TWIN! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!

find the Oxtail recipe here ↓

Ekaabo awon eyan mi. Mo ti padaaaa¹

How are you guys doing? How’s life been?

As for me? Omo I dey here o.

Feels like #growth

Screaming internally cause we have tipped the scale and hit over 400 substack subscribers. AHHHHH The fact that I haven’t posted in months is criminal indeed, but you know… life happens. To all my new subbies, Hi! Hello! This is your official welcome to JAF. You’re probably here because of my oxtail and jollof recipe. However, I must introduce you to the blog. JAF is a special community of foodies that share this passion for living life to the fullest and eating good freaking food. Welcome to the party, cause we’re about to get down. In this I will give you a bit of insight into this little-big life of mine. I choose to be as raw and open as possible in this post today.

I swear I say this every year but 2023 was such a blur for me. Many highs yet so many lows. I traveled to so many places but still somehow felt lost and out of place. Hopefully you’ll sit tight and get through this with me. If you’re here for the recipe, scroll down a little and you should find what you came for.

Basically, this has been the timeline these last few months

New Job —> Travelling around the US for work —> Feeling unfulfilled —> Getting laid off —> Working for myself —> Depression onset —> Hating 2024 —> Losing a loved one —> Falling in love with TokePlusFood again… to here we are now feeling hopeful but still a bit scared.

I know, I know… a lot. Let’s go a bit more in-depth ~~

Old things washed away for NEW beginnings

I officially started my food business last year and I would say it’s been doing fairly good in it’s beginning stages. It’s not that I want to quit but I keep thinking of ways I can learn the most so I can apply that to my business. Is it shadowing a more successful company here in Dallas, or even taking courses or a degree that would impart so much knowledge, or maybe a mentor? I would love to have a mentor in my field who can show me the ropes and impart wisdom.

Every day I go through this internal struggle of knowing my true purpose in the world. “Why has God put me on this earth?”, I ask myself. “Am I doing what he intended me to do?”. It’s tough constantly questioning what place and role you’re meant to serve.

The hardest part about this path I’m on is hoping and praying every day that things stay on the upclimb. I’m the chef, the content creator, the manager, the owner, the cleaning crew, the assistant, It’s a lot, but honestly… I wouldn’t trade it for anything else at this moment. It might feel like I am doing everything alone. Putting in the work, I just know there’s something at the end of this for me.

Things lost, but not forgotten

*trigger warning* I lost my dad. And it’s been rough simply because we didn’t have the closest relationship. Heck it’s almost as though we had no relationship. It brought so many things up from my past that quite literally hit me like a brick. So many realizations left and right. A part of me just wished and hoped this had happened to me at a younger age when I wouldn’t have had such an understanding of the way life works like I do now. I’m a whole 24 years of age, on the fence of a quarter century. My frontal lobe is basically fully developed at this point so I understand so many things way more than I ever did in the past.

As much as people say, don’t hold grudges, blah blah blah don’t take life for granted. There’s nothing more true than those statements. But in true Toke fashion I had to challenge those ideas. I asked myself what was so fascinating about even being alive. What is so great about it? Does death really make such an impact even when you’re not close to the person?

For me, it brought up so much pain that was suppressed for so long. It reminded me that I had chosen to ignore my instinct time and time again.

Waves of nostalgia immersed my being

Let’s talk about Yam and Eggs. The king of Nigerian breakfast foods. For anyone that has never had yam and eggs before, I have to say you haven’t lived my dear! I fry egg sauce exactly how my dad used to when I was younger. He would say “you need to use a pan that is deep and use a good amount of oil”, the sauce has to fryyyy. This is one of the memories of my dad that stays fresh in my mind till this day. He’s the source of this desire and passion for food, but he unfortunately never got the chance to try my food before he passed.

Yam and Eggs were his favorite to make. It’s a top-tier dish and honestly one of the easiest things to make. I never really thought about the connection between that dish, food, and the connection I felt with my dad. I almost always think about him every time I make this dish. It’s so comforting, almost like he was right there with me while I was making it. Talking to me and guiding me. Aw man I’m fully considering dropping a recipe for it now. Would this interest you guys? Let me know.

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Whenever you find yourself doubting how far you can go, remember how far you have come.

💕 3-hour Braised OXTAIL 💕

This recipe is BUSSINNN. Like Slap yo mama good.

BTW I will drop the Jollof recipe in my next post — coming soon. Be patient with me cause it’s going to be all worth it in the end. In the meantime, you can pair this Oxtail with white rice and a side of fried plantain.

*BONUS* add a side of coleslaw or sauteed cabbage to set it over the top.

Recipe

Ingredients

• Oxtail (2.5lbs)

• Beef broth (1lb box)

• ½ red Onion or shallot

• 3 cloves Fresh Garlic

• 1 Scotch Bonnet

• 3 sprigs Fresh Thyme

• 2 tsp Dried Thyme

• 1 tsp Curry Powder

• 1 tsp Paprika

• 2 tsp or cubes of Boullion or Knorr

• 1 tbsp yaji spice (a.k.a suya), if you don’t have your hands on this I would go for jerk seasoning which works just as good.

• ½ tsp salt

• ½ black pepper

Steps

1. Wash your oxtails with lemon and vinegar… I’m looking over your shoulder judging you if you don’t.

2. Trim the fat with a knife (oxtail is pretty fatty so skim off as much as you can).

3. To a food processor, add onions, garlic, scotch bonnet and pulse to make a seasoning paste. In the video posted on my IG, I used a green seasoning and if you want the recipe, leave a comment and i’ll drop a reply with the full recipe (it’s super easy!)

4. Mix all the seasonings with the paste to make your marinade

5. Rub the marinade all over the oxtails till fully seasoned. Season that ISH.

6. Marinate for up to 30 minutes, but if you’re in a hurry you can jump to the next step.

7. Preheat your oven to 400°F

8. Heat up a cast iron skillet (linked here)

if you don’t have a cast iron (which you absolutely need), a great alternative is a dutch oven, but if you don’t have either one of these I would recommend searing the oxtails in a nonstick pan and transferring to an oven dish before putting them in the oven.

9. Sear oxtails on all sides till the fat is rendered down. About 3-5 minutes on each side.

10. Cover the oxtails with beef broth.

11. Cover with foil and throw cast iron in the oven for 3 - 4 hours

12. Check halfway into the cook time to make sure the liquid is not low, if so add more liquid.

13. Once about 3 hours go by, your oxtails should be falling off the bone tender. If not, let it go for about another 30 minutes to an hour uncovered. It’s important to not cook them much longer than this as the meat will lose its tender, melt-in-your-mouth texture and start to disintegrate.

If you try this recipe pleaseee let me know… I really want to know how you like it.

I pray for you, that God clears the path for you and gives you the strength needed to make it through this thing called life. Thank you for making it all the way to the end of this chapter. Till we meet again beloved!

Coming up next:  

Jollof Queen Chronicles… the best Jollof you’ll ever taste. Stay tuned.

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Album of the month P4 by PARTYNEXTDOOR

Enjoy this playlist Christian Afrobeats by Datuois

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1. Good evening, my people. I’m backkkkk!