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!!!!!!!