Butternut Squash and Couscous ~ Healthy Option

Ingredients

1. 580g butternut squash
2. 200g/8.7oz Couscous
3. 1 cup of Chicken Stock
4. 1 medium size onion
5. 1 glove of garlic
6. 2 tbsps. of olive oil
7. 10 cherry tomatoes
8. 1 knorr cube seasoning
9. 1 tsp. hot chilli powder
10. 2 chicken thighs - grilled and chopped into tiny chunks (optional)

Preparations

• Preheat the oven to 200 degrees or gas mark 6. Deseed, peel and cut the butternut squash into small chunks. Also roughly chop the onions and the garlic, then half each cherry tomatoes.

• Combine the squash, onions, garlic and tomatoes into a roasting tin, then sprinkle the knorr on them. Pour in the oil and toss all together.

• Cover the roasting tin with foil and bake in the preheated oven for 18-20 mins or until the vegetables are tender. Allow to cool before removing the foil.

• As the vegetables are cooking in the oven, place the couscous and chilli in a bowl. Bring the chicken stock to boiling point, pour into the couscous, cover with a cling film and allow to stand/absorb for about 10 minutes or until all the stock is absorbed.

• Fluff up the couscous with a fork. Add the couscous mix to the vegetables and their juices in the roasting tin. Add the grilled chopped thighs and cut in the parsley.

• Gently toss or turn together. Serve warm or cold. Enjoy!!!

Happy Sunday...

CHICKEN THIGHS - how to prepare - debone, spice and store for future use

Chicken thighs are far better and tastier than chicken breast fillets. Reason - the thigh is found in an area where the chicken uses it's force, so it is more developed because it has muscles that has gone through enough exercise than the breast fillet. It contains more fat, which melts slightly during high-heat cooking such as grilling, roasting or frying - helping to keep the meat moister longer. It is tender exactly like chicken breast fillet; beautiful taste, succulent and affordable. Without the bone it's looks similar to chicken breast fillet. 

INGREDIENTS

4 packs of chicken thighs

1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp of chopped garlic

1 tbsp of table salt

2 tbsp of dark soy sauce

3 knorr seasoning cubes

1 tbsp of dry rosemary
Medium lemon (2 tbsp juice)

PREPARATIONS

Remove the skins from the thighs or you can leave them on, all depends on how you like them. Then debone them and put into a big bowl or any bowl that can contain them.

Add all the ingredients into the bowl of chicken thighs and massage them into the thighs.

Then package the thighs into individual bags or freezer bags and store in the freezer. By the time one cooks them the next day, the ingredients would marinated the thighs and the taste becomes superb. 

PAN GRILLING CHICKEN THIGHS

Bring out a portion of the thigh from the freezer, allow to thaw/defrost. Its better to allow it thaw on its own instead of soaking it in water because we don't want any water to enter the spiced thighs.  

Pre-heat the grill pan for about 2 minutes. To get those grill lines on the chicken, the pan has to be really hot because when hot, it will sear the surface of the meat and gives it that authentic charred look. A grill pan cooks the best at a high temperature. 

Because we added olive oil while spicing the meat, there is no need to add oil on the pan. So just place the spiced thawed thighs in on the pan.

Grill for approximately 5 minutes, on each side or until the thighs are cooked to how you want/like it. Cook fully on one side before flipping over. 

Once cooked, allow for 1-2 minutes before serving.

YAM PORRIDGE

Yam is not a frequent meal on my menu but whenever am cooking it, I try to make it very interesting, not just for me but for the family as well. Living in the UK, it is difficult to buy everything I need for my African dishes, due to scarcity. This is why I always seem to cook most of our dishes with fewer ingredients but they come out very beautifully! So here is my take on yam porridge (Ji ngwo-ngwo)!

INGREDIENTS

green vegetable also known as Jamaician callaloo

½ medium size yam

Green vegetable/callaloo (any quantity)

1½ onion

2/3cup of Palm oil

2 knorr cubes

Salt

½ kg of goat meat

PREPARATIONS

Pluck out the leaves of the vegetable from the stem and discard the stem;

wash the leaves and cut them, set aside.

In a medium, add the meat, 1 knorr cube, salt, cut in ½ onion; add water to the meat, just a little above the meat level, and then cook until tender. Remove the meat and set aside. Freeze the stock for future use. Peel out the back of the yam, slice and dice each slice into 4.

In medium pot, put in the yam and add water. The water level should be a little above the yam; add a teaspoon of salt and cook until yam is soft and cooked.

With the aid of a sieve, drain the water and set aside.

In a clean pot, pour in the oil and heat up for couple of seconds, has to be hot enough to fry the onions; then add the onions, fry for few seconds, and then add the meat, followed by the yam and sprinkle half of the knorr cube.

Turn, reduce the gas and cover the pot, this enables the yam soak up a little bit of the palm oil. You could allow this for over a minute; then add the vegetables and the remaining cube, then turn, turn again and again…

The reason for turning as much as one can, is to enable the yam bring out its crumbs which helps the cooking to turn into yam porridge.

Serve hot and enjoy…

Tortilla – Belle’s Touch

 

Tortillas are not something one would find difficult to get in a store. You can create different things with tortillas, they are quite easy and simple to prepare, as snacks or meal. Here is one among many I have created so far.

Ingredients

3 Eggs

1 Tortilla

½ cup of Grated mild cheese

1/3 of whole Cucumber

4 Cherry tomatoes

½ Onions

½ knorr cube

Mayonnaise

1tsp of sunflower oil

Utensils

Grill pan

Frying pan

Spatula

Bowl

Fork

Preparation

• Chop the onions and set aside
• Slice the cucumber and cherry tomatoes as on photo, then set aside.
• Take a bowl and crack in the eggs, the Knorr and beat together with a fork. Then put in the onions.
• Set a frying pan, pour the oil, allow to heat up for sometime, then pour in the eggs and fry. Once ready, set aside.
• Place the tortilla flat on the grill pan.  Sprinkle the cheese on one side of the tortilla, followed by the fried egg, cucumber and cherry tomatoes. At this stage, turn on the gas for the pan to heat up.
• Then flip close the tortilla.
• Pan-grill each side for approximately 5mins or more (alternate every 2 mins and work with the pan lines to get the pattern you want on your tortilla), depending on how crunchy/brown you want it.
• Then serve hot.

the two on the left are egg filled and the ones on the right are chicken filled. so you can fill yours with what ever suits you. 

Have fun…Enjoy!

Belle's Okra Soup

 BELLE'S OKRA SOUP

Yes! I am back but part – time. I have a lot going on in my life at the moment – work, childbirth, family and school  - Multitasking Career Woman! Time management is something I know how to do best but having a newborn and a 2 year old to look after, really it seems I have forgotten what it means to manage time.

My son is a very picky eater and this drives me mental. I am always on my toes trying new recipes so he can eat something everyday; but I have just given up struggling to figure what he likes. I create different recipe almost every other day, most of them are easy to prepare and they taste heavenly. Here is one of them – Belle’s Okra Soup

Ingredients

1kg Okra

2 Fresh or frozen Mackerel fish

Mackerel fish stock

1 medium size Onion

3 cubes of knorr

Salt

Water

A cup of Palm oil

Procedure

• Wash, clean and slice the mackerel. Put into a pot, add 1 cubes of knorr, and slice in a quarter of the onion. Add a pinch of salt and cook till properly done.
• Bring the fish out of the pot, pour the stock into a bowl and set aside.
• Remove all the bones from the fish just like in the photo (remember this is for the kids, so one has to carefully remove the bones); then set it aside
• Cut the Okra and the remaining onions just as seen in the photo or as you want it.
• Now put these ingredients in a dried pot, add oil. Then allow it to heat for few seconds. Add the diced onions and fry for about a minute.
• Add 2/3 of the okra into the pot.  Add the remaining knorr cube, stir at intervals and allow it to fry. Cook until the okra mixes properly with the oil and becomes slimy.
• Then add the fish into Okra, mash it into the okra so one barely notices the fish.
• Pour in the fish stock, turn and taste for salt. If not satisfied with the taste, add salt or another knorr cube.
• Finally add the remaining Okra, this is to give it that special very fresh looks.
• Then Stir and taste at different intervals as need be… 

This could take about 20 – 30 mins to get done.