My 1st Giveaway

It's time to organise my first ever giveaway. I'm grateful for the visits and emails here, but now i NEED membership. I've added a membership widget to help me know exactly what my viewership is.
This giveaway is for members of this blog who live in Nigeria. To participate, please become a member of this blog (even if you don't want to participate, i would appreciate you becoming a member anyway.).
I'm giving away a Sunbeam Mini Donut Maker. This baby makes 5 donuts in 7 minutes. Also, the donuts are much healthier as there's no deep frying involved. I will include 5 tested and trusted recipes with the appliance to the winner of the giveaway.

How to enter:
1. Become a member of this blog by clicking the membership widget. For mobile users, scroll down and click 'web version' to see the widget on the upper right corner of the screen.

2. Leave me a comment telling me what the best thing you've ever tasted is.

3. The winner will be chosen by a randomizer app. Winner will be announced by the 1st of August. Appliance will be shipped out immediately to the winner via road transport from Abuja.

*This is a US electrical appliance, it needs a step-down transformer to maximise usage with Nigerian voltage.

If i can, you can,

Deema

Breakfast Tortilla Wraps

I won't lie, i'm not really a breakfast person. I know breakfast is really important and all that. Trouble is, i don't get out of bed till lunchtime! (LOL)
When i do have ample time for breakfast, i like to make food from scratch. I will either pull out a homemade loaf from the freezer and thaw (in this weather, it takes 20 minutes, tops), or make some kind of flat bread-tortilla, naan or pita. In subsequent posts, i'll share more flat bread recipes (i love pita pockets!), but tortillas are much easier to make.
You can serve them with your choice of filling; i always make 2 fillings, one is always egg salad, the other is some kind of stir fry-chicken, beef, etc. In this recipe, i used lamb.

Ingredients (this makes 10 tortillas)

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 tablespoon margarine
3/4 cup water
2 carrots, cut into strips
1 cup of green beans, cut into 1/2 inch lengths
1  medium onion, sliced into rounds
400g of lamb, cut into strips
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 maggi cube
1/2 teaspoon of salt (or to your taste)

Method
Mix the flour, salt, and baking powder together in a mixing bowl. Mix in the margarine very well with a fork till the mixtures looks like breadcrumbs.
Add the water and mix until the dough comes together; place on a lightly floured surface and knead a few minutes until smooth and elastic.
Divide the dough into 10 equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball.
Preheat a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Use a rolling pin to roll each ball into a thin, round circle. Place into the hot pan, and leave until bubbly and golden; turn over and continue cooking until golden on the other side. Continue till all balls are done. Store in an oven with light on.
In a wok on medium heat, add the olive oil. Leave for 30 seconds, then add the vegetables. Stir for 1 minute, then add the lamb. Add the maggi cube and salt. Stir fry for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
Take a tortilla roll, add the lamb filling to one edge of the circle. Roll. Continue with remaining tortillas and filling. Enjoy!
If I can, you can,
Deema.

Vegetable Fried Rice with Oven Fried Chicken

This chicken recipe is one I love! Whenever I need to fool myself and pretend I'm counting calories, I turn to this recipe. I fool myself like that sometimes.

To be honest, this chicken isn't low-calorie. It's simply a less messy way to make southern fried chicken. It's also a little less calorific than basic southern fried chicken, as this is sans breadcrumbs and is not deep fried. That said, this chicken IS coated in flour, and you do have to put some oil in a baking pan with the chicken.

The fried rice is as basic as can be. I use basmati rice to cut the cooking time drastically. This rice can be on your table in as little as 20 minutes.

Ingredients
1kg, chicken
1 cup, flour
3 teaspoons, paprika, divided.
3 teaspoons, salt (divided into 2 teaspoons and 1 teaspoon)
2 tablespoons, cayenne pepper
5 tablespoons, olive oil (divided into 2 and 3 tablespoons)
1 medium red onion, chopped
2 scotch bonett peppers, chopped
1/3 cup, vegetable oil
2 cups, carrot, chopped
1 cup, cabbage, chopped
2 cups, green beans, chopped
2 cups, basmati rice
2 Knorr double stock cubes
Salt, to taste

Method.

1. Make a marinade for the chicken: in a bowl, combine 2 tablespoons of olive oil, cayenne pepper, 2 tsp of salt and 1 Knorr double stock cube. Marinate the chicken and refrigerate for 1 hour. Boil rice till soft and fluffy, about 15 minutes.

2.Preheat oven to 350F. In another bowl, combine flour, 2 tsps of paprika, and 1 tsp of salt. Remove the chicken from the marinade and coat in the flour, piece by piece.

3. Pour vegetable oil into a baking dish, place the coated chicken in the dish, leaving some space between the pieces. Bake for 45 minutes.

4. In a wok or pot, pour the 3 tbsps of olive oil, add all the vegetables and pepper, and stir fry. Add the remaining stock cube and 1 twp of paprika. Pour in the cooked rice and stir till combined. Taste for salt, and salt to taste. Serve with the chicken. I added some basic coleslaw.

If I can, you can,

Deema

Basic Egusi Soup

This is as basic as Egusi (melon seed) soup can get. It doesn't have a whole list of hard-to-find ingredients, but it packs a punch in the taste department. This soup has to be my favourite native soup, although I seldom eat it because of the fat content. The longest time this soup takes is the time required to boil the meat. Pair this with whole wheat meal and enjoy!

Ingredients
1kg of beef, cut into 2-inch chunks
1 cup of egusi
200g of okporoko (dried cod), washed soaked in hot water
4 tablespoons of blended atarodo (habanero). You can use less, if you like
2 knorr double stock cubes
2 teaspoons of salt
1/3 cup of ground dried crayfish
2 cups of chopped pumpkin leaves
1/3 cup of palm kernel oil
5 cups of water

Method
Put meat in a pot, add salt, knorr cubes, blended pepper and water. Set on medium-high heat and cook for 20 minutes.
Remove okporoko (cod) from hot water and add to the pot. Add crayfish too. Stir and cook for 5 minutes. Add palm oil. Cover pot and cook for 3 minutes.
Add egusi, stir. Leave to cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring at intervals (egusi might burn if not).
Add chopped leaves, stir and remove from heat immediately.
Enjoy!

If I can, you can,

Deema.

Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Foil Baked Tilapia and Veggies

I need to get more adept at coining names for recipes! Help!!
How are you guys? The rains are here with a vengeance. That, coupled with the sack of potatoes lying in my pantry have got me leaning towards comfort food. Not wanting to add more comfort to my hips though, so it's sweet potatoes to the rescue.
The first time i heard that sweet potatoes were lower calorie than irish potatoes, i could have fainted. It sounded so impossible cos you know, sweet potatoes are, em...em...SWEET!
Mashed sweet potatoes with a very simple gravy made with our stock of the curry. And tilapia baked in foil! Wow! Decadence!!!
Ingredients
2 Tilapia cutlets
5 sweet potatoes
3 tablespoons, olive oil
3 tablespoons, softened butter

1 Knorr double stock cube
3 carrots, chop these how you like
1 1/2 cups, green beans
2 tablespoons maple syrup or honey (optional, i used it because my sweet potatoes weren't so sweet)
2 teaspoons, garlic powder
1 1/4 teaspoons, salt
1 medium onion, sliced in rounds
3 tablespoons chili sauce
8 squares of foil
Method
1. Boil the tilapia for 1 minute. You can skip this step if you want. I wanted less fish liquid with my vegetables. Put the potatoes in water in a pot to boil. Do not add salt. Boil till very soft.
2. In a small bowl, toss the onions, carrots, and green beans with the garlic powder, chili sauce, and olive oil.
3. Lay out 2 squares of foil for each fish base. Pour half of the vegetables on the foil. Put the fish on the vegetables. Cover with the remaining half.
4. Place the other 2 pieces of foil on top and seal the package. In essence, you are using 4 pieces of foil for each fish.
5. Place the packets on a baking tray. Prick the packets with a fork. Bake at 350f for 20 minutes.
6. Leave aside. Make a gravy by heating the chicken and potato stock (use only chicken stock if you like). Add 1 tablespoon of cornstarch to a cup of stock. Stir over medium heat till thickened
7. Mash the potatoes, I used a wooden spoon.
8. Add the butter and maple syrup, continue mashing till you get the consistency you like. I prefer my mashed potatoes with some chunks.
Serve immediately with the fish and vegetables. Pour the gravy over everything!.
Enjoy
If I can, you can,
Deema

Chicken and Potato Curry

Hi! Hi!! Hi!!!. It's been a crazy week for me. I think this week has been the busiest of my life. No complaints there, though. I'm very grateful to God.
My dh didn't think i was busy enough though -else, how do you explain the fact that he brought home a SACK of potatoes (sweet and irish)?- so he deemed it fit to
add to my workload.

Anyway, what goes around comes around. All his dinners are going to be potato based till that sack is empty. Lol! I can tell you that he's enjoying it though. I've been experimenting and he actually looks forward to the next potato dinner. Go figure!
You guys know I can't leave you out. I'm going to share all the recipes, so get ready for a storm of potatoes. Potato haters, this is the time to look away!

Ingredients

1 kg, irish potatoes
500g chicken (don't remove the skin before cooking)
1 medium red onion
1/2 teaspoon, Turmeric
1/2 teaspoon, Garam Masala
1/2 teaspoon, dried basil
2 teaspoons, ground ginger
2 cups, pumpkin leaves (ugu), chopped
2 teaspoons, curry powder
4 atarodo (habanero), blended with 3 tablespoons of water
1 Knorr double stock cube
2 teaspoons, salt

Method
1. In a pot on high heat, put the chicken pieces, add salt, pepper, chopped onion and stock cube. Pour in 7 cups of water. Boil till chicken is tender. Remove chicken pieces from the pot, debone and set aside.
2. Peel and dice the potatoes, add them to the chicken stock, add the spices. Cover and boil till potatoes are as soft as you like.
3. When the potatoes are done, remove the excess stock and freeze for later. You can leave as much or as little stock you want (more will make the curry thinner, less will make it thicker).
4. Add the deboned chicken and pumpkin leaves. Reduce heat and simmer for 1 minute. Serve and enjoy!

Remember to save the stock, it'll come in handy in our next dish.

If I can, you can,  

Deema

Cashew Chicken

Sometimes unusual combinations make the most sense. The elements in this dish work together to create a perfect symphony (yeah, right! symphony??? lol). Ok, i'm going a bit overboard, but you'll see what i mean when you make it. The crunchiness of the cashews work well here. And it's a very quick meal to make. Please enjoy it, we did!

Ingredients
¾ cup roasted cashews
1 medium sized chicken, deboned and deskinned (you can use boneless chicken breasts)
½ teaspoon salt
3 atarodo (habanero peppers)
2 inch piece of fresh ginger, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 orange bell pepper, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons cornstarch
6 medium garlic cloves, chopped
1 bunch of spring onions, white and green parts separated, chopped
4 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 cup water

Directions
1. Place chicken pieces in large bowl. Sprinkle with salt and toss to coat evenly, refrigerate for 10 minutes.
2. Remove chicken from fridge, coat with cornstarch and refrigerate again for 10 minutes.
3. In a wok or large non-stick pan on high heat, pour the olive oil and leave until very hot. Add the chicken to the wok and stir-fry until it becomes opaque but not cooked through, about 3 minutes.
4. Add the garlic, ginger, atarodo and white parts of the spring onions.  Stir for 1 minute. Turn heat down to medium and add the bell peppers, stir for about 30 seconds.
5. Add the hoisin sauce, soy sauce and water; cook until the chicken is cooked through, about 1 minute. Salt to taste. Remove from the heat. Stir in the green part of the spring onions and the cashews.
Serve immediately.

If i can, you can,
Deema