10 diaspora cooking shortcuts that actually work

Cooking African food in a small UK kitchen, after a long shift, is a different sport than cooking at home in Lagos. Here are the shortcuts our community swears by.

Blend a big batch of pepper-tomato-onion base on a Sunday and freeze in ice cube trays. Pop two cubes into anything that wants stew.

Pre-fry your meat in bulk and freeze. When it is time to cook, the meat finishes in twenty minutes instead of ninety.

Use a rice cooker for jollof. It is not heresy — it is great. The bottom-pot still forms, and you can walk away.

Air-fryer plantain at 180°C for 12 minutes, flipped once. No oil, no mess, perfectly soft inside.

Buy ground egusi, ground crayfish and ground pepper. The flavour-per-minute is unbeatable.

Keep a single carton of palm oil, a tin of corned beef, a pack of indomie and a jar of locust beans in reserve. Dinner is always one combination away.