Chips. Salsa. Dip. Nigerian Style....

I love Mexican food. Especially loaded nachos with fresh salsa and sour cream.

Now that I am living in Lagos and watching my calories and also constantly creating recipes that put unconventional twists on what most consider conventional ingredients, I decided to put my spin on this favorite of mine. Instead of corn chips, I opted to make unripe plantain chips, a fresh salsa with some produce from my garden and a natural yogurt dip taking the place of sour cream.

This little platter is so easy to put together but is so different from what your guests will expect and is the perfect appetizer or movie snack. My favorite part: it is pocket friendly. Do not be put off by the fact that there are 3 elements to this dish. They are really easy to put together.

To make the plantain chips to feed 2, you need:

• 2 green unripe plantains
• Salt
• Vegetable oil

Directions:

• Using a mandolin or a sharp knife, slice the plantain lengthwise as thinly as possible
• In a large frying fan or a deep fryer, heat the oil
• Add the plantain and fry till crispy
• Drain and season with salt to taste

To make the salsa, you need:

• 1/4 red or white onion - diced finely
• 2 firm tomatoes - diced finely
• 1 hot pepper - jalapeno, scotch bonnet - diced finely. Remove seeds if you want to tone down the heat
• 1 sweet pepper - sweet banana or bell pepper - diced finely
• 3-6 leaves of Basil/ Cilantro / Coriander/ African Basil or Scent Leaf
• Salt to taste

Directions:

• Combine all the ingredients and season with salt to taste

To make the yogurt dip, you will need:

• 1 cup natural unsweetened yogurt
• 1 spring onion - chopped
• Salt and black pepper to taste

Directions:

• Combine all the ingredients in a bowl

Once all the elements are ready, serve and enjoy.
The salsa and yogurt dip can keep in the fridge overnight. Use leftovers in sandwiches and burgers or to top a salad.


 

Not Your Average Fruit Salad

I have major issues with mushy food and squishy textures.

 

The thought of all that weirdness in my mouth just grosses me out. Which is why I loathe fruit salad. All that moisture and softness. *shudder*

 

Since I started my weight loss journey a few years ago, I know all too well that fruits are vital to my success. It gets so boring crunching apples or grapes all the time and while I love blending all the mushy fruits I don't like, sometimes I just want to chew. You know that feeling right?

 

I decided to play around with ways to make fruit salad different, yummy and not squishy so I can have more fruit in my diet, let the hubby have fruit salad which he loves and let my little man expand his food repertoire.

 

The addition of crunchy elements makes a world of difference and playing around with plain and flavored yogurt takes fruit salad from blah to give me more'' territory.

 

To make this interesting fruit salad, you will need

• A mix of fruits of your choice. Seeing as budgets must be considered in my book, I use the common, pocket friendly ones: seeded and chopped watermelon and pawpaw (papaya) and peeled pineapple.
• Cashew nuts - I love cashew nuts and they don't break the bank. I have used almonds and some expensive macadamia nuts (that I got as a gift) but cashew nuts are still my favorite to use
• Toasted coconut flakes - the local type that costs about N200 for a small tub
• Plain /greek style yogurt. I use vanilla low fat yogurt sometimes as well



 

 

 

 

Directions:

• Add all the fruit and nuts in a bowl and stir to combine. Use as little or as much of each ingredient as you prefer
• Add the yogurt a little at a time. The yogurt should just coat the fruit and nuts and not become a pool of white stuff at the bottom of the bowl

 

•  Serve chilled

 

Enjoy!!!