How To Make A Yummy Yamarita At Home

Yamarita is simply a spin on your traditional fried yam and egg dish. Instead of having them separately, why not have them in a slightly thicker chip/fry form and roll it all into one! It’s really easy to make and while yam is not something I eat on a regular basis, it provided a good switch up for a change. There are various ways to cook this, so be sure to read the notes section, if you’d like to try it a different way, this is just the basic recipe.

Ingredients


1 Tuber of yam
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1 tsp salt
Vegetable oil for deep frying


2 tsp ground red pepper
1 serving spoon leftover stew (optional)

1. Cut yam into round slices
2. Peel skin off yam
 3. Start cutting yam slices into thick strips length-wise
3b. Keep cutting until you have all strips of yam
4. Rinse yam strips under cold running water, to rid of dirt and starch, till water runs relatively clear, drain water

5. Add yam to pot with clean water, enough to cover yam. Add 1/2 tsp salt

5b. Let yam boil over medium heat for 15 minutes till soft, yet firm enough to hold shape without breaking apart
6. Drain water, transfer boiled yam to dry bowl
7. Set yam aside to cool slightly, prepare egg wash, pre-heat oil in pan over medium heat
8. Break egg into bowl, add ground red pepper and salt
8b. Whisk egg
9. Add flour into a clean bowl along with a pinch of salt and pepper. Take one strip at a time, roll yam in flour
10. Dip flour coated yam into egg wash
11. Repeat steps #9 – #10 till all yam strips are fully coated
12. Begin frying coated yam strips over medium heat

12b. Fry for about 2-3 minutes per side, till golden brown
13. Once fried, transfer to a plate lined with a paper towel or napkin to absorb excess oil, sprinkle salt over it and shake up before serving
14. All done!



It’s important to partially pre-cook the yam because the yam won’t be soft enough if it’s just fried immediately. It’ll cook, but it won’t be cooked enough to be palatable.
Rolling the yam in flour serves to provide absorbency and crispness, depending on what method you’re using. For this basic method, the flour serves to absorb the oil to give that crisp coating. Another purpose is serves is to absorb any extra wetness/liquid from draining the yam after boiling, before frying. The flour also helps the yam brown better when frying.

This needs to be served immediately after frying and sprinkling some salt over it, otherwise it will lose it’s crispness and become limp.

You can twice fry dun dun oniyeri for maxium crispness. After frying once, remove from oil, drain excess oil on paper towel, increase heat to high and return yam into oil to fry for another 2-3 minutes per side.
You can bake these if you prefer. However, you don’t need to use the egg and flour. Instead, you’d use an oil and seasoning mix, gently coat the yam strips in the oil mix, put on a baking tray lined with foil and bake for 20-30 minutes at 400 degrees. Seasonings can be crushed knorr cubes and crushed red pepper, for added texture.
For the dipping sauce, you can use geisha stew, like I did, or corned beef stew, perhaps even regular stew.

Substitutes:
You can use corn oil for added crispness.
Don’t care for yam? Try regular or sweet potatoes

Serving Suggestions:
With onion and pepper/tomato sauce

How to make party jollof rice at home

We all know how to cook a jollof rice at home but we love the special aroma the jolof rice served at parties have on offer.
When a friend of mine was pregnant with her first daughter, she woke up one morning and started crying, the tears was so much and the neighbours have to rush down to see if she was in any trouble since her boo had since left for work.

On rushing to her aid, she began to beg them that she needed to eat 'party jollof rice'!
 Hilarious ain't it? But it wasn't funny o, the more they laughed, she cried harder until her husband was called from work, rushed down and had to go crash a naming ceremony somewhere since other was no party close by, and he brought home the 'party rice' for her that she stopped crying.
OMG! Its that crazy for some people.

So, what really makes the party rice special? Is it the spicies added, the smoke aroma that penetrates the rice while its being cooked on firewood or simply the burnt rice in the pot bottom's aroma?

Don't worry too much, here is how to specially relive that party jolof rice while you await the next 'owambe' to happen.


Serves:   10
Ingredients:

*6 Cups of rice
• 8 Plum Tomatoes
• 4 Tatashey(Red bell pepper)
• 4  Red scotch bonnet pepper(Ata rodo)
•1 cooking spoon Tinned tomato puree
•1 liter Liquid Stock (Boiled chicken, Turkey or beef water)
• 2 Red Onion
1/2 Ginger
• 5 Cloves Garlic,minced
• 4 Bay leaves 'whole'
• 1 tbsp. Dry Thyme
• 1 tbsp. Curry powder
• 4 Seasoning cubes
• 5 cups Rice
• Salt to taste
• Vegetable Oil for frying (I used Canola)

Directions:::
Preparation of the stock
Step 1: If you are using beef/chicken/turkey,wash and place in a pot. Season with crushed seasoning cubes, salt, curry, thyme and ground/minced ginger,chopped onion and garlic. Boil till tender. Remove the meat from the stock and fry in a seperate pan. Set the stock aside separately and the oil used in frying separately.


Step 2: Wash the rice thoroughly and place in a pot. Add enough water just enough to cover the rice and par boil for 10 mins. Wash the parboiled rice with cold water, drain and set aside. OR Soak the rice in hot water for some minutes, rinse with clean water, drain and set aside.


Step 3: Remove the seeds from the tatashey and wash well. Wash the Tomatoes, Scotch bonnet pepper (ata rodo) and onion well too. Blend everything to a smooth puree. Pour the Blended puree into an empty iron pot and boil till there's no water left leaving just the concentrated puree in the pot.


Step 5: Pour the oil you used in frying your meat into the pot you want to use to cook your jolof rice, Add the tinned tomato paste into the Boiled tomato and pepper puree.  fry the tomato puree while stirring constantly so it doesn't get burnt for about 5 mins.


Step 6: Pour the Beef Stock (meat water) into the fried puree and mix. Add the dry thyme, Curry powder, Seasoning cubes (Crushed), Salt to taste. Gently add the parboiled rice into the puree and stock mixture and make sure the stock covers the rice, if it doesn't simply add water to ensure it does. Add the Bay leaves to the pot and cover.

Step 8: Leave the jollof to cook and soften and once you notice the liquid in the pot has almost dried up leaving concentrated tomato puree at the top, turn with a wooden spoon or spatula. At this time, Check if the rice is soft enough and also check for salt and if the seasoning from the stock is enough, if not add the necessary ingredients. If its not soft enough, add some more water and leave to dry up once more till its completely soft.
Turn to ensure the puree is evenly distributed. Now cover for 10 minutes to enable the rice burn alittle underneath

Step 9: Leave the rice to Burn underneath till you begin to smell it :D. Once it completely dries up at the top, turn off the stove and open the pot slightly for the vapor to evaporate.Your rice is ready.

Serve hot. You can garnish with peas and sweet corn or home made salad together with chicken or beef

How to prepare a delicious pot of Nkwobi

Nkwobi is a cow leg delicacy more popular among the Igbo speaking community, in the Eastern part of Nigeria.

Ingredients....
Cow leg(cut to small/medium pieces),
potash,
ehuru/efuru,
ugba,
utazi,
uziza,
bitter leaf
potash,
palmoil,
peppersoup spice,
fresh or dry pepper,
crayfish,
Onions,
Maggi and salt to taste.‎​


Boil d cow leg in a pot of water till its soft n tender, while its boiling, grind your crayfish, efuru(its a seed, so use abt 4 or 5) fresh pepper. Set dat aside. Then depending on d quantity of your nkwobi dissolve some potash/akanwu(abt 2 spoons) in 4spoons of water. If its difficult to dissolve, blend.
‎​

Then take a bowl for d paste mixture.......pour in your blended crayfish, pepper n ehuru mixture, together with your dissolved potash and mix. Then take your bottle of palm oil n start pouring slowly until you achieve d desired thickness in d paste. Then add your salt, maggi, peppersoup spices to the paste.

When your meat is done boiling, turn off the heat and pour out all d water, then pour your paste in n mix. Decorate with green vegetable or bitter leaf and onions. Now it’s ready to serve. Serve with cold palm wine, malt, gulder or star.

How To Make Coconut Shrimp Rice

For those of you trying to gert all creative with your cooking but got no idea how to go about it, here is an idea of a simple one for you. The meal's procedure is very simple and yet super delicious.

Lets know how it turns out when you get it together eventually

Ingredients
2 cups of rice
2 coconuts (milk from nuts)
1 lb shrimp
salt and pepper
1/2 cup diced Tomato
1/2 cup shredded carrot
1 clove of garlic
3 medium pepper(crushed)

Directions:
Rinse and drain rice several times in cold water to remove excess starch. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add garlic, crushed red pepper and shrimp until shrimp is cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes total.

Cook rice with coconut milk instead of water.
When its a bit tender,
Add the shrimp
Add a little more salt, and pepper.

At the last minute add the tomatoes and carrots.

Enjoy the yummy taste

HOW TO MAKE NAIJA GOAT MEAT PEPPERSOUP

INGREDIENTS

700g Goat Meat (with skin)
4 seeds Ehu or Ariwo or Calabash Nutmeg
Habanero Pepper (to taste)
A few scent leaves or 2 table spoons dry uziza
2 medium onions
Salt (to taste)
2 big stock cubes
For the Agidi:
120g corn flour. You can also use Akamu/Ogi/Pap
Before you cook the Nigerian Pepper Soup

If you will eat the Goat meat peppersoup with Agidi, prepare some and set aside to cool down and set.

Peel and grind the 'secret' ingredient (ehu seeds) with a dry mill. You can also roast it with an old frying pan before grinding them. Roasting is known to improve the flavour.

Cut the onions into big chunks. If you want pieces of onions in yours, cut into tny pieces.
Pick and wash the scent leaves. If using dry uziza, rub with your fingers to break them into tiny pieces.
Cooking Directions

Wash the goat meat and put in a sizeable pot. Pour water to cover the meat and then some. I love lots of water in my pepper soups.
Goat meat is tough so use a pressure cooker to cook it if you have one.
Add the stock cubes, ground ehu seeds and the chunks of onion and start cooking.
When the meat is done, remove the chunks of onion.
Add pepper, scent leaves or uziza leaves.
Cover the pot and leave to simmer for 5 minutes and the pepper soup is ready.
Serve piping hot with the agidi.
Pepper Soup should always be served hot. It can be eaten alone with a chilled drink by the side. You can also eat it with Agidi, White Rice or Boiled Yam.