Prawn Stir Fry - A handful of ingredients make a sexy Sunday lunch

I had the most intense week - Shoots, writing deadlines, recipe testing, the bakery, meetings, school run etc.

By the time the weekend came round, all I wanted to do was sleep, sleep and sleep.

Sunday came and I was still exhausted. I could have gotten away with take out. The mister wouldn't have minded. However, me being me (don't you see the super woman cape behind me), I decided I would rustle something up. The goal was to make some thing yummy that would not take any time but allow me to use up some of the vegetables I had in the fridge that I planned to do different things with but couldn't find the time to do.

I took inventory and I had: tiger prawns, yellow, red and green bell peppers, tomatoes, red and white onions and tomatoes.

First step - get the rice going. I emptied a 400ml can of coconut milk and half a sachet of coconut milk powder into a pot with some salt and brought to a boil. I added the washed rice and set on low heat to cook gently and absorb all the coconutty goodness.

A good way  to stretch expensive tiger prawns is to cut each prawn into about 3 pieces. That way, each person can get 6  or more pieces of prawns rather than a single one which might look and feel stingy on the plate. Psychological but it really works.  I chopped the prawns into pieces and rinsed thoroughly and placed in a bowl. A dash of seafood spice and a good rub was all the prawns needed.

I sliced 1 red onion, julienned the peppers and set aside. As I was working I remembered my spiralizer that I got last year that hasn't really done enough work. I decided to make a simple salad using this cool gadget. I made cucumber strands (you can just chop the cucumber into bite sized pieces if you don't have a spiralizer), finely sliced a white onion and chopped up 2 tomatoes. I placed the cucumber, onions and tomatoes in a bowl and set aside. A quick dressing for the salad - extra virgin olive oil, salt, black pepper and a little pure natural honey for a hint of sweetness. Whisk and add to the salad. Toss and keep in the fridge till ready to serve.

On to the prawns. A wok. A dash of olive oil. Add the onions and peppers and sauté for about 3 minutes. Add some light soy sauce, a few drops of sesame oil and some pepper if you like - I used a pinch of dried yellow pepper. Add the prawns and stir till the prawns are cooked through.

Serve stir fry with the coconut rice and salad.

Simple, delicious, colorful and an all round crowd pleaser. I had some sauce left over and no prawns - I added some leftover baked chicken pieces to the sauce - voila - lunch for the little man for school.

Behind the scenes....

I just finished shooting a few episodes of a cooking show that will air on EbonyLife TV from May 2015. I will share more details and a few more pictures soon.

What am I looking at? A camera installed above the hub...LOL.

Enjoy!!!

From Garden To Table - Cucumber, Onion & Radish Pickles

After harvesting the last of the cherry belle radishes in the pot, I knew having them in a salad again would not go down well with the mister. I had a basic pickle recipe saved up using radishes but I only had 6 cherry belles left - they aren't called cherry belles for nothing. They are cute but really tiny. So clearly, I would need literally baskets of radishes to have enough for a decent sized jar.

Solution: a mixed pickle jar. This is a quick pickle recipe which means the pickles will be ready to eat in as little as 3 hours. I am keeping the jar in the fridge overnight and will use on sandwiches tomorrow.

To make a jar of these mixed pickles, you will need:

• 1 large cucumber
• 1 medium white onions
• 6 radishes
• 1 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup water
• 9 table spoons sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 cloves peeled garlic
• 1 dry bay leaf
• 6 whole black peppercorns

Directions:

• Using a mandolin slicer or a very sharp knife, thinly slice the cucumbers, onions and radishes and place in a jar with a lid that secures firmly. Add the garlic cloves, bay leaf and peppercorns and set aside.
• In a saucepan, pour the vinegar, water, sugar and salt and warm through until sugar dissolves
• Pour mixture over vegetables and aromatics in jar and close
• Refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

These pickles will be excellent in sandwiches and burgers, over grilled steak or as a crunchy, tangy elements in a salad and should keep in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.

Enjoy!!!

Noodles My Way

Say no to bland boring noodles.....

Enjoy!!!

Garden Update: Harvest.....

Look at these little beauties. My first harvest - well 2nd but all radishes. I pulled 4 radishes out of the pot yesterday and had them in a little salad. Peppery and crunchy - they added a bite to the salad that I love. These 3 I got out today and there are only 6 left in the pot. The feeling I have  - excitement, happiness and fulfillment. I shall try my hand at quick pickles with these 3 tomorrow and I shall post results - success or fail.

I have planted another type of radish - white icicle radishes and since I have never tried them before, I am keen to see if the flavor is the same as these cherry belle ones.

From Garden To Table - simply amazing.

Enjoy!!!

Gardening Update: Lots of progress. And some vendors....

All is gong very well in my green world. I cannot wait to share the updates below - which by the way are not all that I have growing.

 

Before I get into the gorgeousness growing, I get a lot of questions about where I get my seeds an supplies from. Someone on Instagram mentioned seeing seeds at Shoprite at the Ikeja Mall so yesterday, I went to the Shoprite at The Palms in Lekki and found a small garden aisle Pots of different sizes, garden hoses and pressure pumps and seed packets. A decent selection of vegetable packets including onions, tomatoes and some squash as well as some herb packets including parsley and cilantro. I also saw some flower seed packets including marigolds....I scooped up a few packets of flower seeds and a few vegetable seeds I do not have. I will plant them this weekend and see how they do. I also checked out the garden aisle of Game and found a lot of pots and hardware for the garden at decent prices. So yaay for that.....

 

Onto the updates:

 

 

 

Butter Crunch Lettuce - this type of lettuce will have a head like cabbage but you can also eat the out leaves. Remember I had these growing before? I obviously planted too many seeds in a very small pot. This pot has just one plant and it is flourishing

Golden Jubilee Tomato plant - it is time to add supports to this pot so the plant can grow without breaking especially as the fruits come in

Copenhagen Market Cabbage - this plant is going to grow very full before the cabbage head comes in. I expect I will move this out of the green house in the next week or 2

Of all the herb pots I have planted, these 2 are doing so well. They sprouted very quickly and the sweet basil smells so good already

Clemson Spineless Okra: I have read that okra plants over produce fruit so I am already thinking of as many ways to use the pods as possible.

Scarlet Nantes Carrots: These are doing so very well too. I have been told that I planted them too close together and the resulting carrots will not be a good size. Lesson learnt.

Collard Greens: This is another plant that will get pretty big. I don't mind that at all seeing as I love greens

Bok Choi: Chinese cabbage that is excellent in stir fries. These sprouted in 4 days. Super fast

Broccoli: I suspect I should have planted just one seed in the pot as these are going to grow very very big before the broccoli head comes in

Bunching Onions: I had given up on these plants and actually have another pot with 2 plants going. However, I did some research and it was recommended that I scrape off the top layer of soil and add a fresh layer. I did that and the plants have taken off

Cherry Belle Radishes: I had a pot of these that just turned yellow and died. I definitely had too many plants in that pot and also over watered the plant. Now I tried to do 2 seeds in a row and these are doing so well . I can actually see the tops of the radishes poking out of the soil

Mustard Leaves: I got these in a herb set and planted it like I would herbs. I really hope these are not mustard greens  which are giant plants...

Forage Premier Kale: This replaces the other kale plants that fell and got destroyed.

Brandywine Red Tomato: Seeing as I don't like raw tomatoes and I have quite a few types of tomatoes, what sense does that make? Well my boys love raw tomatoes and I have a lot of recipes than need tomatoes so why not?

Golden Bantam Corn: I am watching these with a lot of interest. We have ears but not kernels yet. Which requires pollination to happen. I will watch videos on how to self pollinate and try that.

Beets: I planted a few beets and this is the only survivor. The birds kept eating the seedlings.

Sugar Baby Watermelon: This is a huge experiment. Watermelon in the biggest pot I could find. Fingers crossed

Green Zucchini: Flourishing and producing male flowers. No female flowers yet  be pollinated but apparently a rash of male flowers first is normal

Mixed cacti pot

Blooming flowers

Blooming flowers

Lemongrass: This is used by a lot of people in a malaria treating concoction but it is delicious used in Thai style dishes. This plant grows voraciously so I have to be ready

Jalapeno Peppers: I am so so happy with how these plants are doing.



I have a few more pots not pictured here as they are just sprouting- I expect I should have a harvest post next in the series - the radishes I believe.

I would love to hear from any budding gardeners

Enjoy!!!

A Dining Experience: Eating Nigerian

This is a pretty exciting food event that I shall attend and document for the blog. I am looking forward to interesting spins on Nigerian food. There are about 5 spots left so see contact details above if you would like to attend.

Enjoy!!!