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Recipes,

Dry-Rub Grilled Chicken And Chips With Poi-Poi Sauce

by Chef WaleJune 8, 2019no comment

I love grilling and I have been grilling different types of protein for a long time and I’m not new to marination.

I have written on many spices and sauces I have used to marinate on this blog. However, I discovered a new sauce recently that blew me away.

This packed sauce is called Poi-Poi Sauce. In this post, I will be writing extensively on how I did a dry rub spice marination and used Poi-Poi sauce as secondary sauce.

POI-POI SAUCE

Poi-Poi sauce is a well blended mix of pepper and many spices and roots which uplifts the taste of any type of food.

The beauty of the sauce is the ability to use without cooking. It can be glazed on bread or eaten directly with rice, beans, pasta etc. It can also be used as stew and condiment.

I have used it to prepare many dishes and I’m going to be posting them gradually here.

By the way, to purchase your Poi-Poi sauce, http://amayifoods.com/products/ to get yours or visit any major supermarket.

OK! LET’S DIVE IN…..

DRY-RUB INGREDIENTS

  • Curry
  • Ground red pepper (60%)
  • Ground Seasoning (To taste)
  • Salt (To taste)
  • All Spice
  • Onions

PREPARATION

Firstly, you prepare your chicken parts or whole chicken, clean and pat it dry.

Then, you chop very finely your onions and add.

After this, mix all the dry ground spices together and pour in.

Mix very well and set aside for about 30mins to hours (Depends on how quickly you need to prepare it. However, the more it marinates, the sweeter it will come out)

After Marination, prepare your grills and set chicken on the grills. Note that I didn’t mention groundnut oil. The chicken will generate its oil at this stage.

Grill and turn after 15 mins so both side can be grilled.

At 45mins, mix your Poi-Poi sauce with groundnut oil and brush both sides of the grilling chicken down.

Leave to grill for another 15mins before taking off.

SIDE DISH

Get some processed chips, season it (Leave little mixed dry-rub spice you used for the chicken for this) and fry to your desired golden colour.

There are other things you could have on your plate like grilled or fried chicken franks and grilled plantain.

Its the perfect grilled dish!

It’s simple, tasty and delicious and the African flavour the Poi-Poi sauce brings to the dish is awesome!

 

 

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Recipes,

How To Make The Easter Nigerian Stir-Fry Pasta

by Chef WaleApril 20, 20193 comments

THE ART OF STIR-FRYING

Stir-frying is not a new concept However, it is an advanced way of cooking and this is what you need to learn to prepare a wonderful pasta this Easter holiday.

Stir-frying requires being very strict with cooking time so it doesn’t get soggy.

If the pasta is overcooked when pre-cooking (par-boiling), it will become soggy and the stir-fry is not going to come out fine.

These amidst many rules of stir-frying will be discussed in the course of these write-up.

Most grains (dried foods) can be stir fried and stir frying technique cut across different food processing and preparation.

This is when Food is fried on high heat while stirring vigorously.

Sometimes, it might involved mixing (stirring continuously) processed foods with their corresponding sauce while frying on high heat.

Benefit Of The Stir Frying Technique

  • This method preserves food nutrients and prevent overcooking
  • It adds to the beauty of the food making it to glister and less soggy
  • It saves food materials like oil and other ingredients needed.
  • It makes your food more tasty.

How To Make A Stir-Fry Pasta

These involves two food processing steps;

  1. Par-Boiling The Pasta
  2. Preparing The Sauce

Par-Boiling The Pasta

I used pasta in these write up because there are different types of pasta ranging from Spaghetti, Gnocchi, Farfalle, macaroni to Campanelli.

You can use of these and more to make a stir-fry even rice. So, these are the steps to parboil pasta.

Preparation

Put enough water on heat depending of the amount of pasta you want to pre-cook, add salt and half teaspoon of vegetable oil (This is to prevent clumping of the pasta).

Make sure the water covers it so it can be drained off.

Cook at medium heat for 5-10 minutes depending on the type of Pasta you are preparing.

Drain of the water and set aside.

PREPARING THE SAUCE

This is where the work is. This is where you decide the type of pasta you want to prepare.

You can even make it a Sea food or a Soul food depending on the ingredients you use as Sauce.

You might even decide to go Chinese or Japanese and prepare a ramen.

However, the sauce I’m preparing is a simple garnished Vegetable sardine pepper sauce. You are free to add crayfish, dried fish, cowskin, cow intestine, grilled beef, chicken etc

INGREDIENTS

* Sardine

* Tomatoes

* Habanero pepper

* Onions

* Spices (Curry, yaji spice, ginger)

* Seasoning

* Salt to taste

* Carrot

* Green pepper (Optional)

* Groundnut oil

PREPARATION

1. Food Preping: As a chef, whenever I’m to make a stir-fry, I prepare my garnishes afore-hand.

This will make the food preparation easier and faster.

So my carrot has been diced, green pepper sliced, pepper has been coarsely blended or chopped and my pasta has been been parboiled and refridgerated. (Not Frozen).

However, if you have enough help, you might just do it all at once.

2.  Set your Pan on medium heat and pour in your Groundnut oil.

( This is a very important aspect of making the stir-fry and this is because the cooking oil must be enough for the stir-fry)

If it’s too much, stir-fry Pasta will be  too oily, if it’s too small, the overall pasta wouldn’t come out with the right colour and might probably be dry.

3. Leave for about 45secs to 1minute and Pour in your onions; leave to fry a bit before adding pepper, dried fish and cowskin etc.

4. After 2-5 minutes, season it, add your sardine, carrot and other veggies you decide to use.

( I added lastly the carrot and sardine because I don’t want the carrot to get too soft and I dont want the fish minced before stir-frying starts).

5. Set Aside.

STIR-FRYING

Now you have your salted parboiled pasta and your sauce.

Process

On high heat, pour in your pasta into the sauce and stir continually until the sauce covers the whole pasta.

Taste to check if its perfectly seasoned. Stir more for about 2minutes.

Reduce the heat and cover for about 2minutes and put off.

In the case of the cooking for 8-10 people and you don’t want to use 2-3 frying pans, divide the sauce into 2 or 3.

On high heat, pour in half of the pasta in and stir until the sauce fully covers it.

Pour the remaining pasta in and the sauce on top. Stir all together and cover for 2 minutes before putting off the heat sauce.

Let me know what you think. Reach out to me or comment if you love this Easter stir fry recipe.

Happy Easter and don’t forget to share this post.

 

 

 

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Recipes,

How To Make Ekpang Nkukwo (Cocoyam porridge)

by Chef WaleFebruary 20, 20192 comments

 

The Creative Porridge!

Whist growing up, I never had the opportunity of eating some meals because my parent weren’t of the tribe nor do they entertain any meal they don’t know much about.

So we stuck to the normal local and simple continental dishes

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Growing up, I was lucky to be sorrounded by friends who were from the middle belt especially Calabar and Akwa-ibom.

They not only introduced me to their tribal dishes but took their time to teach me how to prepare some of which my favorite is Epang nkukwo

Ekpang Nkukwo

Ekpang nkukwo is a deconstructed Cocoyam porridge carefully wrapped in ugwu leaves or Cocoyam leaves.

It’s a very stressful dish to prepare and it takes patience or you gather your family around to help.

It can be prepared ordinary or .. I’m going to be infusing a little of seafood into mine.

RECIPE

Ingredients

Cocoyam and water yam (water yam is optional) 70:30.

Palmoil

Periwinkles

Ugwu leaves or Cocoyam leaves

Crayfish

Dried fish

Scotch bonnet

Onions

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Directions

  • Peel, wash and slice the Cocoyam vertically into two halves (This is so it would be easy to grate by a manual grater).

However, You can also use a mincer or a strong food processor if you don’t want to go through the hardship of manually grating it. Season the grated Cocoyam before wrapping.

  • The next stage is the real work when you have to wrap the grated Cocoyam inside the Cocoyam leaves or ugwu leaves.
  • Using a small spoon in the case of ugwu leaves, scoop some grated Cocoyam into the leaves and from the edge, wrap around it till it’s completely covered.
  • After these is done, set your pot on fire, put your periwinkles first so the leaves don’t stick at the bottom and place the wrapped grated Cocoyam inside the pot.
  • You can add your smoked fish at this stage, add your saint leaves, ground crayfish and remainder of the pumpkin leaves.
  • Add your grated pepper too, some salt, onions, water and palmoil.
  • Season to taste.
  • Cover and let it cook. While cooking, you should shake the pot slightly for the heat to be well distributed.
  • Check with a fork to know when it’s done. Dont stir too much so the wrapped Cocoyam won’t scatter. Just twice or thrice for the porridge to be well mixed.

Once done, serve hot immediately.

As I always say, we would love to hear from you; Your comments and questions are appreciated and would be attended to immediately.

Also, if you prepare it, kindly let us know how it came out. Love from Chef Wale.

 

 

 

 

 

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Recipes,

How To Make A Sweeter Vegetable Soup With Pumpkin Leaves

by Chef WaleFebruary 3, 2019no comment

PUMPKIN LEAVES

(Pumpkin vegetable soup)

Pumpkin leaves  came into lime light and became very popular for vegetable soup in the 1990s especially when it was believed to increase the production of red blood cells in the body.

It became the highest consumed vegetables in contrast to African Spinach (Efo Tete) which was previously majorly consumed.

Since it started becoming popular, I have eaten this soup in every type of way and in countless local restaurants.

As a chef, I was impressed with many but most didn’t have a taste. So I decided to prepare mine quite differently so to improve the taste and make it sweeter.

VEGETABLE SOUP WITH PUMPKIN LEAVES

RECIPE

* Pumpkin leaves

* Scotch bonnet (ata rodo)

* Ground crayfish

* Smoked horse mackarel (kote)

(Shredded Kote)

* Cow skin

(Smoked Cowskin)

* Palm oil

* Seasoning cubes

* Salt

* Onions

* Chicken stock

* Locust beans (Iru)

Directions

Unlike the normal way, The first step here is to heat up the palm oil and season it with Onions, ginger powder, curry, seasoning cubes

Pour in your washed smoked cowskin, smoked fish and crayfish and STIR FRY under low heat for 3-5 minutes.

Then put in your grated or finely chopped scotch bonnets

Pour in your beef/chicken stock and Iru inside.

(Frozen chicken stock)

Put in your to taste, cover and leave for 5minutes

(Pumpkin leaves are ready to be poured in)

Chop finely your vegetable leaves, wash and rinse in a sieve. Make sure you remove most of the water so it doesn’t make the vegetable soup watery

Pour in your finely sliced vegetables. Don’t stir immediately. Leave for about 2 minutes before stirring.

Leave for another 2 minutes and set down.

Please comment and let me know your thoughts concerning these methods of preparation. Much love.

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Recipes,

How To Make Chicken Rice Pilaf Plated With Fried Plantain

by Chef WaleJanuary 30, 20193 comments

RICE PILAF

   “Note that purchase through this blog will help serve you better and grow us at no additional cost to you”
I was very skeptical about this dish that ended up being a dish I never want to stop eating.
This is because I thought I had eaten all forms of rice; rissoto and some few continental rice dishes

However, on completion, I realised it was a beautiful dish. The colour is rich brown and the aroma is to die for.

What is a Rice Pilaf?

 

(Rice Pilaf, Fried plantain and vegetables)



Rice Pilaf is simply rice cooked in broth. It is very different to the rest like Jollof rice, Fried rice etc because it is normally in most cuisines baked in the oven with the broth.

It can also be cooked too but the preparation is totally different and it goes perfectly well with different types of soups and stew.

It originates around the Asian countries and there are different types being prepared today around the world!

We have the Vegetable rice Pilafs, Mushroom rice pilaf, Asparagus rice pilaf etc

However, what I will be preparing is the Classic Basic Culinary school Rice Pilaf

RECIPE

 Ingredients

* Long grain rice – 2 cups
* Onions
* Margarine- 2tbsp
* Chicken stock (1 cup)
* Black pepper (2tbsp)
* Water (2cups)
* Little salt

DIRECTIONS

* Put the butter in the pot and melt on medium set heat

* Add your minced onion and stir until light brown.

(Rice after continous stirring in margarine on heat)

Next is the rice. Wash your rice in cold water and rinse out. Try as much as possible to get enough water out.

* Pour in the rice and stir continuously until the rice changes it’s colour into golden brown and the margarine is well incorporated into the rice ( This is also done so the rice doesn’t get burnt)

* Pour in your chicken stock and add your black pepper, thyme and bayleaf.

* Put in 2 cups of water so it could help it cook perfectly.

* Once it’s almost done, you can garnish with mixed vegetables, carrots, shredded cooked, grilled or broiled chicken

(Tender and cooked (15minutes))

I will be so happy to see your comment and your questions and queries will be aptly answered.

You can also contact me privately on this blog.

Love from Caterbakes.

 

 

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home made mayonnaise
Recipes,

How To Make Mayonnaise At Home Under 5 minutes

by Chef WaleJanuary 29, 2019no comment

Do it yourself (DIY) is one of the most searched for on the internet and who knew that Mayonnaise could be made under 5 minutes.

DIY is trending because most realised it doesn’t actually take much to make things we buy at high prices.

After you learn it, I bet you will never buy another mayonnaise again.
You can even make your own variant of mayonnaise by adding your own flavour or food materials.

Examples are Onion Mayo, Eggless mayonnaise, chilli and Vegetable Mayonnaise etc. at a relatively cheap amount

So today, we are going to be treating this topic.

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MAYONNAISE

Mayonnaise is a very important condiment or thick sauce used in the making of different dishes. It is also used in salad dressing and as creams of pastries.

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

* Egg yolks

* Lime juice or Vinegar

* Mustard (optional)

* Oil (single or mix).
Olive oil, canola oil, groundnut oil

* Salt

* Water

DIRECTIONS

* Note that this can be done under 5 minutes with the use of hand whisk or mixer.

* Remove the yolk of the eggs: for standard measurement, it’s one yolk for one cup of oil.

How do you remove the yolk?

You can break the egg gently on your hand and sieve the albumen out.

Secondly, puncture the tip enough for the egg while to go through leaving the yolk inside the shell.

* Once the yolk is inside the bowl. Add your lime juice, salt, water and ¼ of your oil and whisk well

* While mixing trickle the rest of the oil gently into the mixture until it starts thickening.

* Add your mustard, mix and continue your process until it’s done.

Kidspot

Alternatively!!!!!

You could just pour your mixture (yolks, lime juice, little water, salt and little oil) inside the Mixer

Mix at low spend and when it’s blending, put in your mustard and trickle in the rest of the oil inside on high speed and under 3 minutes, you are done.

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introductio to seafoods
Recipes,

How To Make Your Seafood Recipe Now (Understanding Seafoods)

by Chef WaleJanuary 21, 2019no comment

Ignorance is really a disease but the refusal to seek knowledge is to be dead.

This section which is cooking seafood version of a recipe is one I avoid so much because of fear of failure.

Unknown to me, I have been in the art of cooking it without even knowing. So like me, after I’m done explaining Seafoods to you, you might be surprised it’s a simple form of cooking

SEAFOODS (Seafood cooking)

(Seafood Pasta)

This can simply be defined as cooking of anything in the sea regarded as food by humans.

The examples of these are countless but the ones you are familiar with are fishes, crayfishes, Shrimps, crabs, lobster, clams, calamari etc

A food is regarded as a seafood when different sea animals are incorporated into it for example, Sea food pasta, seafood rice, Sea food okro, seafood salad, grilled prawns, shrimps etc.

(Seafood salad)

WHY YOU MUST BE A SEAFOOD LOVER!

* They have low unsaturated fat (Good fat) and cholesterol. It is essential if you don’t want to add up weight and it helps your overall heart condition

* They are excellent source of protein and rivals beef and other types.

* The Omega-3fatty acid found in Seafoods helps in semen quality and overall fertility in men.

We can’t make them in our body. We can only get them here.

* It is high in Minerals like Iron, phosphorus and has a lot of the Vitamin B’s.

* It is very sweet! (Lol).

MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT SEAFOODS

* Many believe it is expensive to whip up a seafood. Actually, it’s very cheap to cook depending on the dish and recipe.

* It contains Mercury which is toxic to the body… Except you are eating shark, swordfish and all these deep sea fish, I know many familiar Seafoods have NO Mercury in them.

* SEAFOODS and Milk ( diary products)

Some says it causes skin rashes. This is completely false. It’s okay to wash down your seafood with chocolate or milk after eating.

Ok! Let’s talk about how to cook your own Seafood!

Different ways to: For any dish you want to prepare, Seafoods can be incorporated in these ways:

* Side dish

(Mashed potatoes/Shrimp in sauce)
(Garnished Salmon)

* Grilled, broiled or fried and mixed into it

* You can boil and mix with your foods

* You can mix in raw when the food is about to be done (Medium- rare)

* You can serve as Main protein

* You can garnish your food with it

* You can use it to prepare your soups, sauces and fondues.

There are many recipes online to try out However, bear in mind that a seafood recipe must have Sea animals in it.
Would you love to prepare and send your food to me? I would be delighted to see the picture.
Also know that your comments and questions would be attended to within 24 hours.
Don’t forget to help us share this post. L0

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Recipes,

How To Make The Nigerian Edikaikong Soup (A Classic Vegetable Soup)

by Chef WaleJanuary 20, 2019no comment

“Note that purchase through this blog will help serve you better and grow us at NO additional cost to you”

I’m very happy I could write about this soup because it’s one of my favorite soup.

I know how to prepare the soup alright but I made a promise to myself I’m not going to prepare this soup until a native where the soup originates from prepares it in my presence.

I wanted to compare my Technique to the original way it’s being prepared.

So my Friend and Chef from Akwa-ibom came for a visit and we decided to prepare the soup.

After watching her prepare it, I realised there is almost no difference in my recipe and hers and thus, decided to write.

Edikang Ikong

It is said to originate from the Efik- Ibibio (South-east) of Nigeria which consists of the Calabar and Akwa-ibomite.

It is a very rich vegetable soup which can be very expensive to prepare if you decide to prepare it in all of its glory. The preparation entails two different distinct vegetables.

RECIPE

Ingredients

* Water Leaves (3 cups)

* Ugwu leaves (4 cups)

* Crayfish (1 cup)

* Beef 300 g

* Stock Fish (1 medium size)

* Dried Fish (1)

* Cow Skin (1 big size cut)

* Scotch bonnet

* Palm oil (2 big spoonful)

* Seasoning cubes

* Salt

Preparation

These are the following preps you do before you start that makes your cooking faster;

1. Cut both pumpkin leaves and water leaves either by yourself or in the market (* Wash your pumpkin leaves early so it can be well dried before you pour in your soup)

2. Chop or grate your scotch bonnets and crayfish and set aside

3. Clean and break your dried fish. Wash your stock fish with salt and rinse.

That done? Good; Let’s start!

Preparation

 

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* Wash your beef, cow skin and your fishes and season with seasoning cubes, little scotch bonnet and salt. Cut some onions into it too.

  • Add little water (so we could have some beef stock) and boil for about 15 mins until the meat are tender.
  • Then after the meat are soft, the water leaves which is already washed and sieved to remove the water content is poured on it
  • the heat here and let it simmer for 5 mins. This will release more water into the mixture as it boils.
  • Pour in your Ugwu (pumpkin leaves), the grated or chopped pepper and crayfish; then add your palmoil.

* Stir and add more seasoning cubes and salt (This might not be needed if at the earlier stage, you seasoned it well).

Cover and leave for extra 10 minutes and your Edikaikong is done

This soup can be merged with almost any type of food from rice to traditional dishes like pounded yam, starch, FUFU etc

I hope you give this lovely soup a trial and let me know the outcome. Your questions would be answered apply and I hope you get it right.

 

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Recipes,

How To Make Peanut Burger (Home-made)

by Chef WaleDecember 8, 201827 comments

Writing or making peanut burger always make me so emotional because it was the first snack I ever made. I felt so good about it that I decided to be a Pastry Chef. Since then, I haven’t stopped.

I love peanut burgers because it is a good source of protein, healthy fat and covered in flour which are high in carbs. Most importantly, it is a sweet healthy snacks that can be preserved for 6 months and more if well stored.

PEANUT BURGER

RECIPE

  • Peanuts- 2 cups
  • Eggs- 3
  • Flour- 3 cups
  • Sugar- 5-6 tbsp (table spoon)
  • Liquid flavor (Preferably vanilla or strawberry)
  • Groundnut oil
  • Milk flavor

PREPARATION

Prepare three medium bowls and put inside your flour, eggs and peanuts respectively

Mix the powdery milk flavour with the flour and add little salt. 

Break the eggs, pour in two capful of the liquid flavour in and add your sugar. whisk all together.

Coating Process

The whole mixing will happen in the bowl where the groundnuts are.

1. Add 2 tbsp of egg mix into the groundnut and shake the bowl to mix. Do not mix with hands. You will see that the eggs have coated the groundnut because the groundnuts will be shinning

2. Pour 2 handful of the flour mix (milk flavor and little salt) into the (groundnut-egg) and mix lightly with hand and then mix thoroughly by shaking the whole container.

* Repeat this Flour, egg mixture and shake process until the eggs and flour finishes.

Then Fry at medium heat until golden brown in colour. Let it cool and serve immediately.

There are varieties of ways it can be packaged or garnished before served. It can be dipped into chocolate and coconut shaving and served, It can be packaged, sealed and sold or eaten directly as appetizers.

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Recipes,

How to make an Eggwash. (Just 3steps)

by Chef WaleDecember 4, 2018no comment

“Note that purchase through this blog will help serve you better and grow us at no additional cost to you”

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Hello!  It’s the era of DIY (Do It Yourself). I wrote about making whipping cream and heavy cream last week.

Another easy thing you are going to be learning today is how to make an Eggwash

What is an Eggwash?


               



 An Eggwash is majorly the mixture of beaten eggs and liquid majorly water or milk.

Why do we make an Eggwash?
For every baked pastry, beaten eggs are brushed on it lightly and this gives it attractive golden colour after the pastry is baked.

* An Eggwash is made because it becomes so expensive when you have a lot of pastries to bake and you need to brush all with beaten eggs only.

so we make Eggwash to increase the amount of beaten eggs while still maintaining it’s effectiveness.

* An eggwash is also made during the production of any coated pastries or dishes.

For Example; Scotcheggs, Chicken or beef in batter, Chicken Nuggets, Butterfly coated chicken breast, onion rings, fish and chips etc

* Applying Eggwash on pastries also helps to keep it’s structure making it shine during baking process.

* Addition of wheat flour, sugar and baking powder to Eggwash makes tasty Pan Cakes batter.😋😋

How to make an Eggwash.

1. Break 3-4 eggs inside a bowl and beat evenly



2. Mix 100g of milk with water and pour gently inside the beaten while mixing with hand.

Pastry pal

3. Add salt and pepper (Ground black pepper) to taste especially in the case of full coating.

You might leave the salt and pepper out if you are applying on pastries for shine and colour.



4. Whisk a bit more and your Eggwash is ready.

Egg wash is majorly used for baked pastries except you decide to get creative with it.

It’s happiness to me when I see your comment and shares. I would also love to receive your questions and I can assured you to receive an answer from me under 24hours.

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Recipes,

The Different Ways Of Making Whipped Cream And Heavy Cream

by Chef WaleNovember 30, 2018no comment

WHIPPED CREAM

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I try learning a lot of things on my own because of many reasons;

1. Sometimes, packaged products are too expensive and as an event chef, there must be profit

2. If you are working on continental dishes, you might realise some key ingredients are just scarce or no where to be found.

3. You might be working at night and need to submit in the morning and then, you realise a very important ingredient is finished.

Why not make it if you have the materials on ground.

So, today, I’m gonna be teaching how to quickly whip up a batches of heavy cream and whipping cream

 WHIPPED CREAM

This is used majorly when preparing sauces, stocks, baking and making desserts.

Whipped cream which is a milk containing 25-30% fat is also used as toppings fir cocktails, mocktails, smoothies.

MILK WITH AGAR AGAR OR GELATIN

(Agar agar is a non-poisonous edible algae used in the production of vegetarian gelatin substitute).
If you are not a vegetarian, just get your gelatin from the supermarket.

The Process

Mix some powder with water and put on low heat until it dissolves.

Mix little into the cold milk and whisk for few minutes

Then, put the remaining milk into it and place back onto the low heat. (Don’t allow to boil so it doesn’t cuddle)

Once it starts steaming, take off and refrigerate.

At 15 minutes interval, bring out and stir a few times for 1hour and and the milk becomes creamy.

HEAVY CREAM

This is majorly used in preparing sauces, fondue and thickening of sauces.

MILK AND CORN FLOUR

Milk- 50g
Cornflour – ½ teaspoon

You can use a mixer for this or a food processor.

Follow the procedure for the agar agar. Only that you do not need to be stirring at intervals in the refrigerator.

Once the mixture steams, take down and whip until becomes creamy.

EVAPORATED MILK

This is very easy to attain. You can get directly from the supermarket or drop your normal milk inside hot water under low heat for 45minutes.

However, it might be quite expensive if you need much cream.

Note that while stirring all the recipes, you can add flavour and sugar if required.

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Roasted Turkey Thanksgiving Table Setting Concept
Recipes,

How to marinate and oven-grill a whole chicken

by Chef WaleNovember 27, 2018no comment

The festive period is around the corner and many things are running through my head.

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However, Amidst all the foods I want to prepare, I’m sure of making a delicious oven grilled marinated whole chicken. That’s undebatable.

There is no prettier sight than a well plated shining whole grilled chicken at the center of your dining table with other dishes surrounding it.

What you need:

* A processed whole chicken (feathers and intestine removed)
* Ginger and Garlic

* Habanero Pepper

* Onions
* Blender
* Curry
* Ground black pepper
* Yagi Spice (Suya spice)
* Seasoning Cubes
* Soy sauce (optional)
* Salt
Preparation
The chicken is washed and clean (even if it was purchased at the supermarket).
Then, it is patted dry and cored slightly below the skin surface. This allows easy penetration for the marinade.
Marination
 
This is the process of applying different spices on protein in order to make it very tasty when it is cooked.
Marination can be in form of dry rub or MARINADE is made.
Marinade is made when different root, spices and veggies are blended to create a liquid.
Today! I’m making a wet rub (marinade)
* I combine all in a blender.. peppers, little oil, diced ginger garlic, seasoning etc and blend.

* Using a brush or foam, apply the marinade generously on the whole chicken.

* Wrap in foil and refrigerate for at least 3-5 hours ( the longer the duration, the sweeter it becomes and the more the marinade would have penetrated)

* Bring out, remove the foil or if you want to grill in the foil, no problem and place on the oven tray.

* Grill for 40 minutes at 200°c. Bring out.

* Prepare another fondue (mayonnaise + ketchup + black pepper) and mix up with groundnut oil and apply on the chicken.

* Put back for another 15 minutes and you have a very beautiful shiny brown oven grilled chicken.

Let me know how it comes out if you decide to try it out. Have a food filled week.

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IMG-20180917-WA0010
Recipes,

My New Fish Grilling Recipes!!!!!

by Chef WaleSeptember 29, 20181 comment

FISH GRILLING

It is said in my culture that “what experience sees sitting, young ones cannot see even if they climb a tree”. So recently, I have been following experienced chefs to their prospective events and I have learnt a lot.

The one that baffles me a lot was the fish grilling technique and marination my eyes was opened to by a culinary senior of mine.

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What I do formally is to marinate my fish and grill. Simple. However, I was exposed to a simpler but very lovely method.

I will be using the Croaker fish as example.

In this method: there will be sauce preparation which is just pepper stew.

SAUCE

Ingredients:
* Habanero pepper

* Ginger

* Garlic

* Onions

* Red bell pepper (tatashe)

* Seasoning

* Salt

*Groundnut oil

Preparation:

Put oil on fire, blend coarsely the pepper onions and spices or better still, pound them so it retains it’s major flavour.

When oil is hot, pour your pounded pepper, add your seasoning and salt and allow to fry until done. For the full recipe and pictures, view here.

Pack into a bowl and seal.

FISH PROCESSING

* The fish is prepared by de-scaling (removal of all the scales)

* Incision is made along the belly line (The coring process) and the intestines are removed.

* The fish is then washed and cored (This is when the surface of the fish is cut slightly to allow the spices used to penetrate. It aids marination)

After coring, the fish is then soaked in marinade or brushed with marinade which is usually a combination of ground dry red pepper, curry, dried ginger, oil, thyme, powdered onions, barbeque sauce, salt and seasonings.

* This is then covered in bowl and stored in fridge to marinate for about 4-5 hours… Sometimes for days.

GRILLING PROCESS

Now you have your pepper sauce and you have your marinated fish.

You oil your grill mesh so fish doesn’t stick on it while turning or a better way is to spray your fish with oil before putting on grill. Trust me; it works!

You activate your charcoal and coat the side to lay on the grill with  the pepper sauce before you place the fish on the grill.

Turning is very minimal (thrice at most).. the third is probably when you are lifting it off the grill.

* About 5mins on the grill, you brush the top of the fish generously with the pepper sauce.

* After 15mins, you turn the fish skillfully and apply the pepper sauce on the other side

… Let it grill for about 20mimutes, turn again and apply the sauce on the second side.

Leave for about 10mins and take off. This can be done in the case of grilling 1 to infinite fishes.

It gives the fish a very lovely taste both outward and inward.

Try this today and I bet it would be the most tasteful grilled fish recipe you have ever tried. Enjoy!

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Recipes,

How To Make The Nigerian Moimoi Elewe

by Chef WaleJune 2, 2018no comment

Hello,

It’s a nice day and the atmosphere is just perfect for today’s dish which is MOIMOI.

MOIMOI ( original name worldwide) because it originates from Nigeria is that lovely smooth pudding-like dish that can be eaten alone or used as a side dish.

The lovely thing about this dish is that many things can be incorporated into it for example, we have different kinds of fish, meat, crayfish veggies etc.

I grew up preparing this dish with my mum as a sous chef; helping her to grind, fold the leaves and just practically waiting on her for every order.

I prepared this myself when I was in the university and I wasn’t surprised when it came out well, I had all my life to prepare for that day. Anyway, fast forward to today;

I would love to share my recipe for a lovely Nigerian MoiMoi (for the sake of Non-Nigerian; Bean pudding)

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RECIPE

* 4 cups beans

* 2 Tatashe (Red bell pepper)

* 4-5 Habanero pepper

* 1 big onions

* 2½ Groundnut oil-

* 2 Smoked or boiled mackerel/ titus fish

* Ground Crayfish

* Seasoning cubes

* Salt to taste

* Boiled eggs

PREPARATION

1. The first step is to peel the bean cover. This is done by soaking the beans in water for 20minutes and rubbing the beans in-between your palm. Put some little energy into it and the skin will come off easily.

Add more water to the beans and separation will occur. The heavier shelled beans would move below while the shell will float on the surface of the water.

2. Remove the floating shells and repeat the process until the whole shells are removed.

3. Wash your tatashe and habanero, add to your shelled beans and blend until very smooth

4. Before you finish blending, part of the prepping is to boil and seasoning the fish if you are using boiled fish. When done, de-bone it and shread with hand.

Your boiled eggs should be done by now too. Slice each egg into four parts and set aside. Okay, let’s go back to our bean puree or blended bean mixture

Ground crayfish

5 For the blended beans, pour out in a bowl, add your salt and seasoning cubes, your Groundnut oil, add also your ground crayfish.

Note pls: Some people will add the fish and eggs to the mixture while some people will add it when filling the bean mixture into the leaves. This is so that each moimoi can have almost equal fish egg content.

Wrapping in leaves


The moimoi leaves are fairly big with long stems. So you cut the stems and arrange it at the base of the cooking pot.

This is done so that the moimoi will not make direct contact with the pot. It can get burnt quickly or spill it’s content out

The shape of the leaf is oval so you fold inward to form a cone shape, the break the tip and curve inside to seal the tip.

Pour in your bean mixture into the leaves, pour in your egg and fish mixture, cover the top and seal off.

6. Gently place into the pot. Repeat this process until all the mixture are wrapped.

7. Pour in water to fill in about a quarter of the pot and cook for 45minutes.

Depending on your cooker, you can bring out one about 40mins and open to know if it’s done or it needs more time.

That’s it my friends. Share the experience with me if you decide to try it out.

Let me know what you got. Will be so happy to hear from you.

Also, I would appreciate if you can share and comment on this post.

Be sure I will respond to your comment in less than 24 hours.

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goat meat bbq
Recipes,

How to prepare ASUN (Grilled and Sauced Goat Meat BBQ)

by Chef WaleNovember 22, 2017no comment

Amazing day it is for us at caterbakes, so my thought is, this evening, we should all relax with a simple delicacy of Goat Meat barbeque and cocktails;

Then I thought again,  Why not write about it?!

Asun

  Asun which literally means “smoked” or “the smoked one” generally refer to a grilled and sauced goat meat which is mostly enjoyed in different relaxation centres all around Nigeria.

It is highly favored because it is very spicy and peppery. It’s also very compatible with different kinds of beer.

The Pepper Killers!

Let’s go a little bit into science, There are two things I know that has pepper denaturing properties; the first is milk and the second is beer.

So next time you consume food that is too peppery,  Get one or the two together and you will be relieved”.

So this delicacy which is very simple to prepare is a must to learn as a restaurant chef!

RECIPE
   
  ~~ Goat meat
 
~~ Habanero pepper (atarodo)
 
  ~~ Green pepper
 
~~ Seasoning Cubes (to taste) 
 
  ~~ Onions(lots) 
 
~~ Crayfish(Optional)
 
  ~~ Chicken franks(optional)

 ~~Carrot(optional)

~~ Salt to taste

  ~~ Little garlic and ginger flakes or raw ones

~~ Groundnutoil (you can make it a little bit more if you need the sauce for another delicacy) 
  
  ~~ Curry

 
Prep time 15mins
Grilling time 35-45mins
Cooking time- 20 mins
 

There are three things you have to sectionize when preparing asun just like division of labour.

1. Get someone to start The Grill fire cos we grilling baby!!!!! Loll

2. Then someone needs to be in charge of choping, grating or blending coarsely the peppers and onions(by the way,  Lots of onion, pepper)

3. Another help most times me to prepare the meat to be barbequed

Details:
                Marinating and Grilling procedure



1. Before grilling, the meat which is butchered, cleaned and divided will be quickly marinated by rubbing in (dry rub)

* Flaked or ground garlic and ginger

* Seasoning cubes (little),

* Little say

* Ground chili pepper.

Rub lightly with oil before placing on the prepared grill.

After 20mins, the meat is turned and a little more oil is brushed along the length of the meat. This is to ensure thorough grilling. Another 20mins, it is removed.

Allow to cool.

2. Next step is dicing,  the meat must be cut in little pieces(not so little) about 3-5cm.

           Cooking Procedure

 ¤  Set your pan on a medium set light and add your groundnutoil.

¤  Let it come alive,  then your onions and peppers

¤  After 2mins,  add your grilled goat Meat and stir continuously (this is to ensure that the pepper is well mixed with your grilled meat)

Note pls: Some meat might still be hard after grilling,  so for some type of hard meat,  I might first steam the meat before adding to the peppers or add meat tenderizer while grilling. 

 ¤ Add your curry, seasoning cubes and salt to taste (be careful not to over do it because you have added them already while marinating). Stir a bit more and your Asun is ready to be served.

 If you have been helped by this article,  please comment and help click the share button.  

Stay hot and peppery!!!!!

 

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