Sazon Rice

You guys! Look who it is again! Really trying to keep up with my posts lately. Today I am sharing another favorite of mine as you can obviously tell I LOVE rice. So when I am not making white rice, jollof rice, fried rice, yellow rice or angwamu, this is the rice I make for my household. It is very SIMPLE yet so delicious and adds a little flavor to our plain rice. This rice can be served with goat meat stew, corned beef stew,curry goat and whatever sauce you have available.

And the best part about this is that you can COOK it in your rice cooker.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups rice
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 2 sachets of sazon seasoning
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 1 tablespoon of salt
• 1 small onion

Method: 

1. Chop the onions into small chunks
2. Add the water to the rice, add in the chopped onions and the salt
3. Add in the sazon seasoning and stir in until all the rice and onions are coated with the seasoning
4. Add in the butter and cook the rice until well done. 

The ingredients before mixing together

After adding in the salt, onions and water

Mix in the sazon seasoning

Making sure all the seasoning is well mixed with the rice and onions

Add in the butter and let it cook

I like to stir my rice one time before letting it completely it cook(I used the rice cooker here)

After the first stir

Rice all done after a lot dishing out

Served with stew, beef stir fry, fried turkey tail and salad

Chicken Sauce

Hi my fellow foodies, yes I am trying to get back to actively blogging. It will take sometime but I will get the hang of this blogging and "vlogging" lifestyle. Today I will like to share with you all another simple sauce. You should already know how I feel about simple dishes.

Video here -->Chicken Sauce

Ingredients: 

• 2 chicken breasts
• 1 tablespoon seasoning salt
• 1 teaspoon red pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon parsley flakes
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch/flour(depending on how thick you want your sauce)
• 2 carrots
• 1 small onion 
• 1 small green pepper
• 2 tablespoons oil 
• 1 small sachet of onga chicken spice(or knorr cubes, onga cubes, any spices you use to make your food tasty)

Method: 

1. Wash and cut chicken into small chunks/pieces
2. Season with spices and set aside 
3. Cut vegetables in big chunks and also set aside
4. In a small sauce pan, add the oil and fry the chicken until well done
5. Add about half cup of water to the cornstarch/flour and add to the fried chicken and stir occasionally until sauce thickens up, add in your seasoning or spices to taste to your preference 
6. Add in your vegetables, allow to simmer for a bit and serve with your main dish

**For those of you wondering why my sauce looks brown in the end, I did add a little bit of oyster sauce for color difference and flavor, but it is optional of course**

Refer to video for the step by step on this. Enjoy

Sauce all ready

Served with Fried Rice, coleslaw and shito(black pepper)

Spicy Shrimps

Hi y'all, yes I know I  have been very inactive and I apologize for that. I promise to do better this year even though its already end of March.
 Today I want to share a very simple recipe with you all, because y'all know I love simple foods(HAHA). I originally made this as an appetizer for a friend but then I had it with kenkey and fried fish and I figured what a diverse side this was.


Ingredients:

• 1lb of shrimps(head on, in shell)
• 1 tablespoon red pepper
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon seasoning salt
• 1/2 teaspoon parsley flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon of oil

Method:

1. Wash the shrimps and soak in water and vinegar for about 5mins(this method is optional but I often do it just to remove the fishy/sea-ish smell that often comes with shrimps)
2. Season the shrimps with all the spices and set aside for about 30mins-1hr, depending on how much time you have to spare
3. In a frying pan, add the oil and fry shrimps, when the shrimps begin to change color, add in your lemon juice and allow the shrimps to cook  until its well done,stirring occassionally(refer to pictures below for well done shrimps pictures)
4. And basically that is pretty much it. Serve as an appetizer or as a side to your dish

PS: Will update with more pictures, the next time I make this. 

Shrimps all ready to be served

Different lightening, different color this was clearly served as an appetizer with the beef kebabs

Chicken Stew

Hello there, I am back again; I am just as surprised as you are LOL!! Today's recipe is very simple and easy to make. Growing up in Ghana this was the next best thing after jollof(to me), I haven't had chicken stew in God knows when so today I decided to make some for my mom and I. I like to use LIVE chicken when I find some but in this recipe I used the regular chicken from the grocery stores(rolls eyes)........ NOW Let's dive right into it shall we?

Video -Fried Chicken Stew


Ingredients: 

• 1lb of chicken(chopped)
• 5 fresh tomatoes
• 2 and half onions
• 1 whole ginger
• 2 pieces of fresh garlic
• 2 scotch bonnet pepper(Jamaican hot pepper)
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 2 tablespoons seasoning salt
• 1 tablespoon red pepper
• 1 onga or knorr cube
• 1 green bell pepper(optional)
• 1 small tin/can of tomato paste
• 2 carrots(optional)
• 2 tablespoons oil
• Oil for frying

To season the chicken:

• 1-2 tablespoons seasoning salt
• 1 tablespoon red pepper
• 1 teaspoon parsley flakes
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes(optional)
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

Method:

1. Clean the chicken, remove the skin(optional to the skin lovers), wash the chicken very well.(I always soak my chicken in some water and vinegar and then wash it again)
2. Season chicken with spices in a medium sauce pan, on medium heat, steam the chicken until its no longer pink. 
3. In a frying pan or deep fryer, fry the chicken until its golden brown, then set aside
4. Blend the tomatoes, 2 onions, ginger, scotch bonnet peppers and garlic. Slice the remaining half of the onion and in a medium/large sauce pan add the 2 tablespoons of oil. Add in the sliced onions and stir for about a minute. 
5. Add in the blended ingredients with the tomato paste and allow the stew to cook for about 20-30mins(you can add 1 tablespoon of seasoning salt, some parsley and half of the onga or knorr cube at this step, I do that so everything cooks with it & after I add in the chicken I then add in the remaining spices to adjust the taste)
6. Chop the green pepper and carrots in medium sizes, check on the stew and once it looks almost ready(look at the picture below or in the video) add in the fried chicken, adjust spices to your taste and let it simmer for awhile
7. Add in the chopped green pepper and carrots and the chicken stew is ready to be enjoyed with some white rice, yellow rice, spag rice, boiled yam or anything of your choice. 

Ingredients: to the right is the spices to season the chicken(which is in the pot), the fresh ingredients is in the blender the sliced onion on the chopping board and the chopped green pepper and carrots in the bowl

Seasoning the chicken

Chicken all seasoned and ready to be steamed

After steaming the chicken: frying it

Blended ingredients with tomato paste, seasoning salt, parsley flakes and half of onga cube

After stew looks almost done, add in fried chicken

Adding in the green pepper and carrots

All done and ready to be enjoyed!!

Served with yellow rice and kelewele

Green Pepper (Sauce)

Wow! Guys, can you believe it? 2 recipes in one day? Haha! Had to make up for all the time lost. I fell in love with this spicy green pepper on my last visit to Accra in 2013.
Let me reiterate this is a VERY SPICY sauce, please stay away if your spicy tolerance level is almost non existent
Video - Green pepper Sauce

Ingredients:

• 4-5 green scotch bonnet(Jamaican hot peppers)
• 1 jalepeno 
• 1 whole ginger
• 1/2 a clove of garlic
• 2 knorr cubes(onga could be used)
• 1 teaspoon of salt(or more depending on your preference)
• Oil for frying 

Method:

1. Wash, peel and clean all ingredients then blend with 1 cube of knorr & a 1/2 cup of oil
2. In a small sauce pan add about 2 tablespoons of oil, add in the blended ingredients and fry until the pepper is almost "thickened" (this process is to dry out the water in the pepper and make it more of a sauce. 
3. Add in the 2nd cube of knorr and salt and let it simmer for a while then serve with kenkey, Jollof rice, fried rice or as a sauce for fried turkey tails or chicken wings. 

Ingredients before starting

Right before blending

All blended and ready to be "fried"

"Frying" of sauce

Spicy Chicken Wings

Hello lovely people!!! Yes I know I haven't been as active as I should be but that is about to change with in the next few weeks. i think I have about 3 or 4 recipes to share.

Well let us jump right into it, today I will like to share with you something that came about because a friend of mine requested for some really spicy wings for her dinner. I must confess I am not huge on spicy foods because I just can't but surprisingly I make lots of spicy foods haha.


Ingredients: 

• 1lb of chicken wings
• 1 tablespoon seasoning salt
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon white pepper
• 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon ginger powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder(optional)
• 1 teaspoon parsley 
• 2 tablespoons sriracha hot sauce(if you don't have that any hot sauce of your choice)

Method: 

1. Clean(removing all visible feathers) and wash the chicken wings very well!! Soak in water and vinegar for about 5mins then rinse with water again
2. Season chicken with all ingredients and let it marinate overnight(preferred) but if you don't have that time, let it marinate for about 1-2 hours
3. Pre heat your oven at 350 degrees F(177 degrees C) 
4. Spray a baking sheet or foil pan with some cooking oil, spread in the wings and bake until golden brown (Ps: don't throw any excess seasoning out after you spread them in the baking sheet, put it aside and after 20 minutes of baking turn the other side of the chicken and coat it with the remaining seasoning)
5. Serve as an appetizer or with any dish of your choice.  

Right before washing and cutting 

After washing soaking in water and vinegar for awhile( I cut the other side of the wing it was by choice)

Every spice on the chicken

Tossed and well coated 

Ready for marinating

Ready for the oven 

While baking in the oven

All done, with a side of green pepper sauce

Served with some kelewele and green pepper sauce

Peppered Gizzards

So this recipe has been a long time coming, I keep procrastinating and I apologize for that. I made these at one of my at home dinners and they quickly became a hit. PS: this is a VERY spicy dish so if you can't tolerate spicy meals, I beg this is not for you. Haha. Well I hope you like it when you try it. 

• 2 trays of gizzards(that's how they were sold when I got them, about 1/2 a pound)
• 2-3 scotch bonnet peppers(depends on how spicy you want it)
• 1/2 ginger
• 2 garlic
• 1/2 onion 
• 1 teaspoon powdered red pepper(depends on your spicy tolerance)
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon seasoning salt 
• 1 teaspoon black pepper 
• 1 tablespoon oil 
• Oil for frying 

1) Wash the gizzards well, steam(precook) it, then add all powdered spices with the exception of red pepper flakes .....allow it to steam for awhile 

2) Heat up some oil on medium heat and deep fry the gizzards until it's dark brown

3)While gizzards are frying, blend ginger,onion, scotch bonnet peppers and garlic with 1 small cube of knorr and 1 teaspoon of seasoning salt

4)In a small sauce pan, add the tablespoon of oil and the blended spices and stir until the sauce almost thickens up, add in the fried gizzards and red pepper flakes and stir it all together until all the gizzards is coated in the sauce. 

5) Serve as an appetizer, side dish or whatever is preferred, everytime I made this there were people consuming alcohol so it worked for them 

Before adding more spices for steaming

After adding seasoning, stir and let it steam some more

Ready for frying 

I used a whole onion because I had a lot of gizzards to coat

Blended and ready to coat the gizzards.

All ready/ 

Turmeric Chicken

This chicken happened as an accident because I had totally different plans for these quartered legs. But I. Looked in my spice cabinet and said hmm I wonder how this turmeric will taste on this chicken and well like they say,the rest was delicious history lol.

Ingredients:

• 1lb chicken(I used quartered legs)
• 1 tablespoon turmeric
• 1 1/2 tablespoons seasoning salt(Adjust to your preference)
• 1 teaspoon parsley flakes
• 1 teaspoon oregano 
• 1 teaspoon ginger powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• Cooking spray

Method:

1. Wash and remove skin off chicken(I usually soak chicken in water and vinegar then wash it again)
2. Season chicken with all spices and allow it to marinate(I marinated mine overnight)
3. Spray baking pan with cooking spray and spread in your chicken 
4. Set your oven on low broil once the oven warms up, broil the chicken until it's well done. (30-45mins) I broiled mine until it looked like it was fried; that was a personal preference 
5. Enjoy 

Marinating chicken

I waited till my chicken was this color before I took it out. You can use your own preference for the chicken

Suya Broiled Chicken

Happy New Year Foodies(I know I am super late,LOL)!!! 
Hope you guys have had a good year thus far. It's been a busy one for me if I must say so myself. But I am hanging in there, I miss cooking on a regular but hopefully I will be back to that soon.

Today I want to share one of my recipes that came up as a result of having lots of chicken and no beef.

Ingredients:

• 2lbs of chicken(I used chopped quartered chicken)
• 1 tablespoon seasoning salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder(optional)
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 2 tablespoons suya spice
• 1 tablespoon oil

Method:

1. Wash chicken with lemon or lime(for this particular recipe I decided to keep the skin of the chicken on.
2. Season with all spices and add in the oil.
3. Allow chicken to marinate for an hour or 2 or even overnight (if you have enough time)
4. Broil chicken on low for about 30mins- 1hour depending on how hot your oven gets.
5. In a separate bowl, mix 1 tablespoon of oil and 3 tablespoons of suya spice, brush it on the chicken as its cooking to give you an extra shiny look (LOL, see the finished picture below)

PS: Will add more pictures the next time I make these. I only remembered to take a picture of the finished product. 

Finished product. Mmm..yum!!

Quick Indomie "Stir Fry"

I realized today that I really need to go grocery shopping when all I had in the fridge/freezer were these few ingredients. I needed to make lunch for work so I just put everything together then BAM! delicious lunch for one. LOL. I never really understood the obsession with folks and indomie in Ghana until it became my go-to easy peasy dish when I really don't feel like over-cooking.

PS: I joined the youtube world so here's the link for a very short and quick view on how I made this. - Indomie Stir Fry

Ingredients:

• 1 pack of indomie (I used the chicken flavor
• 1/2 cup of shrimps(all I had)
• 1 egg
• 2 bell peppers
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper(optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt(I don't eat much salt)
• Cooking spray

Method: 

1. Follow the steps on the indomie on how to cook it, basically bring hot water to boil then drop in the noodles. (I didn't cook mine with a lot of water simply because I knew I will be transferring it into the frying pan after)
2. Chop bell peppers, wash and season shrimps
3. On medium heat, spray a frying pan(non stick will be ideal) with some cooking oil, once it is hot,fry your shrimps until its well done, set aside
4. Check on your noodles, once its soft and ready, set it aside
5. Beat eggs and scramble until well done, then add in the shrimps and bell peppers,stir for awhile then transfer your noodles in, continue stirring add in seasoning salt and black pepper(if you choose it)
6. Enjoy

Ingredients

All done and ready to be enjoyed

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