Fried chicken(Theedee's way)

I usually prefer baked chicken but when I crave for fried chicken this is how I do it. I like to season my chicken the night before so that it marinates well, but that's only if you have time. There are 2 ways I like to do this, I have both ways below.

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs of chicken(I use quartered leg chicken)
• 2 tablespoons seasoning salt(I use lawry's as always)
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 2 tablespoons black pepper
• 2 tablespoons cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoons onga 3-mix spices(that is if you have, you can find some in some african markets)
• 2 teaspoons parsley flakes
• 1 teaspoon crushed pepper(optional)
• 1/2 a gallon of oil

Ingredients 2: 

• 2 onions
• 3 scotch bonnet pepper(jamaican hot pepper)
• 1 jalepeno pepper
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons ginger
• 2 tablespoons seasoning salt
• 2 tablespoons black pepper
• 1 teaspoon crushed pepper(optional)

Method:

1. Wash and cut the chicken into two pieces (drumstick and thigh, that is if you are using quartered legs like I do), remove skin and fat(this is by choice only but I don't like my chicken with the skin on,it bothers me lol)
2. Soak in water and a tablespoon of vinegar for about 10mins
3. Season the chicken with the ingredients, making sure that every part of the chicken gets some of the seasoning, let it marinate overnight
4. In a big pot, steam the chicken till its no longer, heat up oil in a frying pan and fry chicken until its brown(shown in the picture below)

Method 2:

1. Start with step 1-2 in the first method
2. Blend onions,pepper,ginger and ginger, season chicken with blended ingredients then with seasoning salt and remaining of the ingredients, let it marinate overnight
3. In a big pot, steam the chicken till its no longer, heat up oil in a frying pan and fry chicken until its brown(shown in the picture below)

Some of the ingredients

Before mixing it all on the chicken

All seasoned and ready for the fridge

Stages of the fried chicken

Steaming

Looks like its deep frying

All ready! :-D

Okra stew

Okro/Okra however you like to call it, its still the same. I loveee it and it goes perfectly well with some banku or kenkey or eba(gari)  

Ingredients:

• 2 & a half  onions
• 4 tomatoes
• 1/3 teaspoon of ginger
• 1 scotch bonnet pepper (Or jamaican hot pepper)
• 1 or 2lbs of goat meat
• 1/2 cup palm oil or regular vegetable or canola oil
• 1 or 2 packs of cut okra(they are sold in almost every supermarket)
• 1/2 salted fish(koobi, this however is optional)
• Spices to taste(as always I used my lawry's seasoning salt,my black pepper and etc for this)

Method:

1. Wash goat meat,clean it very well(removing all sights of fat and all) and season it, then steam for about 20 mins(or until it's no longer pink)
2. Blend the 2 onions,tomatoes,pepper and ginger
3. By now the goat meat should be steamed, you can choose to pour your oil on the goat meat now or if you are anything like me in a separate cooking pot, slice half an onion,sauté it in the oil(add koobi if you are using some),after a minute of stirring add the goat meat and blended ingredients and allow it to cook for about 15mins
4. Add your cut okra to the stew now (if you are adding any other dried fish or salmon to the stew now is the best time to add it)and allow it to simmer for 10mins, season it and let it cook for another 15mins then your stew will be all ready

Ps: if you are going to be using fresh okra make sure you wash it well, cut the top and bottom off. Chop it into little pieces and go to step 4. 

The ingredients

Chips

Have you attended any Ghanaian funeral and seen some chips with peanuts ? OR have you received a pastry bag from a Ghanaian event and it had chips, meat pie and scones or pound cake? Well these are the chips......I really don't know what else to call these but chips because that's exactly what they are lol. 

Ingredients:

• 5lbs flour (1 bag of flour)
• 2lbs butter (8 sticks)
• 2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons of salt(I use Lawry's seasoning salt simply because of the flavor it gives)
• 1 teaspoon of onion or garlic powder (optional,gives it flavor)
• 1 tablespoon of sugar (optional, I use it because it gives it a little sweet taste)
• Water to mix
• 1/2 a gallon of oil(for frying)

PS: I said garlic powder not salt because if you use garlic salt and the seasoning salt you would end up with an overly salty chips and that leaves a sour taste in your mouth, no one wants that lol. 

Method:

1. Using your hands, mix the butter and flour until you get a bread crumb like texture, add your salt,onion powder ,nutmeg and sugar
2. Using cold water, mix it until dough forms and make like in the picture below
3. Roll with a pin and cut them in preferred sizes, you can use a scissors or knife to cut them
4. On medium heat, fry them until they are golden brown

PS: when you cut them, set them aside in a tray with flour at the bottom and on top of it so they don't stick together. (Hopefully this makes sense,lol)

Step by step to the chips

All ready...:-D 

Ats)m) (Chin chin)

Ats)m) is the Ga name for these. I will find out the twi name for it (that is if there is one). The Nigerians call this chin chin. It can be crunchy or soft. I have both ingredients here so you can choose which ever one you prefer. :-)

Ingredients: Soft ats)m)

• 4 cups of flour 
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup of butter(2 sticks)
• 2 teaspoons nutmeg

Crunchy ats)m)

• 4 cups of flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons nutmeg

Method:

1. Mix the sugar & milk and set aside 
2. Mix the flour,nutmeg, add in the butter and mix well till there are no lumps in the mixture(breadcrumb like texture).
3. Add in your milk mixture, mix well until dough is formed. 
4. Knead on a flour surface till dough is smooth
5. Roll with pin and cut into desired sizes
6. Fry on medium heat till its golden brown(with constant stirring it)

These are the soft chin chin(just like I like it)

Beef sauce

1 of my favorite accompaniment to go with fried rice. But it can also go well with white rice, yellow rice and even mashed potatoes.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs beef chucks or whole
• 1 green pepper
• 1 onion
• 2 carrots
• 1 tablespoon of cornstarch or flour
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce 
• Spices: (lawry's,maggi,black pepper,or any seasoning of your choice)

Method:

1. If you have a whole beef, cut it into beef chunks, wash and season your beef and
2. On medium heat, add the tablespoon of oil , "fry" the beef and allow it to cook for about 30 - 40minutes(When the meat is softened and no longer reddish/pinkish looking then its ready)
3. Cut the carrots, green pepper and onions into medium chunks as shown below. 
4. Add the tablespoon spoon of flour to1 or 1/2 a cup of water(depending on how much water there was to season the beef from the start) and pour it on your beef, allow it to cook for another 15mins, then add in the oyster sauce, when the sauce begins to thicken up adjust with spices for taste and add vegetables. 

PS: Don't add the vegetables too early otherwise they would get really soft & you might not even see them in the sauce

Onions and green pepper as requested

Seasoned beef ready to steamed

Flour and water mixture

Green pepper and carrots (This person didn't want onions.)

Ready for the veggies and other ingredients

Almost ready :-) 

Ready :-D

Buns(Nigerians) or Sweet Bud(Ghanaians)

A not so oily (even though it's fried). Ps: if you want it sweeter you add more sugar to it.
Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup  of flour
• 2 tablespoons of evaporated milk
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 warm water
• Oil for frying

Method:

1. Sieve flour, add in sugar,salt, nutmeg and baking powder. Mix well
2. Add in your milk, slowly add in water till dough forms and becomes sticky
3. Make small balls out of the dough, set them aside, heat up your oil, then put in the balls
4. Fry for 10-15mins or till when its light brown/deep yellow.

Ps: Keep stirring until the buns come to the top of the oil. If there's a crack in your buns no worries because that's the classic crack that comes with it

Larger batch

This was rough and sweet lol.

Fish "balls" via Mukasechic

As usual I was on a hunt for new recipes to keep me busy & I stumbled on my fellow Ghanaian lady's blog called Mukasechic(Mukase means Kitchen for those wondering)....I saw this recipe & decided to try it out.....I found another appetizer option! Thanks to Ms. Jay....check out her blog ---> Mukasechic

Ingredients:

• 1 whole fish ( cut into 3 pieces) or you can buy fillet fish if you don't want the whole fish shenanigans (lol)
• 1/3 cup milk
• 2-3 potatoes 
• 2 teaspoons of butter
• 1 teaspoon of olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of seasoning salt (as always I used lawry's seasoning salt)
• 1/3 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon of white pepper/black pepper
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup of flour
• 1 cup of breadcrumbs (you might need more when you start coating the balls)
• 1 small onion

Ps: if you are not a spicy food person you can decrease the amount of pepper.

Method:

1. Soak your fish in the milk for 5 minutes, then steam it, when its steamed, flake it with a fork and set it aside. Peel and wash your potatoes, boil it for about 20 minutes
2. The milk that you soaked your fish in, use that and 1 teaspoon of butter to mash your boiled potatoes, when the potatoes are all mashed, set it aside
3. Chop the onions, and sauté  with 1 teaspoon of olive oil and 1 teaspoon of butter
4. In one big bowl, mix your flaked fish,mashed potatoes,sautéed onions, seasoning salt and pepper, when completed mixed, take a tablespoon full and roll into an shape of your choice, I chose to go with balls hence the name "fish balls"......after the balls are made roll in in some flour, the eggs and finally coat with breadcrumbs
5. Fry until its golden brown, ENJOY!!

The ingredients

Soaked the fish in milk, then steamed and flaked it

Sauteed onions, mixing the potatoes with milk from fish, mashed potatoes, and before making the balls

Making the fish balls

All ready...Yummy!

Ot) or 3tor

Growing up in Ghana for almost everyone's birthday in our household we made the traditional "ot)" (the Gas call it that i believe & the Asantes call it 3tor I believe) which was eaten before the "celebratory" meals. Very simple food to make, made with either yam or ripe plantain

Ingredients: 

• 1/2 yam or 1 whole yam (if your prefer the plantain 1 riped/yellow plantain)
• 1/2 cup of red oil
• 1 small onion 
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• Eggs (depends on the number of people you are cooking for).

Method:

1. Peel yam(or plantain) and slice it into whatever size you want, the smaller the better ,makes it easier for you to mash it
2. Wash and boil yams with salt for about 30mins until yam is soft(for the plantains its usually takes a shorter time to get ready)
3. Pour out the water and set aside
4. Slice onions
5. In a cooking pot, pour the red oil in with the onions, let it simmer until red oil is completely dissolved. 
6. Begin to mash the yams in the asanka(black), add some red oil to it and continue mashing/mix it together(add more red oil as you go to get the yellowness of the food) 
7. Repeat step 6 until there is no more yams left. The picture below shows you how it show turn out. 

Ingredients for the 3tor with riped plantain

Asanka, what I used for mashing

Mashing it, the peanuts were requested by my friend who wanted it

Ot) made with yams(this was made for my family during my mom's birthday)

Riped plantain 3tor with peanuts andavocado 

Ghanaian salad( African)

If you have ever been to any Ghanaian or African event & happened to see salad with a lot of dressing,cucumber to garnish or baked beans then this is the one lol. Not your typical "healthy" salad, but I looveeeee it! (Haha)

Ingredients: 

• 1 medium sized onions
• 2 tomatoes
• 2 carrots
• 1 iceberg lettuce(or leaf lettuce)
• 1 tin of tuna
• 1 small tin of baked beans(I prefer the heinz one,usually found in African markets)
• 4(or less) eggs
• Heinz salad dressing or any mayonnaise of your choice

Method:

1. Wash all your vegetables very well, make sure you dry the lettuce well before mixing with the other veggies (you don't want watery salad)
2. Boil your eggs
3. Start by cutting your onions,tomatoes and carrots (I sometimes grate my carrots....but that's just me), mix in a large bowl, chop your lettuce add it to it. 
4. By now your eggs should be hardboiled and ready, remove the shell, slice it with knife or egg cutter, mix some in the salad and set aside some of it for garnishing
5. Stir in your tuna and baked beans, add your salad dressing or mayonnaise (this part is by preference, some people like theirs very creamy and some don't, so do it how you like it)
6. Garnish the salad with the rest of the eggs, spread some salad dressing on top(put in fridge till ready to be served)







The ingredients



Egg cutter (you can use a knife if you don't have this)

With leaf lettuce

Tuna and baked beans

Yummy yummy yummy! lol

Yummy salad :-D 

Added cucumber to garnish

Buffalo Chicken Wings (Sorta Kinda LOL)

I came home from being away for soooo long and found some left over chicken wings in the freezer(YAY!!!).....so what does a foodie like me do?.....try something new of course lol.....There were roughly 22 chicken wings left so I used all lol.
 PS: the chicken wings shrink :( they become so tiny when they are ready!!! lol

Ingredients:

• 22 chicken wings
• 3/4 cup of flour
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon parsley flakes
• 1/2 garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
• 1/2 cup hot sauce

Method:

1. Wash and dry out your chicken wings on a paper towel(because you don't want them to be soggy when you coat them)
2. In a baking sheet, spread out some foil, and grease it (set it aside)
3. In a large bowl,mix your flour and spices, then add your chicken wings in at least 4 at a time, make sure the wings are evenly coated. Put the wings in the greased baking sheet and put it in your fridge for about 45mins- 1hr (marinating) 
4. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C)
5. Melt your butter, mix it with the hot sauce and coat the wings making sure that they are evenly coated. Put them back on the greased sheet that they were on (you can make a new clean greased pan, if you want)
6. Bake for 45 minutes or until its golden brown. (See pictures below)

PS: The more chicken wings you have, the more ingredients you should use. If you want it to be really spicy increase the amount of hot sauce and cayenne pepper. ENJOY. :-D 

Ingredients (Look at the chicken wings though before baking)

After it came out the fridge,the coating with the sauce, then baking 

All ready! See how small they came out loll! 

Waakye

Awaakye or waakye it's still the same dish, made with beans and rice.  It's eaten with a special tomato stew which is made with meat,fish and egg. Other accompaniments that goes well with this are spaghetti, gari ,salad.
Ingredients:

• 2 cups of black eye beans
• 4-5 stalks of the waakye leaves. (if you don't have that 1/2 tablespoon of baking soda will do, if you use too much,the rice will become soapy)
• 1/2 cup of rice
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1/4 cup of butter(optional)

Method:

1. Wash black eye beans and cook with enough water to cover up beans, add in your waakye leaves OR baking soda (this will give the waakye the color that it comes with)
2. Let the beans cook for about 25 minutes or soft to the touch.
3. Add rice, cover with foil



Finally got some waakye leaves (YAY) look at the color difference?

4. After 15mins check on your waakye , now you can add the butter, stir and allow it to cook for about 15mins 

Pardon the steam this was still on fire when I took the picture lol

Gari: This is one of the accompaniments that goes with waakye. If you have some gari at home, that will be awesome. You will be using the oil from the tomato stew.

• 2 cups of gari
• 1/3 cup of water
• Enough oil from the stew to give the gari the orange color that it usually is. 



The stages of the gari. See the color difference?

• Sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of water on the gari, mix it together. Then start off with 3 tablespoons of oil, if it is still white then add more oil till you get that orange color.

Spaghetti: You can use a tablespoon from the oil from the same tomato stew that is why the waakye stew is usually oily.

• Half of a bag of spaghetti (or the whole bag depends on how many people you are cooking for)
• 2-3 cups of water
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of oil
• Break the spaghetti in a bowl, add your water,salt and oil. Boil till its soft . Allow it to cool down for 5mins, stir in 1 tablespoon of oil from the stew with a fork. 

The stages of the spaghetti best known as "ta-lia" (when buying it on the roadside in Ghana lol)

Waakye stew: 

• 1-2 lbs goat meat
• 2 onions
• 3 tomatoes
• 2 scotch bonnet pepper (depending on how spicy you want it)
• 1 small can of tomato paste
• 1/2 cup of oil
• 1/4 teaspoon of ginger
• 4 eggs (depending on how many people you are cooking for, optional)
• Spices (Lawry's seasoning salt,black pepper,parsley flakes,etc...any of your choice)

1. Season goat meat, then steam it for 20 minutes(until the meat isn't red), after the meat is ready, fry it. 
2. Blend onions,tomatoes,ginger and pepper
3. Slice half of an onion and saute it with some oil in a different sauce pan, after 1 minute pour in your blended ingredients. Add in your tomato paste, let it simmer for 20mins then add in your fried goat meat. (Boil your eggs now)
4. Season your stew with the spices, your eggs should be hard boiled now so you can add them to your stew......and after 10- 15minutes your stew should be all ready now. Enjoy!!

PS: You can increase the amount of ingredients you use depending on the number of people you are cooking for......You can also fry some fish and add it to the stew if you want that road side waakye stew feel lol.

This is my mom's lunch bowl for work, I make sure she has food for lunch everyday lol, There's waakye,gari,spaghetti,meat,fish and egg :-D

Waakyeeee is readyyy!! LOL