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.

MINI PLANTAIN PANCAKE MUFFINS

Hey guys, I’m back to continue my plantain series. I have been having so much fun experimenting with plantain. I should have probably posted this recipe last week so that you guys could have made them for shrove Tuesday or pancake Tuesday  but I’m not that organised of a blogger yet, but on the plus side pancakes can be enjoyed anytime so I’m sure you will forgive me.

As much as I love pancakes, sometimes I’m just not in the mood to  stand next to the hob frying a whole bunch of batter so when I saw these mini pancake muffins from bakerella I practically sprinted to get out my mini muffin tin.

I stirred some ripe mashed plantain into the pancake batter to make these super cute mini plantain pancake muffins. These are so delicious and a cinch to make and can easily be scaled up or down.

PLANTAIN AND SWEET POTATO MASH

Yes you read the title right, plantain in a mash.............................................

Plantain is something that I eat fairly often and just like most Nigerians I eat it in the same ways - dodo, boiled plantain or abatakoko. I am always looking for new ways to use ingredients and food items that I grew up eating and plantain has been on my tackle list for a while now.

My next three posts (this one included) will have plantain as the main ingredient but used in new and delicious ways; I'm pretty excited about this so lets kick things off.

This mash is delicious! seriously it really is, I'm not gonna lie I had my doubts but I am so happy that I decided to make it because not only is it scrummy it's super healthy and makes a great alternative to mashed potatoes.

Not convinced to make it yet? Did you know that plantain is a super food and that half a cup of cooked plantain contains about 3g of resistant starch that boosts metabolism and burns fat (source: health.com).

DODO GIZZARD

This is one of my absolute favourite Nigerian side dishes, seriously guys i could eat this by the bucketload! I just love the balance of flavours; it’s sweet from the very ripe plantains and spicy from the pepper sauce.

If you've ever been to a party in Nigerian party or get together you must have had or at least been offered dodo gizzard or gizdodo or gizdo or whatever name you call it.

You don't have to wait till your next party to have dodo gizzard, its pretty easy to make at home. I will admit that it does involve quite a few steps as it has three separate components but don't  let that put you off this because the outcome is so worth it.

Plus you could make the gizzard and the pepper sauce in advance and heat them up just before you mix it all together. Just make sure you fry the plantain when you need it, reheated plantain is HORRIBLE. 

COCONUT PECAN AND WHITE CHOCOLATE BLONDIES

My friend had the most gorgeous baby boy about three weeks ago and I went to see them this weekend. I just love babies, so cute, cuddly and they always smell so good. I didn’t get to carry him and play with him for as long as I wanted to because there were many grandmas and uncles and so on waiting to carry himas well and I didn’t want to seem like a baby hog even though I totally am.

Even before I had decided on when I was going to visit them, I had already decided to take these blondies with me. They are so so easy to make and chewy, moist , delicious................ just how I like my blondies.  

The base recipe for these blondies is from Smitten Kitchen; I love recipes like this that can be easily adapted to suit your tastes, whatever mix ins you decide to use is entirely up to you, the possibilities are endless!!!!!!!

COCONUT FILLED CHOCOLATE HEARTS

Here I am again with another sweet treat for your sweetheart or yourself this valentines day. ok ok not necessarily for valentines day, (I've eaten most of them and between me and you I doubt they will make it to valentines day) I just said that so you would think I was a super organised blogger that brought you recipes tailored to the time of year lol!

One of my favourite chocolates is bounty and I have been telling them for years (telepathically of-course) to make a white chocolate one, since they kept ignoring me I took matters into my own hands (cue super hero theme music) and boy am I glad I did!!!!!

These are so delicious and easy, they are everything I wanted my white chocolate bounty to taste like, I dressed them up a bit and added some dark chocolate for a pretty two toned effect but feel free to use any chocolate that you like. 

RED VELVET CHEESECAKE SWIRL BROWNIES

I have been wanting to make something with a cheesecake layer for a while and after making this I am so annoyed I waited this long! OK this recipe.....OMG so decandent, so rich and believe it or not ridiculously simple to make; seriously it will take you only about 15 minutes to get these into the oven. 

These brownies are good any time of the year but the vivid red makes it particularly fitting for valentines day, this recipe is from sallys baking addiction and she adapted it from a Sunny Anderson recipe. I prefer the sally's baking addiction recipe because using just the egg yolk makes the cheesecake layer thicker (which I love) but if you'd rather not have an egg white hanging around feel free to use the whole egg in the cheesecake layer.

Whenever I make anything red velvet (brownies, cakes, cookies, cheesecake etc) I use red gel food colouring instead of liquid colour as the liquid red food colouring sold in UK supermarkets never gives you the bright red you want. The brand I use the most is Home2bake professional icing colour which you can buy from Asda. You only get basic colours like green, yellow, blue so if you need any fancy tints and shades like paprika, primrose, ice blue and so on you will need to go to a sugarcraft store or buy online. 

Now back to these brownies, after eating 3 pieces sneaking a few nibbles, I put them in the freezer for about 40 minutes so that I could get neat slices to take pretty pictures and obviously a few more nibbles made it into my mouth. Let me tell you it tasted beyond amazing, like a red velvet cheesecake truffle!!!!!!!!!!

NIGERIAN CHAPMAN

Do you love valentine’s day? I'm actually kind of indifferent about  the holiday itself and the Mr and I don’t always celebrate it, but I love all the pink red and white stuff everywhere and anything that allows me to cook pink food is OK with me J.

Chapman is one of my favourite things to have when I go home to Nigeria and with its bright red colour and refreshing taste (Oh gosh, I sound like an advert) it will make a great valentine’s day drink for you and your sweetheart.

There are a lot of different versions of chapman out there; some people use blackcurrant ribena instead of grenadine, some use Campari instead of angustora bitters and there are even some recipes that add zobo (hibiscus tea) but after some trial and error, I’m definitely team grenadine, angustora bitters and DEFINITELY NO ZOBO!!!!  

CHOCOLATE COVERED PEANUT BUTTER PRETZEL STICKS

Valentines day is a just around the corner and as a food blogger I am required to bring you delicious treats most of which are white, red or pink and these pretzels definitely fit the bill.

These recipes came about because after I tried some peanut butter filled pretzel bites at wedding, OMG they were amazing. I ate so many of them I sure looked like a pig to everyone at the table. I was brainstorming ways to recreate those beauties and fill them with a whole array of other fillings cracking my head about how to make hollow pretzels and then fill them when I saw the pretzel sticks in my snack cupboard and eureka!  (if you get the eureka, you're a geek like me).

With just three ingredients, these pretzels are so easy to make. I love these pretzels because they can very easily be customised; peanut butter for any other nut butter or spread of your choice, dip in milk or dark chocolate or even a combination and decorate with whatever sweets or colours to match your event or holiday.

CINNAMON CHIP STREUSEL MUFFINS

Hey guys, I’m soooooooo sorry I haven’t posted anything in a while, I moved about 2 weeks ago but my router didn’t come until last week, and then when it came it wasn’t working bla bla bla........... long story short I couldn’t go online but now I can hurray!

I’m celebrating the return to my cyber life with these cinnamon chip streusel muffins; these were a request from my friend as she recently went to America and had these  and was craving them now that she was back in the UK.

Now if you are a UK baker you will know that you cannot get cinnamon chips anywhere here and so I had to make my own. I got the recipe from bright eyed baker and I don’t know what the commercial cinnamon chips are like but these were AMAZING. They gave the muffins these intense bursts of cinnamon every time you bit into one and this combined with the buttery crunchy streusel topping just makes these muffins beyond delicious!!!!!

NIGERIAN CHICKEN PIE - IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED

Disclaimer: this is quite a long post with lots of pictures but its so worth it!

Happy new year guys, hope you all had a great Christmas, I did but I'm glad to be back with this chicken pie recipe

I have always preferred chicken pie to meat pie; don’t get me wrong I love them both but I just love the chicken pie more. My favourite one when I was growing up was from Mr Biggs (yum yum).Obviously since I moved to the UK I have not been able to get my beloved chicken pie and so the hunt for home-made chicken pie ensued.

I found a few recipes and settled on one I thought sounded nice. WHAT A DISASTER!!!!!! Although the filling was ok, the dough was so hard I swear it could have caused a concussion if thrown at your head. I’m sure this was more to do with me than the recipe but I was so disheartened I vowed to stay away from pastries for life (ok a tad dramatic but I was upset).

However I was in charge of finger food recently for a party, I went through so many ideas but the damned chicken pies wouldn’t leave me alone so I gave in. As I knew I could develop my own filling recipe, I focused my search on the dough and finally found this recipe with step by step pictures! I was ecstatic, at least with pictures I could ensure everything was looking as it should.

MONICA (FISH AND PLANTAIN) SKEWERS WITH A SPICY PEPPER SAUCE

3 days to Christmas guys, are you excited? I really am but I am even more excited about this recipe. It is an appetiser version of one of my favourite Nigerian meals ‘Monica’. For those that don’t know it is whole grilled tilapia fish served on a bed of dodo (fried plantain) with a very spicy scotch bonnet sauce.

I think I might actually like this version more than the actual Monica as it is easier to eat because you don’t  need to worry about bones and you don’t have to get your hands dirty (believe me to really enjoy Monica you need to eat with your hands) making it great for Christmas or any party.

I have done in two parts, first the skewers and then the pepper sauce. The pepper sauce is spicy but not as spicy as the one you would get with Monica as I wanted to brush it on the fish and plantain and not have people heads blowing off but if you love VERY spicy food just add more scotch bonnets and in the same vein if spice isn't your thing leave out the scotch bonnets.

The sauce is just like ata din din (fried pepper sauce) and if you have some left over you can stir it into some fried chicken or meat or use it as the sauce for dodo gizzard or just simply enjoy with rice.

BUBBLEGUM VODKA

Remember this picture iposted on instagram? I used it to make BUBBLEGUM VODKA!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m so excited about this home made gift idea because I looove vodka, no seriously I really really love it and would be mega excited to get this as a gift this Christmas. My all time favourite vodka is Russian standard vodka with Ketel One a close second, others in my top 4 are Ciroc and magic moments chocolate vodka.

Now that I have convinced you of my love for vodka let’s get back to BUBBLEGUM VODKA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This vodka smells so much like bubble gum it’s almost crazy and that beautiful pink that the bubble gum turns the vodka is just gorgeous. It also tastes amazing and would be great for shots but if that’s not your thing mix it with some lemonade for a simple tasty cocktail.

NO BAKE MINI SPECULOOS SWIRL CHEESECAKE

Remember this speculoos, this is one of the many awesome things you can do with it. This recipe is one of my favourite ones as its super easy and will be a great part of your Christmas menu; whenever I make it everyone has multiple servings. 

This is my go to cheesecake recipe as I don't particularly like the texture of baked cheesecakes, plus I refuse to live in fear of the dreaded cracked cheesecake top (cue dramatic music!!!!).

To make these more party friendly I have served them in disposable shot glasses but feel free to make a full cheesecake and cut that into portions (notes at the end of this post). Although I have put in a measurement for the icing sugar, it’s really down to personal taste so I suggest starting with half the quantity in the recipe and then taste and adjust to suit you.