I have wanted to write this for a few weeks now, but I was waiting for one more ingenious idea to use with the food processor, to give it a truly robust post. I waited and waited for something to occur to me, and my thoughts manifested last weekend. It is good that I am writing this now and it also comes from a place of deep reasoning. First of all, shout out to Atoke, who is not feeling too well at the moment. Getting through to you by phone is like reaching the head of the FBI, so I will just send you cyber hugs from here. I hope you feel better soon.

Atoke went deep for her Monday Morning Banter and it was quite surprising to read the perspective of women on why they wanted children or not. Continuing the conversation with Isio Wanogho my crazy hot Delta sister on why you want to get married. Again, very interesting read, but the comments went on and on ad nauseam to be honest. One comment kinda switched something in me, when a reader wrote that men have nothing to gain in marriage. I wanted to get up right there and bitch slap him with a chair. Lol. Are you kidding me? REALLY!!!!!!! I won’t go into the total misconception about that comment, but highlight on what I consider a failing with Nigerian women and cooking and if in truth the men appreciate or even understand our self inflicted stress. Ladies, MUST we slave in the kitchen, before we feel accomplished as cooks? Why do we seem to loooooooove stressful cooking, or could be unwillingness to accept change? Truly, do you earn your stripes as a woman by sweating it out while the Mr lounges on the sofa, and you run though your years taking the path of the most resistance. If I hear that African woman crap, I am going to give you that bitch slapping I have reserved for Mr “Iyke”. Looooooool.

I love to cook, I intend to do it for a living at some point, but I am the first to admit that it is draining. So, when I find an alternative to doing anything quicker, I am the first on the queue. When The Almighty was sharing physical strength, I must have been sleeping for sure. Mental is where my strength lies, I have come to accept that. If money will buy the services of someone/something to do the energy-consuming bit, I am prepared to work hard to earn that freedom. Freedom to be that 2014 Nigerian cook lies in a Food Processor. It is one of the best things you can have in your kitchen, hands down. It is even more amazing to me when I discover new ways it can relieve what can sometimes be outright drudgery in our cooking. I hope the day will come when a food processor will become the norm in our kitchens the way a blender is now. Kenwood, I hope you guys are listening. Looool

More ways to love your food processor

1. You can peel Beans in a food Processor in a fraction, and I mean a fraction of the time it takes to do it in a blender. If you think a blender is faster than hand peeling, a food processor is like comparing Usain Bolt to Mo Farah. I peeled 2kg worth of beans in a food processor in under 7 minutes in 3 cycles (I timed it). It gets better. Not only is it faster, it is freaking awesome i.e. NO BREAKING OF THE BEANS. I repeat. NO BREAKING OF THE BEANS. Not a single one. If you want to try peeling beans in a blender, click HERE for the procedure.

I had a very large order of Moin Moin. I had accepted the order and it didn’t really sink in what I just did until I poured out 2kg worth of beans into a bowl.  I looked at my blender and groaned. The small portions you need to peel in a blender would literally take forever, it would almost negate the so-called quick method. Then it occurred to me to use a food processor. I was sure I had read it somewhere, but when you have a ton of Moin Moin to make, alongside 5 other dishes, all in one weekend, believe me, cracking your brain for where you saw something doesn’t come top of your priorities. It worked people. Dancing on the ceiling, clapping my hands in the air. Here’s how:

1. Soak the beans in water for under five minutes and empty into a food processor.

2. Assemble the food processor and attach the knife blade

3. Drain all the water from the beans to prevent it from over soaking and pour into the food processor bowl. I had a lot of beans to peel, so I went as close to the maximum mark as I could. No time or patience to try a little bit at a time, the idea of using a food processor was to peel a large volume in one go. It was trial and error for me, and it worked. I only started taking pictures after my first try. As you can see picture below.

4. Add water and stop at the maximum mark. As you can see from the picture below, I didn’t need to add that much water before I reached the maximum mark.

another shot

5. Cover the food processor bowl, now it is time to fiddle with the dial

Recanting my experience – I tried to use the pulse button and it didn’t give me the result I was expecting. I guess it was because of the ratio of the volume of the beans to water. Then I thought, oh well, I will set it to maximum briefly and repeat the process. As you can see from the picture below, the engine was at high-speed. Of course, water was spurting out a bit, that was because, even though water was poured to max, the power of the rotating blade set to max, would raise the contents of the bowl past the maximum mark. For you, it might be best to get slightly more than 3 quarter way full.

6. After 3 cycles on max briefly, Ta dah!!!! All that beans peeled in one go. Now, imagine how long it would have taken you to do that in a blender.

7. Pour out the skinned beans into a big bowl.

Decant the sins that float to the top. Repeat the process, till you have gotten rid of the skins

8. I had to scoop out a handful to show you. I can factually say 99.9% of the beans had their skin off, and the best part, none was broken.

The “science”, or should I say physics, oh well, Physics is a science. Lol. Anyways, I figured out that filling the food processor with beans and just little water, means the bean seeds are so tightly packed together, thereby creating a very strong frictional or is it centrifugal force (barely managed to pass physics) between the bean seeds collectively, such that they rub against each other at high-speed, shedding the skins. Think about it, when you peel beans by hand, you are in essence packing the bean seeds tightly between your palms and rubbing them together.

I always do my fact check before I post anything on the blog. I said earlier, that I had seen it somewhere. I remembered reading what Shakirat wrote on her blog post about peeling beans. It went thus, “I hope to try the food processor method next time I peel beans”. This was written in 2012, but I remember I had seen it months ago but without pictures. To read the comments, with her readers saying the would try the food processor, and some stating that they have been using the blender for the past 3 years, I thought wow. I only found out last year, and even at that, lots of people kept coming out saying they had been doing so for the past 10 years, one as far back as 20 years. My head was spinning. Why, in the world wasn’t this news spread on the hilltops or like wild-fire? Thank goodness for the internet and the advent of food blogs. Nigerian cooks, let us save ourselves, please.

Think of all the lovely Akara, Moin Moin, Ekuru, Gbegiri, you can make with this process. Rather than use a blender multiple times, just use your food processor once, or twice as the case may be. If you have not had that much luck with a blender, I believe you should nail the food processor method on your first try.

Please let me know how it goes. If you have been looking for one more thing to convince you to getting yourself a food processor, well here’s one more. If you love Ewa Aganyin, you are about to dance when you read the next post. Better still, make Bros buy it for you, you have been slaving away in the kitchen for ages, he owes you. Looooool.

The post The Tales of Beans & your Food Processor Part 1 (peeling) appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.

I went for an event yesterday organised by Walkers crisps, inviting food bloggers to taste and sample their new range of Market Deli crisps. It was a huge honour to be invited, especially more so that I was the only Nigerian food blogger present. Scratch that, nobody on the African continent was represented. It was a good opportunity to speak to other food bloggers about Nigerian food, and it wasn’t totally surprising that they did not know anything about Nigerian food. Oh, the surprise looks, the arching of their eyebrows when I mentioned that many of the ingredients on the table used in the chips were everyday staples in the average Nigerian kitchen and fridge. I am gone past being annoyed about the issue, I have decided to channel that anger into determination to get our food out there. I don’t care if I have to bang on doors till I get myself heard. Being present at the event, was a slip through the cracks. Watch out for my product review very soon. Walkers is a huge deal, hey they are owned by Pepsico, so I am really chuffed.

On my way home on the train, it dawned on me that presentation, packaging, modernising our recipes etc are not the only things that we need to take Nigerian food mainstream. I just knew I had to put up this post today. We have to carefully look at our process of cooking. Believe me, the average non Nigerian we want to educate and wish to enamour about our food is not going to have it with all our tedious cooking. That’s the truth. These people with their sophisticated, well cultured and food curious palates are not going to leave their homes and traipse around their neighbourhoods looking for possibly hard to find ingredients and then get home and spend hours cooking it. A curry is one of the easiest things to cook, a tagine also easy, chinese food, their cooks have deliberately made it easier, which probably contributed to why it has been easily adapted mainstream. We have what we call Knowledge Transfer in In PM terms, and I am applying it today. Our cooking is tedious, let us admit it. If you weren’t brought up to do it, many would not even bother.

Ewa Aganyin is delicious but quite tedious to cook. I will lament about frying the sauce for almost 3 hours at another time. Today it is the beans. You have to cook it till very soft, and then proceed to mashing it with a wooden spoon to get that traditional mashed/semi mashed consistency. I had a 2kg order to fulfill and after saving myself time by boiling in my massive pressure cooker, I looked at the filled to the brim pot and the idea of transferring it to a much bigger pot and then cooking further and mashing, made my stomach turn. I remembered my success with peeling beans in a food process or (click HERE), so I decided to try my luck with mashing too. It worked.

More ways to love your Food Processor in Nigerian Cooking

1. Cooked beans at the ready. Again, I started taking shots after my first try. This pressure pot was full at the start.

2. Setup your food processor, with the bowl and attach the knife blade.

3. Fill the bowl with the cooked beans. This gal was pressed for time, again I filled up the bowl. Lol. If you notice, the beans was cooked till mushy i.e. a little liquid left

4. Cover the bowl and use the same process as peeling i.e. set the dial to maximum for a very brief period. 30 – 45 seconds, then stop.

Do it again and stop, this time, open the cover and use a spoon to mix together, such that you don’t end up with completely mashed bits at the bottom.

5. One more go with the engine, and you are done with one big batch. If you were doing this volume manually, I shudder to think of the arm cardio and the time it will take you.

Again, knowledge transfer. Mashed potatoes can be made in a food processor, so why not Ewa Aganyin. If I send the recipe to a popular British food blogger, he/she would try it. Now, try explaining to a non Nigerian, how you would need to cook the beans till soft, add more water, take your wooden spoon and start mashing. He or she would just roll their eyes, politely smile at you and trash your recipe in the next bin.

Showing you again more pictures of the process. First go, you can see more whole bean seeds

next go

final go, job done. It took probably under 2 minutes.

I was done mashing 2kg worth of cooked beans stat. Now look at all that ewa aganyin and try to imagine how long it would have taken me to do that by hand, plus my tiny arms in question. I washed the pressure pot, and the food processor all in quick time.  I packed it all up in a 7 litre bowl and marveled at the time I saved. Plus no sweat. Imagine that.

If you are wondering, no it wasn’t over mashed to puree form, you can still see some whole beans peeking out, the texture was just right, the way the Togolese women sell it.

Can you try this in a blender, you may wish to ask. I will say, yes, but you may not be as successful as with a food processor. The limited space of a blender would probably give you over mashed beans, but I am willing and open for you to prove me wrong. I was of the impression that only a dough blade will work for pounded yam, and I had many readers try a knife blade with equal results. So, I challenge you to try and let’s see.

Here’s to Nigerian Cooking in 2014. Bring out your glass and toast to progress.

The post The Tales of Beans & your Food Processor – Part 2 (Ewa Aganyin) appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.

I guess this week on the blog should be termed #Dorobeans. Lol. I know they say I give away too much, but this is something that really wouldn’t be fair for me to keep to myself till my cookbook gets published. This was an earnest request from a reader. She has asked many times, and I know somewhere in the world, there is some frustrated woman wondering why Dunni hasn’t answered. You know who you are, I am sure somewhere in the world of thought forms, your wish latched on to me, I won’t be surprised if it was around the time you were probably attempting moin moin again and failing, because for once, I felt the strong need to measure as I was blending beans for Moin Moin. Out of nowhere, I suddenly thought, get out your measuring cups, quickly before you forget. Remember so so so person has asked you many times.

I take such matters seriously, and yes I want to make a serious big time living out of what I do, but this one was a repeated direct request. I go to The Lord everyday in prayers with my list of wishes, surely this one that someone has asked me many times, it is not too much to answer. There is no blessing in keeping this one to myself, surely there are other ways to be enriched with what I do, and this tip will be very useful to readers of the blog, just as the other tips like:

Peeling beans in a blender (click HERE)
Pounding yam in a food processor – you can do the same for cocoyam to thicken soups (click HERE)
Lining a heat proof container with moin moin leaves (click HERE) instead of the somewhat stressful traditional wrapping
Peeling beans in a food processor (click HERE)
Making ewa aganyin in a food processor (click HERE)

This is something that will benefit a shitload (pardon my French) of cooks, Nigerian and otherwise, plus it is high time we had a formulae for blending beans. Really, Nigerian cooking has now evolved into measuring. Word of mouth, eye gauging, doesn’t work for a 2014 cook who doesn’t have the time nor patience of trial and error, till experience sets in. Sign of progress. Loool.

Here goes:

Moin Moin - To every 1 cup of peeled beans blend with 3/4 cup of water. This cup is the standard measuring cup of 250ml. The other cup blurred in the background is half cup, so fill that half cup with water, and then fill a 1/4 cup with water, making it 3/4 cup. Likewise, if you have a measuring jug, just do the conversion. My recipe for Moin Moin click HERE. Likewise, you could try my Moin Moin Elemi Plenty recipe HERE. Also bear in mind that the extra ingredients you will also blend with the beans will contribute their own liquid content i.e. tatashe (red bell pepper), onions and ata rodo (scotch bonnet/habanero pepper), you will also add oil (either palm oil or vegetable oil). I put all that into consideration for this formula. You should not need to dilute any further after blending

For Ekuru, blend 1 cup of beans with 1 cup of water. The mixture for Ekuru is slightly more fluid than Moin Moin. Recipe for Ekuru, click HERE

Akara  - To every cup of peeled beans, blend 1/2 cup of water for Akara. The mixture for akara is supposed to be thicker than moin moin, otherwise you would end up with flat akara. My recipe for Akara, click HERE. If you would like to make healthy Akara, which doesn’t involve deep-frying, but frying flat like a pancake, click HERE.

Of course, you don’t have to blend 1 cup each time, that would take forever. If you have 5 cups of beans for example, just multiply the volume of water needed for 1 cup by 5. I tried the 1 cup formular 3 times, to make sure it worked for 1. Then I started blending 4 cups of beans at one go and multiplying the volume of water by 4 and it still worked. Science experiment over, this formulae works.

Dilution - If you need to dilute, ONLY IF necessary, dilute with half the amount used to blend 1 cup of beans i.e 1/2 for akara and 2/3rds for moin moin. I would advice that you only dilute after you are done blending ALL your peeled beans.

Now go ye forth this weekend and make awesome Moin Moin, Akara or Ekuru. My Good deed of the week, done. Lol

The post Blending beans formulae (ratio of water to beans) appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.

The posts this week are dedicated to all my wonderful clients who use the meal drop off service. I am truly grateful for your patronage, because you have helped me in so many ways, the monetary value doesn’t even measure it. For example, I have cooked Edikang Ikong every weekend for 5 straight weeks now, and I am discovering new things each time and getting so much better at it. Practice truly makes perfect. Iwuk Edesi has been on my list to cook for a long time now, and I haven’t had the push to cook it until I received an order last week. My face lit up when I saw Palm oil rice on the list, because so far, most of my rice orders have been Jollof and Fried Rice.

My maternal grandma of blessed memory had a terrible gastrointestinal reaction to vegetable oil. She couldn’t stomach it, so all her meals were cooked with Palm oil. At parties, she could only eat soups served with a starchy solid, because of that. Iye Gbuyi who we the grandkids fondly called Mama, made her own “jollof rice” with Palm oil. We called it “Iresi elepo”, english for Palm oil rice. With being a food blogger, I found out that the Efik equivalent is Iwuk Edesi. Y’all know how much I love Efik food. Mama makes hers pretty much the same way with crayfish and smoked fish, but she never added any green vegetables to it, which is the Efik element here, and I love the contrast of the green with the brown of the fish and orange of the rice, so because of that, I will be naming this post Iwuk Edesi.

I also added my own twist to it, to truly showcase the flavour of palm oil. Palm oil gets a lot of flack from us Nigerians, and I will have you know that it is a very healthy oil to cook with, containing good unsaturated fats. To correct any misconceptions, Palm oil doesn’t contain any cholesterol. I repeat, it does not contain ANY cholesterol. Palm oil is a plant-based product, so it can never contain cholesterol. Cholesterol is only found in animal based products. Palm oil is not the enemy in Nigerian cooking folks, as with everything in life, use with moderation.

You will need

Long grain Rice
Smoked fish - I used eja osan
Crayfish – 2 or 3 cooking spoons
Freshly ground pepper mix
Palm oil
Beef stock - especially stock seasoned with smoked fish
Onions
Green vegetables - ugu, spinach
Salt
Seasoning cubes

How to

1. In a pot, heat up palm oil to get rid of the curdling taste, then throw in chopped onions and let it fry till it softens.

2. Add your freshly ground pepper, allow it to fry and then add generous amounts of well seasoned beef stock. Let it cook till the flavours combine.

3. Add the shredded smoked fish, 1 cooking spoon of crayfish, stir and let it soak up the flavours of the pepper stock. Taste and ensure you are happy with the flavour. Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: make sure that you can at least taste the smoked fish, this is essential. 

4. Add enough water to cook the amount of raw rice that you have washed and set aside. Re-season with salt, seasoning cube and another cooking spoon of crayfish to amp up the flavour. Just before you add the raw rice, use a cooking spoon to scoop out about one-quarter of the smoked fish.

5. Once it starts to bubble up, add the washed rice, cover the pot and allow it to cook

6. Check on the rice minutes later (timing will depend on how much rice you are cooking), and the rice should have absorbed most of the liquid in the pot.

7. Give it a good stir with a wooden spoon, to redistribute the contents of the pot

8. This last bit is my own personal tip. I took a leaf out of my Grandmothers Alapa (palm oil stew) recipe, click HERE. Palm oil has a distinct earthy flavour, which is watered down when you cook this rice. To scale up its flavour, just like Mama does with Alapa, I add a little extra palm oil, roughly about a cooking spoon (or under depending on how much rice), and stir. Trust me, the difference in taste before and after you do this is incredible. Very robust, anyone you serve this to, will know that it is Palm oil rice.

9. Remember in Step 4 where I said take out one quarters of the smoked fish, now it is time to re-introduce tha one-quarter, to amp up the smokey fish flavour in the rice. You can add about a tablespoon of ground crayfish if you wish. Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: In contemporary jollof rice, spices like curry, thyme and ginger provide the flavour, this is native jollof rice, and native ingredients like smoke fish, palm oil and crayfish are your sources of flavour and you should be able to taste them in the rice. Also finish off by adding chopped vegetables, give it one final stir and take off the heat. Let the residual heat cook the veg and then serve. Sorry, I forgot to take pictures of this step. I believe it is self-explanatory.

As this is Native Jollof rice, what better way to serve it than to use a clay pot.

Someone asked me on Instagram if Iru can be added to this, and my response was, yes you can, as many Yoruba people who cook this Palm oil rice add Iru, but the Efik’s don’t.

In case you are wondering, the Niger Delta name for this clay pot is Evwere. Courtesy of Labake who sent some to me.

Try Iwuk Edesi in your homes this weekend, and add another rice dish to your repertoire.

Another interesting rice to also try is Banga rice. For the recipe, click HERE.

Have a lovely weekend folks!

The post Iwuk Edesi – native Jollof rice appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.

So, I got this invitation as a food blogger and I was super psyched that day, I virtually skipped home. Despite the event being tailored to over 40′s because Walkers is launching a new range of crisps tailored to older people with sophisticated palates, I still got an invite because I represent a unique demographic, prospective customers of Walkers crisps who are of African descent. This was a huge honour to be honest. I was given the opportunity to bring a +1 with me, I posted this invitation on Dooney’s Kitchen Facebook Page but no one grabbed the opportunity. As the picture shows, the event was hosted by Market Deli at Natural Kitchen in Central London.

Quick change into a smart casual dress, makeup in the car, quick brush of the hair and I set out on the tube. I don’t like London on the best of days, now on a Tuesday afternoon at rush hour, groan alert. Luckily I was heading in the other direction of human traffic, i.e. heading into central London, while people were heading out. As usual, my sense of direction is nothing to write home about and I got lost. Google Maps is quite wonky in central London and it took me on a good old merry walk, I was this close to turning back, until I saw a landmark that brought it all home and I followed the proverbial arrow. Natural Kitchen was smack opposite Deloitte offices and it made me smile. That could have been my office but fate had other plans for me. Shout out to any reader(s) who works at Deloitte offices in New Street Square.

Getting through the doors at Natural Kitchen, I was already 20minutes late, but I hadn’t missed anything. The room was packed full with food bloggers, editors of food magazines,  fashion and lifestyle magazine representatives, photographers, you name it. It was a posh intimate event with tables laid out with platters of ingredients, canapes and the new packets of crisps. Of course, there was a wine bar with wine deliberately selected to pair with the crisps. I opted for a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and worked the room (or at least tried to, I am very shy in social situations), introducing myself as a Nigerian food blogger.

I must say Walkers put on a great event, because on each table were Deli food, gourmet, lush expensive, sophisticated ingredients which gave you a sense of an upscale packet of crisps and not the bog standard cheap every day types. There was someone at each table explaining the flavour combinations. I could spot chorizo and other cured meats, onion chutney, balsamic vinegar, matured cheddar and so much more. What really wowed me was the quality of ingredients. Some people may whine about the prices of some food items, but believe me, like with designer clothing items, Apple products, flying first class, staying in a 5 star hotel and the likes, when a consumer item comes with a price tag, you betcha it deserves it. I positively detest balsamic vinegar and cheddar cheese, but found myself going back for more.

In fact, many ingredients I didn’t like were on the table and I was pleasantly surprised how delicious they were. I can now attribute my past dislike of them to eating the cheaper versions. Of all the things I have taken from this event, the most important would be the push to finally start shopping at specialist food stores and high-end supermarkets. Life is too short not experience good food, and oh yes, I am a food snob, my taste buds are allergic to cheap. Gourmet is now the way forward. The finer things in life are not exclusive to only a select few. Hahahaha

Of course by introducing myself as a Nigerian food blogger, the expected questions ensued, and I found myself stating out quick recipes, making sure I passed the message across that most of the ingredients on the tables were standard ingredients in the fridge or pantry of any Nigerian home, and oh yes, I expected the surprise looks. The picture below really made me smile. I remember telling a fellow food blogger that Jollof rice and The Nigerian Red stew is made from all the ingredients on that table. Oh well, Walkers named it Pita Chips, but who knows, we could have Jollof Chips in the future, when we break into the mainstream market. It wasn’t just a chance for me to get educated, I was pleased to pass on the message about Nigerian food, to anyone who cared to listen.

I am supposed to hate chutney, or I thought I did, you see that jar to the left, AMAZEBALLS. I kept going back to the table, for a bite and the lady graciously gave me a jar to take home. Yums!!!

As you can see, these crisps are not made with run of the mill ingredients. The Market Deli team did a great job pairing sea salt and black pepper into this Tortilla chips

Now, to the man of the hour, Michelin Starred Chef Tom Aikens. He was there for a live cooking demonstration. He made the simple Mac and Cheese which people, was the best Mac and Cheese I have ever eaten. I told myself afterwards, duh!!! He is a Michelin Starred Chef, they don’t just hand those out. Looool. Watching him cook simple food and engage with us in conversation was like having The Food Network experience live.

I was sitting less than 5 steps away from a Michelin Starred chef, you can’t imagine the giddy feeling. Other people preen and smile at celebrities, for us serious foodies, Michelin Starred Chefs like Tom Aikens are our celebrities.

Simple food, simple cooking, no seasoning cubes and it was DELICIOUS. I wrote on Facebook telling my friends that, if they ever served me Mac and Cheese in their homes and I didn’t like it, they should not be offended. I have eaten one cooked by a Michelin Starred Chef and theirs will pale in comparison. hehehehehee

Chef Tom also made us some Gazpacho. Again, very delicious. He stayed back for a bit, shaking hands and taking pictures, and the tongue-tied, awkward in social situations other side of me came out in full force and I couldn’t get myself to walk up to him and say Hi. Maybe some other time. I hope.

Back to the chips. This garlic and herbs one, was one of my favourites.

and this is the mature cheddar cheese that I must have eaten at least 7 times, because it was just so good. Anyone who knows how much I chant, I hate cheese would have looked at me in disbelief.

These are crisps for the matured foodie, who appreciates good quality ingredients. Walkers and Market Deli did an amazing job. We were all given goody bags which contained packets of the crisps and we were asked to do product reviews. I went home with an additional bottle of Gourmet Balsamic Vinegar from Moderna Italy.Iit really was my lucky day. The Product Review will be posted tomorrow.

The post Walkers Chips Market Deli launch event appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.

Gosh, I love what I do. The Bible says the gift of a man maketh a way for him and in my case, though the financial rewards and recognition haven’t come in yet, I am still very grateful for the immeasurable gift of the good people I have met through what I do. When all is said and done, no matter what you have, without good people around you, it means nothing. Some friends and I decided to have a ladies day out with the children. We planned it for weeks, everyone allocating what each person was bringing. It was a day filled with food, great conversation, the delightful chatter and laughter of kids running around. The weather didn’t cooperate, but we didn’t mind. Who needs the sun, when you can stay indoors and have a good girls chat.

On the list of the Potluck contribution were Kemi’s fried rice, Joke’s Jambalaya, Vivian’s Sandwiches, Ade’s Grilled and barbecued chicken, Kemi’s sausage rolls and Puff Puff, we also had Chapman, and my contribution was Lamb Suya which surprisingly went down a treat.

Here is my favourite picture from the day. I deliberately added this picture because till now we all can’t remember what was going on when I took this shot. Candid shots are the best because they tell a story and anyone looking at it can form their own stories. If you are interested, you can join in the conversation and say what you think was going on here.

I was too busy enjoying myself to take pictures of the food as we were eating it, but I made a mental note to take some home and shoot some pictures.

The best chocolate cupcakes I have ever had, and that’s rich coming from a self-professed hater of chocolate cakes

This was for the grown ups. it had an interesting Bailey’s filling and it was cute to see a square cupcake

Kemi’s Fried rice – AMAZING

Who would have known? Halogen ovens make the best Boli. FACT!!!! Your traditional oven has got nothing on this method.

Soft, gooey in the middle, it smells amazing. Try it today and up your Boli game

Joke’s Prawn and Chorizo Jambalaya. I have a jambalaya recipe on the blog, if you would like to try this

Now, to the Lamb Suya. It was really, really good, it disappeared in minutes. I thought ooooh, I must share the recipe now that summer is upon us and it is barbecue season. Lamb is a very delicate meat and it has its own unique flavour which you must preserve by not downing it in too many spices. Let the taste of Lamb shine through and you just guide it with spices. After my experience with Steak au Uziza (a 9ja twist on the French Steak au poivre), I have decided that from henceforth, any grilling of meats, I would keep it simple. The recipe for my Steak au Uziza,click HERE. Back to Lamb Suya

You will need

Legs of Lamb - you can also use lamb chops
Yaji - suya spice
Salt
Seasoning cubes - just a little
Red Onions
Spring onions
Basil - efinrin or scent leaf
Dry pepper - cayenne pepper
Sunflower oil

How To

1. Get out your lamb and lay it in a deep oven tray, and make deep cuts into the flesh with a knife

2. Sprinkle on all the powdered spices on the lamb and drizzle on a little oil. Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: the oil is to bind the powdered ingredients into a paste, which you will then rub all over the lamb, and into the gashes made by the knife. This is to ensure that it penetrates the flesh and not burn while in the oven. Chop the red onions, spring onions and basil and pour all over the lamb. Cover the tray and leave to marinade for at least 35 – 45 minutes.

3. Turn the heat of your grill to high, and place the lamb in the oven for 30 minutes, after which you turn down the heat to medium to allow the lamb cook from within. 15 minutes after you turn the heat down, take the lamb out of the oven, flip it over, make further slashes in the meat, and return it back to the oven for another 20 minutes or so.

4. Resting the meat is not common in Nigerian cooking, and I would like to introduce you guys to the concept. Try it the next time you grill meat and taste the difference. it is absolutely vital to the taste of the meat that you rest the meat once it is out of the oven. Resting the meats allow the juices sink back in to the meat, making it tender and juicy. Cutting and serving meat straight from the oven, would let all the juice run out, making the meat tough and dry. So, the principle is, rest your meat for half the time you cooked it. if you are worrying about it getting cold, don’t worry it wont. Just cover it with foil and leave it to rest. You can then slice and serve. Anyone who wants theirs piping hot, can sacrilegiously whack it in the microwave for about a minute.

………………..and that’s your Lamb Suya. Sorry, there are no pictures of the finished product, but when you have 6 hungry women, 2 men and plenty kids, no time to take pictures. I would make this again sometime and take pictures.

Don’t forget to join in the conversation. What do you think was going on in the picture above

The post Lamb Suya and Ladies Picnic appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.

Here’s the Product review as promised, but firstly, I must start with the Company’s Press release.

WALKERS LAUNCHES NEW MARKET DELI RANGE MADE WITH REAL INGREDIENTS FOR AN AUTHENTIC TASTE

- Walkers takes flavour inspiration from the finest European markets and delis to launch the latest in premium snacking -

This summer sees the launch of Market Deli, the exciting new range of premium snacks from the makers of Walkers crisps. The range – which has been inspired by authentic produce found in delicatessens – aims to bring home the great variety of flavours as found across Europe and the UK. Available nationwide from 23^rd June, the Market Deli range will feature pita chips and tortilla chips, in addition to the classic potato chip – providing even more variety for those with a passion for food.

The Market Deli range comes in eight mouth-watering flavours – with each flavour featuring irresistible real ingredients such as Mature Cheddar from Cornwall to aged Aceto Balsamico di Modena PGI and delicious Sundried Tomatoes from the Manisa region in Turkey. Each of the flavour combinations and the ingredients used to create the new products, have been selected and crafted by food experts to ensure a truly indulgent and immersive taste experience, making Market Deli the perfect addition to an evening in with a partner and a drink. Thomas Barkholt, Marketing Director at Walkers, said: “the new Market Deli range has been made with the finest real ingredients from across Britain and Europe to create a truly delicious snack that is perfect as a pre, or after dinner snack and will appeal to people with an interest in good food and great authentic flavours.

Market Deli will be available in potato, tortilla and pita chips in eight flavours, in 165g sharing bags at a RSP of £2.39. The potato chips are also available in single bags in Mature Cornish Cheddar, Balsamic Vinegar of Modena and Flame Grilled Spanish Chorizo with Roasted Onion with an RSP of £0.83.

Pricing: Sharing bags 165g £2.39 and Single Bags 40g £0.83

Flavours

Potato Chips: Cornish Mature Cheddar, Wiltshire Cured Ham, mature cheddar and farmhouse chutney, Balsamic Vinegar of Modena (Aceto Balsamico di Modena PGI),Flame Grilled Spanish Chorizo with Roasted Onion

Tortilla Chips: Anglesey Sea Salt with Cracked Black Pepper, Roasted Red Chilli with Mediterranean Sundried Tomato

Pita Chips: Roasted Garlic with Mediterranean Herbs and Roasted Red Pepper with English Tomato

Company Press release done, now it’s time for my Product Review. These were the packets that came in my goody bag.

Potato Chips – Cornish Mature Cheddar. This is for cheese lovers, and not just any type of cheese, but well aged, fine quality cheddar. Surprisingly, for people who don’t like cheese, you will still enjoy it because the flavour is still appealing and not too cheese heavy.

Paired with onion chutney or a garlic and herb dip and that’s a fantastic way to welcome guests to your dinner party or night in with the girls and a movie.

Now to the Potato chips with Flame Grilled Spanish Chorizo and Roasted Onions. Usually when you get a product like this with Chorizo in, the flavour of chorizo is barely there, and this is because it is an expensive ingredient. Not so with this chips, with every bite you can smell and taste the chorizo, my favourite part is the smokey bit. What is a chorizo, without the smoke. These are not your run of the mill chips. This is as matured and posh as chips go. The roasted onion is also prominent, which I loooooove. I paired this with Phisayo’s Rodo Jam. Yummmmmmmy!!!! If you love Chorizo, and you love onions, this is the chips for you.

Now, to my favourite of the 3. The Tortilla chips with Roasted Red Chilli and Mediterranean Sundried Tomato. Not to diss the other famous Tortilla chips brand, but this is soooooooo much better hands down. I took some to work for tasting and this came out on top with most people. My one negative mark just would be that I didn’t taste the chilli as much as I would have loved to, and that’s probably because I love my chilli to be prominent in whatever it is made with, but I guess Walkers has to consider the palate of the population and most people may not enjoy it spicy. To counteract my need for more chilli, I paired this with Rodo Jam and BOOM!!!, I got the kick that I want.

Overall, Walkers hit the spot with this Market Deli range. They did their research well and created products for the matured palate. Even with the texture, these chips are much thicker than regular chips, and the ingredients were paired beautifully. I have never been one to pick up chips from the supermarket, because they mostly taste bland and artificial, but with these, I am totally sold. They were officially released into stores yesterday, so go get some and tell me what you think.

The post Walkers Chips Market Deli Range Product Review appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.

Phew!!!!!, this pan is a high blood pressure inducing cooking utensil. Geez, it threatened my resolve and the only reason I stuck with it is because I am stubborn. Mama and I had a standing battle of wills for years until my father said to me, Ola, she is never going to relent, she is your mum, you are just going to have to channel that stubbornness into positive things and stop logging heads with your mother. Both of you are two of the same kind, and she was on this earth before you, so forget it, you can’t win. Mama and I, our relationship has evolved into that of mutual respect and she knows that when I have my stubborn hat on, she should just let me be until I see reason. #advantageofbeingagrownup. hahahahahaha.

Channeling that stubbornness made me stick with this stupid kasko pan. Yes, I said stupid, bite me. What the heck? All the suggestions I was given from multiple sources, did not work at first. I threw away a humongous batch of masa batter because the flipping thing kept sticking. Yes, I am mad, allow me to rant. I decided to create this post, to share my experience, which will hopefully help someone else. The thing about Nigerian cooking is that there are lots of very handy tips that are only passed down via word of mouth. We have no record of these handy tips, which is where food blogs come in. A repository for life, your quick solution to run to if you have any problems. At the height of my frustration, I googled how to season a kasko pan. Of course I knew Google won’t have the answer, but it gave me temporary relief hoping I would find something there. Of course zilch. So, I Googled how to season an iron pan, not that much help, then I remembered my grandma’s famous words, which she always brought out much to your annoyance when you were struggling with something she told you to do. It went as thus

 “nkan ti o ba lenu, o le gbon ju eyan lo”

This literally means, what can’t speak cannot be smarter than you. In summary, you have a brain, it doesn’t so it shouldn’t beat you, use your head and figure it out. My friend Ade got this pan brand new from Nigeria. She too followed the rule of rub with oil, place in the oven for 1 hour on the highest heat. Taaaa!!!! Mschew!!! It did NOT work.

This is what it turned out after the first 1 hour in the oven.

Unbeknown to me, you shouldn’t wash a kasko pan with soap and water. You only need to wipe it. Oh, now why wasn’t I told that before. I washed with soap, I forgot to put it away and my cleaning lady came over and scrubbed it with a sponge and soap again. Oh dear. Ade said, back to square one you go girl!!! So, I started again. Rubbed with oil.

ready for the oven.

Some tips I found said leave in the oven for 6 hours or overnight. Oti. This is a very apt Yoruba word for, “you must be kidding me”. 6 WHAT!!! Nuh uh. Aint getting a sweet old electricity bill because of a stupid pan, am I going to eat it? Lol

So, I placed in the oven and set the timer to max, which was 2 hours 30mins, and also turned the dial to max, 250.

2 hours 30minutes later, and leaving it in the oven to cool down undisturbed, here is the kasko pan.

Hopefully, the heat worked its magic. Major eye roll

Another tip I found was to add oil to the holes, add chopped onions to the oil and let it fry till it burns

You also get the added bonus of onion flavoured Masa.

Sieve out the onion and start frying. Oh, even after all that, the first batch I fried stuck and I was close to flinging this kasko pan out of the window. When I calmed down a bit, I figured out that it must be my Masa batter that is the problem, so I stared hard at the thing, re-jigged the batter a bit to make it thicker, added more yeast and left it to rise a bit more. I was so highly strung out by this time, I dug into the freezer for a Magum Gold bar, it never tasted so good, I swear. #teamfitfam, you are allowed to judge me, I don’t care. Loooooool.

I conquered the Kasko pan, so here is a summary of what to do. An online first. A record for life. Okay people, say thank you. Loooooooooool

• When you get a brand new pan, rub with oil, and place in the oven for 3 hours on high heat. Come on, don’t complain, I was told 6 hours. This cuts it by half. Lol
• Leave it in the oven and let it cool down undisturbed.
• if you are not frying immediately, add oil to the holes, fill with chopped onions and let it fry till the onions burn. Sieve out the onions.
• After frying, simply wipe the kasko pan. Do NOT wash the kasko pan with soap. Even if you have stuck burnt bits, just dab the burnt bits with a little water to soften, and then gently scrape off
• Re-season your kasko pan every couple of months.

If you live outside of Nigeria, an alternative to a kasko pan is the Ebelskiver Filled Pancake pan or a Norpro Danish Aebleskiver Pan. You can find it at Williams Sonomer or our friendly old Amazon. If you live in the UK, Amazon also sells it. You betcha, I am getting that pan. THE NON STICK VERSION. With all pleasure, I am returning this one to Ade.

See you on the next post, I will be discussing, well you guessed it. Masa. The recipe will go up much later in the day. Ramadan Kareem guys!!!!

The post How to season a Kasko (masa) Pan appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.

I did this last year to great success, as it is that time of the year again, I have been asked to please post a weekly menu plan for Ramadan. There are more recipes on the blog as compared with last year, so I hope this is as robust and as helpful for you guys all over the world. The menu plan was designed to be less stressful for Sahur, and then you can go to town for Iftar, starting with a simple quick option to stave off hunger after prayers, while you bear down and cook the main dishes. I have also presented options, depending on the size of your family, or if you will be cooking for just yourself, you will find something useful. Ramadan Kareem!!!

Image credit: www.hibamagazine.blogspot.com

To find recipes for the dishes posted below, just type the name of the dish into the search bar of the blog or click on Recipespaedia HERE

Sahur – Day 1

Fruits – whatever is in season, stock up the house with. You can serve as juice or fill yourself up with a smoothie
Moin Moin and Pap or Oats with milk – if you are making a large batch, see my post about peeling beans in a blender or food processor. It would save you a lot of time. Click HERE and HERE.
Yamarita fries – or plain boiled or lightly fried Yam with Efo Riro (vegetable soup)
For your starchy solid option, Semovita/ Wheat flour and Buka stew with Ewedu or Okro.

Iftar – Day 1

Fruits
Fish/Meat Peppersoup wit bread rolls to satisfy the hunger pangs
Egusi soup with a starchy solid of your choice
Goat Curry with plain boiled rice.

Sahur – Day 2

Plantain Mosa – plantain pancakes
Sandwiches – with whatever filling you wish
Groundnut soup with a starchy solid like Eba
Palm oil rice, with grilled meats or chicken

Iftar – Day 2

Akara – to snack on and stave off the hunger pangs while the main dishes are prepared.
Masa with Miyan Taushe
Eba with Ila Asepo
Yam Pottage

Sahur –  Day 3

Adalu (beans and corn) with pap
Bread and Egg sauce
Spaghetti and Meat balls in Tomato sauce

Iftar – Day 3

Sweet potato chips with Ata din din and Fried Chicken
Miyan Kuka with Tuwon Shinkafa
Amala with Gbegiri and Ewedu
Jollof rice and Dodo

Sahur – Day 4

Tapioca with milk and grated coconut
Fruits salad or a Potato salad
Fufu served with Ogbono soup
Full English breakfast – bread, scrambled eggs, baked beans, beef sausages and mushrooms
Rice and beans with Mama Adeola stew

Iftar – Day 4

Puff Puff
Pounded Yam and Waterleaf Soup
Ekuru with Eko and Ata din
Couscous with beef and vegetable sauce

Sahur – Day 5

Fruits
Yam and Fresh Fish peppersoup
Semovita with Imoyo and blanched spinach (efo tete or green)
Ewa Aganyin and Bread

Iftar – Day 5

Fisherman’s soup with Oatmeal and chopped lightly boiled Okro
Ofada rice and Ayamase (ofada sauce)
Unripe Plantain Pottage

Sahur –  Day 6

Indomie Jollof and fried plantain with boiled eggs
Fried fish and vegetables with Egg sauce and Irish potatoes
Pancakes with beef sausages and sauteed vegetables
A starchy solid and your choice of Nigerian soup

Iftar – Day 6

Peppered meats with Chips
Corn and Plantain Moin Moin
Egusi Ijebu with your choice of Starchy solid

Sahur – Day 7

Suya burger with a fresh vegetable salad
Cereals and milks with chopped fruits
Coconut Jollof rice
Yam and Garden Egg sauce

Iftar – Day 7

Miyan Kubewa with Tuwo Masara
Egbo + smoked fish sauce
Sinasir with Soup
Bitter leaf soup with Eba

I hope this helps you prepare for Ramadan. Another post will go up next week Friday, hopefully. Someone remind me please, just in case I forget.

The post Ramadan Weekly Menu plan appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.

I have been wanting to buy a mandoline for ages now, I just didn’t know which one to buy. Too many options, besides I am on a “Do not buy anymore kitchen gadgets or kitchen tools till 2015″ pact with myself, although I walked into Lakeland yesterday and blew my pact. I swear that store is like Christmas everyday for anyone who loves their kitchen. Lakeland will burn a whole through your pocket very fast, but you can get such handy, quirky, not to be seen elsewhere, cute artsy kitchen tools. In my head, I have lots of plans for a mandoline, plantain chips one of them, until I saw my friend Labake’s post using a potato peeler to make plantain chips. If I tell you that I have had a potato peeler in my kitchen for almost 3 years and I have never used it, would you believe? I have a long list of things in my kitchen that I have never used. Stuff you buy for so cheap, you think at the time it is not an expensive purchase, only to enter your kitchen cupboard and never see the light of day again.

My potato peeler must have been happy to be finally put to use. I made some plantain chips on Saturday and had a good old time sitting on the sofa watching the gorgeous and incredibly sexy Rafael Nadal play at Wimbledon. He is such a delight to watch, with powerful thigh muscles and a great tennis player butt. Oh phlease, don’t tell me you haven’t noticed. If you haven’t, may I ask what you have been looking at when watching tennis? Good, Wimbledon is still on, observe male tennis players, they have very cute tushies. It must be from all that squatting. Djokovic is another one to watch, and not just for his skill at tennis. All that lean 6ft 3 frame of his, with lithe movements and strong arms. Rafael should model for Levi’s and permanently back the camera. Yes, I said so. Hehehehehe. Go watch Shakira’s Gypsy video and pause the video at strategic points. I am saving for centre court tickets to Wimbledon next year. Loooooool.

Before I drool over my computer, back to plantain chips. This is one to practice before the children close from school. You can make this in bucket loads and fry or grill. It will get them out of your hair for a while. You can also make in batches, salt and freeze, after which you fry from frozen, just like potato chips. It didn’t help that I was sitting on the sofa, wolfing down plantain chips, followed by Boiled Rice with Buka Stew, only for Maria Sharapova to come unto the screen and all that food felt like SIN. Her body is insane. I know she is an athlete and is expected to be toned but oh dear, I dropped my spoon for a bit, counting calories in my head and debating whether to double my evening run time. Hahahahaha, and my father tried to teach me tennis oh, I have the manual dexterity of a 2 year old and could never hit the ball, the man gave up. Oh well, my children must play tennis by force. Lol

You will need

Unripe plantains – or slightly ripe
Salt
Plantain chips
Dry pepper
Onion Powder
Sunflower oil - for frying

As for spicy, you have an entire smogersbord of spicy seasonings to use.

How To

1. Peel the skin off the unripe plantain. Holding it longitudinally in one hand, use the potato peeler in the other hand in an up-down direction to carve out long thin strips.

2. Once you have exhausted one plantain, move on to the next and keep at it. This process is quite fast, and you can peel a lot of plantains in a few minutes. Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: You can also make in big batches, salt and freeze in plastic bags, after which you fry from frozen, just like potato chips

3. Sprinkle over the seasonings of your choice

4. If you are going to grill, place on a foil lined tray, spray with a little oil and whack under the grill at 200 (celsius) for 10 minutes. This is the healthy option

5. For we that love all things fried, heat up oil in a deep saucepan, and allow it to get quite hot

6. Pour in the seasoned plantain chips and fry until golden brown

7. Sieve out of the oil and drain on kitchen paper towels

You can make it even more spicy by sprinkling over the spice mix you used while the chips were still raw.

Stop paying for plantain chips, it is too easy to make my yourself.

Golden crunchy goodness, that is sure to please.

The post Spicy Plantain Chips appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.

This idea behind this recipe is to re-construct and old dish, and present with a modern flair. Roasted Plantain and Ukpaka (ugba) is commonly eaten across the South Easternern zone of Nigeria. It is a standard before the main meal kind of dish. What colloquially would be called a snack at lunch time, but in professional cooking terms, we call a starter. Normally the Ugba sauce is made separately from the roast plantain. For this recipe, I am combining both elements into one, with additional flavour of crayfish to bind it all together.

I was given this recipe by a reader, she said this is how her grandma makes it. I have wanted to try it for ages now, but couldn’t because I had no Ugba at home. My mega shopping trip to Peckham 2 weeks ago solved all that. I tell you, if you have eaten Plantain and Ugba many times, I bet, you haven’t eaten it like this before. It is so old school amazing, I already have wicked ideas of what to do with the leftovers. Mouth zipped on that for sure though. This is the kind of dish that would take you back to the village. Not like I have that many memories of “the village”, but it felt comforting, the kind of meal grandmothers would make to welcome you. Of course, I had to update it a little to make it mine, and to also present it with a very modern twist. Plantain chips to the rescue. Now, what to call this shape, is the question. Plantain canoe, or U-shaped Plantain Chips or Horse shoe plantain chips, you decide.

You will need

1 ripe plantain
3/4 – 1cup of Ugba (ukpaka)
1 cooking spoon of Palm oil - or slightly under
1 wrap of Ogiri
2 tablespoons of crayfish
A couple of pieces of thin strips of smoked fish
Salt
1 teaspoon of Cameroon pepper

How To

1. Peel off the skin of the plantain, rub with a little sunflower oil, and sprinkle on salt and dry pepper. Ensure to rub all over and grill in an oven or barbecue. Alternatively you can buy roasted Boli from street food sellers.

2. Add the ugba and smoked fish into a pot, add a little water and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil for 3 minutes and take off the heat.

Leave the ugba and smoked fish in the pot and let them sit there till cool.

3. Blend the crayfish and Cameroon pepper in a dry mill and set aside.

5. Get out the plantain from the grill. I deliberately let it burn a little to get that caramelised, sweet smokey flavour, which open fire barbecues produce.

6. While the plantain is still hot,  place in a mortar and mash slightly. Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: you want to get it in mashed chunks and not smooth like baby food.

7. Add the palm oil to the mortar, the heat from the roasted plantain would melt it, then you sieve out the ugba and smoked fish from the water in the pot, and add to the mortar with a little Ogiri.

8. Followed by ground crayfish and Cameroon pepper

9. Combine all together, until the mashed chunks of plantain combines well. Taste for salt and re-season if  necessary. I added a pinch of salt, as crayfish is already salty.

This dish is spicy, warm, smokey, salty, aromatic, and very earthy, and oh so traditional. Served with a glass of Palm wine, would just round it up nicely. I would be so bold as to call it a warm salad really. Our very own Nigerian warm salad, the way Abacha is.

And here comes the modern twist, Presentation. I worried for days how to present this. It is not the prettiest of dishes, and that was the challenge for me. How to make this look so interesting and chic. I had it in mind to add plantain chips to give it some crunch, and then I thought wait, serve it on a plantain chips. Naturally, the thick round shape of plantain came to mind, but I thought nah, that is so cliche. Serendipity smiled my way and I found an image online, while I was searching for something else, and I suddenly stopped. Ooooh, I can do that with plantain, and this is how Roasted Plantain and Ugba firmly lands in 2014.

Another modern twist to this dish is that, rather than it being served as a simple lunch, you can bring an old traditional dish into the 21st century by serving it as a crunchy dip for your dinner party. A great accompaniment from the same family of ingredients is plantain chips. Alternatively you can serve with slices of toast bread or crackers.

Whichever way you look at it, the shape changes. here it looks like a plantain chip canoe or gondola. Gosh, I want to go back to Venice.

To the reader who kindly gave me her Grandmother’s recipe. I hope I have made Mama proud. Here was what she sent. “She would roast plantain over her cooking firewood, pound it in a mortar, more like break it cz it won’t be well mashed and mix it with red oil, ogiri, akpaka, salt and pieces of dry of smoked fish(as if you are mixing vegetable yam) and it would taste heavenly. So that’s what I used my boli for and though it didn’t taste as good as grandmas own, it worked its magic. kk”

The Horse Shoe or should we call it U-shaped Plantain Chip

Inspired by the Chocolate curl, I decided to make a Plantain Chip curl. This can be easily picked up by guests on a tray at a dinner party. Master Chef quality for Nigerian food eh.

This is canape week on the blog. Be on the lookout for one more coming up this week. It would literally blow your mind.

The post Roasted Plantain and Ugba appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.

If you know how long I have wanted to make Asun, you wouldn’t believe. I was going for my evening run one day and I swear I must have passed by a Nigerian household because I could smell ASUN, and I am sure it just wasn’t my brain playing games with my sense of smell. I stopped to let my nose guide me, and my mouth was watering, I forgot I had set myself a challenge of 10 minutes straight up running and no stopping. You see, I love food like that. Looool. I stopped and inhaled. I remember trying to find the source of smoke, because I could smell burring charcoal, that signature barbecue smell. This was a friday evening and I am guessing they were preparing for a weekend party. Summer is in full swing now and lots of people have the barbecue out. Gosh, I wanted to trace that smell, knock on the door and ask to be given some.

You see, the smell of Asun is undeniably distinct. I would recognise it anywhere and for  people like us who have taste and olfactory memories, it is etched deep into our memory archives. I have only eaten Asun at parties. It is one of those things like small chops that by some strange reason you only eat at parties. For someone who is half Ijebu, I have attend a lot of parties. My Asun count sheet, must be looooooooooooong. When Asun is made at parties, usually a whole goat is brought to be the venue and smoked. This is what I remember about Asun. The goat is smoked raw over a giant charcoal lit barbecue, then it is cut into smaller sizes, placed on a heated slab and sautéed, (yes I used that word), with lots of onions and fresh pepper while oil is sprinkled on it, making the onions caramelise further. I called Big Oladunni to remind me how its done.

Mummy has seen it cooked hundreds of time. She was usually in a supervisory role because Asun was for “special guests” and she was there to ensure it was properly distributed. Big Oladunni was our partner in crime. She was the one who always passed us some Asun before the Big Uncles and Aunties finished it all and all we got were crumbs. Who best to give me a recipe if not her. She echoed what I wrote above and insisted that the freshness and the distinct heat, is where Asun is different from peppered meat (eran ti won yilata – her exact words), because with Asun the pepper is raw. Mummy is quite detailed with recipes too (i learnt from the best), so she told me all I needed to know. Lets cook.

You will need

Smoked goat meat - this is essential to the authentic flavour
Onions - lots of it
Ata rodo - scotch bonnet/habanero pepper
Onion powder
Salt
Seasoning cube

………..and that’s it. Mummy was quite specific about this. You want the smokey flavour of the goat meat to stand out, so don’t over power it with spices. Simple flavours. The goat meat is THE star of the show. Even the onion powder was just me throwing my own signature spin to it. You can leave it out

How To

Of course, as much as I would like, I don’t have a whole goat to smoke, hehehehehehehe, so I have to take comfort in the few pieces I have .

1. For extra absorption of flavour, I made sure the meat was cold. I seasoned with salt, seasoning cubes, chopped onions and onion powder, after which I placed in the fridge for 45mins to marinade.

2. As much as I would love to go 100% authentic, I don’t have an open fire barbecue, so that takes me down a notch on the authenticity scale. If you have the means to do this outside, especially if the weather permits, go the full on Asun experience.

So, as I am handicapped, I decided to cheat a little. I transferred the seasoned meat to a pot, covered it and let it steam for 5 minutes on medium to high heat. This kickstarted the cooking process and locked in some flavour. I added NO water. Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: steaming like this also helps you to reintroduce some moisture and tenderness to the meat, because by virtue of it being smoked, it is already cooked to an extent, days in the freezer would have dried it out a little (reason why I stock 95% of my meat raw, the 5% cooked, is for the days of emergency cooking), then placing straight under the grill would also dry it out some more, so this cheating process helps it stay very moist. Try it out and see.

3. After which I transferred the partially raw meat to an oven tray to grill till it cooks completely.

4. Cut the goat meat into much smaller pieces. If you don’t eat most of it before you are done chopping. Step 2 is very crucial to locking in flavour.

5. Chop the onions and ata rodo. Y’all know me, I am a 2014 cook. I laugh in the face of people who deliberately stick to old methods, like it gives them a kitchen badge of honour. Who needs patience, when you can have an electrical device.

Plus chopping onions is teary business. Ata rodo too, if you chop with your hands, you are not allowed to go to the bathroom for hours unless you want to do a merry dance. Y’all know what I mean. Lool. So, chopper bowl to the rescue. I chopped this in seconds.

Ta dah!!!

6. Place a empty pan unto your cooker and let it get very hot. Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: what I am trying to do is re-enact the heating slabs used at parties. Once it gets very hot, add a little oil to it and let it sizzle, then take it off the heat. transfer the chopped goat meat to the pan and add the chopped onions and ata rodo. Using a frying spoon, move all the pieces around, till they are well incorporated. Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: you know why you need to take the pan off the heat? You want to stop further cooking. The residual heat is just what you need. You also move the contents of the pan around swiftly, to reduce the contact with heat. This is essential to keep the pepper as fresh and as spicy as possible - Mummy’s Tip. I was working too fast to stop to take pictures, I only have pictures of the semi-finished product.

as you can see, the chopped ata rodo has only wilted a little, and I mean a little. This keeps its integrity in terms of heat, which is so signature Asun.

The aroma of the smoked goat meat, tells you you have a winner right there. From start to finish, that smokey flavour must be preserved.

I started on this with a spoon, shovelling it in, forgetting I had guests. This is one of the times I agree with Margaret Thatcher, when she said “Greed is good”. Looooool

I decided to take this further. Actually, how to present this all 2014, Nigerian posh grub was the issue. I don’t know why my mind strayed to cheese. I thought to myself, Dunni cheese, hmmmmn, how would that taste. Ding! Ding! Ding!. Goats Cheese. Courtesy of attending the Walkers Chips event, I now have a view on expensive food items. The taste is so much better. This pricey goats cheese, combined with Asun, AMAZING. This is THE BEST thing I have eaten this year. For someone who hates cheese, that’s saying something.

Smoked Goat Meat + Goats Cheese, in one mouthful.

Serve it with flatbread or crackers and watch your taste buds sing to high heavens.

The post Asun (spicy smoked goat meat) appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.

I have Fisayo to thank for this. I must have walked past Rodo Jam hundreds of times on the Deli counter at my local supermarket and not given it a passing glance. I just thought it was some chutney, because hey it was sitting right beside an array of chutneys which I don’t like anyway, or I thought I didn’t ( i will give you a chutney review very soon). Fisayo and I had planned to put our own spin on this jam. The British call it Scotch Bonnet/Chili Jam. Fisayo made the first batch and I kept forgetting to make mine. She made it again, and I said you know what, send me a jar and maybe it would be the push I needed to make mine, and so she did. She sent me a batch all the way from Scotland. I almost missed it because I got to the post office and the guy at the counter said do you have any ID for Dooneyrooney? My heart sunk at that moment. Oh dear, Fisayo wrote my Facebook Alias on the package. A Facebook account is not an acceptable form of ID. Lol. No matter how much I tried, despite the fact that they “know me” at the post office, they weren’t budging. It was one of the times I respected living in a society with rules, that are adhered to. In other countries, for sure, I wouldn’t even need to talk too much. Looool.

The only solution was to re-deliver the package and I begged my flatmate to please sign for it on my behalf as I was going away for the weekend. Lucky for me, he was home when it came and that is how I got to taste Rodo Jam for the first time. First impressions, my taste buds were confused. Heat I can deal with, spicy, bring it on, I was raised by Yoruba women, so we know the deal as regards pepper, but sweet, nuh, uh, that wasn’t part of the bargain, so it was weird at first, but I kept at it until my taste buds could marry both flavours together, and I thought oooooh, now this is nice. Heat and Sweet definitely belong together, then I remembered my Zobo recipe (click HERE) which included dry pepper. I also remembered Mexican Hot Chocolate (my recipe click HERE), which also, involves dry pepper. As soon as I made that connection, it tasted even better, and kept getting better, better, and better. I was eating the Rodo Jam everyday until it finished, and I mean every day. I had it with crackers, I had it with Chips, I had it with Tortillas, I had it with flat bread, I had it with Sinasir, diet be damned, I fit into Size 6 clothes at a store last week, so I was treating myself. Hahahahahaha. I dug in with a spoon to clean the bottom of the jar, and then sadly it finished. You can guess what came next. I went to make my own. Looooool……

Make my own I did, and I made it twice. I scouted google for ideas and inspiration. Version 1 contained all the ingredients you will see below, before I made version two I remembered seeing vinegar in a lot of the recipes I came across. Okay then, time to raid the pantry. I have apple cider vinegar, red wine vinegar, white wine vinegar and balsamic vinegar. I started with balsamic, then I topped it off with red wine vinegar, now this is definitely the better version of the two, of which I am posting the recipe. Lets Cook.

You will need

4 pieces of ata rodo (scotch bonnet/habanero pepper) - use less if your tolerance for spicy food is low
8 pieces of cherry tomatoes - i chose cherry tomatoes for their sweetness
2 pieces of long red pepper - you can substitute with 1 red bell pepper
1 clove of smoked Garlic - you can also use un-smoked
1 stub of ginger
1/4 – 1/2 cup of caster sugar - depending on how sweet you want it
1/2 cup of water - only if you use 1/2 cup of sugar, because it may be too sweet
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar – the good kind
1 – 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar

If you don’t have access to any of the vinegars I wrote above, just make it without.

From left to right: ata rodo, smoked garlic and ginger, cherry tomatoes and long red pepper

the vinegars. I only used 2

How To

1. Place all the fresh ingredients into a food processor and blend till it is almost smooth. Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: you don’t want it puree smooth, because it is prettier with a slightly rough look to it

 2. This is the texture you want.

3. In a heavy based pan and pour in the sugar, and the pepper mix

you can add half a cup of water if you wish

4. Set to heat to high and let the sugar and pepper mixture boil

5. Add the balsamic vinegar. if you are not using balsamic vinegar, just leave it to continue boiling.

6. Let it boil until you start to see golden bubbles. This is the sign that the sugar has started caramelising.

this is very key – the golden bubbles I mean

7. Once the golden bubbles have started, then you lower the heat considerably, and let it simmer nicely. Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: if you continue at high heat, the sugar will burn. The jam hasn’t set yet, so you need low heat to continue the process, while protecting the sugar from burning. See what I mean. The mixture is reducing and the caramel is getting thicker

8. Keep it on low heat, till you see the caramel running through the mixture

9. Stir and leave to continue simmering. You can see that the mixture has gotten thicker and the Jam has started to set.

10. Add the red wine vinegar and stir. You may be asking why I didn’t add it at the same time I added the balsamic. To be honest, it was a late in the stage idea. I was clearing up the vinegar bottles and I thought ooooh, why don’t I add red wine vinegar and see. People, it took the taste from 8/10 to 15/10. Red wine vinegar is best used at the tail end of cooking, or just as it is in salads and for dressing, so it was a good idea in retrospect to add it at this stage when the Jam was almost done.

11. In a few more minutes, the jam should be much thicker, and the red more like crimson. Dark, rich and red. It should also be thick, silky and shiny

The Balsamic is responsible for this colour because when it caramelises it deepens the colour of what it is cooked with. Yaaaay for balsamic.

Red wine vinegar could also have contributed to the deeper colour. One argument for the use of vinegar in this jam apart from the amazeballs flavour that they add, is colour. Of all the recipes that I searched, the ones with vinegar had a deeper colour and the texture was more “jammy” like, if that is a word. The picture below presented in a white sauce bowl is the first batch I made, without the vinegar(s). Notice how much lighter the colour is? I will be updating this post with a well presented picture of batch 2.

You can pair this jam with anything. Pancakes, spring rolls, samosas, plantain chips, toast bread, Masa, Potato Chips, Fried Yam, Grilled Prawns, go to town. Rodo Jam is sure to please.

I have two more Jam recipes on the blog.

Zobo Jam – stop throwing away your zobo leaves. Puree them and make into jam. Recipe Click HERE

Pineapple Jam – tastes way better than anything you will buy in a store. Make your own. This recipe has also inspired many people to make other types of fruit jams. Recipe, Click HERE

The post Dooney’s Rodo (chili) Jam appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.

Now, I know of a particular reader who must be mightily pleased right now. She had written to me and left comments multiple times asking me to make spring rolls. I heard you, I really did but couldn’t make it because I would need at least one more person to make this. Spring rolls are quite fiddly, and having to wrap and take pictures at the same time would be quite the task, so I waited until I could find someone to help me, and my friend Ms Joxy (as she is fondly called) did just that. She came two Sundays ago with her family, and it was one of the treats I served, with Banga Rice, Roast Chicken and Chips, Eba and Otong soups with Samosa’s Spring rolls, Walkers Crisps and Ice cream. I love entertaining and make sure I have options to feed my guests.

Prior to that Sunday, I had only attempted spring rolls once and it was at a friend’s house in Lagos in preparation for their party. Dexterity is not one of my strongest points, ask my father. He tried to teach me tennis and for once, he gave in. I just couldn’t hit the ball. He tried squash, no chance. It is laughable really, watching me trying to hit the ball and failing each time. Also the reason I can’t play any musical instrument. My hand eye co-ordination is like that of a 2-year-old. While the rest of the ladies had wrapped like 5, I was still battling with 1. Even that one looked pretty wonky to be honest. Thank goodness for Ms Joxy, she managed to make a couple of tidy and pretty looking ones, which I saved to fry for pictures. Of the 10+ ones I made, only 2 looked really nice. So sad. Loooool. You can imagine how my art projects in primary school turned out, but as parents go, all I was told was, oh beautiful darling, well done. I am sure they were thinking, goodness me, my child made that! My siblings on the other hand have an artistic flair, me, I must have missed that gene.

I don’t know how an Oriental dish found its way to Nigerian shores and we have so adapted it, it has become a National Treasure. Thanks to Joke, I finally have a Spring Roll post. Let’s Cook.

You will need

Spring Roll wrappers - to learn how to make your own, click HERE

Egg wash  - or use flour and water paste

Your choice of filling - meat, fish, chicken, veg

Oil to deep fry

Ensure that you have all you need ready and set on the kitchen worktop before you start. I tried out 2 methods of wrapping spring rolls, choose whichever is most comfortable. If you are using store-bought spring roll wrappers, get them out of the freezer, cover with a damp cloth and let it defrost till it gets to room temperature. Keep the damp cloth over it to prevent it from drying out. if you let it dry out, the wrappers will harden and crack.

For your filling, this is up to you really. You can use meat, chicken, fish, or make it vegetarian. Me, I used a combination of stir fry’s made with meat and chicken.

How To

Spring Roll Wrapping Method 1 - this works for square wrappers

1. Lay out one spring roll wrapper on your work table.

2. Place the filling in the middle near the edge closest to you. make sure you taste your filling. It must be well seasoned or the spring roll will taste bland. Also, don’t over fill or it would be too difficult to wrap neatly.

3. Fold the edges over the filling. You can choose to cover halfway (this was me)

This was Ms Joxy’s. She completely folded over. Obvious now why hers was prettier. Lol.

4. Proceed to rolling away from you. Do it gently, and if you did not over fill, you will be fine.

5. Roll until you have just a little bit left, which would form the last roll to close the spring roll.

6. Using a pastry brush, apply the egg wash on the rolled part and the flat part. This egg wash is to seal it.

7. One final roll and you seal it.

See, not so difficult now is it, well unless you are like me who is Dexterity Challenged. That should be a thing, seriously. Some of us truly have it bad. Lol

See how nicely wrapped and tucked in it is. This was obviously Ms Joxy’s. Lol

8. Repeat the process and make as many as your wrappers and filling allow

9. Heat up oil and fry a test batch. Fry one or two at first, just to test the temperature of the oil, the same way you would do with puff puff

10. Then fry a big batch

11. You should flip over, when one side has obviously browned.

12. Don’t over fry, because Spring rolls have a light brown golden colour that is pleasing to the eye, with a crunch that you can’t miss. You over fry, it would be dark brown and the pastry would taste burnt.

Isn’t that just a beauty folks.

Serve with my Rodo Jam (recipe click HERE), and I promise you that, no small chops at parties will top that. Feel proud and accomplished, think back to all the waiters who snubbed you, and fist pump in the air. You can make spring rolls anytime you want now and with any filling you wish. Thank you Ms Joxy

This is just one method of wrapping spring rolls. In the next post, I will be sharing the other method that I tried. I felt it best to split them. Click HERE

The post Spring rolls appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.

I have seen Party Small Chops erode the dignity of even seemingly classy and sophisticated people. There is something about seeing those plates pass by with golden delicious goodies that brings out the hunter in us. Waiters would pass by with the staple main party foods and if it doesn’t get to our table, we won’t give them a passing glance, unless of course you are starving. We would just wait till it gets to our turn, but when it gets to small chops (spring rolls, samosa’s and puff puff), oh wow, you see people getting up, stretching their necks, calling out at waiters, then some will remember that the host of the party is their father’s sisters, first cousin’s godmother, and they should be served first, or some would approach the caterer, huffing and puffing their chests, to look important so they and their friends at the table, will be served first.

Watching this display of hands trying to manoeuvre the waiters to their table would give a Ground Controller at an airport runway, a run for his money. Come here, move here, it is our turn, you haven’t served us, hey you, Oga, Madam, look at us now, all sorts of cat calls, that ladies of the night would be proud of. Hahahahahahaha. This is the one time party waiters feel very important. I don’t blame them. Yes, they also look stressed, but I am sure that deep down, they must be chuckling away, looking at all these people whom on a normal day wouldn’t even give them the light of day, now they are in control, determining who gets small chops or not. Hehehehehehehe

Watching this play of people at parties is quite a show. You just need to sit and observe, if you yourself, against better judgement haven’t joined in the parade. It is quite funny really. I have watched many seemingly distinguished people, in their fancy expensive attire, gold and precious stones dripping everywhere, with head ties sky-high, that will reduce themselves to I don’t know the word for it, just for small chops. The need to consume those teeny finger bites is a no respecter of persons. If you are lucky, you get one plate, if your Aunty is the caterer of the party, and all her staff know you, you get side plates passed to you before they go out into gen pop. Thanks to being the niece of Aunty Morenike of Malas Foods (yes, allow me to famz one of the biggest caterers in Nigeria), I was never want of small chops at parties she catered. I didn’t even need to struggle. I just walked up to her with a big smile and she shooed me off to the frying point. Aunty Morenike is a sweetheart of epic proportions and gets along with her Sis in law (my Mum) very well. Her husband is my favourite Uncle, so I have that on lock-down that she is catering my wedding for sure. Family connections. 8 out of 10 Bella Naija society weddings is catered by Malas Foods. Famzer Alert!!!!!  Lol. If in any way you are related to her, we are family then. Cousins by marriage, or kissing cousins as they say in England.

So, if my writeup above, just described you perfectly, well, make your own spring rolls at home and sit down like the diva that you are at your next party. No big deal eh!. Lets Cook.

You will need

Spring Roll wrappers - to learn how to make your own, click HERE
Flour and water to make a paste
Your choice of filling - meat, fish, chicken, veg, shrimp
Oil to deep fry

Ensure that you have all you need ready and set on the kitchen worktop before you start. If you are using store-bought spring roll wrappers, get them out of the freezer, cover with a damp cloth and let it defrost till it gets to room temperature. Keep the damp cloth over it to prevent it from drying out. if you let it dry out, the wrappers will harden and crack.

For your filling, this is up to you really. You can use meat, chicken, fish, or make it vegetarian. Me, I used a combination of stir fry’s made with meat and chicken.

How To

Spring Roll Wrapping Method 2 - this works for both square and circle wrappers

I made and took pictures of this by myself. Working with Ms Joxy a few days ago, gave me the confidence to overcome my Dexterity challenge. Lol. To see Method 1, Click HERE

1. Lay out one spring roll wrapper on your work table. Lay it at an angle such that the edge forms a V, then add the filling. This is if you are using a square wrapper. If you are using a round wrapper, it doesn’t matter which angle you lay it. Just add the filling at an edge

2. Take the edge (v or otherwise) and flip over the filling. This begins the rolling process

3. Continue rolling till you form a log and you can see an Apex V form, like the peak of a mountain. Again, with round wrappers, you can use this same method, and instead of a V, you will get a curved edge

4. Keep Rolling until the V gets smaller

5. Then take one edge of the roll, and flip over on top of the roll, till it gets to the middle of the roll.

Like this

6. Do the same for the other edge, and fold on top of the first one, until you end up with an envelope like looking thing

7. Mix flour with a little water to form a paste. Using your index finger, apply a little of the flour paste on the tip of the last edge you just folded, sealing it to the roll.. See above

8. Then apply the flour paste unto the apex of the V and the body of the roll it would lie on when you fold it over.

9. Fold the last bit over and seal. You can choose to apply a little more flour paste on top to fully seal

10. ………….and this is the back of the roll, all sealed

this is the front. All tucked in nicely. Repeat the process again, as many times as possible based on the wrappers and fillings that you have. Again, this method works even with round wrappers.

You don’t have to fry everything at once, just place some cling fill over the rolls to prevent them from drying out in the fridge and fry when you need, if electricity supply is stable.

Time to fry

Take out when golden brown.

Serve with Rodo Jam and Spring onions for garnish. Recipe for Rodo Jam, Click HERE

No more stretching your neck at parties I hope, treat yourself this weekend. Be on the lookout for how to make your own spring roll wrappers.

Enjoy!!!

The post Spring Rolls – Part 2 (another wrapping method) appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.

I am very proud that this blog is influential. Very proud and very pleased. To all of you guys who have implicit trust and confidence in what you read on this blog, and are appreciative of the effort and hard work, I say thank you. It is from you guys that being proud of my blog comes from. Even if something is already out there, if it goes up on Dooney’s Kitchen, it becomes the bog standard, and it is all down to you guys in your thousands scattered all over the world, who give it that validation. Not me, you guys. Pride in your handiwork is what I was raised with. “If you are good at what you do, hold your head proud, because you have earned it. Let that pride be attached to something visible, otherwise you would just be an empty barrel nuisance” – Big Oladunni’s words.

Let me share a brief story. Funmi and I were shopping at our local fishmongers and we came across a woman (roughly 48+) she hasn’t seen in over 6 years. Amidst the hugs and excited voices, she introduced me and said that’s my friend Dunni, she’s a food blogger. This woman screamed you are Dunni of Dooney’s Kitchen, I have been praying to meet you, and she said do you know that the day you posted how to make pounded yam in a blender, I was at a Nigerian food store and all the women there were buying yam. She had to stop and take notice because more women were trooping in and everybody was buying yam. She shops there regularly, but this was an unusual experience, so she asked one of them casually, why she was buying yam and the woman said ha Aunty, I read it on one blog oh, that you can make pounded yam in a blender, I want to try it. She asked the next woman, and the next woman and got the same answer. She said she knew it had to be Dooney’s Kitchen and she trusts what I write, so she too bought yam that day to try it, and it worked. She excitedly called her friends and they called their friends and everyone she told now makes pounded yam either in a blender or food processor (click HERE). Now, that’s influence. She joked that the store should pay me a commission for all the yam they sold that day. Lots of women all over the world have bought food processors, still waiting on the cheque from Kenwood. Hahahahaha. Seriously, who in their marketing department can I email. Hehehehehehe.

Here is another trend setter, thanks to Bola Coker. I asked to try it, and she said, please do. I tried it, and had to share. I am not even going to go into any traditional vs modern cooking argument. I am proud to be the poster child for 2014 Nigerian Cooking. End of.

You will need

Elubo – amala flour
Water
Pot
Hand Mixer

How To

I made this in the exact same process, I make a mean pot of Amala, using a wooden spoon. I learnt the hard way because Big Oladunni doesn’t play. To prevent lumps she taught me the trick of making it soft at first, be sure no lumps, then add more flour, to thicken it, add a little water to steam it, turn again, bring down on the flour and mix, mix, mix with the omorogun. Now, do this with a hand mixer in half the time and zero effort.  Further uses of a Hand Mixer – use the dough hook to make Pounded yam. For amala, I am using the whisk rods. These whisk rods will also work to make wheat flour, the urhobo starch and semovita. Go to town people, the omorogun (wooden spoon) should be made ancient in our generation. Anyone who says otherwise i.e. it is all you need to cook anything, is a dinosaur. Mischief hat firmly on. Tee hehehehehehe.

Let’s Cook.

1. Heat up water in a pot.

Have your hand mixer with the whisk rods attached on standby. See, water is boiling away nicely. I set the timer

2. Add the Elubo to the pot and stir. This took me less than a minute.

3. Take out the spoon, replace with the hand mixer and whisk away. The pot is still on heat

engine running. I had a huge smile on my face.

Look closely, can you see any lumps? Come on, look. As smooth as it can be, with no arm cardio

4. All this happened in 1 minute.

5. As Mama taught me, I added more flour. As this was my first time, I went through the exact same method I make amala traditionally. Next time, I will try it again, adding all the flour I need from scratch and then finishing off with a hand mixer. That is sure to be even mega fast. In scientific terms, this is called Experiment 1.

6. Back to the hand blender

Whizz away

7. Ta dah!!!!! Amala. See how stretchy it is?

but you are not done yet

8. Still keep the engine running

See, it even looks better. See, how glistening it is. Mind you, my timer is still running, and I am looking at it with a mixture of disbelief and pleasure, because of how quick this is.

9. Then I added water to let it steam. Look closely, to the left, you can see water in the pot.

here is proof that the pot has been on heat, the entire time.

10. The amala slid back into the pot easily to steam

you can see it coming down from the whisk rods.

11. I let it steam and I whizzed again. I was skipping this time, playing with the hand mixer at low-speed, medium-speed, high-speed, I was having a blast. It just kept going, and going, and going, all the time, I was giving my omorogun (traditional wooden spoon) major side eye.

12. Amala, done and dusted. Stare at it very well. This amala is light, and fluffy, the kind Dbanj described “mo gbona feli feli bi amala to jina gan gan”.

See, it is stretchy…….

13. Faultless amala. Stare at it as much as you can, you won’t find any faults with it.

I made enough amala for 2 people, but only photographed the one portion. As for stretchy, it is stretchy, stretchy, stretchy.

Hey, a food processor makes stretchy pounded yam doesn’t it, so why won’t a mixer make stretchy amala?

You will also see how cleanly the amala goes off the whisk rods, so as for having any extra wash up, you will be pleasantly surprised that this is not extra work for you. Thanks to Deola, whose mixer this is.

Now, you want to know the time it took to do this? You want to know? Okay, okay, okay, 3 mins 28 seconds. BOOM!!!!!!!!! Now imagine how much faster this will be when I try it again and add all the flour at once. I am eating amala everyday until the weekend. Tee Hee

The post How to make Amala using a hand mixer appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.

I swore I was not going to do this. Swore, swore, swore, but against my better judgement, the food blogger that I am gave in. I found store bought spring roll wrappers and they just saved me the stress. I was looking at the pictures of the spring rolls I made and while giving myself a huge pat on the back, I thought oh dear, how about the people who don’t have access to buying store bought spring roll wrappers. I know that spring rolls are something a lot of people would like to make themselves at home and not rely on small chops at parties or buying them frozen, so off to google I went, which led to watching You Tube videos.

I saw two methods. One involved making the dough into a ball and them rubbing across a frying pan. I thought nah, no way in hell would I try that. It looked too complicated, hehehehehehehe. The other method was making a watery batter and then applying with a brush. Thank goodness, because if that dough ball version was the only method available, y’all can be rest assured that I would not have tried it, but nicely referred you to the You Tube video. I had all the ingredients at home, down to the corn flour, so try it I did. First, I tried the brush method, as that was what all the videos I found used, then it occurred to me again, that many people would likely not have a pastry brush at home, but a ladle spoon would be more ubiquitous in your cupboard, so despite never watching any video about using a ladle spoon to make this, I imagined that it couldn’t be that hard, so I tried it and it worked.

You see, I am nice like that. Loooool, don’t mind me. It was just my sense of adventure and not wanting to be boxed in by one method. So, whichever you try, you can stop staring lovingly at spring rolls at parties. The next time it is being served and you don’t get enough, just shake your head, flip your hair and go make some at home like the boss that you are. Loooool. I am using a recipe from Bhavana’s Kitchen.

You will need

1/2 cup of plain flour
1/4 of corn flour
3/4 cup of water
1/4 teaspoon of salt
Pastry brush or non stick spoon
Non stick frying pan

Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: For those who don’t have standard measuring cups at home, don’t fret. Let this be your measurement, the ratio of plain flour to corn flour is 2:1 i.e the corn flour should be half the amount of the plain flour. If you also don’t have corn flour at home, I tried using flour and water, and it also worked.

How To

1. Combine all the dry ingredient into a bowl

2. Add water to the bowl and mix until it is lump free. The bater should be smooth and very light. This is crucial

3. in a small cup, mix a little oil and water. You will soon know why you need this.

4. Get some kitchen paper towel, and dap it into the oil-water mixture

5. Rub it on a clean non stick frying pan. What this does is to coat the pan before you start, and to clean the pan between each wrapper. Another thing it does is to drop the temperature of the pan, so it is not too hot for the next wrapper

6. Take the brush and dip into the batter. Place the pan on very low heat. I used number 1 of my electric cooker. If the pan is too hot, the batter will start to set before you completely cover the pan, making the wrap uneven.

7. Brush the batter unto the frying pan in short strokes. Remember not to apply too much, what you want is just a light coating of the frying pan

dip the brush back into the batter and repeat brushing on the frying pan in short strokes

until you cover the pan completely with no gaps. I am showing you this picture below, because this was my first one. It wasn’t perfect as you can see the gaps peeking out here and there in the middle. When the pan was completely covered, i turned the heat up to 2. Still very low heat.

as the batter starts to cook, it will get dry and begin to come off the edges of the pan

See?

8. When it has cooked through, you should be able to easily lift the edge of the pan. It should come off cleanly, that is who you know it is ready. If it doesn’t come off that easily, just give it a little more time, don’t force it, it will come off the pan easily. Gently, and I mean gently, lift it off the pan. I found that it was easier to use two hands, hence no picture of me taking it off completely from the frying pan.

9. Lift it off completely from the pan and place on a damp kitchen cloth. It is important that the napkin is damp, otherwise the wrapper will dry out

then cover with the damp kitchen cloth, protecting its integrity.

10. Once you take it off, turn the heat back down to 1, or the lowest on your cooker, this is to prevent the pan from over heating. Dip the tissue into the oil-water mix again and rub the pan. Repeat the process again. My second was quite wonky, but I got the third one perfectly.

see, much better

almost cooked

it came off the pan cleanly. No gaps in the middle, just a bit around the edges, and see how thin and transparent it is. You can see the tips of my fingers.

Place on top of a damp kitchen towel and cover. Repeat the process again until you exhaust the batter.

Pitfalls to watch out for

1. Not letting it to cook completely even though it came of easily on most areas. What will happen is you will leave some batter stuck to the pan. Not to worry, by the time you dip the wet tissue onto the pan, the burnt bits would come  off easily.

2. In trying to brush lightly over the pan, you may end up with gaps, which will tear when you try to wrap a spring roll. As soon as you notice gaps, take the brush over it, even though the batter has started to cook and turn crisp. It is never too late to fill the gaps. It will all cook through in the end.

For those with no pastry brush, use a non stick spoon

1. Give the pan the wet tissue treatment, and then scoop the batter into the spoon

2. Lower the spoon unto the frying pan and gently and spill some batter unto the frying pan while using the base of the spoon to spread it around the pan

3. Keep going until you exhaust the batter in the spoon and the pan is totally covered. You can tilt the pan to help spread the batter too, like you would do with a pancake, this batter is obviously much thinner than pancake batter.

if you have any gaps peeking out, just add a little extra batter and use the base of the spoon to spread and cover it.

4. Leave the batter to cook

and gently lift it off the pan

………..and that’s how to make spring rolls/samosa wrappers.

remember to always keep it moist.

See how thin they are

Time to make spring rolls and samosas. If you end up with leftover wraps, don’t throw them away. Spray or rub with a little oil, and freeze in a plastic bag. Ensure that the wrappers are not rolled, they must lie flat before you place in the freezer. When next you need them, let them defrost naturally. i.e. if you want to use them in the morning or afternoon, take it out of the freezer the night before.

Simply, add the filling to the edge closest to you

cover and roll

See, the roll is forming

Then flip one corner over the roll, and flip the other corner till they both meet

and then fold over. To see more details on how to wrap Spring Rolls, click HERE and HERE

If you would rather prefer working with a square shape, cut out the thinner edges

till you end up with a square.

See, why I couldn’t have made a career in Surgery, and my art projects in primary school were much to my parents disbelief? I can’t even cut out a perfect square from a circle. Sigh!!!! My children had better not inherit the gene.

Next Stop, My Samosa. Have a lovely weekend folks!!!!

The post How to make Spring roll/Samosa Wrappers appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.

Spring rolls and Samosas just go hand in hand. No small chops at a Nigerian party is complete without those two. Mini Puff Puffs complete the trifecta. For my recipe for Puff puff, click HERE. For tips to making the perfect puff puff, click HERE. I hope this weekend, you will attempt the small chops trifecta in your homes. I am showcasing two methods, based on the shape of your wrapper i.e. either square or round. Samosa’s are slightly more fiddly than spring rolls, so don’t beat yourself up if it doesn’t come out as a perfect triangle. Mine certainly didn’t. back to my dexterity challenge. Hehehehehehehehehe.

You will need

Samosa wrappers - to learn how to make the wrappers click HERE
Your choice of filling
Flour and water to make a paste
Hot oil for frying.

Dooney’s Kitchen tip: here are my store bought wrappers. I got them from an Asian store. It is best you make your own wrappers if you can’t find any Asian stores nearby. Puff pastry which is readily available in supermarkets don’t do as good a job. 

Remember to always cover the wrappers (either store bought or homemade) with a damp kitchen cloth to prevent them from getting dry. If frozen, let it defrost naturally

flour and water to form a thick paste. it must be thick enough to be used to seal the edges

For square wrappers

1. Lay one out flat on your work surface

2. Fold it into two equal halves. Fold it towards you. Please ignore the picture i.e. I folded it away from me and it didn’t work, until I realised i was supposed to fold it towards me. I forgot to take a picture when I corrected it.

3. Take the left edge and lift it up

4. Lift it up further towards the other end and watch how the fold is beginning to look like a triangle

5. Lay it flat till it forms a triangle. It is important that the base of the triangle is lying flat on the same line as the other end, while the tip of the triangle is lying at the other end. In this picture, you can see that the very first fold of step 2 was made facing me.

6. Now take the other tip of the triangle, lift it up

7. and fold it down till the tip you were holding in Step 6 is now touching the other end. Now you have two triangle, facing each other i.e. their tips are opposite each other, left and right

another picture

5. It would be best if you turn it slightly such that the tips are facing up and down, like the picture below

6. Take your flour paste and apply on the first layer of the lower triangle. After applying, flip it up, such that it now rests on the tip of the upper triangle.

This now leaves you with one more layer.

7. Apply the flour paste on that last layer. You can choose to apply either at the edges alone

or right across the entire triangle

8. Once applied, flip it over, so that you now have one triangle.

9. Lift the triangle off the work surface, with the tip on the left sitting down, such that you can see the pocket of the triangle to fill

10. Add the filling of your choice

11. Then using your fingers, apply the flour paste on V part above and inside the base of the triangle, just above where the filling stops

12. Press down, such that the base of the triangle closes, and there is no more gap, and then you flip the upper part down, thereby sealing it. Don’t worry if your first few ones are not pretty, you will soon get the hang of it. I feel these pictorial illustrations are better than watching a video, because I had to pause the video like 15 times and continue.

13. Heat up oil in a deep pan, fry a few test batches to test the temperature of the oil, before you fry a big batch.

For Round of Circular wrappers

1. Cut the wrapper into two equal halves

2. Take one half and lie it across such that the straight line part is facing you and the rounded edge is away from you. Flip one edge towards the middle

3. and flip the other edge towards the middle too such that you now have a triangle

4. Lift it up with the tip towards the bottom of your palm.

5. Add any filling of your choice and seal the edges. Please scroll back up to Step 12 above to see how to seal a samosa

6. Fry in hot oil till golden brown

………………..and you have your gorgeous Samosa. Serve with Rodo Jam. Recipe for Rodo Jam, click HERE

see, my samosas weren’t exactly perfect, but they still passed muster and tasted great

Colour golden, pair with rodo jam and I tell you, no party small chops will top that

Now, you can make your own samosas

The post Samosas appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.

To say that last week was crazy mad would be an understatement. It was so busy, I was up to my eyeballs in a lots of things. The weekend came, still no relief. Then the one sunday I have had a rest in weeks, I must have eaten something dodgy because my stomach has revolted violently. Awake at stupid o’clock on a monday morning, and I already feel dehydrated. Just my luck monday is my busiest day as a PM as I have to check up and get status reports from all my other project co-ordinators and pass them on to the Programme Manager. Lord help anyone who crosses me today, I am going to go nuclear on the person’s ass and blame it on the diarrhoea.

To kick start blogging for this week, otherwise it will slowly descend to the bottom of the pile of tasks, I am bringing you Big Oladunni’s Chicken Stew which I cooked on Saturday as part of a meal drop off service order for a heavily pregnant woman who has been placed on compulsory bed rest. Like her Fried rice (recipe HERE), my mother’s chicken stew is legendary, and I mean legendary. No matter how long I have been away for If I walk into the house when she is cooking chicken stew, I can smell it almost immediately. The signature of her chicken stew is the aroma of the pepper mix. If with Buka Stew, tomatoes are the least ingredient used, in Big Oladunni’s Chicken’s stew, tomatoes are the star of the show. When the pepper is boiling, you know you are on to a winner, because of the natural sweetness of the tomatoes. The tomatoes also contribute to the colour, so her chicken stew has this bright orangey, kind of red thing going on. The other star of the show is ginger. When boiling the chicken, she uses chopped red onions and ginger. For the pepper, she also uses ginger. I tell you, when this pepper mix is boiling, you will want to eat it straight from the pot. Just the pepper, nothing added, it smells that good and it is how I know my mother’s chicken stew. I haven’t had chicken stew in a very long time, because I don’t seem to enjoy the chicken sold here. The ones sold in the major supermarkets tastes like chaff, it is unbelievable. The other types sold in halal shops is so freaking hard, it takes away from that juicy moistness, I have always associated chicken with. I have been told to go to farms directly to buy free range chicken, I will pursue that avenue. In fact the last time I ate Chicken Stew was in September. Big Oladunni cooked it herself and she too complained about the chicken.

We can complain about the chicken here because we grew up on probably the best chickens sold in Lagos State. If you lived or grew up in Mainland Lagos, you must know the chicken place at Onipanu on Ikorodu Road. People came from far and wide to buy chicken there. It was our neighbourhood chicken place because it was a walking distance from Iye Gbuyi’s house. I never ate frozen chicken for the first 25 years of my life. It was always freshly killed from Onipanu. Even after moving to Ikeja, we still bought chicken there. My mother’s schools were roughly 30minutes away, and since her mother lived in Onipanu, Mummy always stopped by every weekday before heading home. If chicken stew was on the menu for dinner, she bought freshly killed chicken. From this small strip of the road, you can buy live chickens, duck, turkey, guinea fowl which would be killed, de-feathered and chopped for you. My grandmother made a mean Eran Awo stew (guinea fowl). I have decided her recipe will go into the cookbook, while I share my mum’s chicken stew. Gosh, those were the days. Frozen chicken is such a huge shame. Fresh from the farm healthy chickens, with their fat thighs and juicy bones. The place stank to high heavens, but no one cared. They supplied chickens to two if not more generations of families. We had our special “customer”, Baba Kazeem, a short portly, bald man who was such a hoot, always smiling, with half his front teeth missing, but he was such a sweetheart, who always managed to give us free eggs too. He called us “awon omo Alhaja mi” (my alhaja’s children). Chicken will always hold fond memories for me, and I will like to pass on some of those to you, so you too can start building your own memories. Let’s Cook

You will need

2 cans of Plum tomatoes
2 medium red onions
Ginger – amount depends on your tolerance, but you should be able to smell the ginger in the uncooked pepper mix, otherwise you haven’t added enough
A sprinkling of thyme - emphasis on sprinkling
A sprinkling of curry powder
3 – 4 pieces of ata rodo - scotch bonnet/habanero pepper
3 pieces of tatashe
Sunflower oil - or your choice of veg oil

How To

1. First things first, blend your pepper mix + ginger. Take out a quarter of 1 of the onions and set aside. Make sure you keep your nose out for the ginger. Very important, but carefully ensure that you do not go overboard with it. Boil the pepper mixture to reduce it until it becomes thick. Also be on the look out for the colour. Big Oladunni’s Chicken Stew is a feast for the eyes and palate.

2. Boil your chicken with chopped onions, ginger, salt and seasoning cubes. Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: To boil chicken, you start with steaming it first in its own juices, decanting that first batch of stock, adding a little extra water, and put back on the heat again. This is how Mummy does it. She always stressed that you should never end up with more than 2, cups of stock, per whole chicken, otherwise you have just adulterated the flavour of the chicken by boiling it with too much water. Advice drilled in my ears over time. Mummy would get quite upset with you if you boiled chicken with a lot of water. Fry or grill after boiling and set aside.

3. By now, you should have your aromatic and sweet smelling reduced pepper mix. When you get to make this and you leave feedback, I really would be expecting comments about the aroma of the pepper.

4. Heat up sunflower oil in the same pot you boiled the chicken with, so as to caramelise as much of the chicken bits left behind. Chop the last quarter of the onion from step 1, add to the oil and let it fry till it softens.

5. Add the reduced pepper and let it fry. See what I as saying about the pleasant to the eye colour. Yeeeeees, once you can achieve this, you are on to something fantastic. Allow it to fry for a bit until you start to see bubbles appear in the pepper.

6. Sprinkle in a little curry powder and thyme. Emphasis on sprinkle because these spices are just flavour enhancers, and should not over power this stew

7. Allow the pepper to fry till it absorbs the oil and takes on a glossy kind of look. This is key.

8. Big Oladunni’s stew is not fried for ages like Buka stew (recipe click HERE), or else you lose the flavour of the ginger, so keep an eye on the pepper. Once the pepper has thickened further from Step 7 above, add the chicken stock, and fried or grilled chicken. Stir and lower the heat. Now, this is where the magic happens.

Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: Lowering the heat is vital. You forget and you will hear her screaming from the living room “shey o ti yina e lole”. English for have you turned down the heat. I know some may be wondering if my mother speaks any English at all, not to worry she has a BA in English from University of Ibadan and was an English teacher for years before she left to setup her own schools. Some of my memories of cooking with her just happen to be in Yoruba.

9. Allow it to fry until you start to notice oil patches on top. Once you start to notice a little oil layer above the stew, take it off the heat, and as Mummy does, just leave it to sit on its own for a while, to allow the flavours to develop before you serve.

This is a bite your fingers, crush all the bones to smithereens kind of chicken stew. Its flavour is light, delicious, flirty on your palate and tingly aromatic on your nostrils.

You will enjoy this Chicken Stew, trust me.

Your Sunday Lunch Rice and Chicken Stew will never be the same

This stew is quite flexible, in that you can use leftovers for Peppered Chicken, which is exactly what I did yesterday. Step by step recipe for peppered meats, click HERE

The post Big Oladunni’s Chicken Stew appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.

My cleaning lady told me today that she would be going away for one month. I wanted to cry. What do you mean by going away for one month, what am I supposed to do till then, with what I am sure must have been a genuinely distressed look on my face. She said she was taking her children to see her family. Oh dear, I am in big hot soup. Which is weird, because besides cooking, I looooooooooove to clean. I am the type that cleans a bathroom for hours. Besides onions, bleach is my next favourite item in the whole world. Me lovey my bleach, I can bleach anything and I don’t dilute. I have gotten numerous acid burns in my nose and throat, on one visit to my local surgery, when I got quite faint in the bathroom, the GP sat me down and scared the shit out of me with words like cancer, respiratory infections, corroded trachea, lung something something. I thought oh dear, I have to stop this bleach addiction now. He then told me about a professional lime scale remover which is even more effective than bleach and odourless. You can bet I was on that cleaning agent like glue. Months later, my haegesan blue and I are very good besties.

It was getting all too much for me, my cook-a-thons and clean-a-thons, I broke down whining to my friend Funmi and she said please, please, you will kill yourself, hire a cleaning lady. Let me give you the number of mine. Months after, that woman is one of the best thing that has happened to me this year. I have become a lazy Lady of the Manor. When I told my mother I hired someone, I actually told her with bated breath, funny how no matter how old you get, the opinion of your parents on even the littlest of life decisions matter. Surprise, surprise, she didn’t object, she even said good for you. I was the one who taught you how to clean, but your own is too much. I am an obsessive compulsive cleaner. My friends have told me, all that will disappear when I become a mum. I have told them I will specially pray for clean and tidy babies, who will come born to be tidy. I can imagine all mothers reading this and laughing at me. So now my cleaning lady is away for a month, best believe I have gone into panic mode now, trying to find an alternative to bridge the gap because the thought of going back to down on all fours and scrubbing till my knuckles get raw is now unappealing. If I don’t, best believe this blog will suffer. #comebacksoonmydearestSandy

Why am I talking about cleaning, because that is how Joy and I connected. We bonded over cleaning and till date she is one of my greatest cooking influences outside of the female members of my family. We got to talking about cleaning in a mutual family friend’s kitchen and that is how we connected in Abuja many years ago. From cleaning, we moved on to by next favourite topic, food, and she taught me so so much. This Egusi is one of them. Prior to learning from her, I always fried my Egusi with pepper. She taught me how to fry egusi in palm oil, to get that pebbly, grainy look and feel which she says is how the Igbos cook it. Joy is Efik, and her husband is Igbo. She can cook soups from both tribes. Lucky man, I swear. The very first Egusi post on the blog feels like ages ago now (click HERE), I wrote about this Igbo method, so I am quite pleased to have a post on Ofe Egusi. I am calling the post Ofe Egusi, because the frying method is uniquely Igbo and soup in the Igbo language is called Ofe. Let’s Cook

You will need

Ground Egusi - or whole Egusi
1/4 – 1/2 red onion
Palm oil
Beef Stock
Crayfish
Smoked fish
Stockfish
Fresh pepper
Assorted Meat
Your choice of chopped leafy vegetable

How To

1. Joy taught me to grind egusi into a fine powder, mix with water to form a thick paste. For years now, I go my grandma’s route of blending the egusi with onions. It gives it so much more flavour.

You can choose to mix with water, but trust me, the additions of onions is so much better.

2. Heat up palm oil in a pot till it starts to sizzle

3. Pour in the egusi paste and stir, till all the palm oil has been absorbed

4. Allow to fry on high heat. At the beginning, the water content of the onions will leach out, and the egusi will start to curdle, stir and just keep stirring. Just think of ewa aganyin sauce (recipe click HERE). Stirring is key to getting that grainy, pebbly look and feel. You are not trying to achieve lumpy egusi. If you want lumpy egusi, click HERE.

5. Allow it to fry, see more curdles showing, like scrambled eggs, don’t leave it to long in that texture, otherwise your grainy texture will not form as the curdled bits retain moisture which you definitely do NOT want. Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: Stir, stir, stir. Now Egusi is quite annoying. It will be splashing about, and will sting like crazy, perils of cooking. Protect yourself by covering the pot while you manage to stir, it is quite a funny dance, but hey “occupational hazard”. We all have our battle scars. Hehehehehehehe

keep frying until the moisture begins to evaporate and the egusi becomes much thicker, and you have achieved the pebbly look. This will take quite some time. If the Egusi has started to burn as it probably would, lower the heat. This is a lesson in cooking patience.

6. Fry the pepper with palm oil, till it too has lost its moisture. This is what I do while I wait for the egusi to fry to the level I want. I learnt this lesson after a while, because the addition of freshly blended pepper to the egusi you have been frying, introduces the very moisture, you have just spent forever trying to get out.

7. Now, combine the egusi and pepper, stir and I’m afraid, more frying. Loooool. You will appreciate it in the end, trust me. The longer Egusi cooks, whichever method you go, the better it tastes.

8. It should start to roughly look like this after a while. Even after taking this picture, I still let it fry some more, till it was much drier.

you know what you can do to save yourself some time next time you make Ofe Egusi? Let me tell you my cheat tip. I fry more than I need for a pot of soup, and store away the rest into the freezer. The next time I need to make Ofe Egusi, I just defrost in a microwave pour into a pot, and let it heat up and fry some more, after which I add the rest of the ingredients, I can get Ofe Egusi ready in under 30 minutes.

9. Once you have taken out the part to store for later, add beef stock, crayfish, assorted meat, shredded stock fish and stir. Taste for salt and seasoning cubes. Re-season if necessary, but be careful. Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: Egusi is notorious for masking its salty content, it will come back and bite you in the ass, when it has cooked further and your lovely pot of Egusi tastes very salty. Leave it to cook until patches of oil begin to float on the surface.

10. Let it cook some more, until big bubbles begin to show up in the egusi, and it gets thicker. I like my egusi sometimes watery, I like being able to scoop the soup, especially with morsels of Garri (eba). I was going for the ‘page mi gunpa’- meet me at the elbow effect. As I have run out of water leaf, I deeded to cheat a little. If you would like to know how to make water leaf Egusi, click HERE. Once you are satisfied with the consistency, add your choice of vegetables (I used Kale and Uziza) and shredded smoked fish. Stir, and lower the heat to allow the vegetables and smoked fish absorb the flavours in the pot and not overcook. Take off the heat, once the vegetables have softened.

……….and that’s your Ofe Egusi

Take a close look at the texture of the Egusi. Grainy and pebbly. Like sand eh? I am smiling with nostalgia as I type this because Joy calls it “egusi like dot, dot, dot “.

Plus all that frying, you can imagine how very yummy it will taste

You can substitute Kale with Ugu, or a vegetable called ‘Ile Iwosan jina‘. English for “hospital too far“. People have been asking what the Nigerian substitute for Kale is, and I always say Ugu. A reader left a comment last week saying after taking a good look at pictures of Kale, she concluded that it is grown in  Nigeria but referred to as something else. I did a Google search myself and couldn’t find any images, so I will leave it to you guys who know of such vegetable, to confirm or refute her statement.

Enjoy!!!!

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