Curry Chicken

Ingredients:
1kg chicken
7 Carrots (chopped)
1 small Cabbage (chopped)
2 Green Peppers (chopped)
2 Onions
4 Habanero Peppers
2 Knorr cubes
1 tablespoon Curry
1 tablespoon Garlic powder
Salt to taste
2-3 tablespoons all purpose flour

Directions:
Wash the chicken and put in a pot. Blend the onion and pepper and add then add the knorr cubes, curry, garlic and salt. Cook till the chicken is done. Make sure you have enough stock for the sauce. If you don't, add some water.

Dissolve the flour in a little water to form a fairly thick paste. Add the flour to the pot of chicken a little at a time till it reaches your desired thickness. Adjust seasoning if necessary.

Add the chopped up vegetables and turn off almost immediately so that you don't overcook your vegetables.

Serve over rice and ENJOY!!!

N.B: I used broiler/fryer for the sauce. I personally don't like to use tough chicken (like old layer and jumbo) for my sauce. Feel free to use whatever kind of chicken you prefer though.

Boiled Plantains and Veggies

Ingredients:
3 ripe plantains (cooked)
3 handful pumpkin leaves/ugu (washed and cut)
2 smoked fish (cleaned and cut)
Tomatoes
Pepper
Onions
Salt
Curry
Knorr Cubes
Vegetable Oil

Directions:
Blitz onions, tomatoes and peppers using a blender or food processor.

Pour out in a saucepan and cook till the water in the tomatoes dry out. Add vegetable oil and fry for about 5mins. Then add the seasoning and fry a little more.

Add the fish and vegetable and turn well. Allow to simmer for about 3-5minutes.

Serve with boiled plantains.

ENJOY!!!

Coconut Rice

Coconut rice is my all time favorite. Normally I would use real coconuts for this recipe but I don't like the stress involved in extracting coconut cream. These days I have found a good substitute to cut out all that hard labor. You can use a can of coconut milk or powdered coconut but if you would rather use the normal coconut then you would need two coconuts for this recipe. Also, I have seen people cook coconut rice plain (without tomatoes) and with crayfish. I don't like my food looking pale so I add some color with tomatoes and I personally don't like using crayfish to cook rice. Whatever recipe works for you is great though but here is how I like mine...

Ingredients:
4 cups of rice
1kg Chicken or Turkey
Tomatoes
Pepper
Onions
2 Sachets Coconut Powder
Knorr Cubes
Salt
Curry
Garlic
Ginger

Directions:
Parboil the rice and set aside.

Spice the chicken/turkey with knorr, salt, curry, garlic and ginger. Blend some onions and pepper and add to the pot.

Cook till the meat is done and then strain from the stock. Bake the meat till it's browned or fry if you wish.

Blend the tomatoes, pepper and onions and put in a large pot.

Boil till the water dries out and then add a spoon of oil used to fry the chicken. Fry to tomatoes for about 3-5 minutes.

Add the meat stock and the coconut powder and bring to a boil. If it looks like you don't have enough stock for the rice, add a little water. Adjust seasoning if necessary.

After it's boiled, add the parboiled rice and turn the heat up to the highest till it starts boiling.

As soon as it starts boiling, turn the heat to the very lowest and let it slow cook till the water in the rice dries out completely. Check the rice from time to time. If it's still hard then add some water. If you notice there's water settled on top but the bottom is drying out, make small holes in the rice with a fork to allow the water get to the bottom of the pot.

Serve with the meat and coleslaw or any other vegetables.

ENJOY!!!

Strawberry S'mores Tart

Anyone who loves chocolate would surely love this dessert. I have some chocolate lovers in my house and after the regular chocolate tart became an all time favorite, I decided to give them another version. My friend Suzy tried this and went "OMG, what is in this...this is even nicer than the chocolate tart. It's soooo sweet and rich it's almost sinful" haha. Funny enough, this S'mores tart was easier to make than the regular tart. The original recipe requires marshmallow creme but good luck finding that in Nigeria. I just made my own "creme" haha. Ok, enuf talk...let's get the show on the road already.

Ingredients:
2 cups crushed digestive biscuits
4 Tablespoons sugar
½ cup butter, melted (½ cup = 1 stick = ½ pack)
200g semisweet chocolate
1pack whipping cream
Strawberries
Marshmallows (melted)

Directions:
Crush up enough digestive biscuit to make 2 cups. Add the melted butter and sugar.

Mix well till it looks like wet sand.

Bake for 10 minutes and then cool completely.

Break d chocolate into small pieces and put in a bowl. Pour the heavy cream into a saucepan and bring to a simmer (just before it boils). Pour into the bowl of chocolate pieces. Allow rest for one minute and then whisk till the ganache is smooth.

Slice some strawberries and lay of the tart shell that's completely cooled.

Pour the chocolate ganache into the shell and den add the melted marshmallows. Use a knife to smear d marshmallows around to make it look marbled. (You can use marshmallow creme if you can find in your area. I couldn't find so I just melted some marshmallows under low heat with a teaspoon of butter).

Refrigerate for 30minuntes and then add the strawberries. Refrigerate for another 30minutes or as long as you can endure without digging in. But make sure the chocolate has set well before digging in.

ENJOY!!!

Chicken Wings

Ingredients:
1lb Chicken Wings
1 onion bulb (grated...or finely chopped if you prefer)
1 Teaspoon Curry
½ Knorr Cube
A pinch of Salt
½ Teaspoon Garlic Powder
½ Teaspoon Ginger Powder
1 Teaspoon pepper flakes
2 Teaspoons vegetable oil 

Directions:
Combine ALL the ingredients in a large bowl. Cover and marinate in a refrigerator for about 30minutes.

Arrange marinated wings on a baking sheet and bake for about 10minutes on each side or till well browned. You can fry the wings if you don't have an oven.

Serve with any dipping sauce of you choice (I served with a garlic chili sauce).

ENJOY!!!

Good ol' Rice and Stew

Rice and stew has to be the most famous dish in Nigeria. Whether you're Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba, Efik, Urhobo, Benin, Itsekiri, Tiv, Ogoni, Ikwerre, etc...everyone loves some good ol' rice and stew. I'm putting the recipe but I'll leave the quantity to your discretion.

Just pretend you didn't see the heart on my rice...that's my how much i love rice ;)

Ingredients:
Tomatoes
Pepper
Onions
Tatase
Tomato paste (tin tomatoes)
Turkey/Chicken (or any meat of your choice)
Knorr Cubes
Curry
Garlic
Ginger
Vegetable Oil

Directions:
Blend the tomatoes, pepper, onions and tatase. Pour into a big pot and boil. Boil the tomatoes till it's totally dried out. Turn off the heat.

In another pot, add the chicken or turkey and season with salt, curry, ginger, garlic and knorr. Blend some onions and pepper and add. Cook till the meat is done. Strain the meat from the stock and then fry the meat. Set aside.

Pour some of the oil used to fry the chicken/turkey into the dried tomatoes then add the tomato paste. Turn on the heat now and fry the tomatoes till the oil starts to settle on top on the tomatoes. Add the meat stock and fried meat, cover the pot to simmer for about 5minutes. Adjust seasoning if necessary.

Serve with white rice and ENJOY!!!

Nkwobi

Ingredients:
Cow leg (cut into small pieces)
½ handful of crayfish
1 tablespoon ground dry pepper (or more if you like spicy food)
1 ehuru/ehu/african nutmeg
2 tablespoons potash (akaun)
Utazi leaves
½ cup of palm oil
1 onion bulb + more for garnishing
1 knorr cube
Salt to taste

Directions:
Wash the cowleg well and add to a pot. Use a pressure pot if you have one to save you gas/electricity/time. Cut up the onions and add to the pot. Add the maggi and some salt to taste. Boil the meat till it's well done. Strain the meat from the water and set aside.

Put the potash in a small bowl and add about ½ cup of water. Strain into the pot you'll be cooking the nkwobi with. This is to remove all the sand and debris in the potash.

Heat the potash a little and the add the palm oil. Stir till it thickens.

Blend the crayfish and ehuru using a dry mill. You can also add the pepper and blend too.

Add the meat and blended crayfish to the oil and mix well. You can turn the heat on now so that the nkwobi is piping hot. Add a little salt if needed.

Garnish with cut utazi leaves and onion and serve.

 ENJOY!!!

Breakfast Burrito

Ingredients:
2 potatoes
2 sausages
1 scrambled egg
Green Pepper
Red Pepper
Onions
Shredded cheese
Tortilla

Directions:
Cut the potatoes, sausages, onions, red and green peppers. Boil the potatoes and set aside.

Fry the sausages and then add the vegetables. Stir-fry everything together and set aside.

Spoon the filling on a tortilla, sprinkle some shredded cheese on it, roll and wrap.

Bake/toast for about 10 minutes or until cheese is well melted.

ENJOY!

Whole Roast Chicken

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken (broiler/fryer)
6 large potatoes
1 large red bell pepper
1 large green bell pepper
2 large onions
3 tablespoons of butter
3 tablespoons parsley flakes
2 tablespoons pepper flakes
2 knorr cubes
Curry
Salt to taste

Directions:
Season the chicken with maggi, salt, pepper, curry, onions and a tablespoon of parsley. Cover well and let marinate overnight.

Cut the potatoes, 1 onion bulb, red and green bell peppers into big chunks and season with maggi, salt, pepper and 1 spoon of parsley. Set aside.

Spray the pan with vegetable oil then, cut one onion bulb into rings and lay on the middle of the pan.

Place the chicken on the onion rings and pat it dry with a paper towel. Season the butter with some parsley and pepper flakes and then stuff the breast area (between the flesh and the skin). Spray some vegetable oil on the chicken, tie the legs up with a twine and then pour the spiced veggies on the sides of the pan.

Cover the chicken with foil and bake for about 30minutes, remove the foil and bake for about 1hour more or until well the chicken is well browned. (Baking time will vary based on the size of your chicken so just monitor it and use your discretion)

ENJOY!!!

PS: While the  chicken was out of the oven cooling, my brothers pounced on the veggies (yes, they were that good) so I couldn't  display those. Next time.

Native Soup (Rivers State)

Ingredients:
Cat fish (cut n gutted)
Goat meat
Prawns/Shrimps
Ngolo
Periwinkle (isam)
Snail
Stockfish
Crayfish (handful)
Achi (thickner)
Hot Peppers
Onions
Uziza leaves
Palm oil
Knorr Cubes
Salt

Directions:
To wash the catfish, add some hot water to a big basin and then drop the fish in for like 30 seconds (don't use boiling water else you'll cook the fish). After 30seconds of being in hot water, remove the fish and the scrape the body of the fish to remove the slime. Wash well and put in the pot you'll cook the soup with. 

To clean the snails, make sure there aren't any shells hidden anywhere so you won't get cut while cleaning it. Clean the snail with lime to remove the slime (haha, I just rhymed). I added half a cup of freshly squeezed lime juice to the snails and rubbed together. That was easier than cutting the lime in half and rubbing on the snail one at a time. Set the cleaned snail aside.

Clean the prawns/shrimps by removing the head, shells and veins. For the ngolo (I don't know the English name), ask the sellers to show you how to clean it 'cos I can't explain the process here. Wash the periwinkle. Set all of them aside.

Blend the onions and peppers together and set aside.

Wash the goat meat and add to a pressure pot. Wash the stock fish and add to the same pot. Add the cleaned snail to the pot also. Add two-thirds of the blended pepper n onions to the pot. Season with salt and knorr and pressure cook for 10minutes. Set aside.

Steam the fish with the remaining blended pepper, knorr and salt for like 5minutes. Remove the steamed fish from the pot and pour the cooked meat into the fish stock. Blend the crayfish, add to the pot and boil.

Add 2 cooking spoons of palm oil and boil for 10minutes. Then add the shrimps, isam and ngolo. Cover the pot and boil for 5minutes.

Add the achi 1 tablespoon at a time so you don't over thicken the soup. Allow everything to boil for 5minutes then cut up the uziza leaves and add. Boil for 3-5minutes and your soup is ready to be served.

Enjoy with garri, semolina, wheat etc.