African Canapés

Hello Readers, hope you are all doing well. It’s been a busy summer and exciting things have been happening at Nina’s Cookery Corner. I did my first huge wedding gig in Vienna Austria, preparing and displaying a selection of African canapés for over 400 guests. I am really proud and happy this project went well and got excellent feedback not only from the client but also from guests and the prestigious Austrian catering company that catered for the three course wedding dinner.

Below are some pictures from the event and some African style canapé options.

Some of the recipes for the canapé options can be found on my blog by following the link below. http://ninascookerycorner.blogspot.co.uk/

Feast your eyes on the dishes and don’t forget to like share and comment.

Also, if you’re planning an event, dinner party and want the burden of cooking off your hands, why not let me be your super hero and cater to your needs. Enjoy reading try out the dishes and send me your feedback. Aprons on! 

Olehleh

Plain olehleh with spicy sauce

Gizzard stew and Plantain

Chicken Gizzard and Plantain. An NCC speciality

Akara

Akara and spicy garnished sauce.

Tasty Fish fritters that would make your tongue smile.

Fish Balls

Fishy Fishy Fish balls

Kibbeh with red pepper olive garnish

Okra Soup “Wait Okra and FooFoo"

Okra and foofoo

Hello NCC readers! Hope your weekend was fab! Another “Satiday foofoo post” In Sierra Leone Saturday is foofoo day. Most households will make this dish to have for lunch on Saturday and then on Sunday morning before heading to their church service. In today’s post I opted for okra soup. Okra can be cooked with or without palm oil, blended onions, scotch peppers, ogiri (fermented sesame seed paste) assorted meat of your choice and smoked fish. For a foofoo dish, I prefer without palm oil and I usually have the palm oil version with rice.

Foofoo is made from cassava and is one of my favorite African dishes. It is made from fermented cassava that is later on, cooked and molded into a dough-like consistency ball.

Hope you get to try this dish. Aprons on!

Ingredients

Ingredients

2 dozen fresh okra

1 packet of Foofoo

3 medium sized onions

3 scotch peppers or enough to your tolerance

1  packs of ogiri

Assorted meat (pig foot, oxtail, smoked broiler chicken)

Smoked fish

Maggie season

Salt

Cooking Instructions

Serving for 4

Chopped Okra

Okra Soup

1.            Wash and chop okra into small chunks and put aside.

2.            Bring your meats to boil for about an hour or as soft as you want it to be.

Boiling pot with blended ogiri

3.            Meanwhile blend onions and scotch pepper with ogiri and dry shrimps. This should look like a thick paste.

4.            Add the above mixture to the boiled meat and add 2 pints of water then leave the pot to boil for 30 minutes or until you have a thick soup consistency.

5.            Add 1 maggie cube seasoning and two pinches of salt to taste.

6.            Add the Okra and let the pot boil for about 10 minutes to allow the okra to cook. Leave the pot open whilst it boils until the okra is cooked.

7.            Finally add smoked fish and turn the heat low and let the pot cook for a further 5 minutes and the sauce is ready for serving. 

Foo Foo

1.              Add water to foofoo paste and mix with hand into a thick runny consistency.

Sieving foofoo 

2.              Sieve the foofoo to remove chaff.

3.              Leave this to settle for about an hour or a day before if time permits

4.              Strain off the surplus water and bring foo foo to cook on a low heat.

5.              Keep mixing the foo foo until it thickens into a hard dough

6.              Add about a handful of water to the pot. Cover and leave the dough to cook by steam.

Voila! Dish is done!  

Finished dish

Okra Soup

Brown Rice with Liver Stew

Brown Rice with Liver Stew

Happy New Year Readers! Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and 2015 has been good to you so far! First post of the year! Sometimes you just want to prepare a quick and easy meal for either lunch or dinner. This tasty dish is perfect if want to get in and out of the kitchen in 30 minutes. I enjoy eating liver stew it brings back fond breakfast time memories in Sierra Leone. We would have it mostly with “tapala”or“fullah man braid” (breads similar to the French bread roll). In this post however, I opted for brown basmati rice. I hope you get to try this dish Aprons on!

Serving for 2

1. A pack of 360g liver
2. 1 large onions
3. Handful of fresh cherry tomatoes
4. Olive oil
5. Maggie seasoning
6. Black and white pepper
7. Rosemary, garlic, ginger paste
8. A cup of brown basmati rice 

Ingredients 

Cooking Instructions

Liver Stew

1.      Wash and cut up liver into chunky cubes

2.      Drain excess water with kitchen towel

3.      Season liver with rosemary garlic, ginger paste and black and white, pepper

4.      Slice onions into chunky slices lengthwise and tomatoes in half.

5.       Pre-heat 30ml olive oil in a pot.

6.      Stir in seasoned liver, onions, tomatoes and a teaspoon of paste into the pot and fry in medium heat for 5 minutes or until tender

frying up the liver

7.      Leave to cook for a further 10 minutes and then dish is ready for serving.

8.      In the meantime, steam a cup of brown basmati rice to go with your stew.

Voila! Dish is done! 

Brown Rice with Liver Stew

Spinach, Kale with Lamb Liver

Sautéed Spinach, Kale with Lamb Liver

Hello Readers, hope your summer is going well and making the most of the beautiful sunny days. Today’s post is a simple no carbs meal. Spinach and Kale are super healthy and full of iron, protein, vitamins and minerals which are good for your vision, skin, and hair. I prepared sautéed spinach, kale with lamb liver. I hope you enjoy reading and hopefully try out the recipe. Aprons on!!!

Serving for 4

Ingredient

Ingredients

1. A pack of spinach
2. A pack of Kale
3. A pack of 360g lamb liver
4. 6 cloves of garlic
5. 2 large onions
6. 2 fresh tomato
7. Olive oil butter
8. Maggie seasoning
9. Black and cayenne pepper
10. Rosemary 

Cooking Instructions

Steamed greens and garlic

Kale and Spinach

1. Steam already washed spinach and kale for 5min
2. Drain excess water using a colander.
3. Melt 2 table spoon of olive oil butter in a large pan and add spinach and kale and sauté in the melted butter.
4. Stir in 3 cloves crushed garlic and sprinkle a pinch of salt.

Seasoned liver simmering in butter and garlic

1. Wash and cut up liver into chunky cubes
2. Drain excess water with kitchen towel
3. Season liver with rosemary, maggie cube, black pepper, cayenne pepper and crushed garlic.
4. Slice onions and tomato into chunky slices lengthwise.
5. Melt 3 table spoon of butter in a non-stick frying pan and add sliced onions.
6. Fry onions and tomato gently in low heat for 5 minutes or until tender
7. Stir in seasoned liver and sauté with onions and butter.
8. Leave to cook for a further 5 minutes and then dish is ready for serving.

Voila! Dish is done!  

Sautéed Spinach, Kale with Lamb Liver

“Ramadan Iftar” Black Eyed Beans, Cassava and Plantain

 Yum Yum 

Hello NCC readers! I know I have been away for a while due summer social calendar. Luckily I found time to spruce up something really quick and easy to prepare. As Ramadan is almost over, I decided to make a dish that is a popular during this fasting period. Black eyed beans stew with boiled cassava and fried plantain a dish full of protein and carbohydrate.

Serving for 4

Ingredients

1. 250g of Black Eyed Beans
2. 2 Plantain
3. 2 medium sized cassava
4. Whole broiler smoked chicken
5. 3 smoked bonga and 1 mackerel fish
6. 1 tin of chopped tomato
7. 6 medium size onions
8. 4 scotch peppers
9. Maggie seasoning
10. Palm oil

Cooking Instructions

Plantain

1. Peel plantain and slice them side ways
2. Deep fry the plantains in the palm oil until they are golden brown and put them aside

Cassava

1. Peel cassava and cut into chunky cubes.
2. Boil Cassava for 10 minutes or until soft and put aside 

Black Eyed Beans Stew

 Fried Stew and smoked fish

1.      Wash and bring beans to boil until soft approximately for 1hr 30 minutes

2.      Cut up smoked chicken and bring to boil until tender.

3.      Peel and break smoked fish into small pieces and put aside

4.      Peel and slice onions.

5.       Blend one onion with scotch peppers

6.      Pour about 100ml of palm oil into hot sauce pan and heat to cooking temperature.

7.      Once oil is heated, fry sliced onions, chopped tomato and bonga fish together.

8.      Add bits of blended pepper and onions into the stew whilst the above is cooking.

9.      Add season and salt for flavour with the boiled smoked chicken.

10.  Add boiled beans to the pot with fried stew. Mix together and turn the heat low.

11.  Leave stew to cook for a further 15 minutes or until all the water from the stew has evaporated and you have a really dry stew.

    

Black eyed beans stew with boiled cassava and fried plantain

Voila! Dish is done!