NIGERIAN CHIN-CHIN

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup all purpose flour 
• 3 tbsp caster sugar
• 3 tbsp softened butter 
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp salt 
• 1 teaspoon flavourings of choice (I used nutmeg)
• 4-6 cups Oil for frying

How to prepare:
-Sift flour, baking powder and nutmeg, sugar and salt in a bowl and mix well.

                        

-Add softened butter into the flour, using fingers to work it in, till it is mixed properly with a breadcrumb like consistency.

                          

                          

-Make a well in the middle of flour/butter mixture and add egg.

                           

                                      

-Use fingers to mix egg with flour till it comes together in a dough. This may take a while but it will surely get there.

                           

-Using a rolling pin and a cutting board (or a flat surface) roll out dough to about an inch thick, roll dough only once do not stress and re-roll, and cut into desired shapes. I cut mine vertically then horizontally into cubes.

                             

-Place a pan over medium heat, add oil to deep fry chin-chin. I test the temperature of the oil by dropping a small piece of dough.

                               

-Fry chin-chin stirring continuously till the chin-chin turns a golden brown colour. I fried in two batches to avoid over-crowding.

                                 

-Remove chin-chin from oil and place on a paper towel to drain excess oil and leave to cool down.

                                   

-Chin-chin can be stored in a dry airtight container and kept for up to a week or two.

                            

For a healthier option instead of frying.

-Preheat oven and lay some wax paper on a baking tray.-Place chin-chin dough on the wax paper and bake for about 25 minutes checking frequently to avoid burning.

NOTE: I made this again but instead of using nutmeg, I used 1 tsp of cinnamon and after frying I rolled my chin-chin in cinnamon sugar. It was truly delightful.

                   

                   

SUNDAY LUNCH

This is my take on the traditional coconut rice. I usually make use of golden basmati rice but that was not available so I made use of easy cook long grain rice but the results are just as nice.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cup easy cook rice
• 2 cups coconut milk
• 1 onion
• 1 Habanero pepper
• 1 chilli pepper
• 1 tsp minced ginger
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp thyme
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 seasoning cubes ( I used knorr cubes)
• Sweetcorn
• Sliced bell peppers
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste
• Water

How to prepare:
-Place a large pot over high heat add rice and enough water to completely cover rice. Parboil rice for 4 to 5 minutes, remove from fire, wash and drain rice and set aside.

                                   

-Dice peppers and onions according to preference ( I diced mine finely, be careful when handling habanero pepper).

                                    

-Place a different bowl over medium heat, add olive oil heat for a few minutes.

-To the oil add onions, minced ginger, minced garlic and peppers. Stir fry.

                                     

-Add coconut milk, seasoning cubes and thyme.

                                      

-Leave coconut milk mixture covered until it begins to boil.

                                       

-Add parboiled rice to coconut milk and mix properly completely covering rice with coconut milk ( you can adjust for salt and pepper at this point).

                                         

-Cover rice and reduce heat. leave for rice to get ready this would take about 15 to 20 minutes.

-Add sweetcorn and sliced bell peppers (you can use any vegetables of your choice). I diced some left over chicken breast which had already been cooked and added to the rice.

-Mix and leave to steam together for 5 minutes.

                                             

-Remove from fire. Serve and enjoy. I served this with pieces of peppered chicken

FRENCH TOAST DIPPERS

This is a fun and interesting twist to the classic french toast. French toast or eggy bread is a dish made by dipping bread (usually stale bread) in beaten eggs and fried. This is my recipe of making french toast as a sweet dish making use of cinnamon, vanilla essence and sugar and served with a crème fraîche and macerated strawberry sauce.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup caster sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon 
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• 100ml crème fraîche
• Punnet of strawberries
• 4 brioche bread rolls
• 2 eggs
• 60ml whole milk

How to prepare:

-The first thing I make is the cinnamon sugar, this is typically made by mixing 1/4 cup of caster sugar with 1 tablespoon of cinnamon (I use caster sugar because it has a much finer grain). I usually make a lot of this and store in a air tight container at room temperature.

 

-Wash, hull and slice strawberries add remaining 1/4 cup of caster sugar and lemon juice and mix until strawberries are completely coated with sugar and leave for 30 minutes. Stir strawberries through crème fraîche.

-Prepare the bread, I made use of stale brioche bread rolls cut in half. Any bread can be used to make this toast, if using sliced bread remove crust and slice into strips.

-In a bowl crack eggs add milk, vanilla extract and remaining 1 tsp of cinnamon, beat until well combined.

-Place a pan over medium heat and add a knob of butter.

-Dunk each piece of bread into egg mixture soaking both sides. Remove and place on a wire rack sprinkle cinnamon sugar over top.

-Place in a pan  and fry till a golden cinnamon sugar crust forms, flip only once and fry other side  until golden brown.

-Serve in a plate with a dusting of cinnamon sugar and a scoop of  strawberry crème fraîche.

BREAKFAST CUPCAKES

This past Saturday I decided to be creative and make these very delicious breakfast cupcakes.
Now cupcakes may not seem exactly like an ideal breakfast food but don't knock it till you try it, its the perfect combination of all your favourite breakfast foods.

Ingredients

• 3 slices of Bacon
• 6 Slices of Ham
• 2 Potatoes
• 6 Eggs
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste

 How to prepare:

-Peel and slice potatoes in to medallions place in a pot of water and boil until potatoes are soft.

-Slice bacon into bits and fry as preferred (I do not like my bacon too crispy so I did not fry for too long).

-Grease a cupcake tray properly, this is a necessary step because these cupcakes tend to stick a little.

-Place one piece of ham into the bottom of the cupcake tray, add boiled potatoes and cooked bacon bits.

-Crack one egg into each cup (to prevent shells from breaking into eggs I break into a separate bowl and poured into cupcake tray). You can also scramble eggs before pouring into cups.

-Season with salt and pepper as desired and place in a pre-heated oven at 190 degrees for 14 to 18 minutes. If you prefer your egg whites a little runny serve at this point, I like mine cooked through so I baked for 20 minutes after baking I covered my cupcakes with foil paper and left for five minutes before serving.

I served these delicious cupcakes with a couple of grilled sausages and chicken dippers.

NIGERIAN BEEF SAMOSA

Ok so I know this is not the traditional dough used to make samosa, but I had extra wrappers remaining and decided to make samosa and I find this is a much easier (no need to go through the hassle of making the dough from scratch)

Ingredients

• 2 Medium Irish Potatoes
• 4 Carrots
• 100g Minced Meat
• 3 Spring Onions
• 1 tsp All Purpose Seasoning
• 1/2 cup Green Peas
• 1/4 Cabbage
• Vegetable oil
• 1 Stock Cube
• 1 tsp Cayenne Pepper (optional)
• 1 tsp Ginger
• 1 tsp Garlic
• Spring Roll Pastry
• 1 tsp Flour
• 2 tsp Water

How to prepare:
- Wash, clean and peel cabbage, carrots, spring onions and potatoes. Dice potatoes and spring onions and grate carrots and cabbage finely. Boil the potatoes until soft if using fresh peas boil them also.

- Heat up a little oil in a deep frying pan add spring onions grated garlic and ginger fry for a few minutes, add the minced meat stock cubes, cayenne pepper and all purpose seasoning and fry until meat is ready.

- Add peas, carrot, cabbage and potatoes to minced meat, mix properly and set aside to cool completely.

- To wrap the samosa create a "binder" by mixing flour and water to a smooth paste, cut the pastry diagonally (each sheet  makes two samosa). Fold into a cone like shape, fill pocket created with the samosa filling spread a little of the binder over the opening and press together to seal tightly.

-Fry in the same way as spring roll and enjoy.