Jollof rice, bean and cheese burritos, ugali (cooked white cornmeal), strawberry Pop-Tarts, nyama choma (barbecued meat), and a clay pot rice dish from a local Vietnamese restaurant are among the foods Kiano Moju remembers eating regularly while growing up in California. Born to a Kenyan mother and a Nigerian father, Moju learned to embrace the different cultures that surrounded her and helped shape her worldview and her palate. In her debut cookbook, “AfriCali,” the recipe developer and video producer has put together a collection of dishes inspired by those childhood tastes and, as she writes in her introduction, “the delicious meals I’ve had thus far in life.
” In addition to the food of her mother’s home country, “we would get a lot of takeout” from all sorts of restaurants - including Korean, Nigerian and Afghan - during the week, Moju said on a video call. “She was a single mom, so she was not cooking every night,” she said. Moju would also “forget” her school lunch a lot.
“I knew if I didn’t have lunch, my mom would bring me something really good,” she recalled, such as “the best tuna melt” from a nearby soda fountain. “California food culture embraces the flavors of its immigrant communities while celebrating the state’s agriculture and the flavors of fresh produce,” Moju wrote. “I bring that philosophy when cooking the dishes of Africa that I grew up eating and enjoyed while traveling.
” It’s a departure for Moju from the types of dishes she shared while working as a video producer for BuzzFeed’s Tasty. Those prioritized simplicity, short ingredient lists and a more stereotypically American flavor profile in an effort to reach the broadest possible audience. With “AfriCali,” Moju wants to teach people that the flavors she grew up with are neither especially foreign nor out of reach, and that they “can be part of your everyday cooking,” she said.
As such, she curated recipes that focused on ingredients easily found in most grocery stores, only occasionally calling for a specialty item that could be ordered online. “Though Africa is geographically very far, especially if you’re in California, there’s so many flavors and flavor combinations and dishes that are very accessible.” And you might already be familiar with some of them.
When her Kenyan grandparents would visit California, Moju took them to Mexican and Indian restaurants. There were no Kenyan restaurants around, but she explained that Mexican and Indian food include many dishes that her grandparents knew through taste. “There’s a lot of shared ingredients,” Moju said.
“Not just ingredients, but the combination of ingredients.” For example, Mexico’s pico de gallo and India’s kachumber both feature tomatoes, onions, chile peppers, citrus and cilantro. (Kachumber also includes cucumbers.
) Then there’s East Africa’s kachumbari, which has all of those same components. “We all love Mexican food, and we all love Indian food,” Moju said. “Kenyan food’s an easy slide in.
” With her pili pili beef stir-fry, Moju drew inspiration from Kenyan fries and Chinese-style stir-fries. (“Pili pili” refers to the chiles included in the recipe to indicate that the dish is spicy.) “A fry is a dish, but it’s also a way of cooking in Kenyan cuisine,” Moju said.
A “fry is the weeknight meal. It’s quick, it’s easy.” During Moju’s childhood, her mom would make a lot of beef fries with a separate pan of sauteed broccoli on the side.
“They were always together,” and she would mix them on the plate, so for her cookbook, Moju decided to prepare them together in one skillet instead of dirtying a second pan. But as an avowed broccoli hater, she opted for green beans instead. Flavored with ginger, scallions, chiles, garam masala, soy sauce and lime juice, each bite of the stir-fry bursts with flavor.
The first time I made it, I found myself doing a little happy shimmy. The recipe also exemplifies Moju’s intentions around ingredient accessibility - most of the items may already be in your kitchen. “I really wanted people just to feel like, ‘Oh, okay, I might have never heard of a pili pili beef fry in my life, but when I read this ingredient list, I know what all those things are.
’” After one taste, this is a dish you’ll want to have on repeat. Pili Pili Beef Stir-Fry With Green Beans Total time: 30 minutes. Serves: 2-4 (makes about 3 1/2 cups) Fresh chiles, ginger, garlic, green onion and garam masala pack this beef stir-fry with loads of flavor.
“Pili pili” refers to the peppers, so this dish has a moderate amount of heat. For the spice-averse, adjust the recipe to taste (see Substitutions). Make ahead: Place the beef in the freezer for up to 1 hour to make it easier to thinly slice.
Storage: Refrigerate for up to 3 days. INGREDIENTS 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 1 pound beef sirloin, thinly sliced 1/2 teaspoon fine salt, divided, plus more to taste 8 ounces green beans, ends trimmed, cut into 2-inch pieces 6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced 4 scallions, thinly sliced and divided 2 fresh medium-hot chiles, such as serrano or Fresno, thinly sliced and divided One (1-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced 1 1/2 teaspoons store-bought or homemade garam masala (see related recipe) 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste 2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce Juice of 1 lime, plus lime wedges for serving Cooked rice or other grain, for serving DIRECTIONS In a large (12-inch) skillet over medium-high heat, heat the oil until shimmering. Add the beef, sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon of the salt, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the beef is no longer pink and starts to brown, about 5 minutes.
Add the green beans and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium. Add the garlic, three-quarters of the scallions, three-quarters of the chiles, the ginger, garam masala, black pepper and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon of salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until the garlic has softened and is fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes.
Remove from the heat. Stir in the soy sauce and lime juice. Taste, and season with more salt and pepper, as desired.
To serve, spoon some of the beef mixture over rice or your choice of grain in individual bowls, garnish with the reserved scallions and sliced chiles, and place a lime wedge on the side of each portion for squeezing. Substitutions: For extra-virgin olive oil, use ghee, coconut oil or neutral oil. For sirloin, use rib-eye, strip or another boneless steak.
(With fattier cuts, such as rib-eye and strip, you can use less oil.) Want less spice? Remove the seeds from the chiles, use only 1 pepper or use jalapeños. Gluten-free? Use tamari instead of soy sauce.
Nutritional Facts per serving (scant 1 cup), based on 4 | Calories: 328; Fat: 22 g; Saturated Fat: 7 g; Carbohydrates: 8 g; Sodium: 634 mg; Cholesterol: 85 mg; Protein: 25 g; Fiber: 3 g; Sugar: 3 g This analysis is an estimate based on available ingredients and this preparation. It should not substitute for a dietitian’s or nutritionist’s advice. Adapted from “AfriCali: Recipes From My Jikoni” by Kiano Moju (Simon & Schuster, 2024).
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