Garden Chronicles - Tomato Harvest

Yellow Pear Tomatoes

Brandywine Pink Tomatoes

Coconut Greens

It's amazing how a bad food experience can taint an ingredient in your mind and make you unwilling to give it a try again. This used to be the case with my relationship with greens. When I was younger, greens were typically served in soups and if my mother did not make that dish, the vegetables would be soggy and just mushy. I have issues with mushy super smooth textures so this invariably made me dislike greens. Intensely. 

Now that I am older and more conscious of eating a balanced diet, and the fact that I grow a lot of greens in my garden, I have had to find ways to make greens more appealing to eat.

This super easy recipe is delicious and quick so the greens retain their form and crunch. The addition of coconut milk adds a whole different flavor profile that is really really out of this world.

To make enough for 2 side dishes or 1 very generous portion, you will need:

• Olive oil (any oil of your choice will work)
• 1 small chopped red onion
• 1 clove chopped garlic
• 1/2 chopped habanero or scotch bonnet pepper (more or less to taste)
• 1/2 seasoning cube
• 2 cups mixed greens - fluted pumpkin leaves (ugwu), kale, swiss chard, amaranth (tete), spinach etc
• 1 can coconut milk

In a large pot, add enough olive oil to cover the base of the pot. Add onions, garlic and chilies and fry for about 2 minutes. Add the seasoning cube and mix well. Add the greens and stir well to combine all the ingredients. Cook for about 3 minutes and add the coconut milk. Stir and cook for another 2 minutes and take off the heat.

Serve on its own or as an accompaniment to rice, potatoes, chicken, fish or steak.

Enjoy!!! 

Garden Series - Starting with the right soil

I am really excited to finally have garden videos on the channel. I hope these videos answer a lot of the frequently asked questions that come my way. 

This is the first video and its about the foundation of every successful garden - Soil.

Happy Gardening!!!

Tasty Coconut Greens

In the first video in the new series on YouTube, I show how to make greens totally moreish.

Enjoy!!!

YouTube Channel Relaunch

Powered by Maggi, Uzo's Food Labs is back with a bang!

Uzo Orimalade is making a YouTube comeback after a two-year hiatus with the relaunch of her YouTube Channel. Join her as she shares her garden tips, home and kitchen life hacks and cooking videos with ingredients provided by Konga Daily with new episodes on Mondays. Subscribe to her channel on   www.youtube.com/uzosfoodlabs.  Also follow her on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter on @uzofoodlabs, Maggi Nigeria @maggi_nigeria and @Kongadaily

Welcome to her world!!!

Appearance on CNN's African Voices

I had the honor of being featured on an episode of CNN's African Voices in April 2017.

You can watch the segment here: CNN Segment

Happy viewing!!!

Chef's Face Off - Update!!!

So its a wrap.

It was something. Mystery basket included Chocolate powder. Eggplant. Cardamom pods. A coconut still in its husk. Tomato pepper sauce. Pickled vegetables. Fresh tomatoes. With a pantry that had only fresh mint, basil and cilantro, bell peppers, onions, milk, butter and dried spices. No rice, pasta or flour. We had 35 minutes to whip up a dish using all the ingredients provided. 10 minutes in, we were stopped and asked to switch stations. The horror. 10 minutes after, we were asked to take something from the other person's station. I ended up presenting a Thai style coconut and lemon soup with a temper (sort of like a really intense fried concoction of chicken and onions and vegetables and herbs...seasoned and fried till crispy) which went in the middle of the bowl of soup for intense flavor and texture.

Thank you to all the blog readers that came up and introduced themselves and kept yelling Go Uzo during the cook-off. LOL

Enjoy!!!