Roast Chicken Thighs with Creamy Pepper Sauce

So I did it! I made my first YouTube cooking video! To say the least, it's not really professional or extremely amazing or anything. I was experimenting and I did it all by myself using my phone - which was a bit tricky. However, I'm well pleased with the result. This is only the beginning; it can only get better!

Roast Chicken Thighs with Creamy Pepper Sauce

So, I made roast chicken with creamy pepper sauce served with a vegetable and sweet potato stir-fry. Something completely different! Serves 2 people.


For the chicken - Ingredients:

Two chicken thighs with skin on (remove skin if you don't want the fatty bits)

Half red, green and orange or yellow bell peppers (cut horizontally so it creates full circular cuts as shown in the video below)

1/4 Leek

Salt

All purpose seasoning

Lemon or lemon juice

Garlic or garlic powder

Method:

1. Marinate the chicken for at least 2 hours in salt, all purpose seasoning, garlic and squirt some lemon juice on it. You can use different marinade if you prefer.

2. 2 hours later (once the chicken has marinated well) Cover up a roasting tray with foil paper, grease it with like two drops of oil or so (you don't want too much oil as the chicken has its own fat too), then turn on the oven at 180 degrees

3. Place the chicken thighs on the tray and leave it to roast.

4. Occasionally check the chicken and turn it over after one side has browned. Now place the sliced peppers and leek on top towards the end of the roasting (so that they do not burn)


For the vegetable and sweet potato stir-fry - Ingredients:

1 courgette sliced and then sliced again in half

1 large sweet potato, diced

1/2 leek, sliced

1/2 red, green and orange/yellow bell peppers each, diced


Method:

1. Boil the sweet potatoes in salted water for about 5 minutes or until they're cooked but not soft

2. Grease a non-stick pan with a little bit of oil and add the courgette, leek and mixed peppers while the sweet potatoes are still boiling to give them a "head start"

3. Now add the sweet potatoes to the stir-fry once they're cooked but not too soft

4. Add seasoning of your choice and stir-fry for about 5 minutes or so.


Creamy Pepper Sauce:

I used a store-bought powder which is absolutely delicious! You'll need:

Creamy Pepper Sauce powder

200ml milk

Method:

1. Mix the powder with the milk thoroughly then pour into a non-stick pot or sauce pan

2. Boil the two until thick

3. Pour on top of the chicken and bon appetit! You might not want to pour the sauce on the stir-fry as I did. Although it was yummy overall, aesthetically it wasn't as great after all!

Below is the YouTube video showing what I did. Serve with a beverage of your choice!

Stuffed Butternut Squash with Green vegetables

Ingredients:
Butternut squash - sliced in half and seeds removed
Chicken breast - sliced into thin strips 
Okra - diced
Bell peppers (red, yellow, green) - sliced into strips not diced
White onion - sliced into strips
Large mushroom - sliced into small pieces 

***Wash your ingredients before preparation, taking great care especially with raw chicken***
1. Grease an oven tray or tin, layered with foil, very lightly. Place half of the butternut squash on to the oven tray in a preheated oven at 150 degrees, with the skin facing up, and pull back one side of the foil so it comes to cover the squash

2. Leave it in there for 15 minutes, checking regularly. I'd advise piercing the skin (butt) in order to make sure heat goes all the way through to the centre

3. After 15 minutes, open the foil and turn the squash over from its butt to face upwards. Do not replace foil unless the squash hasn't cooked on that side yet. In that case, cover it again for another 5 minutes. Uncover the squash and reduce the heat to 100. Allow it to brown for 3-5 minutes then switch off the stove. 

4. Heat up a pan with a little bit of oil and add the onion, peppers, okra and mushroom to it. Stirfry it for a good 3 minutes. 

5. Add the chicken and let it cook together with the vegetables. Let it be for about 5 minutes (or until cooked), then add soy sauce, salt and a seasoning of your choice. 

6. Take out the butternut squash and serve on a plate. If there's no ridge in the middle of the squash, create one using a dessert spoon. The squash should be soft and slightly mushy by now, therefore it should be relatively easy to remove bits. Now add the chicken stirfry onto the space on the butternut squash. Bon appetit. 👌

Roast Pork Chop with Aubergine and Plantain

"Yum!" is an understatement...

I'm crazy about food and I'm ALWAYS experimenting! I break limits or "norms" when it comes to food and my palate loves that excitement!It's not uncommon at all, but instead of dicing aubergine the way people typically do, I stuffed it instead! Served with oven baked plantain and roast pork chop, it was a very yummy meal with different flavours that worked well together.

Ingredients:

1/2 aubergine, the round side

1/4 green, yellow and red peppers

one egg

salt

seasoning

garlic clove

1 plantain

1 pork chop

olive oil

Method:

                            

1.  Slice up your plantain into extremely thin slices and place them on an oven tray. Let them bake while you prepare everything else. Cut out the flesh in the middle of the aubergine as shown in the images above

2. Dice up the peppers and chop the garlic as shown above

                                          

3. Stirfry the peppers and egg on the side (as it takes forever to cook inside the aubergine) Stuff the aubergine with the stirfry, add a bit of oil, seasoning and oregano. Season the pork chop with desired seasoning, and add extra peppers on to it for flavour. Bake the aubergine along with the pork chop at a low heat to ensure it cooks well. Increase heat later to brown. Bon Appetit!

Budget Student Meals - Plantain Stirfry

Being a student, especially one who lives away from home, can be tough. You have to start budgeting for all your needs with the hopes of having sufficient disposable income for hobbies and "wants". Not everyone has parental support or a part time job to tide them over, and for some it's an absolute nightmare when student finance thinks they don't deserve a grant and to make it worse, the student loan isn't even enough to pay rent.
The most neglected aspect of life for many students is eating good. Some resort to instant noodles and bread when times are tough, probably because they don't know how to cook or they can't afford proper food. Well, proper food is actually very cheap if you know where and how to shop wisely. It's especially easier if you're not fussy about food or if you haven't got special dietary needs. Today I'm going to share with you one meal that's easy to cook and that won't leave you with rolls of fat on your belly!

Time to cook - 15 mins including preparation
Total Dinner Cost - £1.15 (rounded up)

Ingredients:

1 plantain, diagonally sliced into oval shaped pieces (bought 3 for £1)
1/4 red bell pepper, diced (bought in a pack of 4 for £1)
1/4 yellow pepper, diced (price as above)
1/4 green pepper, diced (price as above)
1/5 large onion, sliced in half moons (bought in a pack of 3 for £1)
1/2 Aubergine (2 for £1)
Sea salt (99p 500g shaker)
Seasoning (Aromat, 59p 200g shaker)
Vegetable cooking oil (£5 for 5ltrs on sale)

Method:

1. Heat up 1 tablespoon (10ml) oil in a pan

2. add aubergine and peppers and stir for a minute or two

3. add the onion and stir for another minute or two

4. add the plantain but don't stir it for about a minute to allow it to slightly brown - stir everything else though to avoid burning

5. add your salt and seasoning, then stir everything until well cooked.

Note: for those who have no clue how to cook, to know if it's done, it changes colour by darkening. That means aubergine will no longer look like a white rubber but more of a dark, greyish, soaked colour, and the plantain will be predominantly yellow with brown, and the peppers and onions will also look slightly soaked/soggy.

My favourite Tanzanian Dish - Chipsi Mayayi

 Chipsi Mayayi served with green beans with white onions, mushrooms with garlic and basil, tomato with oregano and a slice of garlic bread

"Chipsi Mayayi" is an omelette made with chips. It is not your typical healthy food due to the method used to make it, but it is sooo delicious! The beauty of omelettes is that you can add many different things to it, and I plan to experiment as I go. Chipsi mayayi is quite common in Tanzania and I learnt of the dish when I visited Tanzania in 2014. It is quite simple to make.

Ingredients:

1 Potato (or ready made oven-baking chips like Aunty Bessie's)
3 eggs
salt
seasoning
olive oil

Method:

1. Bake the chips in the oven until well cooked but not soggy or too sfot

2. Heat up a little bit of oil (2 table spoons max in an 8 inch non-stick pan)

3. Beat the eggs thoroughly and add salt and seasoning

4. Add the chips into the frying pan, making a layer with gaps for the egg to seep through

5. Now add the eggs into the pan, making sure they cover the chips completely

6. Once cooked on one side, turn the omelette over, taking care not to break it. If it breaks, it's not the end of life

7. Let the other side cook for about a minute or two, then serve.

You can garnish your Chipsi Mayayi with anything from cucumbers and ketchup to (as I did), green beans, mushrooms and tomato.

Garnish Ingredients:

1 small packet Green beans
half a white onion, sliced in quarter moons
Handful of mushrooms, sliced
4 cherry tomatoes sliced in half
Oregano
Basil
Garlic clove chopped, or garlic powder
Salt
Aromat seasoning (or All purpose Seasoning)
Oil

Method:

1. Grease a non-stick pan and heat up for a while

2. Place the tomatoes flat side down onto the pan and allow to lightly cook. Sprinkle oregano and salt then turn them over for a minute or two

3. Put the tomatoes in a side bowl or plate and add a drop of oil to the pan if necessary. Add the mushrooms and sprinkle garlic/garlic powder, salt and basil. Let it cook for two minutes or until well cooked. Again, add to a separate side plate or bowl

4. Add a little more oil if necessary, then place the green beans and white onions into the frying pan. sprinkle some salt and seasoning. Stir-fry for about 5 minutes and add basil towards the end.

5. Place the green beans and onion on top of the omelette, followed by the mushrooms, and finally, the tomatoes. 

Bon Appetit

Amarula Chocolate Mousse

Chocolate, especially dark chocolate, when consumed in moderation and the best type, can be beneficial to health. Dark chocolate is a natural antioxidant and can help to improve blood flow and lower blood pressure. It is also good for your heart and brain function. 

Food shouldn't be your enemy. In fact, you can use food to your own good if you know how and if you consume it properly. You should be able to enjoy food without feeling guilty about the consequences (cue calorie counters and obsessive dieters). Today I present the recipe for my Amarula chocolate mousse as promised weeks ago. It is absolutely yummy and can be modified to suit personal preferences. If you prefer no alcohol in it, you can replace it with whipping cream. It goes perfectly well after a light meal (like a salad or seafood with a small side), as it is rich and very filling.

Amarula is a cream liquer made using marula fruit from South Africa. It is rich, a little sweet and extremely yummy. You can use Bailey's in place of Amarula for a different taste. Personally, I'm going to try making it with Bailey's Orange Truffle next, and then Bailey's Coffee.


Ingredients:

150g dark chocolate

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100g milk chocolate
3 eggs
150ml whipping cream
150ml Amarula

Method:

1. Break up the chocolate and melt it in a bowl over a pan with hot water. Make sure it's a heatproof bowl. Stir it occasionally until smooth

2. Separate egg white and egg yolk. Keep the egg white in a separate small bowl or mug, then add the yolk to the melted chocolate. Stir until smooth. You will notice the texture will thicken and look a little rough but it will be smooth eventually. Fold in the whipping cream to loosen the chocolate mixture. Once loose, add the Amarula and fold it in.

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3. Beat the egg whites using a whisk until soft peaks start forming. Fold in the egg whites through the chocolate mixture, taking care not to burst the bubbles. The bubbles will maintain the volume of the mousse.

4. Spoon the mixture into small glasses or serving dishes and cover with cling film. Keep in the fridge for at least 3 hours and then serve with whipped cream on top and/or anything else to garnish (shaved chocolate, cherries, strawberries, etc).


Bon appetit

Authentic Zimbabwean dinner

Sadza with spring cabbage, beef stew and bbq chicken stew

For Zimbabweans, our staple food is known as Sadza or Isitshwala, which is made from maize meal and water. It is thick in consistency and quite tasteless on its own. We typically serve it with vegetables of all kinds (I will post more, provided I find the ingredients I need), meat, fish and sometimes even soured milk or insects like flying ants (ishwa) or a special type of caterpillar (madora or amaximbi). Last week, my friends and I had a sleepover just before the end of term as we won't be seeing each other for a month or so. The only Zimbabwean friend present suggested that I make sadza for everyone since she can't make it herself and hasn't had it in a while. This was around 11pm on a Thursday night! We gathered all the required ingredients and got down to cooking. To be honest, my sadza is not as good as my mum's and it's still a work in progress, but I was so happy with the outcome, considering I hadn't made sadza since last year before I left for university around September time. Here's how I make sadza.

Ingredients and utensils:

maize meal (the Iwisa brand is really good)

water

large flat wooden spoon

pot with lid

kettle

Method:

1. Fill up the kettle with water and boil it.

2. While the kettle is on, measure 1 mug of maize meal and pour into the pot. Add one mug of cold water and stir. If it's rather thick, add a little bit more cold water.

3. Switch on your stove and put the heat on medium-high

4. Once water has boiled, place the pot onto the stove and immediately start pouring the boiling water into the pot while simultaneously stirring with the other hand. Check the time here as it's extremely important to stick to the time limits.

5. Keep stirring for a good few moments until bubbles start forming. Keep stirring until the bubbles start popping faster and place the lid onto your pot. Leave it for 6-10 minutes max.

6. Add a little bit of maize meal (about 1/3 of a mug) into the mixture and stir in quickly. Be careful not to let the porridgey bits fly out the pot and burn you. Sometimes it's inevitable, however. Replace the lid and leave it for a minute or so

7. Add more maize meal and stir until the powder is invisible and there are no lumps. Leave it for another minute

8. If the bubbling has slowed down, immediately add a bit more maize meal, stirring it all in as you go and ensuring there are no lumps. You should feel it getting thicker. 

9. Add a little bit more maize meal until the bubbles have stopped. Take care not to put too much though, as it usually thickens the longer it stays on the stove. Now keep mixing it thoroughly with one hand holding the pot handle, and the other doing the stirring. You may feel pain in your biceps, but that's obviously due to the stirring.

10. If satisfied with consistency and thickness, lower the heat now and leave it for about 5 minutes. 

11. Put water into a bowl and dip a curved wooden spoon into it, then dish out. Dip the spoon in water each time you want to dish out the sadza to avoiding it getting stuck to the spoon.

12. Serve with whatever you want to as suggested above. Enjoy!

NOTE: I am NOT yet an expert at cooking Sadza, therefore you might want to have someone who knows how to cook it present if you're attempting it for the first time.

 - Sadza is tricky as it's all about the timing, but practice makes perfect!