Baked Eggs with Herbs

Ingredients:

5 medium tomatoes, chopped

3 sprigs of parsley, chopped

3 scotch bonnet, chopped

½ medium onions, chopped

1 knorr cubes

2 eggs

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius. Mix all the vegetables in a bowl and crumble the knorr cube in the mix. Mix thoroughly. Butter 2 ramekins. In one ramekin, add ¼ of the mixture and spread it even at the base. Add on egg in the ramekin, do not mix. Layer the top with ¼ of the mixture. Repeat this step for the other ramekin. Bake for 12 minutes.

Serve with toasted bread or pancake.

Fati's Gizzard Broth

Ingredients:

8 turkey Gizzards (medium chopped)

½ medium onions

3 cloves garlic

½ cup of chopped spring onions

½ Green Peppers

3 scotch bonnet (ata rodo)

3 table spoon of corn flour

1 teaspoon Dried Thyme

2 teaspoons Curry powder

2 Knorr cubes

Salt to taste

Directions:

In a medium size sauce pan add the gizzard, curry, thyme, onions, garlic, Knorr cubes and garlic. Add water to cover the gizzard and boil for 15 minutes or until its soft. Add more water to cover the gizzard then add the spring onions, scotch bonnet, green pepper and simmer for 5 minutes. Add salt if needed or one more Knorr cube.

Mix the corn flour with a little water to make a smooth paste. Add it to the sauce pan and stir gently. Simmer for another 5 minutes.

I served this with roasted potatoes.

Pasta and Meat Balls

My mum was one of those people that demanded you were in the kitchen with her while she cooked. How dare you watch TV while she was slaving away?! The weirdest thing was that she would never let you touch anything. Never! I used to wonder what the point was, a few times out loud and I received dirty looks and once a slap as answers to my “wondering”.

One afternoon she called me in to her room and asked me in front of my dad how to make one dish she had prepared several times. I was like see this woman oh. She wants to cause trouble. Never! If I fumbled now I won’t hear the last of it. My dad would find a way to relate it school and how I don’t listen in class etc. This wasn’t going to happen to me. I cracked my brain and dug out images of how she prepared it and what ingredients she used. I recited the method step by step. When I was done she had a huge smile one her face, seeing her smile my dad started clapping. I had passed the test.

Phew!

“Oya, go and make it for your dad, he is very hungry.” mum said

My heart sank. It’s one thing to know the steps to make a dish, it’s another thing to actually make it. I did as I was told and it turned out really good. Till this day all I have to do it watch a cook show without even taking notes and I would be able to prepare what ever the cook or chef is making.

I guess there was a point in just watching her cook after all.

Ingredients:

250g of fusilli pasta (I used macaroni because I had run out of fusilli)

500g of minced meat

3 tbs of plain breadcrumbs

½ medium onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

2 scotch bonnet (ata rodo), chopped

1 cup full of chopped spring onions

½ cup tomato puree

3 tbs of corn flour

2 tbs of vegetable oil

250g of grated cheese

4 Knorr cubes

Salt to taste

Directions:

Preheat the oven to about 180 degrees Celsius. Boil the pasta as per packet instructions in slated water and drain and keep aside. In a large mixing bowl, add the minced meat, onions, garlic, scotch bonnet and 1 Knorr cube. Mix thoroughly with your fingers. Roll the meat mixture into balls. Make sure they are not too large. Place then on a clean flat plate.

In a medium sized sauce pan heat the oil for a minute and fry the tomato puree for about 2 minute with one Knorr cube on medium heat. Mix the corn flour with cold water to make about 250ml of corn flour liquid. Lower the heat and add the corn flour mixture to the sauce pan containing the tomato puree. Continue to stir gentle to avoid lumps forming. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Taste to see if the last Knorr cube is required. Gentle add one meat ball at a time to the sauce pan. Do not stir. Simmer for another ten minute to ensure the meat ball is cooked through. Add salt to taste.

In an oven safe bowl, spread 1/3 of the pasta to cover the bottom of the oven dish then add 1/3 of the meat ball sauce to cover the pasta and sprinkle 1/3 of the grated cheese. Repeat this two more times. Place the dish in the preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes.

First Layer

Second Layer

Enjoy with green salad.

Sweet Potato Scrumbiounce

Amaka my flatmate actually named this recipe without actually meaning to.  She walked into the kitchen while I was deciding on what to do with the sweet potato my steward had cubed. The problem with the shape of the sweet potato was that it wasn't what I asked the man to do. Can you imagine how frustrating it is to call someone, explain in so many words what you would like them to do, ask them to repeat it so you are satisfied only for them to STILL do something completely different?

SIGH!

I didn't even have energy to scold him. I even said thank you.

"Babes, what is confusing you now?" Amaka asked laughing at me.

I am always confused these days. Lack of food and dealing with Samuel confuses the hell out of me. I then explained to her what I had planned to do but oga Samuel had other ideas.

"I trust you now, just make some scrumbiounce with the sweet potato" Amaka says pretending to be some village Igbo girl.

The way she pronounced that word inspired a recipe. It sounded like a mash up of sorts; some crispy, some soft and some, scrumptiously mushy.

Something hot and spicy.

I knew exactly what I was going to do.

I should really ask Amaka if this word really exists. Even my spell check was confused. After a few tries it screamed at me "no replacement found, free me!"

If anyone who knows what it could mean or how to spell it should kindly alert a sister as the 'biounce is slowly gathering momentum.

Ose. Na gode. Kubetin. Dalu.


Ingredients:

1 fresh mackerel (medium sized)
500g of sweet potatoes (peeled and cubed)
5 medium tomatoes (chopped)
1 medium onion
3 carrots 
1/2 red, green and orange peppers
4 scotch bonnet (ata rodo) - this will depend on how hot you want it.
5 tbs of sunflower oil
half a cup of spring onions
4 cloves of garlic
ginger
thyme
curry
Knorr cubes
salt to taste

Directions:

Boil the sweet potato for about 15 minutes in salted water. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Drain the excess water from the boiled sweet potato and place in a roasting dish with some oil in the preheated oven until crispy.

Boil the mackerel for about ten minutes, de-bone and using a fork mash it up.

In a medium sauce pan, heat the oil for a minute and stir in all the vegetables and add some thyme and curry. Sprinkle 2 Knorr cubes, add the mashed mackerel and mix thoroughly.  Simmer for about 10 minutes. Then stir in the crispy sweet potatoes to make sure its completely covered in the fish mix.

Simmer for 5 minutes. Add some salt if needed.

Serve with some green salad.

Apple Crisps

I eat more fruits during Ramadan compared to the rest of the year. What I need to try to do is incorporate fruits into my regular diet; you know try the whole 5-a-day thing. To be honest it can get a bit boring.  As I can’t stand watermelon or pears I am left with pineapples, bananas, oranges, apple or grapes. #rollingmyeyes.

I went to the supermarket to see if I could discover new fruits. Well what I really mean, is to see if I could afford to buy the “exotic” fruits, which only translates to “imported”. I selected four of those perfectly shaped, firm tomatoes (did you know tomato was a fruit?), some juicy plums and gorgeously red strawberries. As soon as I saw the strawberries I thought of cream so I walked to the dairy shelf and picked a can of whipped cream.

It’s on tonight!

Juicy plums to break my fast, nicely sliced tomatoes to add to my salad to accompany my rice and dodo plus strawberries and cream to finish my meal off as dessert! It was going to be a glorious iftar.

As the lady at the counter started ringing up my goods, my eye sockets got larger with each additional item. At a point she turned to look at me as if to ask “aunty are you ok?”

“Aunty your bill is N10,495” checkout lady says to me.

I swallowed hard!

For what? I ask myself.

My perfectly shaped tomato started to look abnormal to me. All of a sudden the juicy plum began to rot like a movie on fast forward. The gorgeously red strawberries I saw earlier looked discoloured. Jokes!

“Aunty, I say your bill is N10,495” check out lady repeats.

I looked straight into her eyes, with no shame whatsoever and said to her I had changed my mind. I cannot shout abegi! Ahn ahn, I shall go and manage my “boring” fruits.

Honey Dried Apple Crisps

1.     Preheat your oven to 140^oC and warm about five tablespoons of honey in a saucepan over low heat until it is runny.

2.     Using a very sharp knife, slice two pink apples thinly into rounds, say about 3mm thick. Arrange the slices on a wire rack and brush one side of each slice with the runny honey and bake.

3.     After 15 minutes, turn the apples over and brush the other side with honey and bake for another 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.

4.     Lay the baked apples on a sheet of baking paper and leave to cool.

Miyan Taushe (Pumpkin Soup)

There is only one thing that comes to mind when I think about pumpkins – Halloween. The thought of eating them never actually crossed my mind because I only see them or maybe notice them during Halloween while I lived in the UK. For me they are vegetables with eyes and teeth and a candle inside. They are supposed to scare little kids. How do you eat something that you know may kill you?!

The other day while walking down the aisles in Shoprite, I saw them. It took me by surprise, as I never expected to see them in July. So I picked one up not really knowing what I was going to do with it. I know that the Hausas make a soup using pumpkin. So maybe what I need to do is research on the use of pumpkin in African dishes. I must remember that Google is my friend! Oh and Hauwa and Hajara and Meera and Fati and …

This dish is very easy to prepare which is perfect during Ramadan. Ramadan Kareem everyone and enjoy.

Miyan Taushe

Ingredients:

2 cups chopped spinach

1 medium onion (chopped)

3 cloves of garlic (chopped)

1 kg of chopped (medium size) goat or lamb meat

1 small pumpkin flesh (peeled and chopped in chunks)

4 medium tomatoes (deseeded and chopped)

200g locust beans (dadawa)

2 scotch bonnets (atarodo)

2 Knorr cubes

1 teaspoon curry

1 teaspoon thyme

Directions:

In a medium pan, mix crumbled Knorr cubes, the meat, garlic, onions, atarodo thyme and curry.  Add enough water to just cover the meat. Bring to boil. When the meat is soft add the pumpkin, tomatoes and locust beans. Cook until the pumpkin flesh is soft and then add the spinach. This is soup is ready when the liquid from the spinach has dried out.

The best thing about this dish is that I did not add one single drop of oil. serve it with Tuwo shinkafa or eba.