“Granat Soup” (Peanut Butter Soup)

“Granat Soup” with steamed Rice (Peanut Butter Soup)

Hello NCC readers! Peanut Butter Soup, I like to call this my lazy dish. It is my quick easy guilty pleasure dish. It can be prepared as a sauce/stew or a soup. In today’s post I prepared it as a soup which goes well with steamed rice. The difference is with the stew/sauce the ingredients have to be slightly fried whilst with the soup the cooking method is mainly boiling from start to finish. I used smoked broiler chicken, turkey neck, oxtail and snapper fish to compliment the sweet flavour of the peanut butter however; any meat or fish of your liking can be used. 

As with most of my dishes, this dish is perfect as main course for lunch or dinner. I hope you enjoy reading and hopefully try out the recipe. Aprons on!!!

Ingredients

Ingredients 

1. Jar of smooth Peanut butter (4 table spoon scoops)
2. Half smoked broiler chicken
3. ½ kg turkey neck
4. ½ kg oxtail
5. Two fresh snapper
6. 3 medium size onions
7. 2 Red bell peppers
8. 2 scotch peppers
9. Spring onions
10. Fresh thyme
11. Seasoning (black pepper, all purpose, garlic powder, mixed dry herbs and maggie cube)
12. 1 tinned chopped tomato
13. Tomato puree 

Serving for 4

 

Cooking Instructions

Granat Soup (Peanut Butter Soup)

 

1.      Cut all your meats into sizeable pieces of your choice then, wash thoroughly.

2.      Do the same with the snapper and season with fish seasoning.

3.      Bring the meats to boil with 1 liter water for 20 minutes.

4.      Chop onions, bell peppers and spring onions. Add to the pot of boiling meats 

Vegetables boiling away

5.      Blend one onion with 2 scotch peppers. Also add this to the pot with the chopped tomato.

6.      Scoop 4 table spoonful of peanut butter into 200ml water. Mixed this to loosen the paste to make into a liquid like consistency then add this to the boiling pot of vegetables.

Peanut butter paste mixture

7.      Add seasoning, maggie cube, a pinch of salt for flavour, about 4 stems of fresh thyme and tea spoon full of tomato puree to give the soup colour. Mix the pot and taste to the soup. Add more seasoning if you need to.

8.      Leave soup to boil for a further 20 minutes.

9.      Finally, turn the heat low then add the fish and let the soup cook for a further 10 minutes in slow cooking.

A taste of West Africa

Voila! Dish is done!  

Delicious Dish

Pumpkin Stew #divinetreat

Pumpkin Stew

Hello Readers! In the spirit of Halloween, I decided to make pumpkin stew. Now Pumpkin is not something I get excited about however, after preparing this dish my whole stance has changed. I experienced one of those “don’t knock it until you try it moments”. As with all my dishes, this is dish is simple to prepare and perfect as a main course for lunch or dinner.

I used pork to compliment the sweet flavour of the pumpkin however; any meat of your liking can be used as a substitute. The vibrant colours of this dish not only makes it pretty but its tastes exceptionally divine as well. I hope you enjoy reading and hopefully try out the recipe. 

Aprons on!!!

Ingredients

Ingredients 

1. Pumpkin ( quarter kg)
2. 4 strips of pork belly
3. 3 medium sized onions
4. 2 Red bell peppers
5. 2 scotch peppers
6. Spring onions
7. 2 large carrots
8. Seasoning
9. 350ml olive oil
10. Tomato purée

Serving for four

Cooking Instructions

1.      Wash, dice and season pork.

2.      Peel and chop pumpkin and carrots into chunky cubes. Bring to boil for 5 minutes and let it cool in cold water to let the cooking stop.

3.      Chop onions, bell peppers and spring onions.

4.      Blend one onion with 2 scotch peppers

5.      Pour oil into hot sauce pan and heat to cooking temperature.

Chopped Chunky Carrots and Pumpkin

1.      Once oil is heated, add in pork chopped onions, peppers, spring onions and let it fry for 5 minutes.

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

3.      Add seasoning and salt for flavour and tea spoon full of tomato purée to give the stew colour.

4.      Add boiled pumpkin and carrots to the pot with fried stew. Mix the pot and turn the heat low.

5.      Leave stew to cook for a further 5 minutes or until all the water from the stew has evaporated.

Voilà! Dish is done! 

Pumpkin Stew

            

Chippy Chirpy! (Fish and Chips)

Fish and Chips

Fish and chips, the signature English dish that I became obsessed with during my second year at university. In today’s post I decided to put a West African twist to this dish making a hot pepper sauce to compliment the fish. Sierra Leone has vast variety of fresh water and deep sea fishes that locals enjoy on a daily basis. Whether it’s fried or grilled, with a side of the hot pepper sauce garnished with lemon or lime wedge, fish can be have with plantains, chips, rice and salads. Like most of my dishes, today’s post is quick and easy to prepare. I hope you enjoy reading and hopefully try out the recipe. Aprons on!!!

Ingredient

1.                     200g fresh Sea Bass  

2.                     4  Medium potatoes

3.                     2 cloves of garlic

4.                     1 lime

5.                     2 large onions

6.                     3 scotch bonnet pepper

7.                     1tinned chopped tomato

8.                     Maggie seasoning

9.                     Olive  

Ingredients

Pan fried Sea Bass

Cooking Instructions

Sea Bass

1.                  Fillet Sea Bass and season with sea salt, black pepper corn and thyme.

2.                  Pan fry the fillets 3 minutes on skin side and 2 minutes on flesh side. As soon as it goes in press each fillet down with fingers or fish slice to stop the fillet from curling and also to get crispy skin.

Deep frying chips

Chips

1.                  Peel potatoes and cut into chunky slices.

2.                  Deep fry until golden brown.

Pepper Stew

Hot pepper sauce

1. Slice onions and blend with scotch peppers, garlic and chopped tomato finely
2. Heat 50ml of olive oil in a pot.
3. Once heated fry blended scotch peppers, garlic and chopped tomato in low heat for 5 minutes constantly stirring it.
4. Sprinkle a pinch of salt and a Maggie cube.
5. Leave to cook for a further 5 minutes and then dish is ready for serving.

Voila! Dish is done! 

Fish and Chips West African Style

Brekkie Time!!!

Sardine Omelet 

Breakfast - the most important meal of the day! Whether it’s, have a bowl of cereal, a pot of yogurt, continental option or full English, it’s important to grab this essential meal daily.

Growing up in Freetown, sardines were one of my favourite breakfast options especially, as a sandwich filler. They also go well with omelet which happens to be another breakfast favourite of mine. Omelets give you the option to be creative and add fillings of your choice. A sardine omelet, tastes divine with a slice of bloomer washed down with a cup of earl grey tea with soya milk. I hope you enjoy reading and hopefully try out this recipe. Aprons on!!!

Ingredient

             1.  One tinned Sardine

             2.  Scotch bonnet pepper

             3.  Onions

             4.  2 large eggs

             5.  Olive oil

             6.  Ground black pepper

              

              

Cooking instructions

1. Beat eggs in a bowl
2. Add four to five slice of onions and pepper to the beaten egg
3. Add a pinch of salt
4. Heat a table spoon of olive or vegetable oil in a frying pan and pour the beaten egg into the frying pan.
5. The add sardines cutting them into chunky pieces (makes sure you drain the oil or brine from the tin before adding sardines to the eggs).
6. Fry the eggs in very low heat. In doing so you wouldn't to fold or flip your omelette over.
7. Sprinkle black pepper the frying egg.

Voilà your omelette is ready for serving.

Breakfast is served

Tropical Heaven

West African Tropical Heaven

Cocktails! Who would say no to one? Whether it’s virgin or laced with your favourite rum, tequila, vodka, gin etc your taste buds tingle at the sound and description of one. If you're feeling nostalgic about home, this cocktail is filled with vibrant tropical fruits that would tantalise your taste buds.

I am picky when it comes to eating fruits. Tropical fruits however, give me a natural high. This could either be the result of the natural sugars or juice from the flesh of the fruit. Sierra Leone being in a tropical region is blessed with a range of fruits mango, guava, papaya, coconut, star fruit, variety of plums, the list goes on. Growing up in Freetown, access to fresh, organic tropical fruit was easy. They either grow in your back yard, your neighbours or you can find a variety at Kroo Town Road Market one of the major markets in the city.

Tropical goodness

For this post I decided to make a cocktail from my three favourite tropical fruits, mango, pineapple and pawpaw (papaya). You can prepare this with or with alcohol and it would taste just as heavenly. I opted to do without however; it goes well with either tequila or vodka. The fruits a naturally sweet therefore you can do without adding extra sugar however, if you prefer extra sweetness, 2 table spoonful would be enough for the serving below.

Aprons on!!!

Ingredients

1.                     3 medium sized ripe mango

2.                     1 medium sized pineapple

3.                     1 medium sized pawpaw  

4.                     3 fresh lime

5.                     4 table spoon coarse brown sugar

6.                     Glass of crushed ice

Coarse sugar to decorate glass rim

 Preparation

1. Peel and cut all three fruits into sizeable chunky cubes
2. Put each fruit into a freezer bag and let the fruits freeze a day or at least couple of hours before preparation.
3. Once the fruits have been frozen, put equal amount of the frozen fruits into the blender.
4. Add 2 table spoon of sugar and squeeze in 2 fresh limes.
5. Add crush ice and blend everything together. 

frozen fruits ready to be blended

Serving

Zesting the rim of the glass

1.                     Zest the three limes on a plate. This should be done at least 10 min before serving to let the zest dry out.

2.                     You have the option to pour some coarse sugar over the zest and mix together, or you can have each on separate plates.

3.                     Cut a small wedge from one of the juiced and zested limes and rub it around the rim of the glasses.

4.                     Dip the rim of the glass into the sugar and move it around in a circle. Repeat this with the lime zest until you have a pretty lime sugary rim.

5.                     Then pour the Tropical Heaven until it reaches the level of the sugar.

Voila! Drink is ready to take you to heaven! 

Nina's Tropical Heaven

Lazy Sunday Meal (Boiled Cassava and Corned Beef stew)

Boiled Cassava and Corned Beef stew

Hey Readers, hope your weekend has been great. Like most of my dishes, today’s post is quick and easy to prepare. I absolutely love cassava which is one of my favorite root vegetable. Growing up in Freetown corned beef used to be my favorite weekend breakfast meal. Whether it’s cooking it into a stew or adding it to an omelet, it tastes divine. I hope you enjoy reading and hopefully try out the recipe. Aprons on!!!


Serving for 4

Corned Beef

Ingredient

1.                  340g of tinned corned beef

2.                  2 cloves of garlic

3.                  2 large onions

4.                  2 scotch bonnet pepper

5.                  1 chopped tomato

6.                  Maggie seasoning

7.                  Black and white pepper 

Almost done

Cooking Instructions

Cassava

1.                  Peel cassava and cut into chunky cubes.

2.                  Boil Cassava for 10 minutes or until soft and put aside 

Corned Beef Stew

1. Slice onions lengthwise.
2. Blend one onion with scotch peppers
3. Heat 50ml of olive or vegetable oil in a pot and add sliced onions, crushed garlic and chopped tomato (drain the tomato juice from the tin before adding into the pot).
4. Fry onions, tomato and blended pepper with onions in low heat for 5 minutes or until tender
5. Stir in corned beef into the stew.
6. Leave to cook for a further 10 minutes and then dish is ready for serving.

Voila! Dish is done! 

Boiled Cassava and Corned Beef stew