MOIN MOIN (POWDERED BEANS)

 

This is one I have been trying to get right for a while! I have flash backs of a burnt attempt at Uni; the house smelled burnt for days. Oh in case you were wondering we still ate it anyway….. we are not wasteful over here!

I have successfully made moin-moin with beans before but the whole soaking, peeling and blending process was such a faff I didn’t bother making it again. Then I discovered powdered beans and thought all my prayers had been answered, apparently not. Cue a slew of failed moin moin attempts including an odd one that leaked water when I pressed it and would not set up matter how long I cooked it. (I cooked it for almost 2 hours, yes I knew it was a no go after one hour. Can’t tell you why I kept going, also can't tell you why I was poking my moin moin).

Eventually with my sister’s help and guidance via Facetime from Canada (yay for technology) I got it right! I have made this multiple times since then and its success every time :-). I'm so excited to share this with you so let's go to the recipe! 

 

Moin-Moin (powdered beans) – makes 10

 

Ingredients

2 large eggs

2 bell peppers

4-5 white onions

1-2 scotch bonnet peppers

½ (125ml) cup of water

2 tbsp tomato puree

½ cup of oil

200g (1.5 cups) bean flour

1 tsp aromat

1 tsp salt

4 cubes knorr chicken

Additions of your choice – boiled eggs, mackerel, corned beef, chicken etc.

 

Method

Put the bell peppers, onions, scotch bonnet, water, puree and oil into a blender and puree until smooth.

 

Add in the bean flour and the eggs, and blend until smooth. Add the seasonings and blend to combine. Pour into a bowl and mix with a hand mixer or stand mixer for abt. 1 min to aerate. Alternatively you can mix by hand with a whisk or wooden spoon for about 10 minutes. 

 

Place 2/3 cup of the batter into each ramekin, foil dish, leaf, tray whatever receptacle you are using, sprinkle in the additions and seal your moin-moin. Place the moin-moin in a large pot and add enough water to come halfway up the side of the bottom layer of moin-moin.

 

Bring the water to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cover with a lid and steam for 40 mins – if your lid is not tight fitting add a layer of tin foil before putting the lid on. Check your moin-moin periodically to ensure that there is still enough water.

 

Enjoy!

Spicy Honey Chicken Wings

Spicy Honey Chicken Wings

Chicken wings are one of my favourite easy go to dinners. They don’t take long to cook, you don’t have to marinate them (but you could if you wanted to) and they are incredibly versatile; what’s not to love? I’m sharing with you today one of my fav ways to have wings, the spicy honey wings. This is so easy I can barely call it a recipe but I still will because what else will we call it? Let’s get into the recipe (keep up, we already agreed to call it a recipe)! 

Chicken Wings

600g chicken wings, cleaned

½ tsp each – salt, black pepper, onion granules, smoked paprika, ground ginger

¼ tsp garlic granules

2 tbsp. honey

3 tbsp. your fav hot sauce (I used Sriracha extra spicy)

 

Method

Season the chicken wings with the salt, black pepper, paprika, onion granules, ginger and garlic. You can cook them straight away or cover and refrigerate for 30 mins to 4 hours.

Preheat your air fryer to 190C. One heated, add in the chicken and fry for 25 mins shaking the basket after every 10 – 15 mins. Increase the heat to 200C and fry for a further 6 mins to crisp up the skin. Alternatively you can bake in a 200 C oven (400F) for 40 mins.

To confirm your chicken is cooked through, pierce the thickest part of the meat with a skewer, any juices that come out should be clear. If pink, it’s not fully cooked; put it back for a further 1-2  mins and check again. , if no juices it is overcooked; it will be a bit dry but hey, at least you won’t get salmonella (every cloud right?)

While the chicken is cooking mix the hot sauce and the honey together in a large bowl; Add in the cooked chicken and toss through. Tear into them animal style or delicately with a crisp side salad J

NO FAIL FRIED RICE

NO FAIL FRIED RICE

Yup that’s quite the declaration in the tile isn’t it. Lol. I have been making this fried rice for years and so far it has never gone wrong. I hope you love this recipe as much as I do and it becomes your go to fried rice recipe. Its super simple to make; the ‘hardest’ part of this recipe is dicing up the vegetables.

I recently got back from Nigerian and I had such an amazing time. I’m still adjusting from holiday mode and dreading my next working day L. Why cant I just win the lottery already so that work can be a thing of the past? Ah well while I keep dreaming lets get back to this fried rice. I was never really a fan of fried rice growing up because i never liked all the vegetables in it. The times I did eat it I painstakingly picked out everything that was not rice in that plate before settling down to eat.

As I got older I decided to make fried rice myself because this way I could put only the stuff I liked in it. I asked my mum for a recipe and it was  all going well until she said ‘you have to constantly monitor the rice because you add the water in small increments making sure to add a little more water each time the water is about to dry up to stop it burning’. Sorry mummy but I was not about to start stand guard over a pot of rice, forget that.

GARDEN EGG SAUCE

I am not a fan of garden eggs and no I have lost my mind posting a recipe for stuff I don’t like. Before you close your browser page and write me off completely let me assure you that I adore this sauce and you will too even if you hate garden eggs. The first time I tried this sauce I could not believe this deliciousness was made from garden eggs.

When I was younger I used to pretend to like garden eggs because all my older cousins that ate it used to make it look so yummy. I would take bit and wash it down quickly with water then rub the seeds on my mouth so that it looked like I was eating it lol! I think about it now and just shake my head. Why was I punishing myself and forcing myself to eat something so bitter?

 Eventually I realised it was not worth it and I stopped pretending; it is just too bitter; but believe me, something magical happens to garden eggs when you make it into a pepper sauce. Honestly I don’t know what it is but it just transforms from this bitter fruit into something oh so spectacular. My favourite way to eat garden egg sauce is with yam but it’s delicious with potatoes, cocoyam and bread and a whole host of other things.

COCONUT AND PINEAPPLE FROZEN COCKTAIL

Anyone who knows me knows that I absolutely looove Vodka; Its definitely my booze of choice. One of my favourite vodka brands is Ciroc (others are Russian Standard and Ketel one) and I absolutely adore the coconut, pineapple and peach flavours; I love them all but these three in particular are amazing; sooooo good! Today’s recipe uses a whole cup (250ml) of the pineapple flavour; yup one whole cup.  I like my cocktails really strong but don’t be scared you can always reduce the amount of vodka in it if you don’t like your drinks yummy strong. 

I recommend putting half a cup of vodka and then tasting it as you blend it and adjust it to your personal taste it. I almost don't want to call this a recipe because it’s so easy. Really the hardest thing you will do here is make the coconut syrup and that's pretty easy! The recipe for this coconut syrup is taken from the The Food Charlatan. I adore her blog and regularly spend hours just drooling over the recipes there. 

Her recipe calls for corn syrup but corn syrup isn’t readily where I live so I substituted with sugar syrup. All you do is add 1 tbsp of sugar and half a tbsp of water and heat in the microwave for 10 – 30 second increments till the sugar is completely melted; took about 50 seconds in my microwave.

SUYA SPICED CHICKEN OR TURKEY DUMPLINGS

Helllllllllloooooooooooooooo, anybody there?? I know its been a while since I blogged but I have had so much going on since the last time I blogged. I’ve moved house twice, gotten married and changed jobs amongst other things. Anyway I’m back with this delicious recipe that I hope will make up for my absence.

I’ve always liked experimenting with food, mixing cuisines and trying new takes on food. As anyone who experiments with food knows some are great, other not so much. One day I will take pictures of kitchen fails and post them up here; some of them are really bad. Sometimes I feel so sorry for hubby cause he has to think of creative ways to tell me that the result of my last 2 hours in the kitchen are a fail!

Anyway back to this recipe; I've always liked dumplings but I had never tried to make it before because I was too lazy to do all the chopping involved. A few weeks ago however Afrolems posted a picture of dodo gizzard dumplings and I thought that was pretty cool which got me thinking about other potential dumplings.

PLANTAIN AND PECAN MUFFIS

Ok guys here it is, my final instalment in the plantain series. I know this one took a while to come but believe me it is so worth the wait. When I started the recipe testing to use plantain in new ways this was the one I was most excited about.

I was super nervous throughout the process because I wasn’t sure if they were going to taste like I had imagined they would but as I took the first bite they were even better than I could have imagined. I am so in love with this recipe, it has definitely become one of my favourites.

These are real muffins, not those little muffins that are basically glorified cupcakes, these are big with a nice high dome and packed full of flavour. Now don’t get me wrong I love cupcakes too but its a bit disappointing when you are expecting a muffin and you get a small dainty cupcake, there is a time and a place for small and dainty and that time isn’t when I want a muffin.

This batter comes together so quickly and you don’t even need a mixer; one thing that i definitely recommend is resting the batter overnight. I have done this with all my muffins since I read about it in a cookbook (Bouchon bakery by Thomas Keller if you are interested) and I promise you it is completely worth it. Resting the batter gives the flour time to hydrate, thicken and build some gluten which gives structure and helps result in a tender, moist muffin when  baked.................................. in English that means rest your batter  J.