Quick Starter - Prawns & Dodo

Truth be told, I do sometimes resent having to labour over the stove for guests, especially those ones that did not give you enough notice that they are come...and as always, they want to be treated to your usual signature dishes...!

So I keep coming up with loads of different food ideas which can rescue me from this sorts of sticky situations.

The recipe I am sharing today is one of them. Very simple and straight forward dish with little effort, and requires no elaborate ingredients.

I have now grown to love my fish mongers at the Ozumba Mbadiwe Victoria Island (under the bridge) fish market in Lagos. The size of the prawns I get from there is huge, I mean, really huge. Still, they come in different sizes, and I kid you not, when cooked and curled up, some of the prawns can be as big as the circle you make with your index finger and your thumb...!

So this my quick starter, prawns and dodo dish, when served with some wine, cocktails, mock-tails or just a delicious blend of fruit juices, is really satisfying. Serving with some fruit salad or a nice crisp salad, you will be absolutely fully satisfied,,,,no you wont need anything else but to put the movies on, of just commence our "gisting" spree...!

It tastes delicious every time, not requiring too much condiments to bring out the tastes. It just needs careful preparation to ensure the prawns and plantain have the right texture, and careful plating to create that wow factor for your guests. Excellent served as a starter, canapes, finger foods or even as a light meal.

What you need

• Ripe plantains
• Large fresh prawns (the larger the better really)
• Chopped chives for garnish
• Pre-cooked spicy ata dindin (dip) - get my premium ata din din recipe here

What to do

1. Cut the plantains into shards and deep fry until cooked through. Set aside.
2. In order to keep the texture of prawns plump and juicy, I have a trick that I use. I shell them de-vein them and allow them to soak in some water with added baking soda, for about 30 minutes prior to cooking.
3. The prawns are pan fried in a shallow pan for about two minutes on each side. 
4. Then dip the pan fried prawns into the pre-cooked ata dindin for another 5 minutes or so, or until it is served. Then on a mini platter, serve the prawns and dodo attaching them to each other with a toothpick. 
5. Serve with some additional ata dindin (dip)

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Plantain Shards with Red Spinach Efo Riro

I love exploring new things, new food ingredients, new techniques, and such and such.....that is just the way I am....!

I eat plantains regularly, not only because they represent one of the most staple sources of carbohydrates in Nigerian cooking, but also because they are versatile to use in different dishes, are extremely delicious and most importantly, they are a healthy source of slow release energy.

I have so many plantain recipes (check them out here), and I continue to explore new ones to suit my taste, preference, mood etcetera.

So in this recipe, quite simply, I cut plantains in the form of shards and deep fry them. I always fry my plantains with my oil of choice, coconut oil. I imagine you can cook the plantain shards by roasting, baking or boiling..... You are sure to achieve an equally fantastic dish.

Plantains as I said earlier, are very versatile to serve with a range of different soups/stews or other dishes like pottages and hotpots.

Well, after having discovered the wonders of Red Spinach, I made some Efo Riro out of them, and I tell you, they tasted equally delicious, you wont know the difference except for the intense deep red colour, and trust me you will be benefiting immensely from the overload of nutrients that this vegetable packs.

Anyway, I served my deep fried plantain shards with red spinach efo riro, and it was exotic and delicious.

Try it out..

What to do

• For the shards, you need just ripe plantains that are still firm to the touch, So i peeled them whole and then cut them into 3 equal parts (or perhaps two depending on the size of the plantain.
• To make the shards, I cut through diagonally, each of the previously cut 2/3 chunks then I deep fried in coconut oil. Ensure the oil is not too hot so that the plantain can cook deep within its core.
• Remove fried plantains and lay out on some kitchen towel to remove excess oil.

Plating

• Arrange carefully on a plate in a circular shape, and serve some red spinach efo riro in the center. Garnish with some tender shoots from the red spinach bunch.
• Enjoy

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Red Spinach, Seafood Pepper Soup

So now that I have discovered the goodness of Red Spinach.....I went to work on how best to put it to use and to start getting all the goodness it offers. Read more about Red Spinach here

Red spinach is loosely called that, but really it is red amaranths, and thus can be used, cooked and eaten in similar ways.

The first red spinach recipe am sharing with you is the Red Spinach Seafood Pepper Soup

I could literally feel my age drop as I ate this soup, each table spoon added days to my year......really, really hehehe. This is because it is so intense in its colour, taste and flavour. And because I know that the brilliant colour of the soup is an indication of the richness and goodness of the soup....its packed full of minerals and vitamins vital to good health and for fighting signs of aging..!

Whereas people tend to discard the some-worth dark coloured water created by cooking green amaranth, on the other hand, the deep coloured water created by cooking red amaranth is priceless in its nutritional value and also its visual appeal.....

The recipe is so simple and straight forward....

Its as simple as adding some handful of finely shredded red spinach to some freshly made seafood pepper soup, simmer until the leaves soften, then serve hot preferably with some eko or agidi.

Simpy divine....a must try

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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......

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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....

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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.

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Meatballs Efo Riro (Meatballs in Stewed Amaranth Greens)

So now I have quite a lot of meatballs in my freezer, after having made some previously (check post here). I particularly made them so that my daughter can readily have some whenever she wants....cause she loves meatballs. The idea of eating meat off the bone does not wash with her, and she wants little effort possible to chew her meat...!

Meatballs are great with pasta, and also with rice. And as a new discovery for me, they are excellent in traditional Nigerian soups.

So my daughter was the one who suggested that I should add some meatballs to my traditional vegetable soup, so I did, and the result is fantastic. The meat balls cooked so quickly and they soaked up so much flavour from the soup base. It is delicious, very simple to make, with very little effort.

What you need
Home made meat balls (check recipe here)
Base sauce to make the soup
Stock
Some palm oil (or other vegetable oil of choice)
Amaranth greens (blanched and shredded)
Locust beans
Whole smoked prawns (remove the head, and wash thoroughly in hot water)
Vegetable oil
Salt to taste

What to do
Heat some vegetable oil in a sauce pan and pan fry the meatballs until browned slightly.  This process is needed to seal the juices in the meatballs. Stir constantly to avoid burning, Once the balls have evenly browned, remove from the pan and allow to rest,

In the meantime, heat up some palm oil in a saucepan and add a generous amount of pre-made red pepper base sauce (see a recipe here). Add the stock and some locust beans. Allow sauce to sizzle and reduce into a slightly thick consistency. Taste for salt.

Now add the meatballs into the sizzling sauce and stir in. Also add the blanched and shredded amaranth greens. Cover the pan and turn heat down. Allow to simmer until the greens and the meatballs cook through. The amount of greens and meatballs you add will depend on the quantity of sauce you have. Adjust consistency by adding a little hot water, as required. Taste for salt.

Serve hot.

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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...!

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Chin Chin Truffles

A truffle is a soft sweet, made with a chocolate mixture, and added flavours, often served as dessert; (not to be confused of course, with the expensive fungus delicacy, of the same name which is used in cooking.)

Chin-chin is a popular snack in Nigeria, made by deep frying a sweetened dough mixture. As part of my journey discovering new ways of serving Nigerian food, I have done a few things with chin-chin such as adding to desserts as a base or just to add  some texture crunch...

Chin chin could be quite versatile depending on how imaginative you are in the kitchen. (Check out all of my chin chin recipes here.)

So my newest creation, Chin Chin Truffles are so easy to make and are delicious to eat. They come in handy to serve to guests in combination with other sweets like coconut candy.

Check out how to make some below.

What you need
Good quality chin chin extra crunchy. You can buy some in the store or make some (recipe here)
Condensed milk
White milk chocolate

What to do
Place the chin chin into a plastic bag and using a rolling pin, crush into fine small pieces. You can also use a food processor to achieve the same outcome.

Transfer the crushed chin chin into a bowl and add the condensed milk and melted white chocolate. Stir all ingredients together until well combined. The result should be stiff mixture. (Adjust stiffness by adding more or less condensed milk.

Then with slightly moistened hands, take a little quantity at a time and roll into balls....(or use a mould to achieve what ever shape you prefer.

Chill before serving

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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.

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Blueberry Cheesecake Macaron Recipe (French Meringue Method)

Hello everyone! Time for another recipe. This one is a highly favorited recipe by some of my customers. If you love blueberries and you love cheesecake, this one's the macaron for you! One of my fave macaron flavors, since it's creamy and not too sweet.

Blueberry Cheesecake Macarons (makes about 12 completed macarons or 24 macaron shells)

Ingredients:
-70g almond flour
-10g Graham Crackers
-2 drops Blueberry Flavoring
-50g powdered sugar
-52g egg whites (doesn't need to be aged)
-52g granulated sugar
1 drop blue food coloring
1 drop purple food coloring
pinch of salt
Crushed graham crackers, for topping

Materials:
-Hand mixer/stand mixer
-Piping bags/tips (#12 Wilton)
-Silpat/parchment (I prefer Silpat)
-Aluminum baking half sheets (Nordic Ware/Costco/Smart and Final)
-Rubber spatula
-Bowls

1. Grind your graham crackers, almond flour, salt, and powdered sugar in a food processor. Then sift together into a large bowl. Add the blueberry flavoring. Set aside.
2. Weigh out your egg whites, and put it in a large bowl (either stand mixer or not).
3. Beat your egg whites until frothy, and slowly add in the granulated sugar.
4. Once sugar dissolves, beat at medium high speed until thick and glossy. It should look a bit droopy but that's fine because when you turn the bowl over, it doesn't come out.
5. Add in 1/3 of your almond powdered sugar mixture and mix until just combined. Add in the rest in small additions and then fold like you normally would (shown in my videos) until thick but still flowing in consistency (like magma). Add in the drops of food coloring at the last second before you put it in the piping bag so it makes a swirl effect.
6. Put it in a piping bag and pipe out 1-1.75 inch circles on a baking sheet lined with parchment or Silpat. Then rap the trays on the table until they are flattened to get rid of air bubbles. If you let them dry too long, they get lopsided.
7. Now is a good time to preheat your oven to 300 F (150 C).
8. Let the macarons dry (with a fan or not) for about 15-20 minutes. When it's almost time to bake them, you can pipe out your next tray.
9. Bake the macarons in the middle rack of your oven for 15 minutes.
10. Let cool for about 10 minutes.

Blueberry Cheesecake Buttercream (makes enough for 1 dozen, plus a little extra)

Ingredients:

-1 stick butter, softened
-1/3 stick cream cheese, softened
-1/4 cup freeze-dried blueberries, ground
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-1/3 cup powdered sugar

1. Beat the butter in your hand/stand mixer for 3-5 minutes, til it is light and fluffy. Then add the powdered sugar.
2. Add in the cream cheese and beat until combined.
3. Add in the ground freeze-dried blueberries until it is a pretty purple color.
4. Sandwich two similar-sized shells together and store in the fridge until ready to eat. :)

I like using freeze-dried fruits in my buttercreams because it doesn't add moisture to the butter and it is so much more concentrated than fresh fruit. People often think contrary, but this is really the best way to get the most flavor.

Enjoy this recipe! <3

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