Category Archives: Recipe Korner

Some of my favourite recipes

Recipe Korner

Caprese

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This is something that is oh-so-easy to put together and you only need very few, easily available ingredients. 

If you’d like to enjoy this with a wine, choose white wines that are lean, crisp, and vibrantly acidic. Higher acid wines pair well with tomatoes’ acidity. Try avoiding wines with lower acidity or heavy oak aging. Look for Sancerre, Soave Classico, Falanghina, or Sauvignon Blanc.

Caprese is basically mozzarella, tomatoes and basil, and I love this especially when doused liberally in balsamic vinegar. 


Traditionally, caprese is usually served as shown in the image below by The Pioneer Woman. 


I gave it a bit of a twist and served it on skewers. 

Ingredients:

Fresh mozzarella ball 

 1 punnet baby tomatoes

 Handful of thoroughly washed fresh basil leaves

Thin wooden skewers 

Balsamic vinegar 

Olive oil 

Method:

To ensure the wooden skewers are smooth when skewering your ingredients, I would advise you soak them in some water first. 

Cut the mozzarella into bite sized cubes, thread one through the skewer, then slide down a baby tomato, more mozzarella, then top it with a folded basil leaf. 

Putting together the caprese on skewers

These can be made ahead and refrigerated with cling-film over them so that other smells from the refrigerator don’t permeate into the cheese. Liberally douse with balsamic vinegar and virgin pressed olive oil and enjoy. 

Voila! Caprese with a twist!
Recipe Korner

Easy Cinnamon Rolls

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It’s cold and rainy here in Nairobi and I’m totally enjoying my coffee in this weather but my sweet tooth always craves a small bite of something sweet to go with the perfect mix of Kenyan AA and Ethiopian Gourmet ground coffee. I remember having some yummy Cinnabon coffee and rolls, waiting for the rain to subside while shopping in a mall in Delhi. Anyway, I came home this evening, determined to try out a recipe that I felt might work.  I’m happy to announce it did, and these cinnamon rolls are made with only three ingredients! 

Enjoy and let me know how they turn out.  

INGREDIENTS

1 tube ready rolled puff pastry (I used Lyons Maid, widely available locally) 

1 heaped tablespoon cinnamon sugar ( or make your own using 1/4 teaspoon powdered cinnamon and one table spoon brown or caster sugar)

2 table spoons raisins 

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 200C. Roll out the thawed pastry and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar all over. Spread the raisins on the pastry. I always add extra raisins, by the way! Roll the pastry and wrap its cellophane paper back around it and put in the freezer for five minutes. 

Easy ingredients, roll it all out, then roll it up!

While the pastry is in the freezer, brush a glass dish with a little butter. Remove pastry from freezer and slice into half inch rolls. Put these rolls next to each other in the baking dish and don’t worry if they’re touching each other. Take a pinch of the cinnamon sugar and sprinkle all over the rolls, then put dish in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. 

Brush with butter, slice into half inches, place in dish.

While the rolls are baking, take a tablespoon of icing sugar with a few drops of water and mix a paste. I drizzled this over the rolls once they were out of the oven and slightly cooled. This is optional but it’s yummy! It made the rolls a bit sticky and soft and the kids loved it. 

The result? Voila! I was so pleased! They tasted delicious and went great with vanilla ice cream as a dessert. 

Delicious cinnamon rolls!

Very easy to make and with only three ingredients. I’ll definitely be making these more often. Let me know how yours turn out! 

(Cina)Bon Apetit! 

Health Korner, Recipe Korner

Healthy scrambled egg

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I get bored of eating healthy food because I’ve always felt it’s the same few ingredients that you get saturated with but clearly it’s just been in my mind. I take a packed lunch to work and I made this yummy egg to have with rice cakes. It literally took me five minutes to put it together with minimum ingredients and fuss. 
Ingredients:

1 egg, beaten with a pinch of salt & pepper 

Handful of baby kale, chopped 

4 mushrooms, chopped 

Spring onion, chopped 

Pinch of minced garlic (optional)

Method:

Use cooking spray in a non-stick pan to lightly coat it. Throw in the spring onions, garlic, mushrooms and kale. On medium heat cook lightly for a minute then add beaten egg and stir until completely cooked. 

There! That’s all! Easy isn’t it? I had it with rice cakes. 

Let me know if you’ve tried this and if you’ve got other healthy variations. 

Recipe Korner, Uncategorized

Creme CaramelΒ 

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Yes, it is far easier to make it with a packet mix but it’s more delicious when you make it from scratch. A loved one really enjoys creme caramel despite not having much of a sweet tooth so I thought I’d make some for her. 

Here’s the recipe I used (and modified!). It’s pretty easy to follow. 
Ingredients:

For the caramel:

3/4 cup white sugar

1/2 cup water 

For the custard:

1 litre whole milk

6 eggs

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla essence 

Method:

In a heavy bottom pan, add the sugar and water to make the caramel. Before putting it on to boil, make sure you use a wooden spoon and dissolve the sugar as much as you can. 

Boil until the sugar turns a caramel colour. You’ll be able to judge from the scent that wafts in the kitchen. 


Very carefully, pour either into 8 small ramekins or one big dish. I used a big dish. 


Spread the caramel all over and remember to work swiftly as the caramel will harden on contact with the cold surface and it will be difficult to get it to spread across the dish. 

Once you have done this, take a serviette or piece of kitchen towel and dab butter on it. Use this to line the dish on the inside. 

Beat together the eggs, sugar, milk and vanilla essence and gently pour on top of the cooled and set caramel. 


Put your ramekins or dish in a baking pan and half fill the pan with boiling hot water, taking care not to let any water pour or splash into the custard. 


Bake this for 25-35 minutes in a medium oven (180degC) or until the custard is set. You can check this by dipping in a skewer to check the consistency. It should be set. 

Carefully remove from oven and place the dish with the custard  on a wire rack to cool. After it has cooled down, place in refrigerator for at least 2 hours before serving. 


Turn it upside down on a large dish and serve! The ramekins are great for individual servings. 

It seems like a lot of work but this is one of the simplest desserts I’ve made. 

Enjoy! 

Recipe Korner

Chinese sweet corn soup

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The cold weather is here and I really enjoy hearty soups. Here’s a very quick and easy recipe. No sign of oil at all in this recipe.Β Enjoy!

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Ingredients:

I tin creamed corn

1 tin sweet corn (drained)

1 litre water

Salt & pepper to taste

1 egg

2 tablespoons chopped spring onions

1 chicken stock cube

Method:

Add stock cube to boiling water. Stir in the creamed corn and sweet corn. Season with salt & pepper according to taste. When almost done, break egg and run it through sieve, stirring continuously. You’ll see the egg turning into white strands.

Serve hot with a dash of soya & chilli sauce and garnish with spring onions. This soup tastes lovely when accompanied with spring rolls.

*When the stock is boiling you can add 250 grammes boneless chicken bits to make it more hearty. Boil the soup thoroughly until the chicken is properly cooked.Β 

Recipe Korner

Cheese and Bacon Bites

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I think it’s a surefire success when cheese and bacon are combined in any recipe. This recipe requires only these two ingredients and the results are out of this world. Quick and easy to make, the Cheese and Bacon Bites are a yummy comfort food.

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Ingredients:

1 packet Halloumi cheese (I used Raka cheese)

1 packet streaky bacon (good old Farmer’s Choice) You can use beef bacon as well for the same recipe.

Method:Β 

Cut the Halloumi cheese into 1 inch squares and wrap the bacon strips around them. Secure with wooden cocktail sticks. Place on a greased baking tray (I sprayed mine lightly with olive oil).


Place in a preheated oven (180degC) and bake for 25 minutes. If you don’t feel like baking you can place them in a non-stick pan on low heat and cook gently until the bacon is browned.

image Serve hot with a chilli dip.

Enjoy!

Recipe Korner

Pizza Rolls

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Quick recipe! All you need is ready rolled puff pastry, pizza sauce, ham/ turkey slices, cheese slices, pepper, dry oregano. 
  
Roll out pastry. Spread pizza sauce. Arrange ham slices. Cover with cheese slices. Add pepper & oregano. Roll up as tightly as you can. Refrigerate for 10 minutes. Slice. Arrange in a lightly greased baking dish.
Bake for 25 minutes or until golden & crispy looking at 180degC. Serve hot or cold. 

Great as kids lunch box fillers, finger foods at parties, etc. Feel free to experiment with jalapeΓ±os, mushrooms, onions, sweet corn, etc. 

Enjoy! 😊

Recipe Korner

Aloo Mattar

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This is a classic Punjabi recipe and my granddad’s favourite dish. It’s very easy to make and I’d definitely call this comfort food. 

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INGREDIENTS:

1 large onion, chopped

2 tomatoes, chopped 

1 table spoon tomato purΓ©e 

1 teaspoon crushed ginger 

1 teaspoon crushed garlic 

Chopped coriander to taste 

Salt to taste 

Red chilli powder to taste 

1/2 teaspoon turmeric 

1 teaspoon garam masala 

2 teaspoons jeera

4 large potatoes, cubed

1 cup sweet garden peas, shelled 

1 pinch kasuri (dry) methi, optional

METHOD:

In a non-stick pan use 1 teaspoon of oil. When hot add jeera. When jeera sizzles, add onions and lightly brown them. Add tomatoes, purΓ©e, ginger, garlic and cook for about five minutes. Add a little bit of water if you think it’s too thick. 

Add your masalas, followed by the methi (if using), coriander, potatoes & peas. Add a little water and cook until potatoes are done and the water from the masala has dried up. 

Serve hot garnished with chopped coriander. 

*Goes well with yellow or green daal with garam roti! 

* Some people even add carrots to this sabzi. You can cut 2 small carrots into cubes and add with the potatoes and peas. 

Recipe Korner

A simple Christmas cake

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Reposting because it’s seasonal! πŸ™‚

Kamal Kaur ~ kamz26

I love Christmas cake, mince pies, Christmas pudding and all the yummy treats of the festive season. When I lived in UK everything I ever wanted to indulge in was one delicatessen away but here in Nairobi specialised foods are sometimes hard to find and if you do manage to get something, it’s usually way too expensive. I came across this very easy to make cake and it turned out rather well so I’m sharing the recipe with you.
Enjoy!

You will need a square 18cm tin to make the cake.

Ingredients:

150g cold unsalted butter, diced

250g dark brown soft sugar

125g maple syrup (but I used golden syrup)

75g soured cream

4 tsp mixed spice

4 medium eggs

1 tsp orange extract (or orange zest)

600g dried mixed fruit

200g glace cherries

100g whole blanched almonds

275g plain white flour

1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1-2 tbp…

View original post 246 more words

Recipe Korner

Spicy Mango and Pomegranate Salad

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They say lettuce is just crunchy water. I’m going through some clean eating and changing my diet to reflect on the healthy lifestyle I embarked on very recently after years of not looking after myself.

Here’s a yummy salad recipe that I just had for lunch. It’s easy to make and I sourced the ingredients from my green grocer.
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Ingredients:

2 sweet, ripe mangoes

1/2 cup shelled pomegranate seeds

3 sprigs coriander, finely chopped

2 sprigs spring onion, finely chopped

2 tablespoons teriyaki sauce

Salt to taste

Red chilli powder to taste ( or a dash of Tabasco will do as well)

Method:

Simply mix everything together and enjoy. I refrigerated mine so it tasted really delicious cold.