Red Spinach Efo Riro for Lunch

Okay, so I made some Red Spinach Efo Riro, a really delicious, exotic and extremely nutritious vegetable dish....seriously, this is one of those dishes I have eaten that I literally feel myself getting "younger" hehehe...., that's how much overloaded the dish is with antioxidants.

I now regularly eat this wonderful vegetable dish and have decided to share some pictures of how I enjoy eating it.......

Serving suggestions: serve generous amounts with pounded yam, gari. plantain. boiled yam, semovita, fufu, amala, boiled rice etc

Red Spinach Efo Riro with Plantain Shards

Red Spinach Efo Riro with Gari

Green & Red Spinach Efo Riro

Red Spinach Efo Riro with Pounded Yam

Read More

Simply Boiled Plantains

Plantains are just so versatile, and contrary to what you might have heard about them, they are a healthy source of slow release energy....!

There are several ways of preparing and serving them.....baking, frying, roasting, mashing, pounding, making into snacks etc. What you make them into or how you process them is determined by their stage of ripeness. Read more about plantains here.

I love plantains and have several recipes on then (Check here for more recipes on plantains )

I want you to get inspired by this simple plantain dish. No fuss, ready in a few minutes, especially if you already have some rich and smooth red pepper sauce/stew.

The highlight of this dish goes to the sleek arrangement of the evenly sliced boiled plantain.......hmmm Simply gorgeous....

Make some as served with what ever you fancy. Mine is served with some stewed turkey....

What you need
To make the boiled plantains:
You need ripe plantains
Salt.

What to do
Place enough water into a deep base pot and add a pinch of salt. Then place your un-skinned plantains in and allow to boil for about 10 minutes. When boiled/soft, remove the plantain from the pot and carefully remove the skin. Then using a sharp knife, slice across its with, into thin even slices. Serve with any any side of choice, preferably vegetable stews......

Read More

Baked Garden Eggs with a Spicy Peanut Sauce

Garden Eggs (a family of aubergines) are readily available in Nigeria, sold on every street corner, and eaten largely for snack. There is nothing wrong with eating them for snacks, actually, as they add to your five a day fruit and veg requirement. (Read more about Garden Eggs here)

But because I aim to eat for health, I am always finding new ways to eat more vegetables, ways to actually make them the core of my meals. So after having Grilled them, Spiralized them, Stewed them, I have now also decided to bake them....!

I have discovered that baking garden eggs actually gives them a better texture than boiling them. With baking, you do not have to remove the skin and this stills helps to keep the rigidity as compared to boiling where the skin is often removed and the flesh becomes mushy.

I love the fact that I can keep the skin on, because it is so important to the overall fibre content of the veg. The skin also helps to keep the garden eggs in shapes and make them ideal for this particular recipe, because part of the recipe involves serving a delicious sauce in the baked garden eggs!

If you are serious about eating healthy and want to include a variety of different dishes in your diet, you must give this dish a try. Its got its own character, you have to taste it to understand it....

What you need

• Fresh garden eggs (choose the larger ones if possible as they will serve as holding cups for the sauce)
• A balanced combination of chopped red, green peppers and onions
• Some precooked red pepper base sauce
• Dried fish (use dried fish such as Panla/Oporoko or any other type of fish pieces that you fancy. These will provide much needed protein to balance your dish)
• Peanut butter
• Salt and peppers to taste

What to do

• Start by washing the garden eggs and removing the stalks. 
• Then core out the garden eggs creating a hollow in them
• Sprinkle freshly milled salt and pepper on the eggs and place them on a baking pan.
• Then drizzle some coconut oil on them, cover with foil paper and bake in an oven for about 10 minutes (depending on how soft you want them to be). Covering them enables them to sweat and cook without drying out.
• Then remove the foil and continue to bake for another 5 minutes or so. This will let the eggs brown slightly and help them keep their rigidity
• Remove from the tray and serve hot with some delicious Spicy Peanut Sauce

For the Sauce: Peanut butter is traditionally served with garden eggs, so creating a peanut sauce to serve with this dish works perfectly. All you need is to brown some peppers and onions and add some precooked red pepper base sauce. Add some dried fish to provide a bit of much needed protein, then also add some peanut butter to add extra taste and flavour to the overall dish....

Read More

Moin Moin Loaf

I like you to explore new ways of cooking moin moin because I totally understand how tedious the process can be. So I personally always explore new ways to make my life easier in the kitchen.

I was working with a hotel in Lagos recently and was asked to come up with a new way to serve moin moin as a buffet option.

Typically, moin moin is cooked in individual containers or portions.....so to save space on the buffet table and create a more compact and individualized platter, I decided to steam (not bake) the moin moin in a bread loaf tin. This made the moin moin come out shaped like a loaf, and was really easy to slice into individual portions, easy for diners to take slice by slice.

See some of my delicious moin moin recipes:
1. Moin moin made with fresh beans
2. Moin moin made with bean flour

What to do
Make your moin moin batter as usual and pour into a non stick baking pan.

Then carefully place the pan into a steamer and steam until cooked. The time may vary depending on how deep the pan is. Use the same method of checking if your cake is done, by sticking a fork (or stick) in the center. The stick must come out clean.

Before serving, allow the cooked moin moin to rest for a few minutes. This will allow the moin moin to take shape and firm up.

Slice in readiness for your guests.

Read More

Sauteed Avocado & Shrimps

Its been well established that avocado pears are great for health. They are quite delicious too, but that is when they have well ripened, and soft and full of flavour.

Okay, there are sometimes when you get the craving for avocados and the ones you have at home, are not quite ripe enough... so what do you do. The normal thing to do is wait a few more days to allow them ripen and soften. But what if you do not have that patience...

I know its not a common thing to do, but I cooked my not so ripe avocados and I absolutely loved it. You have to try it.

What you need

Firm, not so ripe avocados

Cooked shrimps

Chopped onions

Chopped red peppers

Pre cooked red pepper sauce

Chopped green peppers

Salt

Black pepper

Coconut oil

What to do

1. Cut into the flesh of the avocado pears and dice evenly. Set aside.

2. Heat some oil in a pan and add the chopped onions, peppers and a good amount of pre made red pepper base sauce. (Use an amount which is in proportion with the other ingredients.). 

3. Allow all to sizzle together, for a few minutes or until the onions and peppers soften.

Then add the cooked shrimps and allow to heat through. Finally add the diced avocados. 

4. Toss all ingredients around until the avocados soften. Sprinkle salt and pepper and adjust taste.

5. Serve with some toast.

Read More

Nigerian Minced Beef & Mashed Plantain Bake

So, am really excited about this recipe....the tastes and flavours and textures I experienced from this dish, I cannot describe, you just have to find out for yourself....!

First I have to say that the minced beef we get in the UK and the one I made myself (here in Lagos) with the local beef in Nigeria, are like chalk and cheese....miles apart in taste and texture and juiciness...omg!

Already, Nigerians are known to favor beef with a firm texture, which is able to retain and soak up lots of flavours... This is because Nigerian cows are largely organic, fed on natural grass and vegetation, and put through a lot of "exercise" because they are reared by the a Nomadic Nigerian tribe known as the Fulanis. Everywhere they go, they take their cows and allow them to graze on natural vegetation as they move from one place to the other....actually they move in search of vegetation...!

Anyway, I am totally in love with this beef, and when I decided to make some home-made mince out of them, I was so pleasantly surprised by the outcome....its so different (pleasantly I have to add), from what I was used to eating in the UK.

So I was looking for new ways to do a plantain dish, especially ripe plantains which are so much available and tend to deteriorate quickly...I was in search of other exciting ways other than just frying or baking as usual... My first attempt of making this mince and plantain combo was a hit... As I said, you have to try it to fully appreciate this dish.

What you need
Ripe plantains
Lean beef (remove all traces of fat and tendons and wash beef. Then cut into chunks. Using a food processor or meat grinder, mince the beef and set aside.)
Onions
Red peppers
Green peppers
Stock powder
Salt to taste
Unsalted butter
Cconut oil
Peeled plum tomatoes or tomato paste

What to do
Cut the plantains in half, unpeeled and boil in salty water until soft. Then peel the plantains add a knob of butter and mash in a bowl using a fork. You may wish to remove the black row of seeds from the plantain before mashing (this is optional). Mash into a smooth consistency, set aside

In a sauce pan, heat some oil and add chopped onions, red and green peppers and stir. Allow to brown slightly, then add the minced beef. Stir all ingredients together to combine. Then add chopped peeled plum tomatoes. Now is the time to add some stock powder and/or salt to taste. Adjust according to your preference. Allow the beef to cook through (the pink colour turns brown to indicate the beef is ready.)

Now place the mashed plantain and the cooked minced beef into an oven dish in alternating layers. Allow to bake for about 15-20 minutes in a preheated oven at 180 C. When the top layer begins to brown/crisp, then it is ready.

Remove from the oven and allow to rest (cool) for a further 10 minutes before serving.

Note:The dish tastes even better when allowed to rest in the fridge overnight...!

Read More

Baked Over-ripe Plantain

Plantains are so versatile, they can be used in whatever stage of ripeness they are...! I love that about them, and the interesting thing again is that they have a distinctive different taste at these different stages.

Another interesting thing is that, their taste is further developed or enhanced by the method used to cook them and also the other ingredients paired with them...and I do have a craving for some of these distinct tastes from time to time, depending on my mood.

Today's recipe works best with over ripe plantains....and because plantains do tend to ripen quickly, I do not tend to panic if I have an over ripe one in my larder. I just deep fry it first for a few minutes then transfer it into an oven to bake until it attains this "dryish" but not burnt texture, which is excellent to serve with some spicy salsa style sauce. And because the plantain is at its ripe state, it tastes really sweet, which also combines well with the saltiness and spiciness of the dip. Try it

What you need
Over ripe plantains
Coconut oil
Salt and black pepper
Some ginger powder

What to do
Peel the plantains and cut into large chunks. Sprinkle some salt, ginger and black pepper. Deep fry, for just about 2-3 minutes in hot coconut oil preferably, (because its healthier to fry food using it and also because it imparts some flavour).

Remove the deep fried plantains and arrange on a baking tray. Smash the individual plantain chunks with a mallet or rolling pin, to flatten them a little.

Allow to bake for about 10-15 minutes in a hot oven, turning occasionally to avoid burning. Remove from oven and serve with any dip of your choice.

Read More