Back-to-South = Roasted Bole, roasted fish and a fine spicy sauce.

If you grew up in Port Harcourt, or anywhere around Rivers State, then you would totally relate to this one of a kind meal. Sold at almost every nook cranium of the city. Bole and fish popularly called would keep you craving for it just by the aroma whilst been prepared along the roadside.

This whole joy of food can be easily homemade, all you'll need is a mini food grill or even a multi purpose oven, the effects might differ but the results will be the same if done rightly.

For real people if you've never been to PH all your life, now this is a reason to visit, we may not have all the necessary attraction to wow you but this right here will do all the wowing. 

I like to try new things, but not roasted plantain and groundnut. Coming to Lagos and seeing how people enjoy eating roasted plantain and groundnuts(still can't wrap my head around it), maybe it's PH style bole that's telling my brain it can't be nicer than what it's already used to.

Will walk you through a process you can take to make these while at home in another article about Bole and Fish. 

My sister and I would usually make this as dinner for the whole family, it's always a happy dinner.

Coconut milk Rice pudding and Pepper sauce. FYI, not everytime big piece of protein, eggs are good substitute.

Back in school during my food and nutrition days, my friends always made rice pudding and me being the girl that i was never saw it fascinating until now, but this time the milk is replaced with coconut milk

This meal was inspired from a lady i met who told me coconut rice is not meant to be colorful, in other words, plain white. so i thought why not get the color and spiciness from a sauce to go with the rice for atariro(pepper) lovers.
This combination definitely is a hit so i'm giving mself a +1 for this.

For the full recipe and method of preparation go to recipe index page on the blog home page.

Let's Get Cooking!

Trying out new meals is quite a task, i'm going to be needing some lab rats to try these meals. Starting tomorrow i will be coming up with new recipes, all new ideas, with my cooking expertise i'm sure they will taste nice and more so look delicious. 

People say cooking is an Art, I'd say cooking is both Art and Science. 

Drop your constructive comments on these upcoming meals, let's know what you think about it.

What you should do if you over salt a dish

It is always advisable to taste a meal before adding salt, actually salt should be added after your stock and other seasonings are added, this will give room for adjusting the salt level and to know if salt is actually required.  

However, if you still happen to over salt a meal you can throw in some potato into the pot, it will help retain some excess salt.

Growing up, this was a major issue for me, salting a meal, it's mostly in excess and my mom will always say ''salt is not good o'', after much hearing of that, my fingers automatically adjusted itself and now can put just the right amount of salt just by looking at the food, how magic can a finger get. It's important we stay away from excessive salt as it poses some life threatening ailment, always eat healthy and mind your salt intake.

Let's face it, "Everybody loves Puff Puffs"

Puffs are gradually becoming a regular chops in parties and homes. Puffs are one of the easiest yet loved fried pastry there is. It can be made in various ways adding some little twist to give it that different effect from the regular Puffs.
I like to think, because it comprises of just flour, water sugar and salt, it can go with basically anything else.
Ever tried adding some scoop of crunchy peanut butter to the batter just before frying, some fruity jam (as in doughnuts) or even some desiccated coconut, some crushed nut, dried fruits. I can go on and on.
However, we should try to have these golden babies (puffs) occasionally, otherwise you turn out looking like one *biggrin

Steps I took in making the last puffs I had.
Diced some peppers to add a little spike to the risen batter.
                                                        

Using medium heat so as to allow to cook properly and avoid soaking in oil and fast burning.

Sprinkled desiccated coconut whilst still hot.
Nothing like a freshly fried puff puffs, hope you all can relate to this.

Fun ways to have pasta, I'm just beginning to love pasta.

Found this interesting, never tried this before, but it does look like a worth trying fun food trick.
All you will need: zip lock bag,
                            edible food coloring.
Parboil pasta first before locking  them up in colors separately.

If you ever try this, please do send me pictures of it to my email ritachinda21@gmail.com

Wooden spoons, my special kind of spoons. I don't know about you, but cooking is easier with wooden spoons.

The word spoon derives from an ancient word meaning a chip of wood or horn carved from a larger piece.

Wooden spoons were easy to carve and thus inexpensive, making them common throughout history.

Today, wooden spoons in western cultures are generally medium to large spoons used for mixing ingredients for cooking or baking. They may be flat or have a small dip in the middle.

Before the invention of electric mixers, wooden spoons were often used to cream together butter and sugar in recipes such as shortbread or Victoria sponge cake.

They are still used for stirring many different kinds of food and beverages, especially soups and casseroles during preparation, although they tend to absorb strong smells such as onion and garlic. Wooden spoons are generally preferred for cooking because of their versatility. Some cooks prefer to use wooden spoons when preparing risotto because they do not transfer heat as much as metal spoons. Unlike metal spoons, they can also be safely used without scratching the bottom of the saucepan. This is useful when making dishes such as scrambled eggs.

Well said, now go get your wooden spoons and start cooking. I mostly use wooden spoons when cooking.

 

Wooden spoons are also used to pevent steam from boiling over, by placing horizontally on top of a boiling pot.

This does work up to a point. The bubbles formed by boiling water are filled with steam, so if anything colder than the steam (ie <100°C) touches a bubble the steam will immediately condense and the bubble will collapse.

Therefore provided the surface of your spoon is cold, it will help to prevent boiling over. If it's a long boil and the wooden spoon heats up to 100°C it will no longer work. This is why a wooden spoon is recommended: metal would heat up too quickly.

 

                                                                      

For pasta lovers

How to store your raw pasta and get rid of those many cluster in the shelf.

Cooking pasta and retaining that swirl look when cooked. No need to break into halves before cooking. I bet some of you already knew this, but some still don't, works every time. Ensure to add little drops of groundnut oil to avoid stickiness of pasta, wooden spoon can be placed on top the boiling pot to prevent steam from overflowing.

This trick works for me every time, kids and adults would totally love this. I usually do this when making a mixed sauce spaghetti otherwise known as jollof spaghetti.

Don't get it twisted, Garlic makes everything better..

Garlic is a plant in the onion family, grown for its cooking properties and health effects. It is high in a sulfur compound called Allicin, which is believed to bring most of the health benefits.

 

 

"Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.”

Here are some health benefits of garlic that are supported by human research studies.

Garlic is a plant in the Allium (onion) family.

It is closely related to onions, shallots and leeks.

It grows in many parts of the world and is a popular ingredient in cooking due to its strong smell and delicious taste.

The entire “head” is called a garlic bulb, while each segment is called a clove. There are about 10-20 cloves in a single bulb.

We now know that most of the health effects are caused by one of the sulfur compounds formed when a garlic clove is chopped, crushed or chewed.

This compound is known as allicin is also responsible for the distinct garlic smell

Allicin enters the body from the digestive tract and travels all over the body, where it exerts it potent biological effects

Garlic is easy to include in your diet and tastes absolutely delicious. it compliments your savory dishes, particularly soups and sauces. the strong taste of garlic can also add a punch to otherwise bland your recipe.

However, the downsides to garlic, such as bad breath and there are some people who are allergic to it.

My favorite way to use garlic is to finely chop into tiny bits, sauté in extra virgin olive oil when making a chicken broth.

Who says you have to be in a Hotel to a have a proper breakfast.

Pancakes rolled, sausages cut and sautéed in olive oil and a dash of black pepper, scrambled egg caked and of cause warmed baked beans and half tomatoes



Breakfast Ideas

Not-so-good-looking Akara, but great tasting ones.
Home made beans cake fries, best served with agege bread(as Lagos has thought me), I would say pap, but I am not a fan of pap.

Easy step to have your watermelon cut.

Stepwise Process for having your water melon nicely cut and ready to have.

it works every time.

Final product...
Also a nice way to have watermelon at parties and dining.

Colourful Bell Peppers, A must have in the fridge for a quick and nice looking dish

 

Bell peppers I talked about in the earlier post.

 

These babies will give all the flavor you'll need in a sauce, they are spicy but not hot, mild and somewhat sweet.

Gives your dish all the colours they need, they can be got from the fresh veggies section in a supermarket.

Basmati rice and coconut milk prawn sauce

 Plain white basmati rice, garnished with dice of fresh veggies.

Coconut milk and variety bell peppers prawn sauce.

















For a full recipe and method, post a comment and I will respond.

Some upcoming recipes

A number of recipes to come up with in the coming weeks.
These are all ideas, can't wait to try them on. As nice as they sound so will the taste be. So excited!

Basmati rice and coconut prawn sauce
Pasta and chicken balls
Mashed yam served with ham and egg sauce
Coconut milk rice pudding and pepper sauce
Nigerian fried rice twist served with peppered prawns
Garri fried chicken (kfc style)
Garri fried fish        (kfc style)
Boiled yam omelette (baked)
Moi Moi in muffin pan
Yam porridge with a dash of black eyed peas
Groundnut rice
Yamarita, Plantarita, Potarita (coated in egg whites)
Garri fritters  and stew (pancake style)
Boiled yam lasagna with goat cheese
Toasted bread pudding
Rice in egusi soup
Sweet and sour soup
Fried yam and plantain porridge (left over fries mgt)
Ofe uziza (cassava soup with uziza)
Usang soup (water leaf and aziza)
Vegetable salad with avocado cream
Mac and No cheese
Fried Beans
Eba n meat roll
White Egusi soup served with sweet onion fried spinach
Grated plantain baked in muffin pan
Peanut butter puff
Ofufu (boiled yam and boiled sweet potato poundo)
Yam and beans combo (baked)
Rice omelette
Ripe pawpaw and Agbalumo fruit salad in fresh yoghurt

My First Article

As you all know, I love cooking and cooking loves me. This blog is created for everyone out there who is a food lover like me and aspiring to be great cooks.
In the coming weeks I will be talking about creativity in the kitchen, turning in nothing into something endearing and also recipes created by yours truly because a great meal is created and not plucked. We all love tips, and I will be coming up with some cooking tips and cooking ideas I have learned over the years and is still learning.
In due cause I'll be writing on meals got from my favorite eat out spots (yes, because once in a while we all need to get pampered *winks) and where you can locate them to have a wonderful meal experience like I would.
Hope you would enjoy it.

Comments and questions would be advised to be dropped.
Thank you for visiting, you should do this often.