. Oosebi is a tall African man who is quite friendly and seems to always be squeezing someone’s shoulder or kissing some lady’s cheek. I learned from our host that he and his humongous family immigrated from Nigeria twenty years ago.

On a personal note: this is easily the most people I’ve ever seen in one room, and the ages range from newborns to octogenarians. The men wear fine suits that clash with the cheap slides on their black feet. The women wear bright, patterned dresses and hair wraps: church clothes. They all drink tea the color of amber that shimmers in the sun like jewels. Screaming kids play soccer, passing the ball between the dining room and living room. It feels like a family thing—chaotic, but not necessarily stressful.

When it’s time to eat, the women pull ladles up from hotel pans full of spicy peanut-butter chicken soup and slop it over stretchy, pale lumps of fufu.

It’s around noon, and the sun is at its brightest. It streaks into the room through lace curtains, but thanks to my Warby Parker TransitionX lenses, I’m able to take it all in. Speaking of which, did you know that for every pair of Warby Parker glasses you buy, they donate a pair to someone in need?

👧🏻 “I see what you did there.”

🧛🏻 If you check out with the coupon code MIDNIGHTSNACK and tell them that Anna sent—oh, she’s interrupting me again... Tell them we sent you. You’ll get 20% off at checkout. Warby Parker—it’s not just a look, it’s a way of life. Back to the food...

Peanut Soup and Fufu

A base of stewed tomato, smoked paprika, and sweet onion creates a decadent sauce. Tender pieces of chicken and a layer of red grease float on top. The fufu is banded in plastic wrap and presents like a beached jellyfish; its texture is a mix between dumpling and mashed potato. While bland by itself, the fufu acts as the perfect vehicle for the robust flavor of the dish. Absolutely marvelous.

Now, I’ll hand the pen back to Anna. Oh, she’s handing it back to me 😳 She wants me to sign off.

This world can be full of peril, and there are times when stepping out may be too great a risk. I, for one, am thankful for boltholes close to home. For families who get together every week, no-matter-what, and invite-no-matter-who to taste and see the goodness.

Hallelujah.

Anna Okkes & Veedat Cobel
🧛🏻👧🏻

FN1 Something you should know about V is that his resting countenance is a perfect emulsification of excitement and trepidation. To call him nervous would make him seem unwilling or cowardly; he is neither. He’s careful, and that’s the thing I like most about him. Maybe you have to be, to live in the Nightward. Maybe growing up as a Nocturnal makes you naturally wary.