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Shrimp and Fries Salad

Shrimp and Fries Salad

dressing:

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons mayonaise

1 tablespoon vinegar

2 teaspoons garlic minced

1 teaspoon salt

1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined (tails on or off)

1 tablespoon avocado oil

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon garlic

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

4 russet potatoes or sweet potatoes (2 pounds)

2 pcs lettuces

1 red onion

10 cherry tomatoes

Preheat the broiler on your oven. Arrange the baking rack about 5 inches away from the top heating element.

Square shrimp in a large mixing bowl, and dry pat with paper towels. Add oil and toss until the shrimp are evenly coated. Season generously with salt and pepper, garlic and paprika

Broil for 2 minutes, or until the shrimp are bright reddish-pink and opaque. Remove from the oven and transfer to a serving dish.

 

Peel the 4 potatoes and cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick sticks or slabs. Toss in a large bowl and add enough cold water to cover. Drain the potatoes and then pat them as dry as possible.

 

Heat oil in a deep-fryer gold wide saucepan to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Fry the potatoes again until golden brown, 5 to 6 minutes. Blot with a paper towel.

 

 

Blend the dressing ingredients together.

Mix the salad, tomato, onion, cherry tomato, the fries

    

Drizzle with the dressing

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Fish and Vegetable Couscous

Fish and Vegetable Couscous

400 of semolina

A bowl of fine semolina

Water

1 teaspoon of salt

Mix the salt with cold water. Sieve the semolina in a large dish. Spray a handful of water on the surface of the semolina and then in a circular motion mix well to penetrate the water and it is well absorbed. Renew this operation by mixing well in a circular motion.

And pass the couscous in steaming for about 20 minutes.

Sprinkle the couscous with about 1/2 liter of water (for me but it can be more) and let swell for 30 minutes. Unmold the couscous which is cold and without fear of burning, separate by rubbing the seed between your hands to remove all the small lumps. You can add a tablespoon of oil. Cook again until the steam escapes and remove. Unmould, then with a large spoon it separates easily. Add salt if necessary and olive oil (or butter if you prefer), and mix again to separate the grains.

At this point you can reserve your couscous until it is used and iron it once to warm it up.

3 medium fish without too much scales (such as sea bream or grouper)

500 gr couscous semolina end

Vegetables

2 grated onions

2 puree tomato

1 to 2 cloves of garlic

1 ~ 4 zucchini

2 ~ 3 carrots

2 potatoes

1 to 2 green peppers

A bit of harissa

3 to 4 tablespoons tomato paste

Spices :

Garlic, caraway, turmeric, pepper, salt

Prepare a dersa (or chermoula) for the fish:

Empty and clean the fish well and let them drain. In a mortar pound together garlic and salt, add a teaspoon of cumin, turmeric, pepper and salt. Mix well and spread this preparation inside and outside the fish. Marinate in a cool place for at least 30 minutes.

Clean and cut the vegetables in half according to your taste and reserve.

Fry the fish in a very hot oil

In a pot over medium heat add tomato, onions and oil. Add the concentrated tomato and water.

Add the vegetable and fried fish. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes

Serve the cooked couscous seed in a large, deep dish, drizzle with olive oil and mix. Sprinkle with one or two ladles of broth and decorate with vegetables, fish and peppers.

Enjoy your meal.

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Steamed Vermicelli

Steamed Vermicelli

Start by filling the base of a couscoussier at least halfway with salted water, and bring it to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium-low, enough to keep the water simmering rapidly.

Next, mix 3 tablespoons of oil into dry, broken vermicelli. Be sure all the strands are coated with oil.

1st Steaming of the Vermicelli

Transfer the oiled vermicelli to the steamer basket, and place atop the couscoussier. Allow to steam for at least 20 minutes, timing from when you see the steam rise from the vermicelli. Watch for the ends of the broken vermicelli to poke up. 

2nd Steaming of the Vermicelli

Turn the vermicelli out into a very large bowl. Break it apart, and mix in about 1 1/4 cups water and a teaspoon orange dye. The vermicelli should absorb most of it.

Put the vermicelli back into the steamer, and place it atop the couscoussier for the second steaming. Allow to steam again for 20 minutes, timing from when you see the steam rise through the vermicelli. Again, you’ll notice the ends of the vermicelli poking up.

 

3rd Steaming of the Vermicelli

Turn the vermicelli out into a large bowl, and break it apart. Stir 2 teaspoons of salt into 2 cups of water, and add this to the vermicelli, tossing to mix well.

Put the vermicelli back into the steamer, and steam for a third time for 20 minutes. Again, time the steaming from when the steam rises from the vermicelli, and watch for the ends to poke up.

Test the vermicelli. If you want it a little more tender, steam for a fourth or fifth time if needed 

Incredible Baked Lamb Shanks

2 lamb shanks

2 onion chopped

5 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tsp mustard
½ cup fresh lemon juice
½ cup olive oil + more for drizzling;
3 tsp balsamic vinegar
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat your oven to 350 F.

Mix the garlic, mustard, lemon juice, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.

Add the diced onion at the bottom of the pan 

Add the lamb shanks and the seasoning 

 

Cover the roasting pan with foil, and roast in the oven 2 ½ hours.

Then remove the foil and Place the roasting pan in the oven and roast, uncovered, for about 35 minutes.

The lamb shanks are ready once the meat is falling off the bone.

Serve the Vermicelli with the Baked Lamb Shanks

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Chicken Peanut Stew

The African Peanut butter stew is creamy, delicious and flavorful. The combination of chicken, tomatoes, spices and peanut butter comes together quickly and is very easy to make. In African, we eat peanut as snack and sometimes with porridge. However, I noticed in the US most people love peanut butter and jelly. If you are not allergic to peanut butter and love peanut butter and jelly: this Absolutely a “must-try”.

The peanut butter stew gives you the aromatic flavor of the peanut butter and the savory taste profile. The peanut butter found in US grocery store are full of sugar, therefore you can make your own sugar free peanut butter. You can do so in 5 minutes by placing roasted peanuts in a food processor and turning the food processor on until it becomes creamy and smooth. The peanuts go in stages from crumbs to a dry ball to a smooth and creamy “liquid” peanut butter. The peanut butter holds in the fridge for a couple of weeks

Peanut Stew

  • 1 cup Peanut butter paste
  • 1 onion
  • 2 fresh tomatoes
  • 1 teaspoon tomato paste
  • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 2~5 habanero peppers and Serrano pepper
  • 8 chicken legs or wings
  • 2 large garlic cloves
  • 1 tablespoon ginger
  • 1 Teaspoon of Black Pepper
  • 1 Bouillon cube
  • Salt to taste

Boil the chicken with your favorite seasoning – I used garlic, ginger, cube, salt and pepper. Fry and set aside.

Blend tomatoes and onion. 

Add remaining onion, tomato and tomato paste to the chicken broth. Bring to a boil and let it simmer stirring frequently to prevent any burns- about 5 minutes.

Next, add the peanut butter, chicken (2 cups of water or chicken stock as needed), season with, chicken bouillon, salt and cayenne pepper. Let it simmer for about 10 minutes or more

Add the habanero peppers and Serrano pepper

Adjust the soup thickness with water/chicken stock if necessary and let simmer to desired thickness

The peanut butter can be served with white rice, Eba, Foufou and gari…

Notes:

  • For this tutorials I used chicken, but you can also use beef, pork, or smoked fish.
  • The Peanut butter in the US is either smooth or crunchy, and both can work depending on your taste
  • You can also add vegetable like potato cabbage, carrot, kale, spinach, mustard greens, or whatever hearty greens you prefer.
  • You can make it as spicy as you will like by add pureed pepper

Peanut butter is comprised of about 25% protein, making it an excellent plant-based protein source. However, it is low in the essential amino acid methionine. Peanuts are low in carbs and suitable for people with type 2 diabetes or those following a low-carb diet. Although peanut butter is high in many healthy vitamins and minerals, it also contains a substantial amount of calories.

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Twisted doughnuts

Twisted doughnuts

3 cups all purpose flour for doughnuts, plus 2 tablespoons for dusting

2 tablespoons butter

1 packet of dry yeast (about 2¼ teaspoons: 7 grams)

2 tablespoons plus 3 tablespoons white sugar

1 cup milk

1 egg

½ teaspoon salt

corn oil for frying

½ teaspoon cinnamon powder

Fully melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Remove from the heat and add milk, sugar, and salt. Mix well until everything is well dissolved. Crack an egg into the saucepan and mix well. Add the yeast and stir. Let it sit for 5 minutes.

Transfer to a large bowl. Add 3 cups flour and mix well with a wooden spoon. When everything is well mixed, use your hand to knead the dough for a few minutes, and shape it into a big lump. Cover with plastic wrap.

Let the dough rise until it doubles in size, usually about 1 hour to 1½ hours

Deflate the gas with your hand and knead the dough for a few minutes until it’s soft and smooth. Cover with plastic wrap again and let it sit for 30 minutes to 1 hour until it doubles in size again.

Uncover the dough and knead it for a few minutes. Put 2 tablespoons of flour on the corner of your cutting board to use for dusting. Divide the dough into 16 equal pieces.divided

Take a piece of dough and roll it out on your cutting board so it forms a rope 10 inches long and ½ inch in diameter. If it’s sticky, sprinkle some flour on the area you’re working in. When you roll out the dough, move one hand upward and the other downward so that the rope is twisted in between your hands as you roll it.making twisted donuts

Take the dough off the board, hold it aloft, and bring the ends together. The tension in the dough will twist it as it hangs. 

Place the twisted dough on a floured cutting board or tray. Repeat with the rest of the pieces of dough.

Let the doughnuts expand for about 30 minutes. 15 minutes in, gently flip each doughnut over with your hands so the bottoms don’t get flat and all sides expand nice and round.

Heat up 4 inches of oil in a deep skillet over medium high heat, until the temperature reaches 350° F. 

Cook for about 5 minutes, occasionally gently flipping them over with tongs, until they get crunchy outside and are evenly golden brown.

Strain the cooked doughnuts. Serve hot.

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Avocado Salmon Salad

Avocado Salmon Salad

Dressing:

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons mayonaise

1 tablespoon vinegar 

1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley

2 teaspoons garlic minced

1 teaspoon salt

1 pound (500 g) skinless salmon fillets (Paprika, garlic and salt)

Salad:

4 cups Romaine 

2 cucumber diced

2 tomatoes diced

1 red onion sliced

1 avocado sliced

1/3 cup corn

Coat the salmon with the Paprika, garlic and salt

Warm a large nonstick skillet with oil over medium-low heat. Raise the heat to medium-high. Place the salmon, skin-side up in the pan. Cook until golden brown on 1 side, about 4 minutes. Turn the fish over with a spatula, and cook until it feels firm to the touch and the skin is crisp if desired, about 3 minutes more.

Prepare all of the salad ingredients and mix in a large salad bow

Slice salmon and arrange over salad. 

Blend the dressing ingredients together. 

Drizzle with the dressing

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Cassava Leaf Soup

Cassava Leaf Soup

3 pounds frozen cassava leaves

½ pound smoked turkey, fish (precooked)

1 cup palm oil

1 medium onion chopped

2 tomatoes puree 

2 teaspoon garlic

1 teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon tomato paste 

1/2 cup ground cray fish dried shrimps

1 tablespoon chicken bouillon or Maggie powder

1~3 scotch bonnet pepper 

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper optional

Salt and pepper to taste

1 cube

Heat oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat , add onions sauté until fragrant about 1-2 minutes. 

Add the tomato and 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper , garlic, ginger, tomato paste

Add the precooked smoked meat, then add stock about a cup cook for another 5 minutes.

Throw in the drained cassava leaves and continue cooking for about 8~10 more minutes.

Adjust seasonings (Maggie, salt, soup consistency with water and oil) to taste and scotch bonnet pepper

Serve warm over rice

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Spicy Barbecue Ribs

Spicy Barbecue Ribs

 3 racks baby back pork ribs (about 7 pounds), or 2 racks pork spareribs (6 to 8 pounds total)

10 garlic cloves

1 tablespoon ginger

1 bell pepper

3 habanero pepper

1/2 cup oil

2 tomatoes

1 cube

Salt to taste

Blend 10 garlic cloves, 1 tablespoon ginger, 1 bell pepper, 3 habanero pepper, 1/2 cup oil, 2 tomatoes and 1 cube

Rub two thirds of this mixture over the ribs on both sides, then transfer the ribs to a roasting pan. Cover and let sit in the refrigerator for 4 to 8 hours.

Set up the grill for indirect grilling.  Brush and oil the grill grate.

Arrange the ribs on the hot grate. Cover the grill and smoke cook the ribs for 1 hour. When the ribs have cooked for an hour, uncover the grill and brush the ribs with the remaining sauce. 

Re-cover the grill and continue cooking the ribs until tender and almost done, ¼ to ½ hour longer for baby back ribs, ½ to 1 hour longer for spareribs.

Serve hot

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Okra Soup (FétriDessi)

Okra Soup
Okra Soup (FetriDessi) is one of the most popular and easy-to-prepare West African soups. The setup takes a lot of time. The okra needs to be washed and grated; the leaves (Gboma or Ogbono) needs to be washed and cut them roughly. Subsequently prepare the meat, smoked or dried fish and shellfish. Once the setup is finished, cooking is fast.
The Okra Soup can be prepared with mutton, beef, chicken or pork. Here is the step by step to cook the meat. For fish, we can use smoked Mackerel, fried tilapia, douevi … for crustaceans, we can use crab, octopus, crayfish, shrimp …
Okra is a rich source of dietary fiber, minerals and vitamins, as well as a low-calorie vegetable. Known in most West African countries as Okro and French speaking countries as gumbo. I used red oil for recipe. You can also cook the okra with tomato sauce or cook the okra dry.
Serve hot Okra soup with Makoume, Ewokoume, Ougali (Ugali), Ablo (ou Ablo simplified), Kenkey (ou Kenkey simplified), gari or rice.

Fétri dessi (Okra Soup)

  • ½ lbs chopped goat
  • 1/4 lbs beef skin
  • To season the meat
  • 1/2 sliced onion
  • 1 tablespoon ginger
  • 2 tablespoon garlic
  • 1 cube
  • 1 Bay leave
  • Salt to taste
  • 2½ cups of freshly chopped Okra
  • 10 fresh shrimps
  • 2 fresh crabs
  • 1 piece of salted fish (Lanhounhoun)
  • 5 Douèvi
  • 2 chopped Habanero peppers
  • 1 cup of palm oil
  • 2 tsp dry grounded pepper or chili flakes
  • 2 cup meat stock
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 onion
  • 1 cube
  • Salt to taste
  1. Mix the meat and the spices and add enough water to cover the meat. Cook until the meat is tender. PS the beef skin may cook faster that the goat meat, remove it and set aside.
  2. Fry the goat meat
  3. Boil 2 cups of water in a saucepan. Add the baking soda.
  4. Then add the Okra, 1/2 onion + 1 piece of salted fish and the 1 cup meat stock.
  5. Mix together 1 cup meat stock with 1 tablespoon garlic, 1 tablespoon ginger, 1 tablespoon paprika and 1 cube.
  6. Add the shrimp, crabs and the seasoning mixture.
  7. Add the hot pepper, Douèvi , beef skin and the goat meat and stir well.
  8. Let the soup cook uncovered for about 5-10minutes. Check for seasonings and add the palm oil.

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Coconut fried rice

Coconut fried rice

5 cups Jasmine Rice washed and drained

6 cups Chicken stock

2 (400ml) cans coconut milk

1 large onion chopped

3/4 cup cooking oil

2 lbs frozen mixed vegetables thawed and patted dry with paper towel

1/2 medium cabbage sliced

1 large green pepper chopped

1 -2 habanero pepper finely chopped

8 franks hotdogs chopped (optional)

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Mix in the coconut milk and chicken stock. Stir and taste for seasoning. Adjust as needed.  Add the washed and drained rice. 

Cover pan tightly cook until rice is done when all liquid is absorbed and the rice is soft but not mushy.

Heat up oil in a sauce pan, then sauté onions and garlic till onions is translucent.

Add the Shrimps stir fry for about 2 minutes.

Add mixed veggies to the mix and stir fry on medium low heat until the remaining moisture from the frozen veggies evaporates. This takes about 8 minutes. 

Stir, taste for seasoning and adjust accordingly. Turn off heat and set aside. Add the rice.

Serve hot.