A few months ago, I received this email inviting me to Scarborough to review a hotel and restaurant. I looked at the location and thought yikes, that is some seriously long drive. 5 hours tops. I took up the offer because, despite the fact that I only have slightly less than 3 years driving experience in my life, I absolutely enjoy driving. Give me a long stretch of road, and I will get into the car and drive. I have been blessed to drive an amazing kit of automotive engineering, which is light, drives like the wind and very fuel-efficient, so the need for stops to re-fuel is out-of-the-way. I really needed a break, and the offer was very tempting, so I accepted. On a Friday afternoon in late summer, I set off for Scarborough. Driving past stunning, and I mean stunning English countryside, once I had London way behind me.

Ox Pasture Hall happens to be located within the grounds of North York Moors National Park. 5 hours into the trip with no stopping, because Google had told me the last few miles of my journey was going be on narrow roads that cut through hills and dense foliage of the park. The last thing I wanted was to be on those roads in the dark and get seriously lost. Watching too many episodes of Criminal Minds has garnered me a fear numbing aversion of driving through the woods at night, plus Sat Navs are also notorious for cutting out when you go high up, so I wasn’t taking any chances. Same with mobile phones. Boy, was I correct. Thankfully my red sexy baby behaved true to her automotive design and didn’t need a fuel stop. I arrived at the hotel just after 6.30pm, and as soon as I highlighted, a familiar tingling sensation hit my nostrils. Clean, crisp air. You don’t realise how bad the quality of air you breathe when you live near major towns and cities, until you visit places like this. Even your lungs scream hallelujah.

First impressions – I loved the serenity and peacefulness of the place. It suddenly didn’t matter that I had been on the road for 5+ hours.

Surrounded by all that scenery, it felt like nature was giving me a hug. Top marks for location right there. You can feel your holiday beginning as you walk towards the reception.

At the reception, there was a nice welcoming friendly face and things almost went down south quickly because they didn’t have a record of my booking for that weekend. I almost had a heart attack. You mean I drove all that way???????? Apparently it was just a simple mix up, and I was shown the way to my room with the porter handling my overnight bag.

First impression of the room – it was more like a Suite really with the standard amenities you would expect. I had thought I would fall straight into bed, but the environment was making me feel very zen and relaxed, so I just wandered around taking in the surrounding areas, as it was getting dark fast.

First impressions of the bedroom – it was huge, sheets were clean, pillows smelled great – habit I picked up from my mother. No hairs anywhere, trust me I check those things. There was a large dressing table with a TV on top – not like I was going to be watching any TV in such gorgeous surroundings. I expected more from the bedroom though, I felt it was sparsely decorated, compared with hotels I have been to in the UK and in Europe with similar prices.

The bathroom did make up for the room. I loved the bathroom. Ground level shower cubicle with a rain shower. Hallelujah. I loooooooooove rain showers, I can stand under them for ages.

then my face fell when I went to wash my hands. One of the sink bowls wasn’t letting out water fast enough, and the knob for the shower basically came off on first try. Not a good first start, but I had other plans which involved the bath, with lots of bubbles, hot water, a magazine and a glass of white wine or a mug of green tea. Yes, the life of a pampered princess is so me, why do you think I am working this hard. Teeeheeee.

The view not too far from my bedroom

Dinner starts for 7, so I quickly changed out of the clothes I had been wearing all day into something more comfortable and headed out to the restaurant. Based on the people I saw on my way in, I guessed it was one of those you must dress for dinner establishments. It wasn’t a rule, but I was happy my upbringing picked up on that and I dressed accordingly. On stepping into the restaurant, I was definitely glad I didn’t come looking like the help. Teeeeheeeee.

So, to the restaurant – Warm welcome by the front of house. Standard warm bread rolls with butter on the table. You were presented the Menu and he quietly backed off, telling you to take your time and signal when you were ready to order. Because there were diners seated already, I couldn’t take a picture of the restaurant, but I can tell you it was cosy and suited to hotel type restaurants, nothing too fancy, as you would expect in a standalone restaurant. Don’t let the surroundings fool you though, the food they rolled out, was really top-notch quality. I have been to many so-called fancy restaurants in Central London whose food didn’t even come close in taste and presentation.

To the Menu, oooh, I had lots of options. The entire trip was all expenses paid, so I could order anything. Here are sample shots of the menu.

This was my first course – for the life of me, I can’t remember what this ensemble was called, but it was a great start to dinner. All colourful and pretty. I asked for a Chardonnay with the first course, and it was a fantastic bottle. I only drink white wine and sometimes, some disappoint, this wasn’t one of them.

Then I had another course –  The Confit Duck Salad, Duck Liver Parfait and Cherry Sorbet. Loved, loved, loved it, well except the cherry sorbet which was slightly too tart. Overall, great course.

Before the main, I was presented with a lemony Palate cleanser which was a very welcome addition to the meal

For the Main I had the – Slow cooked Belly, Tenderloin stuffed with Apricot and Sage. Savoy Cabbage, sautéed potatoes, Homemade Black Pudding and Red Onion Marmalade. You may be thinking, seriously Dunni, did you expect to eat all THAT!!!, and I would say, the portion and presentation of the first two courses was an indication of how the main would be served, so I knew it wasn’t a stuff your face kind of meal. I wasn’t disappointed. The plate arrived, and all the mouthful of components on the menu were nothing but “taster portions”. Again, loved the presentation. I was being mindful of two things – Sage which positively detest, and was pleased it wasn’t overpowering. Haggis, which I had never tried before, because it is basically cooked cow’s blood (a Scottish delicacy). I have always said the day I try Haggis, it would have to be at a posh place. It wasn’t bad actually, I just couldn’t get my mind away from what it was, so it was the only thing I didn’t finish.

Then came dessert – I had to tell the waiter to come back because I wanted them all. That is what you get with these kind of places, you are never fully stuffed by dessert time. Creme Brulee and I love each other something awful, but Raspberries and I, not so much, so that was off the list. The couple by my table ordered the Chilled Mango Rice pudding and it was a stunning dessert, but I thought nah. Eton Mess – had that several times. Sticky Toffee pudding felt kind of unimpressive in such surroundings. I am continuing my discovery of cheesecakes, which I used to detest before, so I settled for the Lemon Cheesecake with Iced Double Cream and Mandarin Jelly.

Knowing how eye appealing the other courses were, I was looking forward to seeing my dessert. Again, impressive. A surprise with the meal, popping candy. It made me  smile and think of my friend Ade. She loves adding popping candy in desserts you don’t expect. It was a fabulous end to the evening, and suddenly that bathtub was calling my name, so I declined the offer for coffee and walked sleepily to my room.

As I promised myself, I got a bath running with the supplies provided by the hotel. Not before I checked around for any particles or hair in the drain. Thankfully I didn’t find any, or plans for a soak would have been cancelled. I still gave the tub a cursory rinse with soap and hot water though. Stopped the waterfall tap, went to get Dan Brown’s Inferno which I have been struggling to finish for weeks now, and later abandoned it (yet again, terrible book, I must say) in favour of some touristy magazines provided by the hotel. Yorkshire is beautiful, who knew. Sipped my mug of Green Tea, while i flipped though the pages. I had a good soak till I fell asleep. All the stress of the long drive seeped out through my pores. Life was good.

What I did the next day. As luck would have it, there was a wedding on Saturday. In my head, I was thinking this would be a fabulous place to get married. Have select friends and family drive up, book all the rooms and enjoy an intimate ceremony. The couple obviously thought the same too. I was able to stay in the background and take some shots. I am no wedding photographer, so pardon some of my pictures. By early afternoon, I set off to explore the town, took some pictures of the sea, sandy beach and sea front. I came back to  a glorious Afternoon Tea with all the trimmings.

There obviously is something in the air in Scarborough. I hadn’t felt that calm in quite some time. My body telling me I was long overdue a holiday. First one this year, which is so very unlike me. The blog has taken over my life. Hahahahahaha. Stay tuned for Part 2

In the mean time, you can mosey down to the hotel’s website and check out what they have to offer

The post My visit to Ox Pasture Hall Hotel and Restaurant appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.

Hello People, I hope you are having a fantastic week. I have graduated to doing research, teeeheeeee, and what better way to start than with one of my favourite topics, Nigerian food blogging.

I am conducting a research project for the University of Portsmouth. The Nigerian food blogosphere has exploded in the last 5 years. They have contributed immensely to Nigerian food culture, and the impact they have made needs to be researched, to discover insights, trends and future recommendations. One of the largest contributors to the success of Nigerian food blogs is Social Media. We are studying the link between technology and social media, and a crucial part of the puzzle is to understand from you the readers, how these food blogs have made an impact to your lives and to your cooking. It will be very much appreciated if you spend 2 minutes or less filling this questionnaire. Get your voices heard, we would very much like to hear from you.

Thank you so much for your time, it is very much appreciated. The link to the questionnaire can be found HERE. Get to filling guys and Share as much as you can. The more the responses, the better. The survey closes on Dec 11th.

Thank you so much for your time. Happy Cooking…….

The post Reflective feedback – a research project to analyse the impact of food blogs on Nigeria’s online food culture appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.

When physical strength was being shared, I was obviously sleeping. I can sleep for Africa, #hobbyoflife. My nickname growing up was Olorun of orun (someone who loves to sleep) and Alapa Ike (plastic hands). I was skinny and scrawny and, looked liked I would break any second, so everyone was warned to just leave me alone. It carried on to boarding school, and I had enviable morning chores. The lightest you can think of, plus I was small in stature too, so that helped, but of course that came with bullies too, story for another day. Happy to look all of them in the eye now. Hehehehe. Anyways, when your body fails you in one area, another area rises up to compensate. My mother says it all the time, that my strength is upstairs – mental. I can go to war with it, physical strength, not so much, my body will just revolt and proverbially shut down. Cooking is physically draining, and I am training myself to cope with the rigours, the endless hours of being on your feet, and your arms moving in 100 directions. I tell you guys, it is bloody hard. So, I don’t just love technology in the kitchen for the fun of it, it is essential for my physical state of being. #Idontlikestress

I have an interesting addition to Egusi soup, that I’ve wanted to post for weeks now, especially in the run up to Christmas. The only way I know I will get that dish done, is if I do my prep in stages. PM skills are universal, hehehehe. Day 1, boil the meats and refrigerate, day 2, wash the bitter leaves. That one I was so not looking forward to. 2 weeks ago, I got a call asking for bitter leaf egusi soup. Ordinarily I would have run in the other direction and made excuses from here to Mexico, but my mouth disconnected from my brain, and I found myself nodding and saying, sure I will wash out the bitterness, you don’t worry. And so it started, I washed and washed the darned thing till my palms were sore and my fingers pruney, still I wasn’t sure I got it all out, but I was tired, frustrated and kicked myself a few times.

I hadn’t washed bitter leaves since my early/late teens. I had totally forgotten how unbelievably miserable the process was. You bet I wasn’t looking forward to doing it again. Lazy me went to youtube to see if my washing method was the problem, alas, I did it the right way. While watching another video, the movement of the palms against the leaves caught my attention. Suddenly my senses were buzzing, I get these tunnel vision kind of moments where I shut out the world completely and just focus on that thing. Wait a minute, that looks like washing clothes. The words washing, washing, washing, washing kept repeating over and over in my head and then it suddenly stopped, followed by the thought, “who washes clothes manually anymore”, and then BOOM!!!!!! it hit me. Washing machine!!!!!! What does a washing machine do, it extracts dirt, stains and all that jazz. How does it do it? It spins in a cyclic motion at top speed. OMFreakingG!!!!! That is it. All I need to do is for my darling food processor, to spin the darned bitter leaves for me and “wash” to extract the bitterness. Now, to the choice of blades. I couldn’t use the knife blade because it was going to turn it to baby food, so I simply used the dough blade. No sharp edges, it would spin and spin like a washing machine at high-speed and do all the manual work for me. Yes people, that is how I stood there watching the thing with my eyes almost popping out. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. You know the way bitter leaves foam up while washing. It did everything you would see with hand washing, and in about 4 – 5 minutes total, i checked on it and screamed when I tasted it. Gave it one rinse under the tap, and it was perfect. The longer the engine runs, the less the bitterness, hey, same with hand washing.  Imagine the suffering that we Nigerian women have endured for years. 

If you live abroad and only have access to dried bitter leaves, not to worry, the trick is first to boil the dried version till it softens, which would take ages. Aint nobody got time for that, use a pressure cooker with enough water, and walk away. Come back after 30 – 45 minutes depending on the quantity you boiled, transfer the contents to a food processor and go sit pretty. #deathtohandwashing bitter leaves. I have two videos on Instagram (and many more quick cooking videos). If you are not following me yet, okay should I sit down and have a word with you? Hahahahahaha. Okay, please follow me @dooneyskitchen. I share a whole lot on there, it has become the second blog for gorgeous food pictures and handy tips. #LetsCook

You Will Need

Fresh Bitter leaves – or dried

Food Processor – with the DOUGH blade.

Water

How To

1. You don’t need to pick the leaves off the stems, just jumble all into a pot and let it boil for about 7 – 10 minutes. This leaches out the bitterness, and assists the process.

2. As it boils, you will see the water darken. My grandma would have saved that water and made you drink it. Very medicinal she would say. Yuck!!!!

3. Get out your food processor and attach the dough blade. Very essential. The knife blade may turn the bitter leaves into a puree.

4. Add the bitter leaves into the bowl

5. Add a little water. Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: don’t make the mistake i made by adding too much water, because as the contents start to spin, it will splash water all over the place. 

6. Cover the bowl, turn the knob to max and watch it go

see the foam….. and watch the videos below

The leaves start out whole, and as you manually wash they shrink and become stringy, well, the food processor does the same. See

Take it out of the bowl, and into a sieve.  Run water over it and squeeze

this was the water that collected below. Again, depending on preference, you can run the engine of the food processor for a short time to preserve as much of the bitterness i will say a minute or two, or much longer to reduce the concentration of the bitterness to a large extent, till it has the bitter-sweet taste. I am team latter.

and you are done

see my palm and fingers – do they look like i just “washed” bitter leaves? Hehehehehehehe

My grandmother made the most amazing bitter leaf egusi soup, but Lord have mercy, the woman would go to the market and buy this humongous batch of bitter leaves. She would be sitting pretty in the courtyard, watching you wash the thing. Gosh, i would be muttering under my breath and she would come close and ask me to speak louder, so she can know the weight of the smack i will get. LMAO. Someone said on Instagram, Dunni, our ancestors will not be happy with you o. Hehehehehehehe. Someone please get me a meeting with the people of Kenwood please. Pounded yam – food processor, washing bitter leaves – food processor, peeling beans – food processor, pounded Ede (cocoyam) – food processor. Oh, I have one more use for it, but I will keep that for a reveal in the new year. How are your Christmas plans going? If you need my assistance on anything, please let me know, I would be happy to help.

The post How to ‘wash’ bitter leaves using a food processor appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.

2014 has been a very good year for Nigerian Cooking. New recipes, new exciting things to try, beautiful pictures, fantastic plating, and most of all the use of technology in the kitchen. History will record 2014 as the year, the Nigerian Kitchen Revolution kicked into full gear. I hope you have been convinced now, and will go into 2015 more determined to continue using technology for everyday mundane cooking tasks. I thought to do a quick post on how a food processor is the next best thing in a Nigerian Kitchen. See, why you need to follow the blog on Instagram. I posted these videos sometime ago. I have two food processors – a Kenwood, what I call my first love, but it quite big and I only use it when I have large volumes to prepare. My second baby is a Chef Tony Tmix – hand-held food processor. It is a much smaller device, and I use it when I have smaller quantities and need to do something quickly, rather than lugging out the Kenwood from the kitchen cupboard. Here are my 10 uses of a food processor in a Nigerian Kitchen:

1. Make Pounded Yam. See video below

See post HERE

2. Pound Ede (cocoyam) to be used as a thickener – see picture below

3. Still hand chopping okro – tsk, tsk, tsk. Use a food processor – see video below

4. I have a post coming up soon, in time for Christmas, to make the perfect Coleslaw, my mother’s Coleslaw. No need to manually grate, please use a food processor. See videos below

To grate Carrots

To grate Cabbage

5. Crayfish harbours a lot of dirt. Many a time, I have been burned by the signature grit, crayfish can bring with it. Here is my tip below, and a picture of the result.

6. You want to grate water yam for Ekpang, Ikokore, Oto or Ojojo this Christmas? Use a food processor


See post HERE

7. You need to roughly chop onions and ata rodo (scotch bonnet/habanero pepper this Christmas, for something like Asun for example. Leave your chopping board in the cupboard, and use a food processor

See post HERE for Asun

8. You need to make a large batch of Moin Moin for Christmas, don’t bother with manual peeling, use a food processor.


See post HERE

9. Washing bitter leaves in a food processor. See video below

See post HERE

10. Still mashing Ewa aganyin with a wooden spoon, errrrr. Use a food processor – see the video below

See post HERE

I hope you enjoyed my 2014, a year in review. I will also be posting the many uses of a hand mixer in a Nigerian Kitchen. Let us keep slaying in the kitchen in 2015. Stress free.

Remember to please follow the blog on Instagram – @dooneyskitchen. Like the Dooney’s Kitchen Facebook Page or Follow me on Twitter – @dooneyskitchen

Thank you!!!!!!!

The post Top 10 uses of a Food Processor in a Nigerian Kitchen appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.

Yikes, my Christmas Menu is coming so late, and I truly apologise. I had a game plan for this weekend, and it is Sunday already and only 10% of what I planned to do has been done. Remember in the “washing bitter leaves with a food processor post HERE, where I mentioned how Le body has a way of revolting and proverbially shutting down as a way of telling me, I have over worked myself, well I probably shouldn’t have written that down so close to Christmas, because I got a good reminder of Friday, and have been tottering around the house since. Hoping to re-start the engines soon because Funmi and I have a game plan for a merry Christmas dinner. I hope you are listening le body, because I need you to be working at optimum capacity by Christmas eve. Hehehehe. I started this blog in 2013, so this makes my second Christmas Menu. I am going to TV Chef’s way this Christmas by sharing you my very own Christmas Menu. Not something I thought of to write and share, but what yours truly and my friend Funmi will be cooking for Christmas, and subsequently, next year hopefully having more people in my life, I will continue this tradition. I hope you will be inspired for your Christmas Menu. You can join in the cooking virtually on Instagram (remember to follow @dooneyskitchen) because I am going to be posting pictures of everything, from the prepping to the cooking to the finished product. At least if we don’t have tv cameras yet for live Christmas cooking like Jamie Oliver or Gordon Ramsay, we will manage the next best thing – Instagram. You can also ask me questions live on Instagram too, for your own cooking and I will do my best to answer. Let us make this a Dooney’s Kitchen Live Instagram Christmas Special. Again, please follow my page @dooneyskitchen. Thank you

Here is my Christmas Menu

Breakfast - Christmas breakfast is just as important as the lunch or dinner itself. Big Oladunni always put on a show after we got back from worship. It was a way of getting the engines ready for the huge Christmas feat. So, for brekkie we will be having a fry up.

• Yamarita fries with spicy Ata din din
• Agege French Toast with a twist –  watch out for my twist on Instagram
• #fitfam Akara with cherry tomatoes and shallots and a flavoured oil drizzle

Christmas Lunch – Main and Dessert

• Spiced 3 bird roast – Pheasant/Guinea fowl, stuffed inside a duck and both stuffed inside a goose. I will be using Jamie Oliver’s recipe with my own inflections
• Stuffing and Gravy
• Jollof rice
• Fried rice
• Nigerian Chopped Salad
• Native Yam Pottage
• Ofe Nsala and Pounded Yam
• Afang Soup – still undecided
• Treats from Marks and Spencer – our cheat for the day
• Funmi’s Key Lime Cheesecake

Festive Drinks –

• Punch
• Chapman
• Maltini

Christmas Dinner - if anyone can still has space

• Pan seared Plantain and Eggs -
• Grilled bird roast Sandwich

Remember to follow on Instagram for all the details. Merry Christmas everybody.

image courtesy – www.dreamstime.com

The post Dooney’s Live Instagram Christmas Special - appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.

I have very fond memories of Coleslaw because My mum, fondly called Big Oladunni by my father, makes one of the best there is. It was something we made often every Sunday, and just like her Pancakes (recipe HERE), I simply assumed it was the default great amazing taste. Boy was I wrong. I have tasted so many badly prepared Coleslaw, I think because it contains just two vegetables, people take it for granted and just combine cabbage and carrots and call it a day. I have tasted too creamy Coleslaw, it got nauseating after two spoons. I have eaten tasteless coleslaw, dry coleslaw, too much cabbage Coleslaw, soggy coleslaw, and probably the most guilty of them is too many ingredients coleslaw, it should just be called a salad. Big Oladunni’s Coleslaw had a method and a look to it. Years after, I still aim to get that look, and until I do I keep adjusting the quantities until my memory signals that I have gotten it right.

I don’t think I have made Coleslaw this year at all, really not sure, but the opportunity came when a friend told me she went shopping for Coleslaw in Costco and was told they had run out, and there was no guarantee of re-stocking. She wanted to serve it at her sons 10th birthday party, and was already scrambling for alternatives. Anyone who knows Costco knows everything is sold in bulk, perfect for parties. With my Aunty Dunni hat on, I told her I would make some for the party, so she can safely cross that off the list. I wouldn’t have dared offer to make it, if I didn’t have my trust food processor to fall back on. As much as I loved my mother’s Coleslaw, grating the carrots and cabbage didn’t bring back fond memories. Because we made Salads at home often, and witnessing first hand the many kitchen accidents that can happen during the process, I don’t eat Coleslaw or Salads at parties or restaurants in Nigeria. Sorry, my mind just conjures up all possible flesh or blood droppings in it. My apologies for grossing anyone out. Looool.

My mothers formula is, 60% Carrots, 40% Cabbage. The carrots were the big deal, with white inflections of the Cabbage. Depending on the batch of carrots that you got, they may not be as sweet as you like, so my Mum would cheat a little by dissolving sugar in a little water, not to be sickly sweet, but just enough that you enjoyed the Coleslaw. My mum only used mayonnaise, but I learnt a trick from my Aunty Joke, which gives Coleslaw a little edge to it – Salad Cream. You won’t believe the difference it makes. So, the title says, a snap and a zing. Well the zing comes courtesy of cooking with Chef Fregz for a swanky dinner party on Victoria Island on my last trip to Lagos. He made a Wasabi Mayo as dressing for the first course and I thought hmmmmn, loooooovely. What hit me was the hint of sourness. I didn’t want a Wasabi Coleslaw, so I thought to use Lemon. OMG!!!!! the combination of mayo, salad cream, lemon juice and lemon zest is smack your face so good, you will just sit with the dressing with a spoon. I was eating a batch of plantain chips when I was making this and thought what if I just throw in some and see. Before I could change my mind, i dropped a handful in. After all, our western counterparts use croutons in salads. Hey, plantain chips are the perfect croutons. I may be crazy, but trust me, this works. Let’s Cook….

You will need

Carrots – 60%
Cabbage – 40%
Sugar – optional
Mayonnaise
Salad Cream
1 – 2 Lemons – depending on the quantity of Coleslaw
Plantain Chips – substitute croutons

How To

1. Attach the grating blade to a food processor, and feed in the carrots

all that done in 2 minutes

you end up with stumps

2. Do the same for the Cabbage

Need more convincing, watch the videos

To grate Carrots

To grate Cabbage

3. Now, you have your grated carrots and cabbage, combine in a bowl. Remember the 60 – 40 rule. The picture below is the look you should be aiming for. You get this right, it doesn’t matter how much more or less dressing you use, the base flavours will be there.

4. Now, to the dressing –  in a bowl, measure almost equal quantities of salad cream and mayo. For this volume, I squeezed out the juice of half a lemon and used the rind at the back. Combine well with a spoon. Taste it and squeal for joy. Depending on your tolerance for sourness, you can add more lemon juice if you wish.

5. Combine the dressing with the grated cabbage and carrots. One thing my mother did was to use about half of the dressing to mix and then place in the fridge. This kept the cabbage and carrot moist. If you place the carrots and cabbage in the fridge without dressing, they will dry out giving off a shaggy, dry unpleasant texture. So, combine with some of the dressing first, cover and place in the fridge. If you are going to be adding sugar, do it after combining with the dressing, to be sure you will need it. Start with a little sugar syrup, and progress carefully. It will even taste better after being refrigerated for a while, allowing the flavours to develop. So, if you are serving Coleslaw for Christmas, prepare it very early, and leave in the fridge to chill.

Shortly before serving, use the other half of the dressing, and it will be perfect. Do the same if you want to be daring like me with plantain chips. Add shortly before serving to keep that crunch, otherwise the lemon and the cream will cause the chips to soften to a yucky texture.

6. Coleslaw with lightly toasted baguette is a wonderful first course, especially when it is presented like this. Look closely for the crunched up bits of plantain chips. Also notice my preference, for not drowning it, in too much dressing.

Try my mother’s recipe this Christmas and I promise you, it will be a great addition to your food table, and a regular in your home, beyond Christmas.

Make a little extra effort with presentation this Christmas. An easy way to serve dressing on a plate, that I picked up from Chef Fregz. Generously coat the back of a tablespoon with your dressing, and then apply on the plate in a swiping motion. You are trying to create order out of what may seemingly look like a mess – scatter chic I call it. Make 2 – 4 hand motions and serve your Salad on top. Sprinkle on chopped greens, and voila!!!! Serve with a wedge of lemon, for those who would want a little extra zing.

This is a winner, I tell you. You will have your guests asking you what you put in it, because it won’t be like the hundreds of Coleslaw’s they’ve eaten over their lifetime.

Merry Christmas everybody!!!!

The post Big Oladunni’s Coleslaw – with a snap and a zing appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.

I would like to start by saying thank you to all of you for a phenomenal year. I still have to pinch myself sometimes when I remember that I haven’t been doing this for up to two years. It has literally taken over my life, but in a good way. Years back when it felt like I was just going through the motions, I wake up now with so much purpose and dreams for the future. I am exactly where I wanted to be. Even the things that haven’t happened yet, I now know why they haven’t happened, and it has taken all the worry away. The re-design of the blog has stretched my nerves thin this year, I have finally come to the point of I surrender, and to be grateful that I can still do what I love, so I needed to end the year with a bang. 

I feel like I have to reintroduce myself, in preparation for 2015. Hi my name is Dunni Obata and I am a tad obsessive. So, what does it mean to be a tad Obsessive. Well people like me go through what I can describe as phases of something. When I like something, I liiiike it and can’t get enough of it, I keep going back to it, and when I am done with that thing, oh dear, I am done, done, triple done. It happens with colours, with clothes, you name it. I have gone through my red, blue, pink, green, and brown phase. Now I am on white. Cray cray right? I went through flouncy dresses and skirts phase, now it is mini and midi skirts. There is NO flouncy skirt or dress in my wardrobe now. I can’t explain it, and unfortunately, looking back through the year, this does extend to people too. When we are done, we are done. Like cut the cord kind of done, you may never have existed. It has helped let go of toxic people to be honest, which can’t be a bad thing right? My friend Labake says remind me never to gravely offend you. Loooool. So when the need to be around you is over or you’ve messed up big time, we tend to move on pretty fast both in romantic and non romantic relationships. When we love, we love hard, we want someone, we do want that person badly, and it shows. Just don’t mess up or take that for granted cos you will be out of the door so fast, your head will spin. We do make good and loyal friends and lovers, of the annoying habits of being a tad obsessive, this is one of the positives, and it has helped me attract and keep really solid friendships this year.

With food, I went through a chin chin phase early in the year. I was skinny like crazy. I ate nothing but chin chin, now the thought of chin chin makes me gag. I am going through my Maltina/Malta Guinness and plantain chips phase currently and it is like an addiction.  2 bottles and 2 packets a day. I will never lose weight at this rate. The Malta Guinness bottle looks like an alcoholic drink, plus the word Guinness, and many a time I have had colleagues walk to my desk and say surely Dunni, work must not be that bad that you need alcohol to go through the day. I can’t count how many times I have had to show people the label to see for themselves. This got me thinking, why don’t I just add alcohol to Malta Guinness/Maltina? My mischievous brain was thinking, If I was the type that drinks, you know you can just pour in some alcohol in your flask, combine with Malta Guinness and pack with lunch. Who would know? They all think you are drinking a non alcoholic drink anyway. Let us take the Non out of the equation and make it alcoholic, shall we. And so people, in looking for ways to further excite my taste buds with Maltina, I have come up with some truly crazy recipes, one of which is this one.

P.S. – If you don’t cook with alcohol for medical or religious reasons, take out the Baileys. It still ROCKS, all the same, because I tried both. 

You will need

1 bottle of Maltina (or any non alcoholic malt drink) – I used about 1/2 a cup

1 bottle of Baileys – 1/3rd cup of baileys

Nutmeg – sprinkling

A pinch of Salt

4 – 5 eggs

3 – 4 days old Agege bread

A dash of Vanilla extract

Cooking spray – or veg oil for coating the pan

How To

1. Using a bread knife, slice the agege bread into medium sized slices. I personally prefer it not too thin. It was how my mother made it.

see, the bread isn’t exactly fresh. If you use Fresh bread, it would soak up the egg mixture too much and become yucky. Stale bread is more dense, and less air pockets.

I called Big Oladunni this morning for a quick recipe, because like her Pancakes (recipe HERE), she makes the best French Toast. Her reaction to my recipe was whaaaaaaat!!!!!, told her it would be fine. Hehehehehe

2. Pour in Matina with the eggs

if you are using Baileys, add it too

3. Add salt, nutmeg and vanilla extract

4. This was Mummy’s Tip – you need to whisk and whisk the egg mixture till it starts to foam and increase in size. I got out the hand mixer, straight. Hehehehehe

5. Soak the bread with the egg mixture. You can either do this in the same bowl or in a flat plate. While she was telling me her recipe, she said soak the bread with the eggs in a flat plate. Yes Mummy.

6. While you are waiting to make the french toast, prepare the sauce. Simply combine what’s left of the Maltina bottle and a shot or two of baileys, depending on how strong you want the sauce. Leave it on low heat to reduce till it forms a sauce. Watch it closely though, if it burns, it will be bitter. Hands up, I burnt my first batch too. Lol. If you are using only Maltina, same process. I must say thank you to Uzo of Uzo’s Food Labs though. I was researching reducing Baileys to form a sauce, and I thought of my readers who would not want to try this for the alcohol. Of course, Maltina was already on my mind, and it made me smile to see that she had tried it. Liquid Gold she calls it, and I 100% agree. When you reduce Maltina till it thickens. The taste is insane. Move over chocolate sauce, move over honey, move over maple syrup. Maltina syrup should be your go to drizzle for coffee, pancakes, oats, ice cream, milkshake, you name it.

7. Heat up your pan and coat with a little oil. Place the soaked bread on the hot surface and lower the heat, otherwise it will not cook through. Always listen to Mummy. I didn’t and I burnt the first batch, plus it was undercooked inside. Arrrrrrgh.

7. Watch closely, and as soon as one side has browned, flip it over

8. To ensure that it really cook through, place the frying spoon on the bread and press down firmly, to allow more heat to penetrate. This also makes the french toast crunchy

Repeat the process, till you exhaust the egg mixture and serve. Your baileys and maltina reduction should be ready by now, just drizzle on top, slather it more like, cos it is too awesome. Top with whipped cream, and to feel less guilty, add some fruit.

I thought square French Toasts are kinda boring, so I used a round food mould to cut out circles. You can use any shape you wish, you will just have to work fast, so it doesn’t get cold. Life of a food Blogger, we always eat cold or reheated food. Lol

Fruit on board

Sauce drizzled on, finished with whipped cream. Decadence at its best – Boozie Breakfast.

I shall be #fitfaming in January. I have to. Size 8 jeans were tight yesterday, retribution is here already.  One more cocktail/milkshake recipe for tomorrow, in preparation for New’s Year’s eve. Thanks again for being a part of my year.

The post Baileys and Maltina Agege French Toast appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.

So, 2014, has gone, gone, gone. It was a very great year, more ups than downs, and even the downs taught me Patience and trusting The Lord. No matter how you try to hurry things, He has His own timetable. I have always been a step back and look at the bigger picture kind of person, and last year, when I finally understood what it means to be patient, I saw an entire tapestry. My mother would smile when she reads this. One of my weaknesses is Patience, or should I say the lack of it. I want things done now, scratch that, I want them done yesterday. I saw His hand in moving obstacles out of my way with a finality, connecting me to people, without effort, and I had so many a ha moments last year. For things that did not happen, I understood why they hadn’t happened. One particular thing about the blog design and another concept, that kept me worrying for months, and my friend Kemi said Dunni, don’t be negative about this new venture, it will end in praise. Events happened in the last few weeks that I played no part in, and I thought OMG!!!!!! So this is why this thing was delayed. The powers that be, must be having a laugh. When you are hurrying for things to happen, you don’t know what you are being protected from, by not having it yet. I just hope this new found understanding of patience and trust lasts. Maybe it is with getting older, or it is with finally feeling like my life means something. Whatever it is, I like it, I won’t lie.

So, what should you be looking forward to on Dooney’s Kitchen

New Logo – this took months to design, with so many iterations, my graphics designer Hemanth, must have strangled me multiple times in his head. I didn’t want a cliche food/kitchen logo, and I wanted something that represented Dooney’s Kitchen as a Nigerian brand, so I used an ankara-esque custom design print. The first thing Kemi Kings said when she saw it was, oooooh Dunni, I like the ankara feel. I didn’t even tell her that was the inspiration behind the design, but she got it, and I hope you do too. My friend Ade said the d, k, and h, look like soup ladle handles – another plus. I hope you like it, and the Tagline too. The tagline I especially love. It came to me because of all the comments, and feedback I have received from my recipes, plus the cooking tutelage I have received over the years. Food Memories that will last a lifetime. Thank you soooooo much Hemanth.

1. More Nigerian Recipes – I posted on Instagram on yesterday about suffering a mini crisis of direction, which caused me a lot of panic. You can click on the comments to see my message.

I was listening to The Secret Audiobook on Dec 30th. Say what you like about self help books, or New Age Psychology, that book provided a life changing experience when I picked it up in 2009. I was listening to it while making dinner on Dec 30th, and the part where it said what you complain about the most, you get more of, made me laugh, because looking back through the year, it was oh so true. I was running out of things to cook, and that was all I saw till I started having sleepless nights, and the mere sight of the blog started to irritate me. For those it took me one week to respond to your comments, I truly, sincerely apologise. What you are thankful about the most, you get more of, so I started to flip the switch and be grateful for the recipes I already had, for the Aunties, the friends, my mum and grandmother’s who have given me so much, I have over a 100 recipes on this blog. A switch in my perception from lack to abundance, started opening doors, and people from nowhere started sending me messages of recipes I had never heard of before. Oh Dunni, have you tried this, readers would leave comments telling me about something their mums used to do, or something they ate somewhere. I am also very thankful for my friends because they gave me perspective. In a time of crisis you need solid people to hold you steady through the storm you created in your own head. As I wrote in that Instagram post, this is my pledge to you all that read this blog. More Nigerian recipes. You can also let The Almighty use you to bless me. Any new or old recipes you will like me to try, drop a comment here, send me a message on Instagram or Facebook, send me an email – the_experience@dooneyskitchen.com.

2. Saving Recipes via Big Oven – I wanted to introduce this feature in the new blog, but alas He had other plans. You can ask about the new blog and I am happy to say, we are in a good place now. Outsourcing turned out to be more trouble than the cost saved. I kept asking to be led to a UK based web developer, and she literally fell into my lap. I mean literally. I was sitting pretty at home and Kemi of Kemi Kings Makeup paid me a visit. She is adorable by the way. That is how she gave me the name of someone she also discovered by accident. There are no accidents in Creation. None at all. So, back to saving recipes. I think it is an amazing idea. Gosh the number of times I get requests for a particular recipe, the number of times I had to go search for one myself and provide the link. People can be quite lazy sometimes, but hey, it comes with the territory. I wanted to introduce this since August last year. I found Ziplist and thought score!!!!! I approached them to be a featured partner, and they first gave me some one kind conditions, so I told them straight, you need people from my part of the world to know you exist. I explained all the business advantages of a Nigerian audience, yadi yadi yada, and they agreed. Dooney’s Kitchen was suddenly on the list of their partners, sitting amongst, some of the best food blogs in the world. Who said being a Nigerian, can’t be used to your advantage, and then bad news came – Ziplist was shutting down the business. I went into panic mode looking for a replacement. I found one but would you believe the nerve of them. They copy your ENTIRE recipe, so when a reader saves a recipe, they never have to visit the blog again. Not just that, this company reserves the right to use your recipe ANYWHERE, without taking permission from you. What kind of Copyright Infringement nonsense is that? So, the search continued and I found Big Oven.

Here is a sample –

Image credit – Glamorous Bite

Big Oven is providing the same functionalities as Ziplist. I emailed the CEO and introduced myself. I told him, Sir, Nigerians are about the enter the building, and we don’t do things in small measure. We love to cook too and your app is suddenly going to be downloaded in its hundreds of thousands, and I want some of the action. We shall see how that plays out in the future, but I am excited to finally bring this feature to Dooney’s Kitchen. For already existing recipes, I am going to have to ask if a code can be applied to do it at once, because I am so not looking forward to doing them manually. Give me some time to figure it out. Any new recipe that is published, will come in the format above but with step by step pictures too. It will look plain for now, but my developer and I will decide on the colour scheme when the new site gets launched. You like the recipe, just click on the Save recipe button. Open a free Big Oven account, and the recipe will be saved. You can also ask for the ingredients to be added to your shopping List. Such fun. Download the big oven app on your phone – android or Iphone, and carry your recipes with you anywhere. The best part for me, you only get a snippet of the recipe. You want to cook the dish, you would have to click on a link to take you back to Dooney’s Kitchen. Saves you searching. Win – Win situation. Big Oven offers 50 free saved recipes, after which you will have to pay a small annual subscription fee. But 50 recipes free, that is still a good bargain. You will also be able to print my recipes in printable acceptable formats, so you don’t have to write them down.

3. The New Nigerian Cookery – one of my favourite phrases last year was 2014 Nigerian Cooking. Well, that is kind of last year now. While I was in the process of re- designing the new blog, my friend Ade and I came up with this phrase from Heston Blumenthal. Heston Blumenthal is one of my cooking heroes, and it is from him what will now be my signature phrase, ‘The New Nigerian Cookery‘ was invented. This phrase truly embodies the blog will be about in 2015. New methods of cooking, new twists to Nigerian food, new methods of presentation, new food fusions. Anywhere you see the hashtag #thenewNigeriancookery, you would know it is from Dooney’s Kitchen and it is about new possibilities and frontiers with Nigerian Cooking.

4. Editor and Guest Posts – I was getting to the point of being overwhelmed last year. I love what I do, but it felt too much juggling it all. A kind person Remi contacted me early last year and said if she could help with anything. I am a very suspicious somebody, I won’t lie. Hehehehehe. I told her thank you, and kept it moving. Then she reached out to me again months after with an amazing testimony of how my post about sharing good news my family received touched her life, and the rest of the story brought tears to my eyes. She said Dunni, again I am being told to ask you how I can be of service. I really need to, so I said okay, you are going to be an Editor of the blog. Remi will be working behind the scenes with me with Posts, responding to comments, and email queries. You will feel her impact much more when the new site is up. Everybody and their mother knows I can’t bake to save my life, so I have requested for help from an amazing baker in Saudi Arabia. We met through SYTYCC and she has agreed to be a Guest Contributor for Dooney’s Kitchen, for all types of baking recipes, and she will chip on some Middle Eastern recipes too. As I am going to be keeping my strong focus on Nigerian food, I still would like recipes from around the world. Daniella who lives in Milan is half Rwandan, half Italian. She approached me for collaboration, and I said Yes. She will be providing Italian and Rwandan Recipes. Score!!!!!! I would like to make Dooney’s Kitchen a more robust site, and healthy/vegan and vegetarian recipes is part of my new vision. I did find someone but sadly it didn’t work out, so I am on the lookout for someone else. Preferably someone American/Canadian with an African background, because I want recipes we can relate to. If you have anyone in mind, who isn’t already a food blogger, please let me know.

5. The Great Big 2015 Kitchen Swap – I do an annual clean out, and get rid of stuff. With being a food blogger, I have acquired sooooooo many things in such a short space of time, that is my plates collection. I had to commandeer half of my wardrobe.

I took a critical look at some appliances I hadn’t used in over 8 months and thought, time to go. Rather than donate them to a faceless person via the charity shops, I thought to offer anyone who wants them on Instagram. See why you have to follow Dooney’s Kitchen, hehehehe. Juicy news are shared first on there. I have given out a Kenwood Smoothie maker to @rdjmama, @kemi.olusanya got the large multi functional manual grater, @nevique got the tapioca starch packets – to be used to make starch for Banga Soup, and someone else got the Onion Chopper.

It occurred to me, to make this into a thing. So, I am announcing the Great 2015 Kitchen Swap. It is a segment on the blog for people who want to get rid of Kitchen utensils or gadgets. It has been sitting in your house unused or partly used, that wedding gift or gifts that have been taking space, bless someone and give it out. You can also find something you want that others want to give out. This beginning year, start looking through your cupboards, home store area and even wardrobes. Whatever Kitchen related item, you haven’t used in ages, don’t be a hoarder, find it a new home and someone will be grateful for it. When you find something(s), take a picture, send me an email – the_experience@dooneyskitchen.com or send me a picture via DM on Instagram or on Facebook – Dooney’s Kitchen, and I will put it up for you on the blog with the nearest PUBLIC pick up location ANYWHERE in the world you are. On the same day, someone offered another Kenwood Smoothie Maker, which has been given to @iamhorla. @j_kyari offered to give out a deep fryer, and @feyiolu has an Ice cream maker to give out too. See, the Great Kitchen Swap is already underway. I have announced this on Facebook too and people are already saying they have stuff they would like to give out. So, join in the fun. In the next coming weeks, I shall be posting the items on the blog. Be on the look out. I also gave out this Pasta Maker to @big_pretty

I intend to make this very big. Our own Nigerian version of freecyle, but for kitchen items and who knows, it can extend to many other home items. When the need for this feature gets bigger, I will create a special sub site for it, but for now, it will be on Dooney’s Kitchen.

6. #CookCrush - I started this fun feature on my Instagram page, and I intend to continue. For me, it is a way to honour and feature home cooks, who are doing amazing work in the kitchen that nobody but their friends and family gets to see. So far, I started with a bang by featuring two home cooks, who are at the top of their game – Eva and Funmi, but I have been told my standards are too high, because those two present Nigerian food like you won’t believe. So, I am going to loosen the reigns a little. I just want food that you cooked that looks decent and easy on the eyes. Post it on Instagram and tag me with the hashtag #cookcrush and I will repost your food. Tag your friends and family who cook amazing food, tell them about this and I will be glad to feature them. This is strictly for home cooks, no bloggers or caterers please.

If you don’t have an Instagram account – why now??????? Open one, just to follow Dooney’s Kitchen. Hehehehehehe. You can also do this via Facebook. Post a picture of your food on the Dooney’s Kitchen Facebook page with the hashtag #cookcrush.

I would like to use this as a way to encourage and praise you guys, so get to cooking and hashtagging.

I wish you all an amazing year. You coloured my life immensely in 2014, and I am hoping for an explosion of rainbows this year. Dooney’s Kitchen will be bigger and better this year, more exciting features, I can’t wait for you guys to see the new blog design. Onwards and Upwards. Happy New Year.

The post Happy New Year – new features, new purpose for 2015 appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.

In English, it is called the Calabash nutmeg. Other cultural names are Ehuru, Ehu, Posa, Ikpoosa, Iwo, Erhe and Gudan Miya.

One of the blessings of being a food blogger is being able to try experiments on a whim. I started cooking with Ehuru in 2013. I believe my first foray into using this spice was when I made Abacha and Nkwobi for the very first time. I loved the aroma, and how very much it reminded me of nutmeg. No wonder it is called calabash nutmeg. A friend’s mum was kind enough to give me the ground version, which lasted for a while, until I ran out, and needed to use the seeds itself. I remember asking for help on how to crack it. All the suggestions came back saying dry roast it in a pan, and use a nut cracker, bash it with a heavy object, or crack with your teeth. I don’t have a nut cracker, so the only option left was my teeth. Very annoying process, I tell you. The shell would either crack in half, and you are forced to pry it apart with your nails which can be very painful. I must have wasted quite a lot of Ehuru, because if it didn’t come apart quickly from the shell, it was unto the next one. I never looked forward to cooking with this spice at all.

This was until Christmas Eve when I wanted to season our 3 bird roast. Ooooh, did you check out the result on Instagram? First we placed a guinea fowl inside a duck, and stuffed both inside a goose. It was such fun. I will post a link to the video below. Anyways, I had cooked till the point of exhaustion on Christmas Eve. By the time I got to Funmi’s I was almost asleep on my feet, but we had to marinade the birds. I asked Funmi for her spice grinder, and she said it had broken. Oh dear. So, I asked her for a nut cracker, she said for what? I said for cracking the Ehuru. Her response was epic. You mean, you are not supposed to grind the entire thing whole, with total bewilderment. I said noooooooooo, you are meant to crack the shell open, and extract the nut inside. She said oops, I didn’t know that. I have been cooking with Ehuru using your recipes, and I have always blitzed the entire thing whole. Ah, I didn’t know o, and so we had a good belly laugh. See how rote routine Nigerian cooking can be sometimes. We don’t know why we do some things, we have just followed tradition, and there may be no logical reason behind some methods. Who would have thought you could use the nut whole, without adverse effects to your soup.

Anyways, I said, you know what, I am tooooooo exhausted to start cracking these nuts with my teeth or bashing them against the kitchen counter, so we are going to blitz away with the nuts whole after dry roasting. If you saw the picture of all I cooked on Xmas eve, you will understand why. The dry mill had broken, so our only option was the blender. Magic happened. The blender removed the shell, exposing the nuts and crushing it to a powder. Our eyes widened that night. Total freak incident. We weren’t expecting it, so we didn’t record it. I tried it again at home and Yes people, it worked AGAIN!!!!! No more cracking Ehuru with your teeth which is dangerous, or bashing the nut and prying the shell open to extract the nut, which is painful. Use a blender. Welcome to 2015, Welcome to The New Nigerian Cookery. 

How To

1. You will need your Ehuru seeds. Other names for it are Posa – the Ilajes, Iwo for the Itsekiri’s and Erhe for the Urhobos. The Hausa’s also call it Gudan Miya. I had no idea until I posted this picture on Instagram. Some food education right there. Click on the comments to see people’s responses.

2. So, you dry roast the nuts in a pan to intensify the aroma

3. Once the nuts have sufficiently browned, transfer to a blender or spice grinder.

I started first by pulsing, and later let the engine run for a few minutes, until you start to see the shell pieces float up. Open the blender and check. You may have to repeat the process, but that is basically it. Watch the video below

4. Empty the contents into a sieve,

run your fingers through it

and Voila!!!!!, your Ehuru de-shelled and blitzed.

No more hurting your teeth trying to crack it, or bashing against a surface, which I must add isn’t 100% effective. many a time, I over bashed and splintered the seed inside, which was difficult to pry away from the nut, and I would bin it. With this method, you can de-shell 20 pieces at once, no sweat. Think of it like peeling beans in a blender or food processor. Don’t you just love Happy Kitchen Accidents.

The post The New Nigerian Cookery – How to remove the shell of the Calabash Nutmeg appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.

So, my 2015 pledge to you was to bring you even more Nigerian recipes. The deal was to contact old Aunties to dig out recipes from the past, or their hidden secrets, tips that make their food rememberable. This is definitely one of them. Most definitely. Like my Grandmother’s Scented Efo Riro (recipe HERE), this is a flavourful aromatic Egusi soup, that is nothing you have cooked before, as regards Egusi. How did I find this recipe? Well through the means I wrote above – old Aunties. A reader left a comment on my Banga Soup recipe, telling me her Aunty thickened her Banga Soup with Egusi. She asked me if I knew anything about it. I had no clue but I thought the idea was very interesting. Anyone who reads Bella Naija, must have read very wise comments from a commenter called Ekwitosi. She has more sense than you can imagine, and she is a fabulous writer too. Remember my Anniversary giveaway last year? Well, one of the food processors was going to a reader on Bella Naija. Ekwitosi entered the competition and won. Kenwood is not a popular brand in the US, and we couldn’t find something suitable, so we both agreed that when next she is in the UK, she would get her prize.

A few months ago, she came over for a wedding and we got to meet. She is such a darling, like major. At her friends house, I got to meet a much older woman. Ekwitosi was busy introducing me as Dunni the food blogger, and suddenly the conversation changed to food. I looooove discussing Nigerian food with much older women. The juicy tidbits they give out, is worth their weight in gold. Eba and Egusi was a late Lunch, and that is how this kind Aunty from the East, started telling me about using Ehuru in Egusi soup. I had never, like ever, ever, ever heard of that before. Quickly I filed that into the recesses of my memory, and told myself don’t you dare forget. Don’t you dare. Weeks after, I was at my friend Ade’s house and we agreed on Egusi soup for dinner. Suddenly I remembered the Ehuru tip. Luckily, Ade had some at home and I was giddy with excitement. It was then I found out that Ehuru is a spice you have to treat with a lot of care and respect. A flick of your wrist, and your lovely soup will turn bitter in an instant. Oh dear, Ade was so disappointed. She is just as experimental with food as I am, and imagine both of us waiting for the magic to happen, only to end up with a bitter soup. It wasn’t even the bitter leaf Egusi kind of bitter. It was just nasty. Ehuru tasting everywhere, like some herbal concoction. I did try to remedy the situation by adding more egusi and blended onion, but it didn’t restore the soup. I remember apologising profusely, and we ate it like that. So, experiment 1 was with Palm oil and over used Ehuru.

When a food experiment doesn’t work, I try, try, try again. So, at home, I tried the soup again. This time, Experiment 2 was with Palm Fruit Extract and Ehuru. I enjoyed it, but it didn’t have that wow factor for me. I couldn’t taste the difference with using Palm fruit extract instead of Palm oil. If you’ve cooked Igbo native soups like Ofe Onugbu and Ofe Owerri with Palm Fruit extract instead of Palm oil, the difference is veeeeeery clear. It is soooooo much nicer, and I was expecting that with this Egusi soup. Also, I was expecting should I say “wonderment” from the Ehuru, and it was meh!!! Usually, with food experiments, I get it on the second try, and this one I just thought okay, maybe my expectations were too high, and abandoned the idea, until my fellow cooking sister Nma, put up a picture about “Banga Egusi”. Then I remembered I wanted to give it another go, but I wanted to know where I went wrong the second time. Hey, the first time was obvious – too much Ehuru. I may not remember your name tomorrow, but with cooking, my memories are usually intact. So, I rewound time back to cooking at Ade’s house and wondered why I added too much Ehuru. Then it came to me. I couldn’t taste the Ehuru, so I kept adding more. What did I add to the pot before the Ehuru? Crayfish. Ah ha!!!!!!! There was my answer. The offending ingredient was nothing other than crayfish. If you have read my recipes with seafood, you will see that I don’t add crayfish. The reason, the flavour can be quite domineering. I kept adding more Ehuru the first time because the crayfish didn’t allow me detect the flavour of the Ehuru.

With Experiment 2, I was even more wary of adding the Ehuru, and Mr crayfish made sure it didn’t shine, so with Experiment 3, I totally left it out. Wowzer!!!!! Again Woooooooowzer!!!! OMG, WHAT!!!!!! I kept shaking my head, and smelling and tasting, and nodding my head and sighing. Geeeeeeeez. It felt like Egusi soup cooked in a clay pot by your grandmother. There was this earthy, native flavour to it. Egusi raised to the power 5 million. A friend came to visit and said okay Dunni, I stayed too late. I have to feed the Mister, I hope you have soup I can take with me, and just make Eba or rice, when I get home. That is how I gave her a bowl from the freezer. Minutes after she got home, the ping was. I am not feeding him your Egusi o. He might expect that all the time. Plus it is too good, that I really don’t want to share. Recipeeeeee, I can’t wait to try it. Until then, this is for me and my mouth only. SCORE!!!!!!!!!!!

When I posted how to remove the shell off the calabash nutmeg, I started seeing comments about using this in Egusi. Soooooo, I have been late to the game since. So not fair people. Share these golden cooking tips oooooooooo. Pleeeeeeease.

Let’s Cook

Palm Nut and Calabash Nutmeg Egusi Soup

 

Save Print

Prep time

1 hour

Cook time

45 mins

Total time

1 hour 45 mins

 

Author: Dunni Obata

Recipe Category: Traditional Nigerian Soups

Culture: Igbo

Serves: 4 - 5

You will Need

• Egusi seeds
• Half an Onion
• 2 tablespoons of Iru - fermented locust beans
• Palm Fruit Extract - either from a can or from scratch
• Ground Ehuru/Iwo/Posa/Erhe/Gudan Miya (calabash nutmeg) - in teaspoonful measures
• Assorted Meat
• Meat Stock
• Smoked fish
• Seasoning Cubes
• Salt
• Green Vegetables of Choice

How To

1. If you would like to learn The New Nigerian Cookery method of removing the shells of the Ehuru to get to the seed within, The New Nigerian Cookery Style, click HERE
   
2. Now you have your extract, boil and let it reduce a bit. If you are using the extract from a can, just add some water, and let it reduce too.
3. By now, you should have your assorted meat almost boiled with smoked fish and ready to go. Add the reduced palm fruit extract to the pot of meats and add your fresh pepper and let them boil together to combine the flavours.
4. Add ground ehuru. You start with a teaspoonful, stir give it a minute or two and taste. If you can't taste the flavour, add another teaspoon and work from there.
5. Add the Iru and stir. This soup is a smogersbord of local flavours, I tell you. The addition of Iru will blow your mind, and remind you of soup cooked by your grandmother. I added roughly two tablespoons.
6. Blend your Egusi with about half an onion and a little water, to form a thick paste. Add the Egusi puree to the pot in tablespoons full and let it settle and cook in the pot, with the rest of the palm fruit stock.
7. Allow the egusi to cook, and stir periodically. If you added too much Egusi puree, just add water, and you will be fine.
8. Let the Egusi cook, until you start to see patches of oil float on top. Taste and ensure you enjoy it. By now, the flavour of the Iru, Ehuru, and smoked fish would have combined oh so well, it will literally be the best pot of Egusi you have ever cooked. You will now understand why I did not put crayfish anywhere near this pot.
9. Add the fresh green vegetables and stir.
10. Give the vegetables time to wilt in the soup and take the pot off the heat.
11. and that people, is a flavourful, aromatic and native inspired Egusi. You will almost want to throw your bottle of Palm Oil away and put Ehuru in everything. The aroma alone, the way the flavours dance on your tongue. Geeeez. Everyday Egusi just went from everyday to super fragalistic expealiegusidocious

Dooney's Kitchen Tips

Be veeeeeery careful when adding the ground Ehuru. The nutty flavour can go from pleasant one minute to overpowering the next, and it will turn your soup bitter

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In the spirit of the upcoming elections this year, patriotism and all that jazz, I would like to highlight what makes us special as a country through food. Hey, how about patriotic pounded yam pops.

If you like this recipe, remember that you can now Save this recipe. You will be prompted to open a Big Oven account, which is free. To take this a step further, download the Big Oven app on your phone. Happy New Year

The post Palm Nut and Calabash Nutmeg Egusi Soup appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.

So, hello people. #fitfam officially starts today. I read Shakirat’s post on her weight loss journey and it is so very inspiring. Happy to read another food blogger who hasn’t demonised Nigerian food because it seems to be the very first thing people attack when they talk about dieting. She has told me that I am naturally lepa (skinny), and while that may be true, I am not totally immune to weight gain. In my next post, I will share my story about my body’s relationship with Nigerian food. While you may not totally agree, you were not meant to, because as they say, whatever works for you.

Today, I am bringing you a smoothie plan, take note of the operative word – plan and not diet. I did try this smoothie and didn’t really enjoy it, for the reason that I don’t like fruits, like not at all. My mother can tell you stories for days as to how I flung my fruit and veg at her as a toddler, so my hate-hate relationship with fruit and veg didn’t start today. In the next post, I inferred that any time I try to force myself to do all these diet what not, it never works, so I am not even going to force my taste buds into any rigid movement, but I intend to incorporate more fruits and veg into my diet and move more, so I can have a long lasting lifestyle, not a January fad thing.

So, what is the Stunnababez smoothie – well a fellow foodie sister Temitope, who introduced us to fortifying Nigerian solids with vegetables came up with this smoothie concoction that she swears by and has pictures to show for it. I can imagine some people will roll their eyes, but hey, if you haven’t tried it don’t knock it. Someone I respect a lot, and who doesn’t tell you bull is my friend Ms Joxy. If she tells you something worked, you best believe it does, and I saw it with my own eyes. Her husband had to tell her, it is okay Missy, this smoothie thing you are doing is making you drop the pounds too fast. You will soon disappear. Joke’s plan was to have her smoothies two times a day with lunch in the middle, and small portion snacking during the day. Like me, Joke ate purely Nigerian food and did zero exercising because for reasons she did not divulge, she could not join us in all our Sean T’ing. Remembering Joke and how my eyes almost popped out when I saw her post Stunnababez smoothie days made me say okay, in January, I will bring this to you guys.

My goal too is to have this two times a day. Once for breakfast. If I am too much in a hurry from waking up late, my hand blender and I are going to work and I will make it there. I will have a packed lunch, all made by myself. No more quick drives to the pub for lunch. In the evenings, I am going to have my smoothie again, freshly prepared, give it an hour then my date with Sean T before I have dinner. Again, I am going the Nigerian food way. I am not brave enough to take pictures now, I cringe looking at the mirror enough, won’t share that with the world, but after 30 days, I am definitely going to go snapping away because I know what works for my body. It may be the lemon, it may be the apple cider vinegar, or the oats that fills your tummy, I don’t know, but after seeing Temitope’s pictures, the pictures of her clients and Ms Joxy, I guess the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

Again, this smoothie is going to be part of a lifestyle of eating as I normally would with Nigerian food and an exercise regime of Sean T’s Hip Hop Abs, and if I get accepted by my couch to 5K running group, then it is with running 3 times a week. I will try and share my daily meal plan as I go. Nothing not cooked in my kitchen goes past this mouth. For the good of everybody, I am going to try to include some traditionally healthy Nigerian recipes, but as I said earlier, if I try to force it, I would get irritated with the process and quit. Join the Stunnababez smoothie challenge. I am making the Sokotastic Version this morning. On other days, I will try other Nigerian veg like Tete (green), Ugu and even Uziza or bitter leaves. You can try other veg like collard greens, kale and spinach.

Remember, you can Save this recipe using your FREE Big Oven Account/ Big Oven App on your Android, Iphone or Ipad and have my recipes with you everywhere you go.

The Sokotastic Stunnababez Smoothie

 

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Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

1 min

Total time

6 mins

 

Author: Dunni Obata

Recipe Category: Drinks

Serves: 1

You will Need

• 2 - 6 tbs of Cooked Oats - you can do this for 2 mins in a microwave
• 2 apples
• 1 handful of Soko, or three frozen cubes - you can also use Spinach
• 2 tsp of Apple Cider Vinegar
• A handful of strawberries - or any choice of sweet fruits
• 2 bananas
• Your choice of low fat milk - almond milk, coconut milk, tiger nut milk
• 1 tbs of ground linseed/flaxseed/moringa powder - my addition
• 1 red chili - my addition too

How To

1. Add all the contents stated above into a blender and blitz till smooth. You can use your nutri bullet, smoothie maker or hand blender.
2. Aim to consume within 15 minutes. Any longer and the nutritional benefits of the fruits will have deteriorated.

Dooney's Kitchen Tips

Temitope did suggest that you could halve this recipe if you find that it is too much for you to down at a go.
My problem with smoothies have always been the bland taste. After a few gulps, and no excitement of my taste buds, i find it difficult to finish a glass, so while grabbing fruits from the fridge this morning, I spied my red chili and thought what the heck, add it. Oh Wow. The heat was EXACTLY what I needed. I finished my glass in 30 seconds flat. Chilies are very good for your metabolism too, so go figure

3.2.2925

The post January #fitfam drive – The Stunnababez Smoothie Challenge appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.

If you live in the UK, you would probably know about Katie Hopkins. In a survey, she was voted as the second most loathed person in the world, right after Vladmir Putin. Ouch!!!!! But you know what, she probably doesn’t care. The woman has no filter. Like zero. She thinks it, she says it. End of. So, she undertook a project where she put on 3 stone (19kg) in 3 months and then lose it in 3 months to prove that if you eat less and move more, anyone can lose weight. No truer words. The documentary looked at her life before she put on the weight, while she was putting on the weight and her weight loss strategy. I picked up quite a number of things, and it inspired me to share my own story, if I can call it a story.

Hands up, I know genes are involved, hands up I know my metabolism is fast, hands up, I am not one of those skinny judgemental people. As someone who has recently put on a bit of weight, yes friends of Dunni, roll your eyes, but I know and feel different. Looking back to how it happened, I can tell you exactly why it happened, and I know I will drop it back down in a short period of time. Even with the genes and metabolism, if I can still pack on the pounds, it means I am not totally immune from weight gain.

The popular phrase, “whatever works for you”, I will tell you what works for me. Eating Nigerian food. Back track and read it again. Nigerian food, and that comes with the golden tip, cooking your own food. I look back at 3 and a half years ago when a friend was getting married. My weight ballooned to 69kg. The heaviest I have ever weighed in my entire life. You know how that happened? Let me tell you. While I was a student, money was very very tight, and eating out or treats were not on the budget, so I always cooked my own food and my weight stayed the same 58kg. Fast forward to getting my dream job and suddenly having all this money, I started “flexing muscle”, and eating out at restaurants, grabbing snacks outside of work, feeling lazy and picking up a takeaway on the way home from work and the weight just piled on. When I got back from Lagos after the wedding, I joined a gym and only lost 3kg in 3 months. WTH!!!!! So, I quit the gym and went back to what my body understands. Nigerian food and eating my own cooking. Nothing not cooked in my kitchen, entered my mouth, and within that same 3 months, I went down from 66kg to 59/60kg, without my gym membership. I basically just went about my every day life but ate only my own food, and my metabolism kicked back into gear, at optimum capacity and the weight fell off. 6kg worth of weight. I didn’t even realise it was happening until a shop assistant inadvertently gave me a size 6 dress in the changing room.

When I think back again to a brief time in 2012 when I had to save every penny I had towards a project, I found that during those months and the months after that, my body was a lean slim machine. What did I do? Not eat anything I didn’t cook. I couldn’t afford not to. Lol. Nigerian food gets a lot of flack for being fatty, unhealthy, oh it has all those carbs, oh, the oil, I can continue but what we don’t necessarily see is the fact that it is organic, very very nutritious, plus the best part, you are cooking your own food, you are in control. You can modify the contents to your taste. Best of all, you are eating what your body has been designed to metabolise since you were born. When I lived in Nigeria, I was averaging between 56 – 58kg. My hair was long, full and thick. Never reached 60kg in my life before until I moved to the UK. Now, I am at 63/64 and I am pissed. The goal is to go back to my 58, and be healthier too, because even at 58, I was out of breath after going up two floors.

So, this January, in fact yesterday, I threw out everything in my freezer I didn’t cook myself, or can’t cook myself. So, while Katie Hopkins kinda inspired this post, I am not on a “I am going to prove” so so so, but I am going back to strictly Nigerian food and home cooking, and a re-weigh at the end of the month, and subsequently every month end from then. You know I promised on Jan 1st, more Nigerian food on the blog, well I am moving in line with that ministry. Nigerian food is not as evil as you think it is. You see that health bar you just picked up, or that low fat, low carb, low all that jazz you bought at the store, your efo riro would probably do your metabolism more good. All you put into your Efo, your metabolism already recognises. Big Oladunni has been on my case to eat more fruit and veg, so the only extra I will be doing is consuming more of them through smoothies. I am not a breakfast kind of person, but I will use the smoothies to substitute. Yes, I will be eating my Eba, my semo, my pounded yam, my buka stew and all the soups I cook, even the Nigerian snacks too. Sharp intake of breath, yeah, yeah, yeah. Look back and your skinniest, and critically try to remember what you were eating during those periods, now fast forward to your heaviest current state and also examine what you have been eating. So, this is my #fitfam plan. Unconventional I know, some of you may read this and turn your nose up, but you are welcome to join me.

• The Stunnababez Smoothie with my twists
• Keep to my cooking methods. All that use cooking spray, measure 2 tablespoons of oil pledges have never lasted long. When I force the plan, I fall off the wagon
• Nigerian food all the way. Cut out everything processed, except if I have to make things like puff puff where I need flour and sugar
• Eat as I normally would. I have found that when I deliberately portion control, I feel even hungrier. So, I am keeping my portions the same
• Because I have taken to be following Supermodels on Instagram, bad idea, I know, or maybe a good thing. I am going to try to build muscle in my abdomen and thighs using Sean T’s Hip Hop Abs for 25 – 30minutes every day. I aint mad enough to do Insanity. Like Never. I have also joined a local running group and they have a Couch to 5K program for 9 weeks. I will know by next week if I have been accepted, as spaces are limited. If I don’t get in, I will just do a 1 hour run 3 times a week.
• Drink lots of water, something I don’t do as much and finally……
• Sleep. When I sleep less hours, I find that my metabolism is sluggish, so my 2am/3am bedtime to be awake by 7/7.30am will stop. I wrote this post at 2.40am on Sunday. Bad idea. Midnight will be my cut off point, and then it is laptop closed, phone kept in the living room and bed time.

My pledge, I aint eating any salads or diet food and all that jazz for anything. I will fall off that wagon veeeeeery fast. Funmi will probably laugh when she reads that sentence. I have tried it before. I am going to try to keep a visual food diary. I may not remember to do it every day, but I will try.

Katie’s motto was Eat Less, Move More. My #fitfam motto is Eat Nigerian Food and Move more. We shall see!!!!!!! Anyone want to join in?????? Don’t be scared. You’ve tried so many things and they haven’t worked, why not try this one.

The post DK January #fitfam drive – Eat Nigerian food and Move More appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.

Fear held me back in 2014, and when my creativity gets stifled, it literally feels like a well drying up. So, this year, I said to myself, to hell with it. A kpe ko to je, o kin je ibaje – sorry my Yoruba to English translation is terrible, but I think it means, he who is late to the game, doesn’t eat the spoils. I remember complaining to my mum, about people using my recipes for profit and she said with each one of them that is used for profit, see it as they are paying a deposit for you into the Bank of The Almighty. Your savings account is filling up, and when He starts to roll out the cheques, it will be much more than the deposits. How about the multitude of women who pray for you every day. They must definitely out number the caterers and restaurants, so just keep doing what you love. You have been given a gift, and the one thing He asks, is you share it. I swear, if you are looking for a pat me on the back, cuddle me kind of advice, better cross to the next street, and look for someone else. Big Oladunni gives it to you straight, in a no nonsense way. Once you get the message, then you can get the cuddles. I appreciate it now, that I am older. I didn’t before. In a world where people tell you what you want to hear, knowing I can always count on my mum to give it to me un-sugar coated, is truly a blessing.

Looks like a Pizza slice, feels like an Omelette to touch and chew, tastes like Moin Moin. Your senses are going to be buzzing with this dish. An explosion of sensations I tell you

The Moin Moinlette came to me purely by accident. It seems as if my appliances ganged up on me in December. Vacuum cleaner, kettle and rice cooker went caput. So, I was “jejely” minding my own business and looking for boxing day deals on rice cookers and kettles, when I came across this device. Note, I had sworn not to buy anymore kitchen gadgets in 2014, but it wasn’t my fault these items broke, and I was forced to venture into the dangerous territory of shopping for kitchen items. I happened to come across this half price deal. To my friends reading this, I swear, I swear, I didn’t go looking for it. It just happened on my screen. My Ijebu brain saw 50% off, and I zoomed in. Lol. Knowing how weak I am, I sent the link asking if it was a good buy. Another confession, I bought a halogen oven from Costco months ago, which I also haven’t used. Sigh!!!!! Addiction Alert!!!!. You know how you don’t want to do something, and you ask your friends for affirmation. In this case it backfired. They all said No, don’t buy it. Unfortunately, No isn’t a word I like at all. I am still that child that is told No, and then suddenly I want to do it. So from casual interest in wanting one, it became I must have one when they all told me No. Till date, I have only confessed to one of them that I bought it, and she said Olaaaaaaaaduuuuuni. The rest will find out, as soon as I hit the publish button.

The Moin Moinlette Slice served with Roasted Sweet Potatoes. #fitfam. You can serve this with bread, boiled plantain, boiled potatoes, even with Pap or Custard

In my defence, the experience of buying this device gave me The Moin Moinlette. I was watching the video demo of the product, and when it got to the part where it was used to make an omelette, it suddenly occurred to me to try it with Moin Moin batter. Before I made this, I researched vegan omelettes, and smiled. I was working in not so new territory, but goodness me, none of the recipes I saw involved blended beans. Then I started doubting myself. Would it work, would it be fluffy, would it cook through. I shook off those doubts and went on to research how to make a fluffy omelette. I already knew would be using eggs, but research made me separate the yolks from the whites and beat the whites for a fluffy Moin Moinlette. That was the clincher for me. Despite being exhausted from running errands yesterday, coming home to do a workout with Sean T, I knew I had to make this for dinner.

Is it a Pizza, is it an Omelette? Noooooo, it is a Moin Moinlette

When the batter started rising in the pan, exhaustion almost made me cry. Oh my goodness, it worked, it worked, it worked.  It looks like an Omelette, texture in your mouth feels like an omelette, but tastes like moin moin. It will scatter your head I tell you. Visual-Taste confusion. SCORE!!!!!!!!!!! This is similar to my Akara Pancake, (recipe HERE), but a lighter bean paste, and of course the eggs and the toppings. We already put raw eggs into moin moin before steaming anyway, but hey I don’t think anyone has thought to make it in a flat wide based pan, like an Omelette. If you would like to make this recipe very often, which I hope you do because it will work for any mealtime of the day. Remember to click on the Save button, and let Big Oven do the rest. Also download the Big Oven app on your phone/tablet (android/IOS), that way you can have your favourite DK recipes with you on the go.

You asked for more Healthy Nigerian Recipes,well, here is one. I put it first on Instagram last night. See, why you have to follow @dooneyskitchen. All the juicy tidbits gets published there first. Let’s Cook.

The Moin Moinlette

 

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Prep time

30 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

50 mins

 

The flattest, fluffiest Moin Moin you have ever eaten.

Author: Dunni Obata

Recipe Category: Breakfast, Healthy Nigerian

Culture: Yoruba

Serves: 2

You will Need

The Bean Paste

• Peeled Beans
• Onion(s)
• Tatashe - red bell pepper
• Ata rodo - scotch bonnet/habanero pepper
• Vegetable Oil
• Ground crayfish - optional
• Salt
• Seasoning cubes
• Eggs

The Toppings

• Chopped red chillies
• chopped green chillies
• chopped onions
• chopped tatashe
• chopped green pepper
• corned beef

How To

1. Blend your bean batter for moin moin as usual
2. When the paste is smooth, break your eggs and separate the whites from the yolks. If you are 100% fit fam, you discard the egg yolks. I have no such compulsions, lol. So I added the egg yolks to the bean batter and blended again till well combined.
3. Pour the contents of the blender into a bowl and season with salt, seasoning cubes and ground crayfish. You can also choose to add a little oil, so your Moin Moinlette doesn't taste dry. If you are 100% fit fam, I guess you will leave out the vegetable oil
4. Mix with a spoon till well combined. Taste and be sure you are satisfied
5. Now, to the egg whites. Whisk until they form soft peaks. I was in no physical shape to to this manually, so I used my hand mixer.
6. Gently fold in the egg whites into the bean batter, till well combined. You have to carefully do this so as not to lose the air you have whipped into it. .
7. Before you start folding in the egg whites, heat up your frying pan with a little oil or even butter, as you would before frying an Omelette. Or you can do this in a griddle pan too. Pour your batter, till it spreads out and fills the circumference of the pan, like you would an Omelette.
8. Sprinkle on the toppings
9. I started with a small amount of toppings, and later added the rest. You can add all your toppings at once, so they sink into the batter, and cook with the bean batter.
10. I set the heat to medium and watched as the batter was rising, thanks to the egg whites.
11. My device is the type that can close unto itself, so to keep the top moist, I covered it. Now, this is where I thought things might get a little tricky, especially as most of you reading this would only have frying pans. So, this morning, I used the remaining bean batter for a quick experimental breakfast using a frying pan. Last night, I was thinking, hmmmmn would it matter if the yolks are not separated from the whites? I mean, for someone in a hurry and wants a quick protein packed brekkie, who has time to whisk egg whites? So, I cracked one egg into the small bean paste, whizzed in a blender and whipped out the frying pan. I am happy to report that the Moin Moinlette was fine. Slightly less fluffy than last night's version, but only slightly. The spinning motion of the blender would also help to incorporate air into the beans. The best part, it also works great in a frying pan. Medium heat is all that is needed, just don't forget it there, while you go make your smoothie. I barely function in the mornings, not to talk of multi tasking, so pardon me, it is a little browner than I would have liked, but it proves that the frying pan works.
12. See, I told you it works. So you can choose to enjoy your Moin Moinlette like a Pizza slice or rolled up

Dooney's Kitchen Tips

I would like to add that the quantity of ingredients used for the bean paste will depend on how many batches you are making. I roughly used 2 cups (250ml) of peeled beans, half a red onion, 1 piece of ata rodo, 1 piece of tatashe and 4 eggs. I calculated the 4 eggs based on making a Moin Moinlette for 2 people. If I was making a standard Omelette for 2 people, I would use 4 eggs. Of course I didn't eat all this at once. My calculation was correct, and I was only able to eat half, while the rest will be my packed lunch today.

For the toppings, use anything you wish. From corned beef, to sardine to fried meats, smoked fish, smoked or boiled mackerel. Anything that goes into your moin moin or your omelette, or even Pizza can serve as a topping

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The post The Moin Moinlette appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.

I had written a draft for this post and went to dig it out. I checked the date and it was Sept 3rd 2014. Yikes. I have wanted to try this for the past three months and the opportunity just didn’t come up. If you read my Christmas Menu (HERE), you would have seen me write “#fitfam Akara with cherry tomatoes, shallots and a flavoured oil drizzle for breakfast”.

This should have been Christmas Breakfast. All red and green and Festive. Aint it a beauty

Funmi’s friend had told anybody who cared to listen that she was eating Waffled Akara for Christmas breakfast. She was telling me with excitement on her face. I was too exhausted from my marathon Christmas Eve cooking, there was no way I would have been up early to try something experimental for breakfast. Again, that didn’t happen. I was beginning to think this experiment was jinxed.

Well, thanks to #fitfam and my need to keep up my protein diet, FINALLY, I get to try this and it wasn’t without its struggles. I would like to say thank you to a reader from the US. You have asked me not to mention your name, even though I would very much like to. She wrote to me and said Dunni, give me your address, I would like to send you something to say thank you. I know most of us just say thank you with words and prayers, but I would like to take it further. I wondered what it could be that she was sending all the way from America, until a package arrived at my door and it was a Waffle Maker. OMG!!!!!! Thanks to you, I didn’t have to go buy ONE MORE kitchen gadget. God Bless you, girl. I remember she said, I hope you do something create with it. The very first time I used this waffle maker, was to make Akara Waffles last night. I have fulfilled your wish.

You can imagine how long I have been researching this, way before September last year. Like the Moin Moinlette (recipe HERE), I didn’t get much help from Google. Seems even with the vegetarians and vegans, Nigerians take the cake with cooking with blended beans. Like the Akara Pancake (recipe HERE), I also wanted to stay true to the traditional Akara recipe.

In a million years, you wouldn’t look at this and think Akara. Love the Visual confusion. hehehehe

Unlike Moin Moin which has evolved over time, Akara has basically stayed the same, and so the experiment begun. Oh dear, someone should have warned me. I started begging the gods of the Waffle Iron. Please stop sticking, what am I doing wrong, but my stubborn streak prevailed and I reworked the batter and applied more cooking spray.

some serious scraping off, when this happened, Arrrrrgh

I refused to let this waffle maker beat me. No Sireee

After the success of the Moin Moinlette, here’s to everyone who tried it yesterday. Thanks for the tags, the emails, the pictures. You guys totally made my day. Now here’s another beans batter challenge to try. Waffled Akara.

If you would like to have this recipe in your Big Oven Account or App, you will have to click on the SAVE button FIRST. Don’t go searching for this recipe in the Big Oven App. You have to Save it on the blog first, before it will appear in your Big Oven Account. Let’s Cook.

Akara Waffles

 

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

10 mins

Total time

25 mins

 

Akara has graduated. From a pancake to a Waffle. Healthy Nigerian all the way

Author: Dunni Obata

Recipe Category: Breakfast

Culture: Yoruba

Serves: 5

You will Need

• Peeled Beans
• Salt
• Crayfish
• Vegetable Oil
• Chopped Onions
• Chopped Tatashe - red bell pepper
• Fried Pepper sauce for serving - optional

How To

1. Blend the beans to a smooth puree. You can decide to add the onions and tatashe to the beans before blending. I did that because I did not want burnt bits sticking to the waffle maker.
2. The traditional recipe for Akara calls for stirring the bean batter to aerate it. You know I don't have time for that, so hand mixer to the resuce.
3. I let the engine run at 1 for about 5 minutes till I could see air pockets in the batter
4. Stir in the crayfish and season with salt
5. Heat up the waffle maker. Spray on oil, or you can dip a kitchen paper towel in oil and rub every usable surface
6. Here was my first one. I thought the bean paste was too watery, so I added some homemade bean flour
7. Pour into the waffle maker.
8. Next try, it was rising as it should, like a traditional waffle
9. Despite facing troubles with sticking to one side, I figured out that closing the waffle maker loosely helped the akara cook a little without sticking to the top. Once it was less wet i.e. half cooked, I shut the lid tightly to allow the top to cook, and it was fine.
10. A few warning points, you may likely get bits of the top sticking, see pictures but leave the device to keep running. As it gets hotter, the bits that have stuck become harder, and comes off the waffle maker cleanly. I have to add that I have never made a Waffle in my life before, despite eating it countless times, so if you are an experienced waffle aficionado, any tips you can share will be most welcome.
11. Anyways, I succeeded with my method, and my waffles turned out fine. . I found that the bottom bits were browner than the top bits, but it was fine. The best parts were the golden crispy edges. Yums!!!
12. Akara Waffles readdddddddddy!!!!

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2015 is starting out to be a good year. Thanks to #fitfam, I get to try out all these my ideas. You are going to notice a theme with beans this week. Easing my body of the carbs for now. Protein rules the roost.

The post Akara Waffles appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.

I was looking forward to my multi cultural dish. When #fitfam started this week, I made a list of dishes I was going to cook every day. By yesterday morning, I was itching to go home and try this. Then I read the News and it all kind of changed. I drove home listening to the radio on auto pilot. Suddenly my multi cultural dish didn’t feel so fantastic. In my head any way. Any time I think of grilled meat, I think of Paris. The best steak I have ever had and nothing has topped it yet was in Paris. I don’t know what it is about that city, but I have a bond with it that I can’t explain. I have been back to Paris more times than I have been to every other place. The pull for that place is strong. You need to see me the minute I step out from the plane at Charles De Gualle or the train at Gare du Nord. I am like a child at Christmas. I have been to other parts of France, but my heart always goes back to Paris. Yesterday it felt like someone desecrated one of my favourite places. Like when I heard about the Bill Cosby allegations or when Robin Williams killed himself.

As a creative, I just felt out of sorts. This is not a political post or taking sides with anyone, or justifying or trying to understand, or whatever. This is just empathising with people who went to work and never got to go back home. My dish celebrates multiculturalism. How we can take the best parts of different cultures and harmonise it. I remember when the Woolwich incident happened. My then flatmate who we had got on very well, suddenly became very hostile to me. I was very happy to see the back of him when he left to be honest, because my Nigerianess suddenly became a problem. Multiculturalism gets a lot of flack, heck an entire political party in the UK is gaining grounds to take it down, and I just wonder why we can’t all just get along. You may think I am probably being too sensitive, but I am just that, very sensitive and yesterday’s events hit a nerve. Taking a stand in solidarity with the people of Paris today. #JeSuisCharlie. If this offends anybody, well tough.

I still managed to make this dish yesterday, but the normal excitement I feel when I try out a dish I have had in my head and it works wasn’t there but my taste buds still celebrated its awesomeness. We can’t let them win, or change us. #wearenotafraid. This lamb is very very good, like very. I dropped the knife and fork and dug in with my hands. Who knew Rosemary and Uziza seeds could work like a match made in heaven. Rosemary goes well with lamb, and usually when lamb is seasoned, black pepper and salt are the other two ingredients, so I simply replaced black peppercorns with Uziza seeds. The result was outstanding. I have tried using Uziza to season Steak before (recipe HERE), so I knew it would be brilliant, but the addition of Rosemary just took it from 8/10 to 15/10. As for the Ukwa mash, I want to ease off from the carbs this week, so making Yam Mash (after mashed potatoes) recipe HERE, wasn’t on the cards at all. All that butter and milk, plus the yam. Mbanu (no way)!!!! Ukwa suddenly occurred to me, and I thought ooooooh, the buttery nuttiness would just be perfect with the lamb. The idea locked in my head.

Ukwa takes an annoying amount of time to cook. The cheat option is to use a pressure cooker, but when you are only cooking two handfuls, that would be a waste of your pressure cooker. Even after going out for an hour, albeit leaving it on very low heat, this thing still didn’t cook. I was a champion of #hungergames last night, but it was worth the wait. I left my sofa watching Revenge and sat down on the floor, with my hands on the lamb chops scraping every delicious meat off the bone. That Ukwa mash will have you dipping your fork in and going back for more and more. Paired with a simple Mediterranean Salad and it is a bonafide #fitfam dish.

I have been getting complaints about using Big Oven. I emailed the CEO last night, yes I am famzing like that and the problem has been fixed. Especially for Iphone users. Apparently there was a glitch with mobile safari and they looked into it. You know when Nigerians enter the building, they take us seriously. My apologies for the problem, you can go ahead now and save recipes from your phone. Also, people have told me they can’t find my recipes in Big Oven. You won’t find them because you have to Save a recipe first on the blog, before it will show up in Big Oven. I am going to put up an instruction video, hopefully tomorrow to answer all your questions. Let’s Cook

Rosemary and Uziza crusted Lamb with Ukwa Mash

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

15 mins

Total time

25 mins

 

Celebrating multiculturalism at its finest, with a combination of spices and ingredients from across Nigeria and the West.

Author: Dunni Obata

Recipe Category: Healthy Nigerian, Main Dishes

Culture: Food Fusion

Serves: 1

You will Need

• Lamb Chops - you can also use steak/fish/chicken
• A sprig of Rosemary - you can also use dried rosemary, about a teaspoon
• 1 tablespoon of Uziza seeds - you can also use black peppercorns
• Salt
• Ukwa - you can also use white beans
• Leftover stew
• Vegetable oil - optional

How To

1. Rinse your Ukwa and add to a pot
2. Add enough water to cook it, in fact add more because this takes a while to cook. A cheat option is to use a pressure cooker, or add a little Potash.
3. Give life to your leftover stew by adding it to the Ukwa. Re-season and let it cook.
4. When the Ukwa has cooked completely, it looks like Beans Pottage
5. Blend the Rosemary and Uziza seeds in a dry mill till you get a fine powder
6. This spice mix forms your dry rub, with the addition of satt, rub all over the lamb chops
7. Fire up your grill or grill pan, add a little oil, if you just to coat the pan. I have a device called Flavor Chef which doesn't need oil for grilling. Yaaaaaaay Team #fitfam. When the grill is hot, place the lamb chops on and sear each side for 1 minute, and keep turning over until browned
8. While the Lamb is cooking, using a hand blender, puree the Ukwa. You can either puree it to be smooth or Chunky. You can also puree in a food processor or blender. Don't add any water.
9. When your Lamb has grilled to perfection, add a little water, to the juices left behind in the pan, give it a minute or so, and that forms your gravy. We are #fitfaming so no alcohol or white flour or butter is allowed for gravy.
10. Pile on the Ukwa mash unto a plate, add the grilled lamb, drizzle on some gravy and serve with a side salad.

Dooney's Kitchen Tips

This dinner is so quick, you won't believe. Well apart from cooking the Ukwa, which you can start on early.

3.2.2925

The post Rosemary and Uziza crusted Lamb with Ukwa Mash appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.

So, on the back of Akara Waffles (recipe HERE), which has been tried to much success by so many people. I have now updated the post to show some of the pictures I received. We now have a new sister twist to Akara waffles, called  Akara toasties, that in my opinion has taken up the Nigeria Cooking Social media space by storm. Over 1K likes on Facebook, Wow!!!!!! Thanks a lot guys. 2015 is turning out to be a good year for experimenting and food innovation. #theministryismoving. I have been asked the same questions all over again about making Akara in a Sandwich maker. Someone did ask me how I do it with all these questions, and in these days of screenshots, one has to be very careful how one responds, so I said the truth really. It all boils down to it comes with the territory of being a food blogger. So, I am creating a post of how to make Akara in a sandwich maker. This answers ALL your questions and any question from henceforth will be directed to this page. It is a good innovation, brilliant actually, but if you have ever used a sandwich maker before, it is easy to figure out. If not, it is still easy to figure out. For all those who have tried it and sent me your pictures, thank you oh so very much because without you, I wouldn’t have pictures to post as I am going to have to dig out my sandwich maker, and when I do, I will be making an Instagram video of it, so don’t forget to follow @dooneyskitchen on Instagram.

Top 25 Questions I have been asked. Get your pen and paper and start taking notes. Lol

1. Is it the same beans used for Akara you made this with – Yes
2. Do I have to grease the inner bits before I pour the mixture in – Yes
3. Do I have to close the sandwich maker – Yes, to allow the top bits cook
4. Am I supposed to remove the plug from the socket after pouring the mixture in – REALLY???
5. Where can I buy a Sandwich maker and how much is it – any big electrical goods store
6. But it looks like Moin Moin not Akara – give it a few more minutes to brown, and you will no longer be in doubt
7. Won’t it “shock” me – if it does, it has nothing to do with the akara mixture, your device is bad
8. Recipe please – peel beans, blend with a little water, add chop onions and pepper, season and fry, or in this case pour into a greased sandwich maker
9. Do I have to turn it – No
10. Must the machine be hot before I pour the mixture in – Yes
11. Can any sandwich maker do this – sure
12. How many minutes will it take – it depends on your sandwich maker, it shouldn’t take that long though
13. What does it taste like – like Akara
14. Can I bake this instead – probably, but it would definitely be moin moin, or bean cakes
15. Can I put eggs in Akara – sure, I have seen people do it
16. Mine was sticking to the pan, what went wrong. Likely one of two things, not well-greased pan, or your mixture was not thick enough. That happened to me too at first, until I thickened the mixture, and the good results I have seen, the mixture was thick like proper akara mixture.
17. Can I use beans flour to make this – Yes
18. What can I use to thicken my mixture – either beans flour, or blend a very thick batch of peeled beans and add to your watery mixture
19. Will my husband like it – ask him
20. You are taking innovation too far, don’t you think – so said the person typing on a mobile phone with internet facilities created by the white man who thinks of limitless possibilities. Enough said.
21. What other things can I do with my sandwich maker – you can make pancakes with it, you can also bake with it
22. What can I grease the sandwich maker with – butter, veg oil, margarine
23. Can I put oil in the akara mixture – if you wish
24. I don’t like peeling beans but I want to try this – you can peel beans in your blender (process HERE) or Food Processor (click HERE)
25. Can I put other toppings in it like crayfish, pepper, meat, fish – Yes

I had to sneak one more in. I don’t have a Sandwich maker, I really want to try this new revolution with Akara without deep-frying. You can make this in a frying pan with less than a tablespoon of oil, like you would a pancake. I posted this recipe in Dec 2013, and it is catching on now. Never too late eh? My friend Vivian calls it The Pankara (recipe HERE). See testimonial pictures below

From Jossy

From Dupe

From Dedun

Someone even rolled it up, but she added eggs to the batter. I have tried to search for your picture to reference you, so if you see this please drop a comment and I will update the post with your name

Now, back to Akara Toasties. here are testimonial pictures

1. As you can see with this picture from Tonia, the akara mixture is thick, she also added toppings, and she must have greased her pan well because the akara toasties came out fine.

 2. Picture courtesy – Aderonke – see, no sticking. left for longer, it would have been browner and crispy

3. A well browned version from Love. How pretty is that?

3. Even browner, courtesy Freda

I have gotten so many pictures since yesterday, too many to post before this post becomes boring, but you get the gist now. Thank you so very much to all the people who have tried this. I hope this inspires you to try again if you were not successful the first time, and I also hope it inspires, those who haven’t tried it before. I also have testimonies from readers, to share about by Moin Moin Omelette now fondly called The Moin Moinlette. Click HERE to see the pictures

The post Akara toasties appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.

My first introduction to Moringa was through Big Oladunni. She kept touting all its benefits, and when my mother wants you to try something, you won’t hear the last of it. When I read up about it and saw weight loss, ooooh my eyes widened. Little did I know. I ordered the seeds online and let me just say i haven’t gone beyond 2 seeds in months. I eye the packet when I pick up stuff in my cupboard. Absolutely vile stuff, gross. I was waiting for the oh it turns sweet after chewing for some time. EPIC lie. Which sweet, where, how, when. It never happened, don’t let anyone sell you that.

Anyways, while complaining about the seeds to Ade, she sent me the leaves. I was veeeeeery skeptical, and sorry girl, you know that package you posted almost 8 months ago, I just opened it 2 Sundays ago. I have been looking at bulking up my smoothies with healthy stuff. I have tried Linseed powder and it was fine. To switch things up a bit, I tried the dried moringa leaves soaked in water. I was expecting bitterness, and was pleasantly surprised. It has a green tea, herbal tea-ish vibe to it which was lovely, and I thought oooh, this can be my go to refreshing drink. Coke and sodas are sheer evil. Sprinkles holy water. Lol. Maltina my all time weakness has 57 calories per 100ml, and a bottle contains times 3 of that. All empty calories. So, to quench my need for a drink, I am going the moringa way. It contains anti oxidants and all that jazz that are good for you.

Sunday Lunch – Roast chicken and beans stir fry

Tall glass of goodness

Quick Google search and I found recipes that already exist, so that was good. You can make gallons of this and store in the fridge, pack in your water bottle to work – hey, it means you may actually stand a chance of rejecting coke. All that drink water advice is just so boring. You can also pour in a bottle to drink during your exercise routine. You can infuse it with fruit to make it even more interesting, or use the tea as liquid for your smoothies rather than water. On cheat days, make a cocktail out of it. I heard drinking the tea twice a day is good to help fight fat. Don’t quote me please. Let’s mix.

Moringa Iced Tea

 

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Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

10 mins

Total time

15 mins

 

Author: Dunni Obata

Recipe Category: Drinks and Cocktails

Serves: 1

You will Need

• Dried Moringa Leaves
• Lemon
• Honey
• Ginger
• Warm water

How To

1. Measure out the quantity of dried leaves that you would like to make lets say a pot, depending on how strong it is. Add warm water. I read up that hot water kills nutrients in moringa, so it is best to use warm and let it steep for longer.
2. Halfway through steeping, roughly about 5 minutes, add lemon slices and ginger wedges and allow to steep some more
3. Drain the tea, sweeten with honey.
4. Pour into a glass, add ice cubes and garnish with a slice of lemon and fresh Mint leaves
5. You can make this in large quantities and chill

Dooney's Kitchen Tips

Remember not to make this with hot water. Use warm

3.2.2925

The post Moringa Iced Tea appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.

Hello folks, half way through the first month of the new year. Time is flying by again, I hope your 2015 has started really good. I must say, mine is rocking so far. What you can achieve when you get rid of your inhibitions and let your creative juices flow will amaze you. See me asking for a healthy/vegetarian contributor for the blog, and in two weeks, I have managed to do it by myself. Thank you Lord for inspiration, for guidance, for the gift of intuition and most of all, Grace to do what I do. The response so far has been very good, and you guys do cheer me on with your kind words and comments. Thank you, Thank you.

So, The New Nigerian Cookery has truly been in motion this year so far. It really has been embraced, more than I ever imagined, honestly. Sometimes I ponder about legacy. Coming from someone with my heritage, especially my maternal grandfather’s legacy which is still relevant today, decades after he passed on, I have always wondered what mine would be. What I will look back and say I did with my life. There may be so many things wrong with Nigeria at the moment, as someone said, “there is a collective wave of hopelessness that has swept through the nation for decades”. We may not be able to do something about the state of affairs, but guess what, we are the generation that did something with our food. Something our mothers didn’t teach us, something their mothers didn’t teach them. Something our counterparts in developed countries have taken for granted for years. My mother always said, “it is when you wake up, that it is morning”. It is sweeter to say in Yoruba, but cripes, my written Yoruba is terrible, don’t let me derail the post. We will be known as the generation that passed on “sense and sensibility” in the kitchen. Many of you reading this post would be between the ages of 18 – 45. I can almost imagine you teaching your daughters and sons (sons, please. very important), how to perform all these handy tricks in the kitchen, and it becoming their own reality. Sadly, if things don’t improve, these tips would be the sole domain of the rich and middle class, and it really does make me sad sometimes. Like I wish I can ship container loads of blenders, and mixers and food processors and microwaves to all parts of the country and teach how to use them in schools and markets, of course, provided that the government ensures stable electricity. Story for another day!!

I follow Jamie Oliver on Instagram and his work on creating awareness for healthy meals for kids in schools, is truly inspiring. He can sit down with his millions and make more, but he is using his celebrity star power to make a difference. Beyond the blog, beyond the success of Dooney’s Kitchen in the future, that is what I would really love to do, Lord willing.

I am bringing you something else that furthers the cause of The New Nigerian Cookery. As far back as Feb 28, 2014, almost a year now, I put up a post about how to make pounded yam in a blender (HERE). In that post, I also listed all the devices that can be used. A stand mixer was one of them, and I put up a picture given to me by Hannah D. Despite having a mixer for months now, which I haven’t used by the way, except to blend beans and pepper (long story), last night I decided to try it, especially as bakers have been writing to me asking me if pounded yam could be made using a mixer as they really were not fussed about buying a food processor. You know me, you tell me to try something, I will. Can’t help myself. Lol. So, thanks to my baker friend Feyi, who had also done this last year and told me what attachment to use. I just smile when people tell me, google searches of pounded yam in a food processor brings up Dooney’s Kitchen at the top, that is one of my legacies. Adding another one to the list for you guys at Google – a stand mixer. This is so simple, just like the food processor, and mega fast, just because stand mixers tend to have more powerful engines than food processors. Any baker worried about their device, might I remind you that bread dough, meat pie dough and fondant are much heavier than pounded yam? So, your device will be just fine. If you make fondant every day with the thing, pounded yam is actually giving it a rest. Hehehehehehe.

I posted this on Instagram last night and the Facebook Page – another reason to please follow @dooneyskitchen or Like Dooney’s Kitchen on Facebook. The interaction from your fellow readers and followers is sheer comedy. No drama, I promise you. Just people who love to cook and appreciate Nigerian food. My device is a Kenwood Chef Premier KMC570. It is quite a pretty tidy sum, but any stand mixer will do. If you have a food processor, unless you want to take up baking, don’t start/continue a kitchen addiction gadget this year. I should take my own advice. Looool. Let’s mix

Yam’s boiled at the ready

attach the beater to the stand mixer – picture of beater below

and here is the process live and recorded

No lumps, no sweat, pour all the yams at once, just turn the dial and it happens literally in seconds

Questions you may have

Which is better, stand mixer vs food processor - confidently tell you none is better than the other. I have been doing this for  years now, no difference.

Did I add hot water - No. I used really good yam, and the yam cubes boiled soft enough, so it was fine. If you feel you need to add water, add a little and run the engine for a few more seconds

What attachment did I use - I used an attachment called the beater. Kenwood has a patented version called the ‘K beater”. Almost if not all stand mixers of any brand would have a beater attachment.

The attachments most, if not all stand mixers come with. From left to right. The beater (used for pounded yam and for creaming cake batter), the whisk (used for of course whisking, egg whites, bean batter for moin moin, akara, ekuru), the dough hook for making dough for breads, meat pie, fondant etc)

Where can you buy it - you don’t have to buy this particular model, other Kenwood models and other brans would still do the same thing. Most big electrical stores will sell a Stand mixer e.e.g where you bought your fridge, freezer or cooker. In Nigeria, online stores like konga.com, jumia.com and dealdey.com would have them for sale. Big shops like Cash and Carry in Lagos, Park and Shop and possibly Game and Shoprite may stock it. I don’t live in Nigeria, what I have written is to the best of my knowledge and wouldn’t be able to answer specific questions, like where can I get this in Damaturu, for example. If you live outside Nigeria, no, I really wouldn’t answer that question. Lol

Food Processor or Stand Mixer - I will say food processor. Way more versatile. Don’t go buying a stand mixer first because you watched the video. Use the money for a food processor instead. Depending on your financial circumstances, you may choose to buy a stand mixer too (hey, I did), but I will advice you get a cheap one, unless you are going to be using it and I mean really use it for baking, don’t buy one. I bought mine on ebay for almost 6 months and last night was the very first time I used the mixing bowl. I have used my food processor one hundred plus time since then. Case in point.

How do I attach the beater - watch the video again, you will see where I attached the beater. For all stand mixer, that is the same point for all attachments, or better still consult your manual, or watch an “assembling a stand mixer” video on YouTube

Can you do this using a hand mixer - yes you can, stay tuned for the video

The post How to make Pounded Yam using a Stand Mixer appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.

Hi, my name is Dunni Obata, and I am a Recipe Developer. I feel like I should be introducing myself like that from henceforth, hehehehehe. You know what they say about packaging. 2015 is the year for rebranding, re-strategising and all the “re’s”. If you know how long this has been bugging me to the point of annoyance. When the #eatNigerianfoodandmovemore ministry started this year, the nagging feeling to make healthier Nigerian snacks hit me again. This time even much stronger, especially with the constant January bombardment of Diet Chef Tv ads where they say you don’t have to cut out your favourite foods. According to them, Fitfam, doesn’t always have to be about salads and food that don’t make meal times enjoyable. I repeatedly heard the phrase “you can still eat your favourite foods and not feel guilty about it. Well, you wouldn’t say. Looooool. Puff Puff was high on the list. What to do, what to do. The first thing was to get rid of white sugar, that was kind of easy, use brown sugar. Still, I wanted to push the envelope further, but I parked it to one side. Then the biggest elephant in the room, get rid of the white flour, boy that was hard. The obvious choice is to use wholemeal, but yuck, I can’t stand wholemeal (whole wheat flour). I am sorry, it doesn’t taste good for anything. Make pastry or bread product with just wholemeal and I wouldn’t go near it, even if you paid me. Ugh!!!

I researched other alternatives and yes, they exist but for you guys who live in Nigeria, it will be difficult to source, and totally unfair, to take that route, not to mention unpatriotic, hehehehehe, if the core ingredient of a much loved Nigerian snack isn’t made with an easy to source Nigerian ingredient. Then I thought wait a minute, Oat flour, of course, Oat flour. My joy was short lived. My research showed that yeast would not work with oat flour alone because it doesn’t contain gluten and it is low in starch, so you need to combine it with other flours with a high starch content like rice flour, tapioca flour, potato flour etc. I wasn’t aiming for a gluten free Puff Puff and still keeping in mind something easy to source in Nigeria, so I used wholemeal as a substitute to provide gluten. If you want to make a truly gluten free Puff Puff, then I have given you what to substitute, but knowing my aversion for it, I decided it would be a minor partner. Its only use is to allow the yeast work its magic.

The beauty of my research was the part where I read that yeast doesn’t need sugar for my mixture to rise. WHAT!!!!!!! That was an unexpected blessing, so I don’t even need brown sugar. I remember stopping, looking at the screen like twice and doing the happy dance. Remember that I don’t bake, if I did, I probably would know this but hey, as Mama says, “it is when you wake up that it is morning”. This fit fam movement has really educated me on things, I would never otherwise have been bothered to read about. Things like calorie counting, glycemic indexes, insulin production, yadi yadi yada. It felt like being in medical school again. Honey has a low glycemic index, oatmeal contains waaaaaaaaaay more protein than carbs and also low in calories, wholemeal is super good for you too in terms of protein and fibre. This is probably THE healthiest puff puff you will EVER eat, hands down in terms of nutritional value. I was talking about the legacy of Dooney’s Kitchen in a previous post, I hope this is something else, I can add to the list.

As the header denotes, this is at the Recipe Development phase, and I am going to fine tune it. I have seen so many twists to the moin moinlette, that I fully trust you guys to run with this. Do remember to share. I tried this out for the first time on Tuesday night and I remember biting my nails hoping it will rise. I mean, I had no recipe to work on, nothing to even tweak. This was all me, a true Dooney’s Kitchen original. So, I measured in the bowl and when the warm-ish water hit the mixture and I started seeing bubbles, I thought okay, this is working, this is working. I placed the bowl in a oven i had heated for 3 minutes and turned off. 20 minutes later it had risen and was smelling like puff puff, that yeasty smell. If you were blind folded you won’t even mistake it for nothing else than puff puff. Whoa, another 15 minutes later it had risen even more. I had to cover my mouth to scream, because it was so late at night. My first trial had to be deep frying, just to be sure it would rise in the oil like normal puff puff. As you can see the amoebic shapes, all down to my hands shaking because I was so nervous.

Or maybe I should just come clean now and say my puff puff frying skills are an epic fail. My flatmate and I wolfed it down in minutes. His first experience of Puff Puff and he asked to please take the rest to work the next day. My friend Kemi fries the best puff puff, so I have told her to try the recipe and take pictures. Come back next week, and you may see pretty balls.

When I tore it open, I could see the holes like a traditional puff puff. I am really detest honey and I was dreading the taste, but was pleasantly surprised to realise that I couldn’t detect a strong honey flavour. All I tasted was sweet as if I used sugar. The yeast reaction and alcohol produced, masked the honey taste perfectly, leaving only sweetness. The texture was perfect, not doughy as you expect with many wholemeal products

I kept my friends up on Whatsapp sharing my progress and Vivian said Dunni, I am not deep frying with you o, I will try it in a frying pan, like the Akara Pancake (recipe HERE). We agreed, we will call it Panuffs. I wanted to explore more options for healthier frying, and still get that aerated texture (like chewing air, hey, that is why it is called puff puff) and ball shaped. I suddenly remembered my ableskiever pan. Remember I talked about buying one in June last year, when I posted how to season a Kasko pan (HERE). I swear, my store is a treasure trove. I have had the thing since July last year and never used, so last night, I made the mixture again, yes my recipe worked again, and to my utmost surprise, the pan worked a dream. I think this is the “bestest” way to truly complete the healthy puff puff cycle. Each hole in the pan needs only a few drops of oil to fry, and you get to keep the ball shape, and aerated texture.

Pardon the burnt bits. There is a skill to turning out gorgeously brown, balls of airy delicious goodness. I got this pan on ebay. If you live in America, they are everywhere, if you live in Europe, buy on ebay. If you live in Nigeria, get a Masa pan. This nailed the “puff puff”, very well.

With the #fitfam movement, personally visual cues are important when eating healthy food. I wanted this to look like puff puff, taste like puff puff too, because hey it IS puff puff, just healthier. I did try the pankara way, but it felt kind of flat and dense. What you need is height, to get that aerated, feels like chewing cloud texture, so I tried the egg ring Funmi gave me, taking inspiration from making an English Crumpet. If you have ever seen crumpet batter, it looks a whole lot like puff puff mixture. You can also use crumpet rings to make this. This is another good way to go, but low heat is needed to allow it cook through for 5 – 7 minutes or more, otherwise, in trying not to let the bottom burn, you take away the ring too soon and it will fall flat.

Or you don’t want to go through the trouble, fry flat in a pan like an Akara Pancake. Of all four experiments, this was my least favourite, because it didn’t have that chewing air effect, it was more doughy. In order of favourite in terms of texture

‘Masa’ Pan
Deep frying (evil, hehehehehe)
Crumpet style
Panuff – (frying flat)

You want to be truly experimental, try it in a Waffle maker or Sandwich Toaster. I am still going to be tweaking and tweaking this, who knows, the final perfect product could just show up in a cookbook. Hey, y’all have to pay for that effort. Hehehehehe. Let’s make some healthy gorgeous puff puff.

Oats and Wholemeal Flour Puff Puff

 

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Prep time

40 mins

Cook time

15 mins

Total time

55 mins

 

No sugar highs, components with low glycemic indexes, which are good for you, best of all less guilt.

Author: Dunni Obata

Recipe Category: Snacks

Serves: 2

You will Need

• 1 cup of Oat Flour (158 calories)
• ½ cup of Wheat Flour (187 calories)
• 3 - 4 tbs of honey - depending on your tolerance for sweetness 64 calories per tbs
• 1 packet of fast action yeast (7g - 23 calories)
• ½ cup warm water
• 1 tbs of Sunflower oil (120 calories) for frying in a 'Masa' pan

Calorie Count

• Total calories 703 (using 3 tbs of honey). This can feed 2 people conveniently. Now divide by 2 and you've got a very healthy snack right there. 351 calories. No guilt. Say Thank you. Lol.

How To

1. To make your own Oat flour, simply blend in a dry mill as you would egusi for example
2. Measure 1 baking standard cup of Oat flour into a bowl
3. Add ½ cup of wholemeal, one packet of yeast and honey
4. Combine with warm water and stir till there are no lumps
5. Leave in a warm place to rise. I turned my oven on for 3 minutes and turned it off. This was after 15 minutes
6. and later after another 15 minutes
7. Choose your preferred method of frying. Mine is to use a 'Masa' pan, to which a few drops of oil are added to each hole and filled with a tablespoon of the mixture on medium heat.
8. Flip over when the bottom has browned, and chew airy delicious healthy puff puff
9. Likewise, you can fry like a crumpet or fry flat in a pan. See literature for details

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The post Fitfam Puff Puff – recipe development phase appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.

Yes, you read that correctly. Take a few moments to laugh would you, because I definitely did. This #fitfam movement is inspiring all sorts of revolutionary Nigerian recipes. All hail #TheNewNigerianCookery. Temitope of Stunnababez Cuisine first introduced us to fortifying our soup staples with vegetables. See Post HERE, and see quick pictorial summary of the process i.e. blend your veg, combine with your choice of staple flour and cook till firm.

Let me digress a bit, and talk about the word “swallow”. For the love of everything polite, I am still wondering how we came upon that word. It doesn’t evoke any pleasant food thoughts to be honest. I know it came from trying to find an English word for “okele”, but I am not sure “swallow” was a good alternative. I stuck to using the word solids, which in retrospect, what the heck was I thinking myself. Saying “solid” is just as bad, as it doesn’t mean anything. For creating content on the new blog, I was seeking out creative ways for certain categories. My friend Ade and I came up with The New Nigerian Cookery, which in my opinion is 100 shades of fabulous to describe the new wave of Nigerian Cooking. The next thing was to do something about that word “swallow”. Ade too can’t stand it, kindred spirit right there. We tried all sorts of permutations and one day while Googling Garri and other “solid foods” for inspiration, I came across a Wiki page. The word “staples” kept repeating itself on the page and from the dictionary meaning of the word “staples”, I knew I was on to something, and then it occurred to me to create the phase “Nigerian Soup Staples”. Eba, Amala, Fufu, Pounded yam are staples commonly served with Nigerian soups. Make sense eh?

Now, back to the “Ebbage”. Colouring a soup staple is fun using blended veg, but if you are averse to green, red or orange Eba for example, you can add the veg in whole, for the added bonus of also bulking up your soup staple, to help you feel fuller for longer.

Last summer, this was all the rave, in different colours and shapes

My favourite – such a beautiful picture, funny how people responded more positively

People tried it with beetroot, also veg and even beans. Then my friend Vivian put up a picture of her purple Eba on Facebook, which I also shared on Instagram. The comments were hilarious. See top right.

Vivian pureed purple cabbage, heated it up and added a handful of garri to firm it up, so technically, she is consuming more veg than starch. Genius right. Last week, I shared all my pictures shown above on fortifying soup staples with veg, and it kept my Instagram page very busy for hours. See why you should kindly follow @dooneyskitchen. The comments were just the best. I doubled over laughing so many times, I gave myself a headache. The purple Eba post was the busiest that day. I suggested that people can also use White cabbage, if the purple colour wasn’t agreeable. Oh, the comments. Click on it and laugh your head off.

Switching between Social media accounts can make my head spin on some days, but hey, I take it all in stride. That afternoon on a fitness group, Olaedo put up this picture using white cabbage and oatmeal. I also shared on Instagram and the comments

“I would rather be fat”

“I would rather eat more soup”

“The fat had better take over”

Come on people, it is not that bad. The day after, another fitfam sister Ruona also tried it and it is from her, the word “Ebbage” came about. Eba + Cabbage. Get it? Lol

I love the Nigerian social media food space. You come across all kinds of things. If you are a true foodie, you should get in on the action. There are many Nigerian food pages to follow on Instagram and Facebook. Your kitchen will never be boring. So, from henceforth, why don’t we call every vegetable fortified Nigerian Soup staple, “Ebbage”, like a collective word for it. Whether you use Oatmeal like Ameena, or Garri like this @zumbaforlife who immediately tried it,

Welcome to 2015, the year of The Ebbage. As many of us are making healthier food options, this is a great way to consume less of our starchy soup staples in one meal, and replacing with veg. You can try this with White Cabbage or even Pureed carrots, Sweet Potatoes, Butternut squash, Pumpkins, Celeriac, basically root vegetables that will hold their own. Some root veg might be too sweet that others though, so be mindful of that. Not sure leafy greens will do a good job though as they don’t contain as much fibre. The bland tasting the better, but I guess you can get used to the taste, especially as you are pairing it with a delicious Nigerian Soup.

Here is my video of making the Ebbage

Let’s Cook

The 'Ebbage'

 

Save Print

Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

10 mins

Total time

15 mins

 

A healthy lifestyle option to incorporate more veg, and fibre into erstwhile starch soup staples

Author: Dunni Obata

Recipe Category: Nigerian Soup Staples

Serves: 1

You will Need

• ¼ - ½ a small Cabbage
• ¼ - ½ cup of Staple flour - semolina, oatmeal, garri,
• Green vegetable - optional, but it would help cut down on the sweetness
• Water

How To

1. Cut your cabbage into Chunks and puree in a blender with as little water as possible
2. Transfer to a pot. You can also puree green veg with the cabbage
3. You can also transfer into a fine sieve to drain the water out, thereby cutting down on the cooking time and preserving the nutrients in the cabbage.
4. Cook the pureed cabbage until it almost starts to dry up
5. Add the powdered staple flour and stir till it firms up - refer to video above.
6. Once firm, the bottom of the pot should be almost clean
7. The Ebbage, should have a look and feel of cooked Eba
8. Here is the green version using cabbage and greens

Dooney's Kitchen Tips

You can also try this with purple cabbage, cauliflower, and I have even heard of Brussels Sprouts. For one tangerine shaped portion that fit on the base of my palm, I only used ¼ cup of garri. Would you believe that? ¼ cup.

I do realise that we traditionally don't use cabbage in our savoury dishes, as Nigerians, so if you are skeptical about this, why don't you try using Tatashe - red bell pepper, or even green pepper. You may just prefer that

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Using red pepper – tatashe. The one with no heat

Oh, and Dupe another #Fitfam sister tried what we now call the CauliPoundo. She pounded cauliflower with boiled yams. Brilliant eh. 2015, the year of The New Nigerian Cookery

The post The ‘Ebbage’ – the new Nigerian soup staple appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.