“Eating is spiritual. And eating food with loved ones is truly communion with God. Do your best to eat the food you love with people you love :) it makes it taste better.” ~ Munachi Abii
250g Egg noodles
200g Grilled chicken breast
100g Sugar peas
DRESSING:
1/4 cup Sesame oil
5 Tbls Soy sauce
1/4 cup Chopped pickled ginger
1 Tbls Wasabi
Boil the noodles till al denté.
Shred the grilled chicken.
Blanch the sugar peas.
Toss all the ingredients together.
Whisk all the dressing ingredients together. Pour the dressing over the salad and mix till well coated.
Garnish with micro herbs.
500g Chicken breast, cubed
Salt and pepper
300g Buttermilk
500g Seasoned flour- (pinch of salt, pepper, paprika, garlic and ginger powder)
2 Tbls Baking powder
SAUCE:
4 Tbls Honey
2 Tbls Soy sauce
1/2 cup Tomato sauce
Season the cubed chicken with salt and pepper.
Marinate chicken cubes in buttermilk for an hour or overnight.
Shake off excess buttermilk and toss into the seasoned flour.
Shake off excess flour.
Fry till golden brown. 6-8 minutes.
Mix all the sauce ingredients together.
Toss the chicken into sauce.
Sprinkle with sesame seeds (optional)
200g Hot pot stock
200g Chicken stock
1 Tbls Sichuan peppercorns
500g Chicken breast, skewered
3 Tbls Chinese spice mix
Cut chicken breast into strips. Skewer them.
Marinate chicken with Chinese spices over night.
Bring your chicken stock to the boil and add the hot-pot stock in.
Add extra chillies to stock of preferred **
Leave to simmer and cook your skewered chicken (in batches) in there for 5-7 minutes till completely cooked.
Serves: 4-6
Prep time: 1hr10 mins
we served this at one of our pop up restaurants, it was perfect for the occasion because it was a rainy day. We served the curry with Roti, Tzatziki and salsa, it was amazing. It’s a lovely recipe, we added the Rooibos to replace the artificial stock, we found it was easier to control the seasoning that way (stock tends to have a lot of salt).
Ingredients:
500g Beef Shoulder, cubed
2 Tbs Oil
2 Onions, finely chopped
2 Carrots, peeled and cubed
2 Potatoes, diced
2 Tbs Minced Garlic
2 Green Chilies, finely chopped
2 Tbs Minced Ginger
2 tsp Tumeric
2 tsp Cumin
2 tsp Coriander
2 tsp Chili Powder
1 Tbs Five Spice
Salt and Pepper
425g Canned Tomatoes
2C Strong Rooibos Tea
45ml Curry Paste
150ml Coconut Cream
Roti to serve
Method:
In a large saucepan, brown the meat on both sides. Remove from the heat and set aside. In the same pan, sauté onions until golden brown. Add the garlic and ginger, sauté for 2 mins. Stir in the spices and cook for a further 2 mins. Add the meat back in as well as the vegetables, adjust seasoning.
Stir in the curry paste and add in the tomatoes and the Rooibos tea. Simmer for 45 mins, until the meat is tender.
Just before dine, stir in the coconut cream.
Serve with Roti. Garnish with fresh herbs.
Serves: 8
Prep time: 35-40 mins
Always make sure your pan is well greased. Always put baking paper at the base of your Pan and grease the sides with either butter or cooking spray. Let the loaf cool down a bit once it’s done baking before removing it from the pan, when it’s warm it’s a bit delicate and is guaranteed to break. Be patient.
Ingredients:
500g Vanilla Cake Mix
1C Rooibos Tea, cooled
3 Eggs
1/3C Oil
1 Banana, mashed
2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1 tsp Ground Nutmeg
1 tsp Ground Ginger
125ml Walnuts, chopped
1 tsp Baking Soda
Icing:
250ml Water
4 Rooibos Teabags
1 Cinnamon Stick
4 Cardamon Pods
4 Cloves
2 Star Anise
Icing Sugar
Chopped Walnuts for topping
Method:
Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius.
Grease a cake tin.
Mix the tea, eggs and oil together, add the wet ingredients to the cake mix, using a spatula. Mix until a smooth batter is formed.
In a separate bowl, mix the banana, spices, nuts and baking soda together. Stir the banana mixture into the batter. Pour batter into prepared baking dish.
Bake for 25 mins or until a testing pin is inserted and comes out clean.
Cool the cake down completely.
To make icing, boil the teabags in the water with the rest of the ingredients excluding the sugar and nuts. Reduce liquid to about 1/2 cup.
Using a sieve, remove all the spices from the liquid and cool the liquid down completely.
Whisk in the icing sugar into the liquid until you reach a desired consistency. Spread over cake and garnish with nuts.
Serves: 8-10
If they don’t serve “Gemere” at your wedding, is it even a wedding? Only our grandmother was the designated ginger beer maker, she makes it so well and if you want good ginger beer, make sure it brews for a couple of days. We made the typical ginger beer into a sorbet, it’s an amazing pallet cleanser.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 L Water
1C Castor Sugar
2 Tbs Ginger Powder
1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar
Peel of 1 Apple
Peel of 1/2 Lemon
Handful of Pineapple Pieces
1 tsp Instant Dry Yeast
Method:
Pour 500g water into a pot. Add sugar and still until it’s all dissolved.
Add ginger, cream of tartar, Apple and lemon peel as well as pineapple pieces.
Add the rest of the water and simmer on medium heat for about 12 mins. Then allow to completely cool. Stir in the yeast. Cover and leave to stand overnight.
Strain through a whisk into a container and chill. (At this point, it’s ready to drink.)
To make sorbet, place ginger beer into the freezer container and freeze for about 2 hours. Stir with a for every 30 mins so it doesn’t crystallize.
Once it can hold shape and frozen, you may serve.
Serves: 4
Prep time: 1hour 10mins
Catfish is a big deal in Nigeria and it’s normally deep fried whole. With this recipe, feel free to use your favorite and preferred line fish, you can honestly go wild.
Shito Mayo
Ingredients:
100ml Palm Oil
3 Red Onions, finely diced
1 Red Pepper, finely diced
2 Garlic Cloves, finely chopped
2 Tbs Minced Ginger
6 Jalapeño Peppers, ground
2 Tbs Thyme Leaves, chopped
3 Habenero Peppers, finely diced
1 Tbs Chili Flakes
5 Tbs Tomato Purée
50ml Chicken Stock
50ml Worcestershire Sauce
80g Dried Ground Shrimp Powder
1 Tbs Ground Black Pepper
1 Tbs Himalayan Salt
Method:
Heat a heavy-based saucepan, add oil, fry onions over medium heat till translucent for about 2-3 mins.
Add garlic, ginger, jalapeños, thyme and habeneros and fry for a few mins.
Stir in the purée, stock and Worcestershire sauce until a thick paste forms. Add in the chili flakes, prawn powder and cook for 10 mins. Adjust seasoning.
Cover and cook on low heat for 30 mins. (You can either blend sauce or leave it chunky).
Pour sauce into a sterilized jar and cool in the fridge.
To make Shito Mayo, mix 1 cup of Shito sauce with 3/4 cup mayonnaise till well blended.
Fish and kale Ingredients:
4 Whole Fish Fillets (Hake or Yellowtail)
3 Tbs Thai Fish Spice
1 Tbs Ground Black Pepper
1 Tbs Sea Salt
2 Tbs Palm Oil
1 Lemon, quartered
300g Kale
Palm oil for deep frying
Method:
Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius.
Heat oil in deep fryer at 160 degrees celcius.
Season fish with salt and pepper and Thai spice. Drizzle with oil, bake in the oven for 20-25 mins until fish is cooked but not dry.
Shred kale to desired size, fry till crispy and bright green.
Drain on paper towel.
Serves: 8
Prep time: 35-40 mins
6. Chin chin is amazing, it tastes like deep fried shortbread chips, that’s the best way we can describe it. We thought it would be really cool to incorporate it into one of our favorite desserts of all time.
Ingredients:
250g Chin-chin
1 Tbs Sugar
Pinch of Salt
125g Butter, softened
Filling:
200g Fresh Strawberries
1/4 C Castor Sugar
3/4 C Sugar
1 Tbs Lemon Juice
2 Tubs Cream Cheese
1/2 C Sour Cream
1/2 tsp Vanilla Essence
2 Eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 C Sugar
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius.
In a food processor, crush the chin-chin until crumbs. Add the salt, sugar and butter and blitz to mix. Press into the bottom of a baking tray.
Bake for 15 mins, take it out and reduce heat to 160 degrees celcius.
In a saucepan, add strawberries, sugar and a pinch of salt together and bring to a simmer for 10 mins.
Purée the mixture with a stick blender, add lemon juice and set aside.
Best cream cheese and sour cream with an electric beater, add the 3/4 C sugar and the vanilla, beat until smooth. Add the eggs and mix well.
Pour the cream cheese mixture into the cooled crust. Top with strawberry purée, use a skewer to create a swirl. Bake until set for 25 mins.
serves: 4-6
Prep time: 40-50 mins
Egusi Soup – The original Nigerian Egusi recipe is delicious but making this soup is not really an easy process (for us) so we decided to simplify it… A lot ! We will ease into the original recipe slowly. This version is good, think of it as; Egusi soup for beginners.
Ingredients:
1 Tbs Palm Oil
3 Spring Onions, thinly sliced
2 tsp Curry Powder
1 tsp Chili Flakes
350ml Sauce ????
2 Tbs Dried Ground Melon Seeds (Agushi)
4-6 Habenero Peppers, crushed
Juice of 1 Lime
200ml Vegetable Stock, if required
250g Baby Spinach
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Ground Black Pepper
Method:
Heat a large heavy- based saucepan. Add coconut oil, sauté with onion over medium heat until softened. Add curry powder and chili flakes and stir well.
Stir in the sauce and simmer over heat for 15-20 mins.
Gently stir in the Agushi, break down any lumps using a wooden spoon – the space will be creamy and resemble scrambled eggs.
Add the Habenero peppers and the lime juice . Leave to simmer over a medium heat for another 10 mins.
Add a bit of stock if sauce becomes too think, add a little at a time.
Stir in spinach and seasoning, simmer gently till spinach is wilted.
Enjoy.
“In Mamelodi we called grilled chicken feet ‘Chicken Kwasa’, we don’t know why, lol but it sounds cool. Chicken kwasa is normally sold to school kids as a break time snack by local vendors. This is such a big hit with the locals.”
Serves: 4-6
Prep time: 40 mins
Ingredients:
500g Chicken Feet, cleaned
2 tsp Smoked Paprika
2 tsp Curry Powder
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Black pepper
3 tsp Thai Mixed Spice
2 tsp All Spice
1 tsp Cumin
1 tsp Coriander
1 tsp Chili Powder
1/4 C Sunflower Oil
1/4 C BBQ Sauce
Method:
Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
Line baking tray with foil.
Par-boil the chicken feet for about 18-20 mins. Drain and pat dry. Mix all the spices, oil and BBQ sauce together and coat the chicken feet.
Grill in the oven for 20-25 mins until cooked.
Serve warm with a starter.
