PEPPERED CHICKEN

LETS GET STARTED 

Wash chicken parts well to get rid of all the slimy stuff, I also trim off most of the fat from the chicken most times to prevent having a puddle of oil at the end of the cook. Boil chicken with ginger paste, garlic paste, white pepper and oregano. Season with stock cubes. Peel an onion and just drop it in the pot, this makes it easier to separate the onion from the chicken parts. Allow to simmer and keep stirring gently. Just as you notice the water produced by the chicken has fully evaporated add a cup of water and cover to boil for another 5 mins. Heat oil in a pan and meanwhile dry the chicken in a colander. Fry chicken parts lightly just until they are golden brown on each side. keep this aside. In a blender pulse red peppers and scotch bonnet. Simmer this paste down in a sauce pan to get rid of the excess water. Add some oil and fry the mixture. Just when you notice the oil separating from the peppers season with salt, red pepper powder and garlic powder. Then add a tablespoon of sriracha sauce. Add chicken to the sauce pan and cook down on low heat. Mince green pepper and add just before you are about to serve.

STEAK PIE

LETS MAKE THE DOUGH

Using a food processor, pulse flour and butter until you notice small granules of flour.(Note:half the amount of the flour you are using is the quantity of flour you will need. For eg if you are adding 200g of flour then you'll need 125g of butter). Whisk one egg yolk and some water together and slowly add this to the flour and gently incorporate everything together. Keep in the fridge as you work on your sauce. 

 THE FILLING

Mince onions and garlic. Drizzle some oil on a pan and sweat the onions for a few minutes. Meanwhile shred beef and add to the onions. Season with salt, black pepper and garlic powder. Chop tomatoes into tiny pieces. Add this to the mixture and cook down for about 10 minutes. Add about a tablespoon of red pepper powder and a tablespoon of curry powder. Cook just until the beef is tender. Remove dough from the fridge and roll it out into a thin sheet. The dough should be about 1/8 inch thick. Spread the filling in a casserole dish and cover with the pastry dough. Bake in a preheated over at 200 degrees for 1 hour. 

BRAISED CHI'CKEN

DIRECTIONS

Season chicken parts with salt and black pepper. Drizzle oil on a pan and allow the pan to heat up. Lightly fry the chicken for about 6 minutes on each side or until the chicken turns brown. Keep aside for later. In a food processor pulse chilli peppers, garlic (I roasted the garlic in the oven before adding it, you can choose to skip this step), brown sugar, red pepper powder, scotch bonnet and some olive oil. In a saucepan pour this mixture over the chicken and cook on low heat for 1 hour. Just before you remove it from the heat add a tablespoon of butter and half a lemon. Stir well and serve.

Peppered beef

HOW TO DO IT 

Cut about half a kilo of beef into medium sized cubes. In a saucepan add thyme, garlic powder, ginger powder, salt, white pepper. Satay for about 30 minutes( the water produced by the meat whilst cooking is enough to stop it from burning). You can add water especially if you are using Nigerian beef because the meat tends to take more time to cook. Heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a pan and satay beef again in the butter, keep stirring until the beef starts to brown. Add about 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce and stir well. Add 4 tablespoons of my pepper paste (you can check my chicken soup recipe to see what I add to my pepper paste). Keep stirring until you start to see oil on the bottom of the pan. Serve this with any side of your choice.

Chicken soup

INGREDIENTS

1.  About 200g of chicken thighs, I prefer this part of the chicken because its naturally juicier 
2. Carrots, peas, corn
3. thyme, garlic powder, ginger powder, salt, white pepper, black pepper, curry powder, sweet pepper powder
4. 2 red peppers and about 3 scotch bonnets
5. Corn flour
6. Milk

WHAT TO DO

Blend red peppers and scotch bonnet. Boil chicken and dry spices (except the curry and red pepper powder) with about 2-3 tablespoons of the pepper paste you just blended. Boil chicken for 10 minutes then remove chicken from stock and keep in the fridge to cool down. Continue cooking chicken stock on low heat. Once the chicken has cooled down remove the bones and shred the flesh. Add a cup of water to the stock and add more salt( make sure you taste it first), sweet pepper powder and curry powder.  Add a tablespoon of the pepper paste and add then add the chicken. Allow to simmer. Add vegetables. Whisk two tablespoons of corn flour and milk in a bowl and then add to the soup gradually as it thickens. Remove from the heat and serve while hot. 

B for Bhaturas

INGREDIENTS

1. Flour, the amount you use depends on how many you want to make. I used about 3 cups(so 8 bhaturas so you just have to do a little math) Note: the cup I used was small.
2. Butter, about 2 tablespoons 
3. One tablespoon of sugar 
4.  A teaspoon of salt
5. One egg
6. yeast about 2 teaspoons 
7. Sunflower oil

DIRECTIONS

Activate yeast in warm water meanwhile add sugar and salt to flour and mix well then work butter through the flour gently incorporating the butter into the flour until you achieve small granules of flour. Then make a hole in the middle of the mixture and then add yeast mixture to the hole. Gently mix the flour with the yeast mixture. Add egg and knead dough for about 5 mins or until soft. At this point if your dough is soggy you can always add more flour. 

Note: the quantity of ingredients you use depends on again how many you are trying yo serve.

Cover bowl with a clean film and keep in the oven for at least 1 hour.

Section dough into small balls as shown below

Roll out each ball until thin like shown below 

Heat oil in a pan then fry each bhatura for about 1 minute on each side.Serve with any soup of your choice or combine it with my yummy chicken soup which is also here on my blog.

SPICY BEEF ON A STICK

Ramadan Kareem, may this month be blissful and rapturous for everyone.

INGREDIENTS 

You'll need about 1 kilo of beef, this depends on how many people you want to serve

1 yellow pepper

2 green peppers

2 large white onion

Oyster sauce 

chilli sauce

Light soy sauce 

White pepper

Garlic powder

Thyme 

Salt

Ginger powder

Bay leaves 

DIRECTIONS 

Cut beef into huge cubes, this is essential because beef has the tendency to shrink after cooking

In a pot season beef with salt, white pepper, garlic powder, thyme, bay leaves ( about 2 leaves), ginger powder and one of the onions cut into half, this step makes it easier to remove the onion when necessary.

Boil for about 30 mins or just when the beef is soft 

Remove the beef from the beef stock and keep aside 

Cut green and yellow peppers into medium sized cubes. Onions should be the same size as the peppers

In sauce pan, satay chili sauce, oyster sauce and soy sauce for a few minutes

Add the beef and reduce the heat , cook on low heat for 10-15 minutes

Add the peppers, onions and stir well 

Remove from heat and serve

This can be served as it is with rice or you can thread the beef and peppers to roast away just before dinner.