Menu
Recent Post

Plantain scotch eggs were on my to do list for a long time. I even recorded an Instagram live video of it and life happened and I didnt post about it. Well closer to the holidays, I felt it was a more appropriate time to share the recipe. This is because these ingredients are already in your house and it would be an easy execution. I normally do a countdown to Christmas with many recipes but this Christmas has been filled with events and jobs from the blog. I promise to do better next year haha.
On another note, I have been on the radio for the past few months every Saturday morning at 9am on classic fm 97.3 lagos discussing recipes. Have any of you caught it? I considered sharing this recipe on the radio but I said wait a minute, I haven’t shared to the people that have been following since. I couldn’t bring myself to do that. Over the next few days, I would share a few recipes that I would be making for my household on Christmas day. Let me know if you try any of them out.

Recipe for Plantain Scotch Eggs

Ingredients
1 finger of Ripe plantain
3 Eggs
2 teaspoons of Suya powder
1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
1/2 seasoning cube
1/ teaspoon of grated ginger
1/2 cup of Bread crumbs
2 teaspoons of Couscous (optional)
Oil for frying
Method
Boil 2 of your eggs for about 5-7 minutes.
Place in cold water for about 2 minutes and peel the egg and set aside.
Boil your plantain till soft and mash while hot.
Add your seasoning cube, ginger, black pepper and  1 teaspoon of suya powder to the plantain and combine thoroughly.
In a separate bowl, whisk the last egg and set aside.
Using a flat plate, mix the couscous with the breadcrumbs and 1 teaspoon of suya powder and set aside. (I mixed cous cous because I liked the extra crunch. You can use garri as well)
Take your egg and scoop a little of the plantain mash and mould the eggs lightly. Rub some vegetable oil on your hands so the plantain doesn’t stick to your hands as much.
When you have moulded lightly, dip the plantain egg ball in the whisked egg and then roll in the breadcrumbs and set aside.
Heat up your vegetable oil for deep frying and when it’s hot, place your plantain scotch eggs and fry till golden brown.
I find its best to consume this when its not straight from the pot. Allow it rest a bit but whilst staying warm serve with hot sauce.









0


Prepare time: 5 min
Cook: 10 min
Ready in: 15 min

Fried Plantain is very popular wherever Plantains grow. In Nigeria Fried Plantain is called “Dodo”, in Cote d’ivoire it is called “Alloco”. It is a very simple and fast Nigeria food recipes for breakfast, it is mostly served along side jollof rice, beans, white rice and stew.

Ingredients

  • Ripe Plantain
  • Vegetable oil
  • Salt

Directions

  1. Wash, peel and slice the plantain, add little salt, toss the plantain to ensure that the salt is evenly distributed.
  2. Set your vegetable oil on cooker to heat up.
  3. When heated, add a considerable quantity of the plantain slices to the oil, leaving enough room for the slice to fry evenly.
  4. When the underside of the slices starts to turn golden, flip the slices on their other side.
  5. Fry till a desirable browning is achieved.
  6. Remove it and put in a sieve to drain out the oil.
Serve with Fried eggs, chilled juice or soft drink.
0


Prepare time: 30 min
Cook: 30 min
Ready in: 1 hr
Groundnut Soup, also known as “Peanut soup” it’s a delicious soup that looks and almost taste like Egusi Soup. It is popular in the Northern and Southern parts of Nigeria but in different ways. Groundnut soup is particularly common among the Etsako poeple of Edo state. It’s known as Omisagwe to the Estako’s.

Ingredients

  • Groundnut
  • Crayfish
  • Bitter leaves or Pumpkin Leaves
  • Efirin/Basil leaves (optional)
  • Onion
  • Scotch Bonnet (Atarodo)
  • Seasoning Cubes
  • Assorted Meat
  • Dry Fish
  • Stock Fish
  • Palm Oil
  • Uziza Seed
  • Salt

Directions

  1. Boil the meats first, the tougher meats first, put them into a pot and place on a cooker on medium heat. Add water to cover, add onions, seasoning cube and salt. Boil till slightly tender.
  2. Add the softer meats, if you are using tough dried stock fish add at this time, add the atarodo (scotch bonnet) and the crayfish and boil till soft.
  3. At this point start preparing your groundnut paste. (Roasted groundnut will be preferred here).
  4. Put the groundnut into a blender or dry mill, blend till smooth.
  5. Add some of the stock into the blended groundnut, add the Uziza or Uda, add onions and crayfish, blend till you get a thicken fine paste and set aside.
  6. Wash and cut the pumpkin leaves into tiny pieces, if you are using bitter leaf, wash very well to reduce the bitter taste.
  7. This time, check on your meats, add the smoked fish, switch off the heat and leave the smoked fish to simmer in the stock for some minutes.
  8. Add water to reduce the heat to low.
  9. Add palm oil into the stock, leave to combine.
  10. Add the groundnut paste gradually, don’t add much groundnut paste so as to control how thick or watery you want your soup to look, add seasoning cube and salt.
  11. Stir and combine, make sure its not clumpy, add the washed bitter leaves (Don’t add much).
  12. Add the washed bitter leaves (Don’t add much).
  13. Switch off the heat and add the Efirin or Basil leaves.
  14. Add more palm oil and make sure it float on top.
Yummy! Yummy!! Yummmy!!! Serve with any swallow of your choice.
0


Prepare time: 20 min
Cook: 15 min
Baking time: 30 min
Ready in: 1 hr 5 min



Meat Pie is a pie with a filling of meat and often other savory ingredients. Nigerian “meat pie” is similar to the Jamaican beef patty, meat pie can be baked or fried and the filling can be almost anything from corned beef to onions and tomatoes. I enjoy eating my own meat pie hot with soft drink or chilled Juice.

Ingredients for Stuffing

  • Vegetable oil
  • Pepper
  • Salt
  • Flour
  • Ground beef
  • Knorr
  • Thyme
  • Onion
  • Potatoes
  • Carrots

Ingredients for Dough

  • Butter
  • Salt
  • Flour
  • Water
  • Egg
  • Baking powder

Directions for Stuffing

  1. Place a large saucepan on medium heat, add the vegetable oil, onions, ground beef stir until the ground beef starts to turn brown
  2. Add the potatoes and carrots and cook for some minutes
  3. Taste to make sure it is well spiced, add a little bit more of spices as needed. In a small bowl add your flour and mix in a little bit of water to form a thick paste. Add the paste and stir for some minutes. The stuffing should be thick and tasty.

Directions for Dough

  1. Grease the oven tray with butter and set aside
  2. Beat the egg and set aside too
  3. Put the flour, baking powder, salt and butter in a bowl, use your hands to mix the ingredients until they start to feel like bread crumbs
  4. Slowly begin to add some cold water and mix until you get a stiff dough (knead the dough)
  5. Roll the dough on a flat surface and using a round object or a knife, cut a round circle. Place the filling at the middle of the dough and rub the egg lightly around the edges, close it up using a fork or better still you use meat pie cutter to press it down
  6. Glaze the top of the pie with the egg gently
  7. Place the pie on the greased oven tray and place in a preheated oven to bake for 30 minute. The pie will be golden brown when done.
0


Nigerian Buns is one of the popular snacks in Nigeria. Nigerian Buns are fried dough balls with crunchy outer crusts. It should not be confused with puff-puff because it is softer and fluffier.

Ingredients

  • Flour
  • Egg (optional)
  • Milk or Water
  • Nutmeg (optional)
  • Baking powder
  • Warm water
  • Vegetable oil
  • Butter or Margarine (optional)
  • Sugar
  • Salt

Things You Will Need:

  • Mixing bowl
  • Frying Pan
  • Wooden spatula (for mixing)

Directions

  1. Add flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg in a small bowl and mix.
  2. Whisk the egg (that’s if u will be making use of any) and pour into the melted butter and mix until it looks lumpy.
  3. Put the sugar and milk in a cup of water and mix, making sure the sugar granules dissolve completely. Pour it into the flour and mix continuously, mix till you get stretchy sticky dough.
  4. Put the fry pan on the cooker and heat the oil on medium heat.
  5. When the oil is hot, scoop the dough into the hot oil and leave to fry till golden brown on both sides for about 5minutes.
  6. When done, put the fried buns onto a paper towel to remove excess oil.
Serve with chilled soft drink.
0


Living in Nigeria, you’ll find that tomatoes almost always end up in stew of some sort or jollof rice. Almost always. A few may end up in a salad every once in awhile, but a peppery tomato stew or a spicy pot of jollof rice is where they are most likely found. However, there are so many more things that we can do with tomatoes and that’s what hopefully we can begin to explore here. Let’s start with something that although simple, is light, bright and full of flavour. A tomato salad accompanied by a quick almond ricotta and a pesto sauce/salsa verde to garnish. If you are able to get your hands on a variety of tomatoes, then that will make this dish even more exciting.
Now we often overlook tomatoes because, well, they are commonly found in most places. However, they are a rich source of beta-carotene, vitamin C and lycopene. These particular nutrients have been found to reduce the risk of some cancers, lower cholesterol, boost immunity and protect the eyes and skin.
Now back to the salad. You can find my recipe below, but there are other examples of tomato salads here on the Food Network and also another example here by Rachel Roy.

INGREDIENTS

TOMATO SALAD
Mix of 12 tomatoes (mix shapes, sizes and colour)
½ Red onion finely sliced
1/4 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
Almond ricotta cheese (recipe included)
Salsa verde (for plating, included)
Olive oil (extra for plating if needed)
ALMOND RICOTTA
1 cups Almonds, soaked
1 ½  tbs Lemon juice
½  tbs Lemon zest
4 tbs Nutritional yeast
1 tsp Salt
1 Spring onion
1 tbs parsley, minced
2 tbs water
SALSA VERDE
1 cup Basil
1 Clove of garlic
2 tsp Dijon mustard
120ml Olive oil
1 tbs Lemon juice
½ tbs Apple Cider Vinegar

INSTRUCTIONS

SALAD PREP
  • Finely slice the onion and place in a bowl with apple cider vinegar and set aside
  • Slice the tomatoes in various shapes and sizes. Leave some cherry tomatoes whole (if using them)
  • Plat tomatoes along with ricotta and drizzle the salsa verde
ALMOND RICOTTA PREP
  • Soak the almonds in water for 8 hours and then peel off the skins
  • Place almonds in a small food processor along with the lemon juice, zest, nutritional yeast, and salt. Blend until smooth
  • Mince the spring onion
  • Transfer the mixture to a bowl and fold in minced onions and parsley
  • Adjust seasoning as needed
  • Place in a sealable container and store in the refrigerator until ready
Salsa Verde Prep
  • Place all the ingredients, except the olive oil, in small food processor and blend
  • Slowly stream in the olive olive
  • Pour in a bowl and set aside for plating
0

Fruit Smoothie

Puree 1 cup vanilla yogurt, 1 cup frozen strawberries, 1 frozen banana and 1/4 cup orange juice in a blender until smooth.

Sweet Bagel Chips

Slice stale cinnamon-raisin bagels crosswise into thin rounds. Brush the tops with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake 10 minutes at 325 degrees F; flip, brush with more butter, sprinkle with more cinnamon sugar and bake 10 more minutes.

Garlic Bagel Chips

Melt 3 tablespoons butter with 2 chopped garlic cloves in a saucepan. Slice stale plain bagels crosswise into thin rounds. Brush the tops with melted garlic butter and sprinkle with grated Parmesan. Bake 10 minutes at 325 degrees F; flip, brush with more butter, sprinkle with more grated Parmesan and bake 10 more minutes.

Caramel Popcorn

Melt 1/3 cup butter with 1 tablespoon honey and a pinch of salt. Toss with 12 cups popcorn and 1 cup pecans. Spread on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake 15 minutes at 325 degrees F, tossing. Cool.

Curry Potato Chips

Preheat 2 baking sheets in a 425 degrees F oven. Toss thinly sliced russet potatoes with olive oil, salt and curry powder. Spread on the hot baking sheets and bake 10 minutes.
0