Thai Style Coconut Lemon Grass Chicken

Sooooo....

It is no secret that I love Thai food. I haven't been to Thailand before and while it is on the list of places to visit, I have had many a meal at Thai restaurants in a few countries and I have sampled a lot of the staples. Thai food has that delicate balance of sweet, sour and spicy elements that when combined in the right ratios is food nirvana. While I might not be an expert in this cuisine, there are a few staples in Thai cuisine that are pretty common in these parts and can be used with everyday ingredients to evoke tastes of street food in Bangkok. These include: lemon grass, fish sauce and coconut milk.

Which brings me to this baked chicken dish. The beauty of this dish is its almost a hands off dish. The chicken sits in the marinade overnight and is baked till done. This means you can spend your time making a side to go with it: rice, couscous, acha, salad, stir fry ---- whatever rocks your world.

To make 8 pieces of chicken, you will need:

• 8 pieces of chicken - I prefer bone in pieces like the thighs and drumsticks
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 medium red onion - rough chopped
• 1 small piece of ginger. Peeled and chopped into little pieces
• 2 lemon grass stalks- rough chopped
• 3 green chilies - rough chopped (use as many or as few as you prefer) 
• 1/2 teaspoon fish sauce
• Salt to taste

Directions:

• Combine all the ingredients except the chicken and salt in a bowl with a secure lid
• Stir to combine and taste. Season with salt to taste. Fish sauce is salty so you need to add salt last to be sure you do not over season
• Add the chicken and ensure all pieces are covered with the marinade. Use a skewer to poke holes in the chicken to ensure even marinade.
• Cover and marinade in the fridge over night
• Preheat oven to 350F and line an oven proof dish with foil (this makes clean up a breeze)
• Arrange chicken in a single layer and spoon some of the marinade over the chicken and bake till done - 25-30 minutes
• Baste the chicken with the remaining marinade at least once during the cooking process
• Serve with a side of your choice

There will be some marinade left in the baking pan after the chicken is ready. That is a simple pan sauce that you can reduce in a sauce pan and serve by the side of your meal to be used over the side you serve this chicken with.

Enjoy!!!

 

Mango & Coconut Cupcakes with Lime Whipped Cream Topping

I am dreaming of a holiday. Not just any old holiday. I am dreaming of white sandy beaches, clear blue skies, bathing suits and sarongs, ridiculously colored drinks with umbrellas – on a Caribbean island far, far away.

Since I will not be taking a holiday anytime soon (with the number of hats I wear, I can only pray for a break at some point), I figured I could bring a taste of the Caribbean close to home and satisfy my sweet cravings at the same time. There is no flavor more synonymous with the Caribbean than coconut. Papayas and mangos tie for second place in my opinion so I went into mad scientist mode and decided to play around with these flavors in cake. The papaya (pawpaw) experiment was a hot mess. Mushy and nasty. I shudder just thinking about it. Using mangos however, success. The result of this experiment are cupcakes that are not too sweet, full of tropical flavor and topped with light as air whipped cream with bursts of citrus flavor from grated lime zest – the Caribbean in your mouth.

To make 18 cupcakes, you will need:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup melted and cooled unsalted butter
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup liquid full cream milk
• 1 cup peeled, chopped ripe mango

Frosting:

• I cup whipping cream
• 1/2 cup icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon lime zest

Directions:

• Pre heat oven to gas mark 3
• Line muffin tin with muffin liners and set aside
• In a bowl, mix flour, coconut, baking powder and salt
• In another bowl, whisk sugar, butter and eggs until smooth. Add flour and milk and beat until smooth. Add mango and stir to combine. Do not over mix
• Scoop batter into muffin liners – fill liners about 3/4 to the top.
• Bake for 20 – 25 minutes or until golden brown and tops of cupcakes spring back when lightly touched.
• Let cool completely and make frosting
• Add whipping cream, icing sugar and lime zest into a mixing bowl and whip till stiff. An electric hand mixer or stand mixer will make this frosting in a short period of time
• Top cooled cupcakes with whipped cream frosting and serve.

Enjoy!!!

A Dessert Station With A Touch of Nigeria



I have never met anyone that does not like ice cream. Well love. I know a lot of people that try to avoid ice cream for many reasons.

 

Let me come clean: I keep my home free of ice cream just because once I descend on a tub, the aftermath is not pretty. However, I love setting up ice cream stations for movie days or girl's nights at mine.

 

All I have to do is keep the ice cream in the freezer and have the accompaniments on the dining table and let people help themselves.

 

I have droned on and on about my issues with texture. I love crunch and ice cream is a good way for me to satisfy my 'inner crunch desiring monster'. Rather than spending tons of money in stores on imported cookies or chips and things, I would rather spend the money on a premium tub of plain vanilla or chocolate ice cream. Or both. Why not? If you are going to have ice cream, you might as well go all out. No half measures here.

 



 

 

 

My crunchy toppings of choice are pocket friendly and local.

 

Chin-Chin - those crunchy fried balls of deliciousness. Good chin-chin can be addictive and seeing as these goodies are fried - they really should be enjoyed sparingly. Theoretically. Put some chin-chin in a Ziploc bag. Get a rolling pin and bash away. Take all your stress away. Bash awayyyyyyyy. Okay, clearly I have some anger management issues. But you get the point. I like to leave some chunks and not make the chin-chin too fine. Pour crumbs into a bowl

 

Coconut flakes: local, nutty, natural and pocket friendly. A good source of fiber too. So that adds a healthy component to your ice cream station. Although, that might get lost in all the calories here. Who cares? I certainly don't. I am sticking to the fact that I am including fiber to the ice cream station

 

Cereal: any kind of cereal you like.

 

Sprinkles: well. sprinkles make everything better in my world

Scoop ice cream into a cup or bowl and add the toppings in any mix and as much as you want. And settle down in front of the TV and watch Big Bang Theory or Under The Dome or TLC....

 

Enjoy!!!

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!!!

Coconut Ice

 

There is nothing I love more than frozen treats. Even if its freezing cold outside, I must have my water straight out of the freezer. I put my cut fresh fruits in the freezer and cant abide room temperature anything. I cant even drink hot tea or coffee. I stick the cups in the freezer after so they are as close to frozen as I can get them depending on how impatient I am.

 

 

So its no surprise that this coconut ice is one of my favorite frozen treats to make. It ticks a lot of my boxes: frozen (check), coconut (check), zingy lime flavor (check), easy peasy to make(check).

 

 

Its refreshing and not cloyingly sweet and as long as the people around you (regardless of age) like coconut, this is a winner every time.

 

To make enough to serve 4 or all for yourself, you will need:

 

Ingredients

• ¼ cup of caster sugar
• 1 400ml can coconut milk
• 2 limes
• 1/4 cup dessicated coconut
• Sprinkles to garnish and serve

Directions

Pour 2/3 cups of water into a saucepan. Add the caster sugar and bring to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Remove pan from heat and leave syrup to cool in fridge

Grate the rind from the limes and set aside

In a bowl, juice the limes and add to the cooled syrup, desiccated coconut and coconut milk

Pour mixture into a freezer container and freeze till firm. About 4-6 hours. Use a hand mixer or fork to break up the crystals.

Scoop into glasses, decorate and serve

Tip

For extra nuttiness, toast the dessicated coconut in a dry pan on the stove till it browns before adding into the syrup and coconut milk mixture



 

 

 

Enjoy!!!!