Cabbage stew

Hmm! We use to eat this stew like once in a blue moon in Ghana. I wasn't really big on it when I was young but now I don't complain at all. Lol I just eat it like that. It is once of those stews that goes with basically any choice of meat or fish.

Ingredients:

• 2 onions
• 4 tomatoes 
• 1-2 scotch bonnet pepper(depending on how hot you want it)
• 1 medium can of tomato paste
• 1 small ball of cabbage
• 2 carrots(optional)
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1 tablespoon of oil
• Spices to taste 
• Fish or mackerel or goat meat whatever you prefer in your stew 

Ingredients

1. Cut one of the onions into 2, blend one & half onions with the tomatoes,ginger,pepper. 
2. PS: if you are using goat meat, wash it, season it, steam and fry it and then set it aside
3. In a medium sauce pan, pour in a tablespoon and half of oil, and add in the sliced onions, stir for awhile then add in your blended ingredients. 
4. While that is cooking,chop the cabbage into very medium/small sizes(look at picture below), chop carrots in medium sizes.
5. Add in your small can of tomato paste, let that cook for a while, the pour in your chopped cabbage and carrots(this takes a while to dissolve in the stew so allow it to cook own its own don't rush it oh....) 
6. 
   



Chopped cabbage and carrots



Oil and onions



Blended ingredients with tomato paste



Stew almost ready to add cabbage and carrots

Adding cabbage and carrots



This is how it looks before the cabbage dissolves and becomes softer,



This stew had more sauce than cabbage because it was a preference for who I was cooking for and they wanted sausages and fish as you can see

Oxtail

Today I will be trying another Jamaican dish, Oxtail.

Ahhh so who else loves oxtail,rice n peas and fried plantains like me?

This recipe takes a while to cook simply because oxtail is extremely hard and you need it to be very very soft, I mean fall off the bone kind of soft.....

It is often served with rice n peas or white rice, but could be eaten with fried rice, Jollof, mac n cheese.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs of oxtail
• 3 teaspoons of lime/lemon juice
• 1 onion
• 2 tomatoes
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 scotch bonnet pepper (Jamaican hot pepper)
• 2 scallions (also known as spring onions)
• 4 teaspoons thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch 
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon all spice seasoning salt (I use lawry's seasoning)
• 3-4 cups of water
• 1/2 lb of carrots (optional)
• 1 tin of broad beans (also known as butter beans, optional)

Some people like to add browning sauce to this recipe to give it that extra brown color. If you would like to use that I will suggest using about 2 tablespoons.(but use your own discretion as to how much will be needed)

Method: 

1. Chop all your ingredients (garlic, onion,tomatoes, and scallions)
2. Add the lime/lemon juice and toss
3. Season the oxtail with the scallions, garlic,thyme, seasoning salt and scotch bonnet pepper.

WAYS to BROWN OXTAILS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F(177 degrees C), sprinkle 1 tablespoonful of oil in a baking sheet, line up the oxtail in the baking sheet and bake oxtail until its brown and tender
2. OR add a tablespoon of brown sugar to a large saucepan, when it browns(almost looks burnt) add the oxtails, constantly stirring so each piece of meat gets evenly coated with the brown sugar or is browned completely
3. Add in your onions, tomatoes,carrots, and water. Reduce the heat for which you are using to cook because this is where the oxtail stays on fire till it's softened (usually takes about 2-3hrs...NO I AM NOT KIDDING), stir it occasionally
4. Mix the cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of water then add to oxtails(this serves as a thickner for the sauce, but you can omit this part if you want)
5. Add in your beans and allow it to simmer for an extra 10mins
6. Serve with white rice with some fried plantains or rice n peas, fried rice or even jollof rice

PS: Please make sure you keep an eye on it, confession: I fell asleep once making this and all the SAUCE DRIED UP.(SADDEST OXTAIL DAY LOL)

Believe it or not this is actually 2lbs of oxtail. Its amazing how small it is but yet so expensive lol

Chopped vegetables on top, seasoned oxtail on the bottom

As you can probably tell this is an extremely fatty oxtail, try to get the kind with little to no fat at all

Before going into the oven for browning

Brown sugar for the other method of browning

Brown sugar

Brown sugar method of browning

Oven browning(sorry for the poor quality picture)



Brown sugar browning method



All ready to continue the other steps

Water,carrots,tomatoes,onions



Ready for the long wait process. 

The white stuff you see is the cornstarch mixture



Add beans and allow to simmer for a while. 

Spicy Buttermilk Fried Chicken

So my friend asked me for fried chicken among other stuff over the weekend and being the good friend that I am(Feel free to nod in agreement here....lol) I decided to make it for her with a little twist. When I posted this on my Instagram page: I had some people text, email me for the recipe so here we go.

First please note that you won't be pre cooking this so it needs to be fried very well otherwise you will be left with well done on the outside and bloody inside chicken.

Ingredients:

• 2-3lbs chicken(I used thighs and drumsticks)
• 3 cups buttermilk 
• 3 tablespoons BBQ sauce
• 2 eggs 
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon hot sauce(optional) 
• 1 tablespoon steak sauce 

 

• 2 1/2 cups flour 
• 1 1/2 tablespoons seasoning salt 
• 1 tablespoon black pepper 
• 1-2 tablespoons paprika or cayenne pepper(optional)
• 1  tablespoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon parsley flakes 
• Oil(Enough for deep frying)

 Ps: Some of the hot spices I wrote optional because some people don't like spicy foods. It will defeat the purpose of the title but you get the point lol.

 

 

Method:

1. Wash chicken very well, removing any hair or fat(for this recipe I kept the chicken skin on),wash with vinegar 
2. In a large bowl mix the milk, eggs, Worcestershire sauce, steak sauce and BBQ sauce.
3. In a separate bowl mix the flour and spices and set aside.
4. Add in the chicken and allow the chicken to marinade overnight or for a couple of hours 
5. Set your deep fryer between 300 or 330 degrees F(depending on your fryer and how fast it gets hot), (if you're not using s deep fryer just pour about enough oil in a medium saucepan......
6. Dip the marinated chicken in the flour mix, when it's all covered in flour add it to the hot oil and let it fry for 10mins until it's golden brown. (I said 10mins because it might look like it's ready once it hits the oil but that's not always the case)
7. Enjoy with some mashed potatoes and gravy, Jollof, fried rice, Mac n cheese or whatever you want. 

 

Ps: If you don't have some buttermilk you can mix 2 1/2 tablespoons of lemon juice in milk, stir it, set aside for about 5mins then that should be a good substitute for you

 

The chicken after soaking for the night alongside the flour mix

Flour coated chicken(yes I saved it from my snapchat lol...no professional camera yet)

 

 

All done and ready to be served

 

 

Served with mashed potatoes, gravy and corn. The empanadas were a bonus...LOL

 

SpagRice (Spaghetti Rice)

Hello lovely people! Can you guys believe we are in November already? Few more days until one of my favorite holidays(THANKSGIVING🍂🍁)..........

Just wanted to share a very quick recipe with y'all!! This is how I like to sometimes cook my white rice when I don't want it so plain.

Ingredients:

2 cups of rice

1 tablespoon olive or coconut oil

1/2 teaspoon thyme

1 tablespoon of salt(I'm not big on salt so you can add more for your preference)

1 small onion(preferably red)

A handful of spaghetti

2-3 cups of water

Method:

1. Chop the onion to tiny pieces, break the spaghetti into 2 or 3. 

2. Add your tablespoon of oil in a medium saucepan on medium heat, add your onions and stir for awhile. After 2 mins add your spaghetti and fry until spaghetti is brownish not burnt! 

3. Add your rice, stir then add in the water and thyme and cook for about 30-45mins or until rice is soft to touch 

Enjoy with some goat meat stew, corned beef stew,curry chicken or anything thing of your choice!!!!

Steps to making the spagrice....

 

Served with corned beef stew,hard boiled egg & fried plantains

Jerk Pork

So I visited Jamaica for the very first time in September to celebrate my 25th birthday and boy was my taste buds grateful for that trip(HAHA). Every single food I tried was just AMAZING!!! So I will be trying out some of the foods I tried out there in an attempt to relive those savory mmhmm moments I had in Montego Bay.

Today we will be trying jerk pork(can use beef or lamb if you don't like pork). The ingredients are quite similar to the Jerk Chicken only difference here is the pork lol.

Ingredients:

• 2- 3 lbs of pork loins or pork chops or ribs 
• 6 scotch bonnet(hot Jamaican pepper, jalapeño can be used as substitute)
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 3 onions
• 2 tablespoons thyme
• 2 tablespoons  all spice
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 2 tablespoons black pepper
• 2 teaspoon ginger
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1 cup white vinegar
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 lime (juiced)

 

Optional Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon(optional)
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg(optional)

Method:

1. Wash and chop all ingredients the vegetables don't need to be finely chopped since they will be blended soon.
2. Blend all ingredients with the exception of the pork to make your sauce
3. Season the pork with the jerk sauce and allow it to marinate for about 2hrs(if you are in a rush) or overnight(to get the pork to be well soaked with the seasoning)
4. If you have a charcoal grill this would be amazing on it BUT during winter time(LOL) just preheat your oven at 360 -400 degrees F(depending on how your oven is) and grill the pork until its well cooked. Keep brushing some jerk seasoning over the pork while its grilling/baking
5. Can be served with some dumplings, festival, fried rice,mac n cheese,jollof OR any dish of your choice OR as an appetizer!!

ENJOY!!!!!!!

I used ribs for this particular one and chopped some on pieces 

The stages of making the jerk pork 

Beans stew(Red red)

I remember this was one of my favorite dishes growing up in Ghana. Right after Jollof, and banku & okra lol, I enjoyed it at home and the ones they sold on the streets(which was slightly different than the recipe here). So I decided why not share a recipe. Been a long time coming though lol.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups blackeyepeas 
• 3-4 tablespoons of Palm oil(canola or vegetable oil is fine if you don't have palm oil)
• 2 onions
• 4 tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1 scotch bonnet pepper(Jamaican hot pepper)
• 1 small can of mackerel(optional, I use it because the family love it)
• Spices to taste

Method:

1. Pour the beans in a small sauce pan, add about 4 or more cups of water to it, set on medium high, and cook until it's soft to touch. While that's cooking blend 1 and half onion,tomatoes,ginger and pepper
2. In a separate sauce pan, pour in palm oil with some sliced onions, sauté the onions for about a minute, pour in the blended ingredients, allow that to cook for about 15-20minutes
3. Add in the cooked beans, allow that to simmer for about 5mins, add in your mackerel, let it simmer for another 20mins and serve with some gari and fried plantains

This was served with kaaklo and some gari

Beans stew with gari and fried plantains

Shito (Black pepper)

Shito is basically the main thing most people eat with their fried yams, the banku, kenkey, fried rice and my uncle even eats it with his chinese food lol. So I will say for some of us it is mandatory to have at home. Some of these ingredients are hard to come by in the States but if you know of anyone coming from Ghana you can always ask for some.

• This recipe is for a small quantity of shito. You can increase the quantity of ingredients for a bigger portion of shito.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups of oil
•  1/2- 1 cups of powdered red pepper(or more depending on how spicy you want it)
• 1/2 cup of fish powder
• 1/2 cup of shrimp powder
• 3 medium sized onions
• 1/4 cup of ginger
• 1 jalapeno pepper
• 1 tablespoon of tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon of seasoning salt(I use lawry's as always)
• 2 Maggi or Onga shrimp cubes

Method:

1. Blend the onions, pepper and ginger, in a medium sized pot pour in the oil and heat it up then pour in the blended ingredients, stir for awhile and let it cook for about 5 -10mins, add in tomato paste and let it cook for a while about 15-20mins
2. Add in your dried ingredients, if the oil is disappearing from the shito you can feel free to add more to it.Add your seasoning salt and maggie or onga cubes
3.  Keep stirring and when it turns dark brown it means your shito is almost ready(yayy!) Reduce the heat on the shito and allow it to simmer for awhile(when the oil rises to the top it means your shito is DONE!!!







Onions, garlic, ginger, onga cube and jalapeno pepper






Oil, powdered red pepper and tomato paste



Powdered shrimps

The blended ingredients "frying" in the oil before adding the powdered ingredients + tomato paste

Powdered fish

Process of making the shito, as you can see there is barely oil in the picture in the left

Shito all ready and done to be given away to the family :-)

Shito served with fried rice, grilled chicken, fried plantain and salad

Served with fried yam,fried plantain,fried egg,fish and sardine

Tsofi/Chofi(Turkey tails)

Let me start off by saying if you aren't ready to do some serious cleaning on this meat then please just buy it from the African markets or restaurants  lol because this recipe calls for a lot of major cleaning and pulling lol. The end result is delicious but the process is just draining lol. So here we go. 

Ingredients 

• 1 lb turkey tails
• 1 tablespoon seasoning salt
• 1-2 tablespoons red powdered pepper(depending on how spicy you want it)
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon ginger powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder(optional)
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• Oil for frying

Method:

1. Make sure you wash the turkey tails very well, removing all sight of dirt, also removing any straw/hairy like things you might find in them(these really need to come out before anything else) and as much fat off as you can(I say this because there's a lot of fat on this part of the turkey)
2. After you are done washing it well, season with the all the spices and refrigerate for about an hour or 2 or even overnight(if you are not in a rush to make it) 
3. In a medium saucepan, pour in enough oil that will be used for deep frying the turkey tails. On medium heat, heat up the oil and fry till its golden brown.
4. After you are done frying you can enjoy it as it is with some fried yams or you can sprinkle some kebab powder on it(if you have some at hand)

This is how the turkey tail looks before cleaning and cutting into the little tiny pieces. As you can tell it needs a lot of cleaning

Seasoned over night

Top left was plain fried turkey tails, bottom left is when the kebab powder was added, the right pictures a special sauce was added to it.