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.