Recipe: Muffin

 

Ingredients

• 2 medium eggs
• 125ml vegetable oil
• 250ml semi-skimmed milk
• 250g golden caster sugar
• 400g self-raising flour (or same quantity plain flour and 3 tsp baking powder)
• 1 tsp salt
• 100g chocolate chips or dried fruit such as sultanas or dried cherries (optional)
  
  

• Method

  • STEP 1

    Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Line 2 muffin trays with paper muffin cases. In a large bowl beat 2 medium eggs lightly with a handheld electric mixer for 1 min.

  • STEP 2

    Add 125ml vegetable oil and 250ml semi-skimmed milk and beat until just combined then add 250g golden caster sugar and whisk until you have a smooth batter.

  • STEP 3

    Sift in 400g self-raising flour and 1 tsp salt (or 400g plain flour and 3 tsp baking powder if using) then mix until just smooth. Be careful not to over-mix the batter as this will make the muffins tough.

  • STEP 4

    Stir in 100g chocolate chips or dried fruit if using.

  • STEP 5

    Fill muffin cases two-thirds full and bake for 20-25 mins, until risen, firm to the touch and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. If the trays will not fit on 1 shelf, swap the shelves around after 15 mins of cooking.

  • STEP 6

    Leave the muffins in the tin to cool for a few mins and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe: Kulhi Hadhiyaa

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 medium-sized onions, finely chopped
• 2 garlic finely chopped
  
• 1/2 ginger, finely chopped
  
• 8 curry leaves finely chopped
  
• 1/4 cup coconut
  
• 1.5 cup flour
  
• 3 Scotch bonnet (Githeyo Mirus) lime juice (to taste)
  
• Salt (to taste)
  
• 1/4 cup Rihaakuru
  
• 1/4 cup dried fish (Hiki Mas)
  

METHOD:

1. Mix onions. garlic, curry leaves, chilies, lime juice and salt.
2. Add Rihaakuru, coconut and Hiki Mas and mix well.
   
3. Add flour and make it a dough. if it is too sticky, add some more flour.
   
4. Make balls from the dough.
   
5. Roll each one to make a Roti and cut into small pieces (diamond shape).
   
6. Then fry it, with vegetable oil.

 

Recipe: Panzanella

 

Ingredients Of Panzanella

• 1 Kg fresh juicy tomatoes, large
• 1 medium cucumber
• 100 gms small mild olives
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 100 gms sun dried tomatoes and their oil
• Handful of oregano, chopped
• Handful of parsley, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp good balsamic vinegar
• A pinch of sugar
• Salt and pepper
• 1 loaf Italian cibatta or French baguette (torn into pieces)

 

How to Make Panzanella

• 1.Chop the tomatoes and cucumber roughly into 1 cm cubes, and place in a large bowl.
• 2.Stir in all the remaining ingredients except the bread, and taste for seasoning.
• 3.Add some lemon juice if you want a more tart salad.
• 4.Put the salad in the fridge and leave, covered, overnight until you are ready to eat. The flavor will melt into something magical.
• 5.Immediately before serving, tear the bread into small pieces and stir into the salad.

RECIPE NOTES

You can even toast the bread lightly and also add some red and yellow bell peppers to the salad. The key to this salad is that the tomatoes have to be juicy. If they aren't, just add a few spoons of tomato juice to the salad.

Recipe: Oreo Ice-Cream

 

INGREDIENTS

• 18 Oreo cookies, divided
• 1 can (14oz/400g) Sweetened condensed milk
• 2 cups (480ml) Heavy cream, cold

DIRECTIONS

1. Crush 14 Oreo cookies.

2. Place cold heavy cream in a large bowl, whip to stiff peaks.

3. Add sweetened condensed milk and beat on low speed until incorporated, add crushed cookies and fold.

4. Transfer into a container/dish, top with 3-4 extra crushed cookies and freeze for least 6 hours.

Recipe: Chicken Pizza

 

Ingredients

• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 prebaked 12-inch pizza crust
• 1/4 cup prepared pesto
• 1 large tomato, chopped
• 1/2 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Directions

• In a large skillet, cook chicken in oil over medium heat for 10-15 minutes or until no longer pink.
• Place the crust on a lightly greased 12-in. pizza pan. Spread with pesto; top with the chicken, tomato, beans and cheeses. Bake at 400° for 10-12 minutes or until cheese is melted.
  Freeze option: Securely wrap and freeze unbaked pizza. To use, unwrap pizza; bake as directed, increasing time as necessary.

Recipe: Red Velvet Cake

 

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup (120g) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups (300g) caster sugar (or fine white granulated sugar)

2 large eggs

1/4 cup cooking oil

1 tablespoon (10g) unsweetened cocoa powder plus 1 tablespoon extra for dusting

2 1/2 tablespoons (45ml) red food colouring (liquid, not gel)

2 teaspoons (10ml) pure vanilla extract

1 tablespoon (20ml) white vinegar

2 1/2 cups (350g) plain cake flour, sifted (or all purpose/plain flour)

1 teaspoon baking soda (bi-carb soda)

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup (250ml) buttermilk*

Cream Cheese Frosting:

14 ounces (400g) cream cheese (not spreadable), at room temperature

1/2 cup (120g) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

4 cups confectioners (or icing) sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice (optional -- adds subtle hint of lemon)

INSTRUCTIONS

For Cake:

Heat oven to 350°F | 175°C. Lightly grease two 8-inch cake pans with butter or nonstick oil spray and lightly dust with 1 tablespoon of the sifted cocoa powder.

Cream butter and sugar together until light in colour. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition to combine well.

In a smaller bowl, mix together oil, remaining cocoa powder, red food colouring and vanilla until smooth. Stir colour mixture and vinegar through the creamed sugar mixture to combine.

Sift together flour, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl. Add half of the dry ingredients and half of the buttermilk to the wet ingredients; mix well. Repeat with remaining dry ingredients and buttermilk. 

Divide batter among the 2 prepared pans and bake for about 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack completely.

For Cream Cheese Frosting:

Beat together cream cheese, butter and vanilla until smooth lighter in colour (about 3-4 minutes). Beat in icing sugar until frosting is light and fluffy (if frosting is too thin, add more icing sugar and beat again until reaching your desired consistency).

Optional if using: mix in the lemon juice.

Assemble Cake:

Transfer 1 cake onto a serving dish/plate, flat-side down. Trim the top dome off of the cake to create a flat bottom later. Scoop about 1 1/2 - 2 cups of frosting onto cake and spread evenly over the top.

Place second cake layer on top and use remaining frosting to cover top and sides of cake.

Crumble trimmed pieces of cake to decorate.

Enjoy!

NOTES

*To make your own buttermilk, mix 1 cup of full cream milk with 1 teaspoon vinegar before baking. Allow the milk to sour for 5-10 minutes.

Recipe: Valhomas Spaghetti

 

Ingredients:

• 250 grams spaghetti
• 1 cup valhomas sliced into bite size pieces
• 8 garlic cloves
• ¼ githeyo mirus (or to taste)
• 6 curry leaves
• 2 tsp. dried chilli flakes (or to taste)
• ½ cup sundried tomatoes (optional)
• ¼ cup minced fresh coriander
• 12 black olives
• 2 tsp. oyster sauce
• 6 cups water
• 4 tbsp. olive oil
• ½ tbsp. salt

Instructions:

1. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot.
2. Once the water boils, add in the spaghetti and salt. You can add in a little bit of oil too if you think the spaghetti might stick. For us it worked perfectly fine without it.
3. Let the spaghetti cook and do a little taste test. The idea is to get them to be a little bit firm when you take a bite, as mushy spaghetti is just no good.
4. Drain the spaghetti, and while you are at it, reserve a cup of the spaghetti cooking water.
5. Mince the garlic, deseed and halve the olives, slice the githeyo mirus, and if you are using sundried tomatoes, halve them too.
6. Heat the olive oil in a large pan and add in the minced garlic, curry leaves and githeyo mirus.
7. As soon as you see a hint of brown on the garlic, add in the valhomas and chilli flakes and cook for a few minutes. Stir often, paying attention to not let the garlic burn. If you feel like the pan is too dry, add in a little bit of the reserved spaghetti cooking water.
8. Add the oyster sauce, coriander, olives and sundried tomatoes if you are using them. Stir and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
9. Finally, add the drained spaghetti that you prepared earlier and mix everything well. If you think the spaghetti is on the drier side, you can also add a little bit of the spaghetti cooking water that you reserved; we added a little over half a cup to ours. And that’s it.

Recipe: Mashuni

 

Ingredients

 11 cup smoked tuna – diced/sliced (substitute: 1 can tuna chunks)

 21 cup coconut – scraped/grated

 31 scotch bonnet (githeyo mirus) – finely chopped

 4½ cup onion – finely sliced

 5½ cup lemon juice

 6Salt to taste

How to

1

Squash the onions, and scotch bonnet with the lemon juice and salt.

2

Add the tuna and mix well.

3

Mix in the coconut.

4

Serve with roshi or farata