Video - Suya Salad Cups

I got the funniest email. 'Mr Obi' said he was too lazy to click on link to YouTube videos. He asked why I don't have them on the blog. The part about lazy fingers had me laughing for a good 5 minutes. I get the message. I shall post the videos on the blog going forward.

Don't forget to subscribe.

Enjoy!!!!

Compound Butters....

Compound butters are an excellent way to integrate interesting ingredients into butter and enjoy delicious tasting spread on different foods. All you need is butter at room temperature and whatever add-ins you like. This means that the possibilities are endless. You can have sweet versions with honey or chocolate or pureed fruit. Or savory versions with different fresh herbs or garlic or chilies or even boozy versions with drops of Irish cream or cognac.

 

Pictured below: Corn muffins and strawberry butter - Compound butter made by adding pureed strawberries to room temperature unsalted butter

 

 

 

 

Pictured below: Garlic herb toast. Compound butter made by mixing pureed fresh garlic and dried Italian herb blend into salted room temperature butter. Spread butter blend generously on sliced bread and put under the broiler for 5-7 minutes. You can use this blend on dinner rolls or baguettes and serve with pasta

You can make different kinds of butters and store in the fridge until the butter firms up. If you are big on frou frou presentation (lol), put the butter blend on cling film and roll. Keep in fridge till the roll firms up. Slice to serve.

Enjoy!!!!

Exploring my Green Thumb

I have set myself a challenge for 2015. One of many. But this one is special because.......I am a notorious plant killer. I simply do not have a green thumb. I have tried to grow pretty flowers and they all died. I tried to grow cactus plants and bamboo things - which are supposed to be únkillable'. Well not in my case. They turned brown and turned moldy. I have tried culinary herbs - with limited success but nothing like the flourishing pictures online.

So I just gave up. However, a few months ago, I decided to revisit this matter. In my mind's eye, I see myself growing all sorts of fruits and vegetables. And herbs and flowers. And going from my garden to my food lab or into a pretty vase in the house. As a former management consultant and strategist, I decided to be methodical about this. I wrote out all the terrible things that happened to the plants and what I did to contribute or not contribute to their demise. And I saw some learning points. I went online and have subscribed to YouTube channels, bookmarked home gardening websites and I am ready.

Come January, I will be starting a greenhouse that I plan to grow culinary herbs, flowers, fruits and vegetables. My challenge is to try to grow as many things as possible including things that people have sworn will not thrive in Nigeria. I also hope to have good enough harvests - even if its 2 purple carrots at a time that I can challenge myself to use in my food lab. I will document this (mis)adventure on the blog and I honestly cannot wait.

In the interim, I decided to plant scent leaf/efinrin/nchawun/African basil as a test case. I use this herb a lot - in peppersoup, egusi soup, I add to yam porridge, white rice, fried stew and even to lemonade so it made sense to start with this.

Look at it!!!! I am so excited. There is hope for me afterall. Its doing so very well and I think this bodes well for my greenhouse project....

Enjoy!!!!
 

New Webisode on YouTube channel - Suya Salad Cups

This week on the YouTube channel, I show you how to make easy, delicious and fun to eat suya salad cups

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWBmV-Tvvp8&list=TLC4gZZTeFn24

Don't forget to subscribe to the channel and leave comments.

 

Enjoy!!!

 

What to do with leftover fabric.....

Do you have extra Ankara or lace fabric from getting outfits made and you have no idea what to do with them? I have an idea.....

http://www.konga.com/blog/leftover-fabric/

Enjoy!!!

Finally. A Baking Post. And A Giveaway: Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

 

Considering that I have run a boutique bakery - Cupcake Couture Lagos for the past 4 years, it is amazing that there is not a single baking recipe on this blog.

 

There is no better recipe to break the 'no baking recipe on the blog' jinx than this moist and delicious banana chocolate chip muffin one. And to celebrate, its also giveaway time. Oh yaay.

 

So - banana bread and its variants are very popular with a lot of people around the world. I make a killer banana bread if I say so myself but I am always on the lookout for recipes that use bananas in baked goods in different ways. I was going through one of my many recipe binders that contains printed and torn out recipes from magazines, the internet etc and I found a recipe for banana chocolate chip muffins that seemed easy enough. I tried it and while it was nice, I tweaked the recipe - Uzo style and the result is super moist muffins with undeniable banana flavor that is not too sweet which means the kiddies can enjoy this as well.

 

To make 12 muffins, you will need:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 57g butter at room temperature
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup buttermilk - Please see kitchen tip post on how to make buttermilk at home
• 3 large very ripe bananas - chopped into small pieces
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 12 cup muffin tin
• 12 muffin liners

 

Directions:

 

Sieve flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside

 

 

 

In a stand mixer or using a hand mixer, cream butter and brown sugar for about 5 minutes or until fluffy. Add beaten egg and buttermilk.

Using a wooden spoon or spatula, stir in flour mixture until just incorporated. Do not over mix

Add bananas and chocolate chips and fold in gently so as not to turn the bananas to mush

Scoop mixture into muffin liners - filling them 3/4 of the way

Bake in a preheated oven at gas mark 4 or 400F for 20 minutes until light brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean.

Let muffins cool in pan for 10 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack until ready to eat

 

I realize that everyone doesn't have chocolate chips or muffin liners lying around - so I am giving away 12 muffin liners like the ones in this picture and 1 cup of real semi sweet chocolate chips - enough for this recipe to 2 readers. All you have to do is: comment on this post, subscribe to www.youtube.com/uzosfoodlabs and follow on twitter: @uzosfoodlabs. Winners will be picked at random and should be able to pickup their gifts from Lekki 1, Lagos.

 

Enjoy!!!

 

Uzo's Food Labs on the Konga Blog

I am so chuffed to announce that Uzo's Food Labs will feature on the Konga Nigeria Blog on Mondays and Fridays writing on home and food matters and just having a blast. Please follow and leave your comments and questions.

The good people of Konga put up an introductory post...

Enjoy!!!