THE TASTIEST ZINE
IN THE WORLD

You live in a place without a proper kitchen but you invite your neighbors over for sukiyaki anyway. They’re dancing around your room while you cook dinner in an electric hot pot balanced on a stool near the window. After dinner, the conversation never ends. You’re sitting at the table long after dessert is served, smoking, drinking the last of the wine, picking at the leftovers, making coffee and telling stories. Your pal is taking pictures of the forks stacked up and the wine stains on the table cloth while the cat is asleep on another guest.

You wake up late and make more coffee, sweep the remnants of last night into the hallway and wave at George on his way to the bathroom. There’s a little leftover food from dinner. You rummage further into the fridge: rice in a takeout container, a handful of stir fried green beans, sriracha and soy sauce. You get that going on the big skillet hot plate by the desk and the finishing touch is a perfect fried egg on top.

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RECIPE

SUYA-SPICED BEEF CURRY

3 tablespoons cold-pressed peanut oil 
1 large onion, finely sliced
400 grams of stewing beef, cubed
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons ginger powder 
2 tablespoons curry paste
2 tablespoons tomato puree
2 tablespoons white pepper 
½ tablespoon peanut butter 
375 milliliters stock
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper 
250 grams potatoes 

Heat 2 tablespoons of the peanut oil and slowly sweat the onions for 10 minutes. Remove from the pan. Add another tablespoon of peanut oil to the pan and brown the beef. Stir in the garlic, cooked onions, ginger powder and curry paste to coat the meat and cook for 1 to 2 minutes.

In a bowl toss the potatoes with tomato puree, peanut butter, white pepper and cayenne pepper. Add the mixture to the pan with the beef, let the whole thing come to a boil on high heat, and then bring down to a simmer. Keep it simmering until the liquid reduces to half its volume.

People smell things or see things, but my emotions come with tastes — weird, I know. I taste it, then I try to recreate what I’ve tasted. This one recipe came from a feeling of JOY. I was visiting my ex in London, he is in a music group and they all lived together at the time in Golders Green. This one day everyone was home plus their girlfriends and it just felt like one big family. I remember Tobenna was making a beat in his studio which was in his kitchen. Shayo made a silly joke and everyone was laughing, I felt like I was in an episode of Friends (I'm obsessed with Friends) and I said to myself, OMG I’m Monica. With this joy came a familiar taste, a taste of home like the Nigerian BBQ (Suya). I had never made Suya before but I tasted peanuts so I wrote down peanut butter. Suya is typically spicy and made with beef so I wrote those down as well. Then I walked to the Tesco down the road. On the way, I thought that whatever I was making had to feel like a hug so I decided on suya-spiced beef curry. It would be the starter and I was ready to cook a feast. 

–Mariam Bello, Put A Egg On It #16

PUT A EGG ON IT
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