Making the Undesirable Desirable

Have you guys seen the movie Between Us? It is a really good insightful movie (don't mind the critics). You should watch it, there are many lessons to be learnt from the movie.

After watching the movie last night, AF and I started to discuss aspects of the movie and called on our past experiences as examples. There were two lessons we agreed on 1) without opportunity, handwork can be worth nothing 2) to succeed in life, to achieve your goals, you have to make the undesirable desirable.

Lesson 1: AF said I have never beaten him in word with friends, ever! i was shocked because that's a big fat lie. however i didn't have any evidence because i had played so many times and the app only stores so many games. The only way i could prove this was not true was to play another game with him and win. Good plan right? Great plan!

Anyway for hours I was leading by at least 50 points. I remained focused, thought things through before I placed my tiles. I worked damn hard at that game. When there were only about 6 tiles left in the bag my dearest husband played a four-letter word and scored 70 points and blew me out! I have refused to finish that game. He has been nudging me all day to play, I just can't deal. Hiss!

Lesson 2: We all have dreams of doing something special with our lives. for some people this comes easily but for others, they will have to navigate their lives down a different route to achieve that dream, that goal. The first step is to be realistic about our goals and dreams and the next step is to do what ever it takes to achieve that realistic goal. This can some times mean you have to do what you don't like.   The trick is to keep your eye on that goal and make the undesirable desirable. 

When you watch the movie please let me know what you think. Do agree on the lessons learnt?

Speaking of undesirable things, AF decided last week he liked brown rice. Heaven save me! As i don't have the energy to cook two different pots of rice I came up with a recipe that allows me to enjoy the brown rice.

Ingredients:

2 cups of brown basmati rice

1 medium onion, sliced

1 tsp of whole coriander

1 tsp of whole black peppercorns

1 tsp of dry mustard seeds

1 tsp of cumin seeds 

2 tbs of sunflower oil

Water

Method:

Wash the rice and soak in hot water for about 30 minutes, drain and keep aside. Heat the oil in a pan and fry the onions until they are soft on medium heat, fry for about 3 minutes. Remove the onion from the pan and keep aside. Add all the seeds to the pan and cover. once they start to pop, add the drained rice and mix thoroughly for even distribution. Add water, just enough to cover the rice and let it cook on low heat. You may need to add more water. They trick is to add water bit by bit so you don't end up with soggy rice.

When the rice is cooked, stir in the fried onions. 

Serve with goat stew or cat fish.

How Do You Like It?

Life is funny sha! Funny how we take things for granted. Masa is one of those Nigerian foods I was never crazy about. I like it, I am or was never crazy about it.  I grew up around it so it was always available. In the eighteen months I spent in Nigeria I don’t remember craving it. I probably ate it once when I went home to visit my folks. I move to Doha and all of a sudden I crave it amongst other things.

My craving was so intense that I went out to buy a cupcake maker just for masa (because I didn’t have the “kwanu” to cook it in).  I followed 9jafoodie recipe, which is so easy I must say but I baked it instead of frying. 

Here are the different ways I enjoyed my masa:

Masa served with lamb stew

Masa Added to stir fry, can be an appetiser 

Gizzard broth with masa and vegetables

All masa dishes including served with suya and served with plain honey.

Guinea Fowl With Sherry and Tarragon Cream

Its been a while right? I have had so much to do its been unreal. I do apologize for not posting anything. So many people have been sending me text messages asking about new recipes. Thank you all for encouraging me.

I think I am quite organized but there is a always room for improvement, right? Take yesterday for instance, I had the chance to buy all the ingredients for my class the day before but I thought I would have enough time to go shopping on the day of the class, go back home and pick my other utensils. I must have underestimated the time it took to do all this because at the end I didn't have time to go back home. I had to buy everything I needed for the class. I now have two sets of everything. I guess there is no harm in that...

This recipe is French and the french name is "Fricassee De Pintade Au Vinaigre De Xeres Et A L'Estragon". Those with blackberries, send me a voice note of your pronunciation of this. hehehehe. You can bet I didn't even try!

Ingredients

1 tbsp flour

1 plump guinea fowl or free-range chicken

1/2 tbsp groundnut or sunflower oil

30g chilled unsalted butter, diced

2 tsp finely grated zest and 4 tbsp juice from an orange

2 tsp brandy

Bunch tarragon sprigs

200ml chicken stock

1 tbsp sherry vinegar

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Joint the guinea fowl into 6-8 pieces and remove skin. Season the flour with salt and pepper. Using a small sieve, dust the guinea fowl or chicken pieces with this seasoned flour.

2. Heat the oil in saute pan large enough to take the pieces in a single layer. Add one third of the butter, then stir in the grated orange zest. Tip in the guinea fowl pieces and sate over a moderate heat until lightly and evenly coloured, turning them over a few times.

3. Sprinkle with the brandy and stir in well. Snip in leaves from 5-6 tarragon sprigs, then shake the pan and stir the contents.

4. Add the stock, turn over the pieces and stir well. Bring back to a modest simmer, then lower the heat a little. Cover tightly, and cook for 30-40 minutes, shaking the pan several times an turning the pieces halfway through cooking.

5. Lift the meat from the pan and keep warm on warmed serving dish.

6. Turn up the heat, bring the liquid to a low boil and leave to bubble for a few minutes until a little reduced and thickened, stirring from time to time.

7. Reduce the heat stir in the vinegar and the orange juice. The dish can be cooked ahead to this stage if more convenient.

8. Using a slotted spoon, put the guinea fowl or chicken pieces back of the warmed serving dish. Whisk the remaining butter into the pan and dribble the sauce over the chicken. Snip over a few fresh tarragon leave and serve immediately.

Serve with plain rice or potatoes or sauteed courgettes.

Enjoy!

Fried Rice

Segun is around from Saudi Arabia. Yay! I haven't seen him in ages. Well since Simeon's wedding in January 2008. We have a lot to catch up on. Since the wedding, he got promoted, got married and now expecting a baby. Wow!

We have planned to meet up on Wednesday after work. As he has been in Saudi for a while I thought he would love to eat traditional Nigerian dish like egusi (melon seed) soup, but to my surprise he wanted fried rice.

Fried rice is very popular in West Africa but traditionally not an African dish. It originated from China and is a popular component of other forms of Asian cuisine. It is made from rice fried in a wok, typically with additional ingredients left over from other dishes. Every country that has adopted the fried rice recipe has added their flavour to it. So I here by present Fried rice, Nigerian style.

Ingredients
• Long grain rice (2.5 cups)
• 1/2 of green and red peppers

• 2 Carrots

• Half of an Onion

• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed

• half a cup of Sweet Corn

• half a cup of Green Peas

• 1 cup of Shrimps (peeled and washed)

• 1 Bonnet pepper (de-seed if you don't want it too spicy)

• 4 cups Chicken stock

• Sunflower Oil - 4 table spoons

Seasoning

• Soy sauce

• Thyme

• Curry powder

• Salt

• Knorr Chicken Cubes

Wash the rice and soak in very hot water for about 10 minutes. Drain the water from the rice and add the chicken stock just to cover the rice in a sauce pan. Cook the rice with the chicken stock until its soft and dry, not soggy.

To make the sauce chop the carrots, sweet peppers, bonnet peppers and onions. In a sauce pan heat up the oil and add the onions and garlic. Fry for about 30 seconds. Add the shrimps and fry for another 30 seconds. Then add the sweet corn, sweet peppers, green peas and bonnet peppers (optional). Add thyme, curry powder, Knorr cubes and salt to taste. Cook for about 10 minutes. Add the carrots when you are done cooking it. This is to retain the crunchiness of the carrots. (My dear friend Koye has a passion for crunchy carrots, I discovered this new trick while cooking for him one day).

In a wok add a some sauce and rice and a tea spoon of Soy sauce. Fry for about 4 minutes using a wooden spoon. Just add enough sauce to fry the rice in. We don't want it to be soggy. I like to fry mine until I feel its about to burn, when its very dry. Continue this until you have cooked all the rice.

If you have left over sauce, you can serve this with the rice for those who would like more. Serve the fried rice with some garden salad and grilled chicken.