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.


 

A meal that came about by accident - Boozy Pork Chops, Fried Plantain & Egg Cups

 

The story of this accidental' meal started with an inventory of my home store.

 

I have been taking inventory of my store which is really a converted room with shelving and different storage solutions that holds everything from supplies for the bakery, to household stuff to dry foods to make room for new stuff coming in. I found a box full of wines and spirits. See, we get bottles of liquor as gifts from people. I don't like to drink wine and hubby is more of a social drinker which means he doesn't drink at home. Every time we get a gift of alcohol, I put it in this box. So this box contained 57 bottles of wines and spirits. I kid you not. I was in shock.

 

The first thing I did was sort through the bottles. I got all the non-alcoholic stuff and set that aside to be given to the security guards. That still left me with 50 bottles to deal with. Fast. The holidays are in 3 months and of course we will get more bottles of assorted alcohol as gifts. So I have challenged myself to use up this mish mash or red and white wines, whiskey, cognac, champagne et al before then.

 

The white wine used in my previous post for the Wilson's Pink Lemonade Sangria took care of 1 bottle. 49 to go.

 

Enter my idea for a red wine marinade for the pork chops in my freezer. I make variations of wine marinades a lot but I figured it was time to create a new version. My plan was to make the boozy pork chops and serve with a sexy rice pilaf and honey glazed carrots. I made the marinade the night before and got the pork chops in there to take on all the flavor overnight.

 

The problems began when it rained over night and into the morning. That Lagos rain that makes every where dark and keeps you firmly under the covers. By the time I got myself together and came downstairs, it was 1pm. Lunch time and too tired to make my fancy planned meal. It had to be something quick and require no effort.

 

Fried plantain (dodo) and eggs are a favorite but I wanted to make the meal look special.

 

That's the back story to this meal and it was a huge hit.

 

To make a cup and a half of red wine marinade which can be used for pork, beef and goat meat, you will need:

• 1 cup good quality red wine
• 1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon ginger powder
• 1 tablespoon dry mixed herbs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• I stock cube
• 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

Directions

• In a bowl, combine all the ingredients and whisk thoroughly.
• Add the meat and cover bowl and marinade in the fridge for at least 6 hours. Overnight is best
• Preheat oven to Gas mark 4
• Transfer the meat to an oven proof pan and bake till meat is done to your taste
• During the baking process, baste the meat with the left over marinade every 15 minutes turning over as you do so

Egg Cups:

• To make the egg cups, you will need to have a muffin/cupcake baking tray. Each cavity will hold approximately 1 egg.
• Chop into fine pieces, a selection of vegetables. I used red onions and tomatoes.
• Crack the eggs over the vegetables and whisk to combine. Add salt to taste
• Fill each cavity with the egg mix and bake in an oven at gas mark 4 for 10 minutes or until eggs are cooked through
• The eggs will puff up in the oven like a soufflé but will deflate to some degree once you take them out of the oven
• These egg cups can be made with any combination of ingredients. Try adding ham and cheese, or spring onions or even a dash of garam masala for a more interesting taste hit.

Sometimes, everyday foods just need a new twist to make them seem more interesting.

 

Enjoy!!!!

 



Adventures from Calabar 2 - Boiled Plantain and Smoked fish with Vegetable Sauce. And an Amstel Malta Milkshake

 

I had another opportunity to cook on air and be a guest on The Spot on EbonyLifeTv (Channel 165 on DSTV) and as usual it was a fabulous experience. 

 

 

If you have never caught The Spot, I urge you to. Its a largely unscripted show hosted by Lamide Akintobi, Zainab Balogun and Ebuka Uchendu and while it is different from the regular tv fare, its pretty smart and addictive. 

 

 

 

This time, my brief from the producer was a healthy, nutritious, filling meal that was pocket friendly but yummy as well.



 

 

(Just before we started shooting)

 

I decided to prepare boiled ripe plantain with a smoked fish and vegetable sauce.

 

To feed 4 people, you will need:

• 4 ripe plantains - assuming one per person
• 1 cooking spoon of flavourless oil - I prefer canola oil
• 1 large red onion - finely chopped
• 4 large tomatoes - finely chopped
• 1 yellow scotch bonnet pepper
• 1 stock cube
• 3 large smoked fish (I used mackerel) - skinned, deboned and flaked
• 2 cups red whole crayfish - heads and tails removed
• 1/2 teaspoon ground crayfish
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 2 bunches of ugwu (pumpkin leaves) - washed and rough chopped
• Salt to taste

 

 

Directions:

• Cut each plantain into 3 pieces and place in a pot with salted water
• Boil until cooked through
• Heat oil in a large saucepan
• Add onions, tomatoes and scotch bonnet pepper
• Saute until translucent
• Add stock cube, ground crayfish and cayenne pepper and cook for another 5 minutes stirring constantly
• Add the smoked fish and red crayfish with a cooking spoon of water
• Add salt to taste
• Once the sauce is quite dry, add the ugwu, stir very well to incorporate all ingredients and turn the heat off
• The steam will cook the vegetables just enough to be cooked through but still have crunch

This sauce can be served with potatoes, yam and rice. Or even eaten on its own since its so filling.

I also made an Amstel Malta milkshake which is so easy to make and so delicious as well.

To fill 4 glasses, you will need:

• 3 cans of chilled Amstel Malta
• 1/2 cup of dried skimmed milk
• 12 strawberries

Directions:

• Add all the ingredients into a blender. Blitz till smooth. Pour into glasses and serve immediately

 

 

Enjoy!!!!!

Oven Bole and Mixed Meat sauce

One sunny saturday afternoon, a few special ladies got together for their first meetup. It was a potluck get together and there was some deliciousness going on - from mini cupcakes in assorted flavours and jerk chicken wings using my jerk marinade recipe provided by yours truly to different types of rice and some serious cocktails that packed a lot of punch.

There was also a some soft bole (roasted plantain) with a palmoil sauce and smoked fish. This was the most popular dish and the ladies oohed and aahed and dug in with copious amounts of paper towels on hand.

When i got home, i thought i could make my own version using what i had in my pantry and suprise hubby with something totally unexpected. I had no recipe and no time to make more elaborate plans - i just went with my gut:

I peeled plantains. Poked them all over with a kebab skewer. Got a disposable foil oven baking tray. I poured a little vegetable oil on the plantains and gave them a nice rub down.
My oven was already pretty hot after being preheated at Gas mark 5 for 15 minutes or so. I put the plantains in the baking tray and started on the sauce. I checked and turned the plantain every 10 mins until golden brown - about 40 mins.

I usually have blended tomato/pepper blend in my freezer for emergency stews and sauces. But this was a real emergency and my stash was frozen solid. However, i had raw tomatoes, red peppers (tatashe and atarodo) in the fridge and onions in the bulb basket. I whipped out my blender and threw a mix of the tomatoes, peppers and onions in there and blitzed. I didnt puree the mixture till it was super smooth. I wanted the sauce to have a slightly chunky texture to it. Once that was done, i set the mixture aside and opened up the fridge again. I had a few pieces of assorted meat left over from making some stew the day before. About 6 pieces in all. The meat was boiled and seasoned and ready to be used. So i chopped the meat into little pieces and set aside.

I got out a little pot. Poured some red kernel oil (palm oil) into the pot and let it get very hot. So hot it began to smoke. Cue the open windows and kitchen door. I threw in some sliced onions and the pureed tomato mix and let the mixture fry. Since I was running out of time as hubby was almost home, i didnt let the mixture fry as long as i wanted. I threw in some ground crayfish, some salt. Added the chopped meat pieces and let the whole mixture fry.

Served up the meal to a very suprised, happy hubby who took pictures and sent to all his male friends with the caption - My wife the performer.

Anyhoo. While it was tasty and definitely moorish, i will make this again with a few tweaks: After blending the pepper mixture, i will boil the mixture to reduce the water content. I didnt have time to do this so the sauce wasnt as thick as i wanted. I would make sure to have some iru(locust beans) to add to the sauce - just a teeny bit for that 'local' touch. I would also make the sauce without chopped meat - substituting that for pieces of stockfish, smoked and whole red dried shrimps.

I will of course write out a proper recipe and update the blog but this is definitely worth making for a change from regular fare. One of my husband's friends sent me a message saying he would love this served to him on a newspaper. Why not?

Food Porn

Plain white rice, Ofada sauce with assorted meat and fried diced plantains for sunday lunch.