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Salami and Cheese Panini

Salami and Cheese Panini

  • 8 slice rye bread
  • 8 tsp mayonnaise
  • 4 slices salami rosa cramant 
  • 8 slices  Jarlsberg cheese
  • 4 tsp butter

Spread the slices of bread with mayonnaise.

Layer 4 slices of bread with the slices of salami and slices of cheese. Top with the remaining bread. 

Brush the pan with butter. Grill in a panini press until cheese is melted about 4 minutes.

Serve immediately.

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Pork Fried rice

Pork Fried rice

  • 4 eggs
  • 3 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 2 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 2 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 4 cups cold cooked rice
  • 1/2 cups onion and bell pepper chopped 
  • 1 cup frozen vegetable
  • 1 lb pork belly
  • 5 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 tablespoon ginger
  • 1 cube

Boil the pork belly with the garlic, ginger and cube for 30 mins. Fry carefully and set aside.

Beat the eggs with 1/2 tsp. sesame oil. Heat up a non-stick frying pan and add 1 tablespoon. of oil. Pour in the eggs and swirl around to coat the bottom of the pan. When set, flip over onto a chopping board and cut into small pieces.

Heat up a wok and add 2 tablespoon of oil. Add the chopped onion and bell pepper and fry for 3 minutes. 

Add the rice, and frozen vegetable and soy sauce. Fry on high heat for about 5 minutes or until the rice is hot and fragrant.

Add the eggs and fried porc. Stir for a minute then turn the heat off. This is now ready to serve.

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Fufu

Fufu(foofoo, fufuo, foufou or foutou) is a staple food common in many countries in Africa such as Togo, Ghana, Liberia, Ivory Coast and Nigeria. Traditionally, the Fufu is made by boiling and pounding yam, cassava and green plantain. The water from the boil yam is used to adjust the viscosity of the fufu depending on personal preferences. These days, different types of flours are available on the market and can be used as substituted. Fufu is often served with groundnut soup, palm nut soup or light soup.


The traditional method is to boil starchy food crops like cassava, yams or plantains and cocoyams and then pound them into a dough-like consistency. Several machines can be used to easy up the process: the fufu machine, food processor and stand mixer.


The cassava is boiled tubers (cassava, yam or plaintain) are pounded together in a giant wooden mortar using a wooden pestle. In between blows from the pestle, the mixture is turned by hand and water gradually added till it becomes slurry and sticky. The mixture is then formed into a ball or a rounded slab and served. Fufu is eaten with the fingers, and a small ball of it can be dipped into an accompanying soup or sauce.

White Puna Yam
Water
NO salt

Peel the yam, rinse and cut into medium cubes.
Put in a pot, pour water to cover the pieces of yam and start cooking on medium heat.

Cook till the yams until the surrounding water will be cloudy and slightly soupy and it is very easy to drive a folk into the pieces of yam.
Separate the yam from the water.

Put the hot pieces of yam into the bowl of your stand mixer and using the beater attachment, whip the pieces of yam have the texture of flour grains. Let it cool down and switch to the dough attachment.

Kneed the yam with the dough attachment, until the dough is formed and smooth.

If you want the pounded yam softer, add some of the water from cooking the yam little by little until desired consistency.

Served the Fufu immediately after preparation because it becomes soft and loses its elasticity over time. Serve with your Fufusi, Goat meat stew, Egoussi soup, Okra soup, Ademe soup

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Yassa fish and shrimp

Yassa fish and shrimp
2- 2 1/2 pounds fish skin (I added shrimp too
4 Large Onions Sliced
1 lemon juice
2 Tablespoons mustard
3 cloves of garlic minced
1 teaspoon ginger
½ cup oil
Salt and pepper
½ tablespoon chicken bouillon Maggie powder

Mix the onion, lemon juice, onions, grated garlic, ginger, oil and Maggie.

Douse the fish with the marinate and refrigerate for an hour or preferably overnight.

In large skillet heat oil over medium heat, until hot, add the fish, cook each side- for about 5-7 minutes until cooked through and crispy on both sides. Remove fish and set aside. 

Heat a pan and fry the onions and marinate juice left over from the fish for about 5 minutes. Adjust for seasonings, adding salt and pepper to taste.

Place the fish back in the onions sauce.

Simmer for another 5-8 minutes until flavors come together,I served it with some baked and fried potatoes 

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Crispy Beef Empanadas

Crispy Beef Empanadas

  • 1 Cup All purpose flour / Maida
  • 1 ½ Tablespoon Clarified butter /Ghee
  • A pinch of salt
  • 1/3 Cup Water
  • 1 teaspoon oil
  • 1lb ground beef
  • 2 tablespoon garlic
  • 1 teaspoon ginger
  • 1 cube
  • 1/2 cup onion, bell pepper
  • Salt to taste

In a large mixing bowl, add flour and salt. Heat the ghee in a small pan and pour in the flour. This process is also called adding moyen. Mix ghee well with flour. It will become like bread crumb texture. Add water and knead the dough. Dough should be stiff. It took me 1/3 cup of water. When dough is kneaded, leave it on counter for at least 15 minutes to rest.

For the beef mixture, over medium-high heat up the oil and add ground beef, onion, belle pepper, garlic, ginger, cube and salt. and cook until browned.  Drain any fat if you want. Let it cool

Working with one ball at a time on a floured surface, roll dough out to a 1/8 of an inch thick. Ensure the dough does not stick to your floured surface by flipping it over and turning it occasionally while rolling.

Using a five-inch diameter bowl cut the dough into circles. Add a sheet of wax paper in-between each disc to prevent sticking.

Using one disc as a time add 2 tablespoons of ground meat to the center of the disc. Close and flatten. 

Fry empanadas until golden brown and bubbled on both sides, about 2 minutes, carefully flipping half way through. Make sure to not crowd the empanadas or the oil temperature will cool and they will be soggy and oily instead of crisp, crunchy and dry.

Garnish empanadas with finely chopped cilantro sprinkled on top and enjoy!

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Introduction to Ivoirian Cuisine

Introduction to Ivoirian Cuisine

Ivoirian cuisine is a cuisine which originated from Ivory Coast and influence West African and international cuisine a great deal. Ivory Coast is a country located in West Africa, which borders Guinea and Liberia to the west, Burkina Faso and Mali to the north, Ghana to the east, and Atlantic Ocean to the south. In my opinion the more popular Ivoirian cuisine dishes are Attieke (cassava semolina), Alloco, and Kedjenou.

The Attieke (Attiéké or Akyeke) is the national dish of Ivory Coast. Attieke is made of fermented grated cassava with the consistency of couscous. The Attieke is sold as Garba or with palm oil, Alloco, braised chicken, braised fish, snail stew… There is also a variety of Attieke called Agbodjama which has a bigger size that the average couscous. On the other hand, the small size superfine Attieke is called Ayité. In the capital of Ivory Coast, Abidjan, Fast food places sell the attieke as Garba which is basically Attieke served with chopped onion, habanero pepper and fried tuna.

    

 

Alloco (aloko or aloco) is seasoned fried ripe plantain served as street food in Allocodrome.  Alloco is also serve in Togo (Amanda), Benin and Nigeria (dodo), Ghana (Kelewele) or Congo (Makemba). The Alloco can be served with fried fish, egg, suya, braised fish or braised chicken. Furthermore the Alloco can be served with tomato stew or puree of red peppers. To obtain the Alloco the ripe plantain (soft to touch) is sliced and fried with either palm oil or peanut oil until browned. While Apkessi is boiled plantain (or yam) accompany of the same sides.

  

Kedjenou is a very simple spicy and popular stew that is slow-cooked in a sealed clay pot or pressure cooker (in modern cuisine) over fire. I love Kedjenou because it is a one pot recipe. The recipe consist of meat (chicken, guinea hen, goat) seasoned with garlic, ginger, pepper and vegetables (tomato, onion and habanero pepper) slowly cooked. The seal pot allows the meat to cook in its own juices, which tenderizes the meat and concentrates the flavors of the ingredients. A variety of Kedjenou is Biékosseu, is a fish stew cooked in banana leaves, that originated from Akyé (Attié) also adopted in Ghana. The stew can be accompanied with Foutou (Also called foufou and fufu), boiled yam or Attieke.

Aller-Retour is a fried though stuffed with fish or ground meat in the shape of mini corndogs that originated from Ivory Coast. Equally delicious is another varity of Aller-Retour, Jaune-jaune, that has a yellow color and is accompanied by vermicelli. The “Aller-retour” is the perfect aperitif. This fried dough is succulent and irresistible donuts stuffed with tuna. The tuna can be replaced with meat or any other fish they will remain very pleasant to taste. “Aller-retour” means Round Trip. The name comes from the fact that when you eat the “Aller-retour”, it’s so good that you always come back looking for more!

The Ivoirian Fast food restaurants also sell skewers similar to Suya in Nigeria or Tchintchinga in Togo. Another variation of the skewer are Choukouya (l’étouffé de mouton) is barbecue lamb, mutton or beef, seasoned, braised and served with a side of crushed dried pepper.

Bread-skewers also called “Pain-chien” is one of the most popular streets foods of Abidjan! Every neighborhood, every area of the city knows its favorite seller. The fresh and crisp bread spread with ketchup, mayonnaise garnish salad and onion. Additionally, the classic kebabs (Suya), skewers of kidneys and liver can be used as meat.

Crécré (or kléklé) is an Ivoirian snack made all-purpose flour, sugar, yeast, vanilla, and salt, shaped like “Klui Klui” fried in oil.

Dêguê (degué) is a dessert served in Ivory Coast that originated from native to Mali. It is also served throughout the rest of West Africa. The dêguê is made with millet (or millet), yogurt, milk and sugar. The dèguê resembles couscous. The millet has a particular flavor and texture.

Gaou (niébé or akara is also in West Africa) It is a cookie made from beans, onion and salt, and fried in oil. In Ivory Coast, the Gaou is a very common street food; it is served with chili powder or spicy tomato sauce. It also called Kosai (Nigeria) or Koose (Ghana).

Gbofloto (Gbofroto, Botokoin, Puff puff, Mikate, bofrot, BHB, kala or togbei) is a dough based snack that is sold as street food in West Africa similar to donut. The Gbofloto is made with flour, yeast, sugar, salt and fried in vegetable oil until golden. A variety includes eggs and butter is optional. After frying, puff puffs can be rolled in sugar.

Agba-klaklo (called Agbeli-klaklo in Togo and ewe Ghana) are crispy fried seasoned cassava and served with slices of coconuts.

Akassa (called makoume in Togo and benin and Banku in Ghana) is fufu made with fermented corn. Equally delicious is the cassava version, Placali. Placali is a fermented cassava paste of Ivorian origin usually tasted with seed sauce, okra or kpala.

Klaklo / Krakro is a banana puff puff.

Pili-pili (Pateé or pastel) are small empanadas stuffed with ground meat cooked with vegatables.

Peanut Stew (Mafé) is a soup made from peanuts. It is a staple of Ivorian cuisine. It is often eaten with fufu (pounded yam) fufu, banku or kenkey.

Sauce Claire is a simple Ivorian tomato and eggplant stew served with foutou.

Riz gras (Jollof rice) derived from Thieboudienne and is a meat and rice based dish in West Africa. Riz gras is prepared with significant amounts of meat and vegetables. Additional ingredients used include eggplant, bell peppers, carrots, cabbage, onion, garlic, meat or vegetable stock, oil and salt.

Leaves Stew

Okra stew

kplala (ou kwlala)

Boule boule-coco: beignets au coco râpé

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Chicken Jollof pasta

Chicken Hot-dog Jollof pasta

For this chicken and hotdog jollof pasta, I cooked Elbow macaroni in a rich, flavorful and well-seasoned tomato stew made with chicken and hotdog. About twice a week, my mom makes this for my kids and the love it. This recipe of is crazy good and fun to make.

We all have Elbow macaroni in our pantry. The Elbow macaroni can be cooked on the stove on in the microwave until it is soft or “Al dente. Elbow macaroni can also be use for mac and cheese, pasta salad…

  • 1 chicken cut into pieces
  • 1 tablespoon ginger 
  • 2 cloves
  • 2 allspice
  • 3 tablespoon garlic
  • 3 thyme
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 cube
  • Salt

Marinate the chicken with the thymes, ginger, cloves, all spice, garlic, cube and salt overnight.

  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1 Sliced onion
  • 6 tablespoons Vegetable Oil
  • 2 tomatoes purée
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 1 cube
  • 4 hotdog in 2
  • 1 packet of pre-cooked macaroni (250g of elbow pasta)

Heat the Oil and sear the chicken. Remove and set aside.

Add the onion and fry for 4 minutes.

Add the tomato paste and tomato.

Stir soup and add remaining cube and the chicken, lower flame, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked. 

Add the hotdog and cook for 2 min and add the macaroni. Salt to taste and cook for 1 min.

Serve warm.

Notes:

  • Because I use fresh tomato and canned tomato, I add a pinch of baking soda to balance out the acidity.
  • To cut down the cooking time, the chicken can be pressure cooked.
  • It’s really easy to make to precook the pasta. For a box of Elbow macaroni, bring approximately 6 liters of water to a boil and add salt. Once the water starts to boil add the Elbow macaroni [Follow the instruction on the box for the timing]. Put a lid on the pot and give some room for the steam to escape. Use a spoon to stir the noodles so they don’t clump together as they cook. Bring back to a boil and cook for 7 minutes [1 minutes less than the time indicated on the box, because the Elbow macaroni will cook further in the tomato sauce]. Drain the Elbow macaroni. I add a little oil to avoid that the noodle sticks together.
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Donut balls

Donut balls

Easy, from-scratch, donut balls!  These homemade donuts can be mixed up and fried in minutes! Every time, I make these donuts, I am super mom. I literally make this donut balls, once a week. So cute and pop-able, they’re the donut you can eat in one bite!

Unlike the Puff Puff, this recipe of donut balls does not need a resting time. I use baking soda and no Yeats. The recipe of donut balls is very simple:  mix donut ball batter in clear mixing bowl with wooden spoon and fry in hot oil until golden. What I like most about this donut is that they turn themselves.

This donut ball can be glazed or served with the classic sugared, chocolate ganache dipped, and filled with an orange scented raspberry sauce.

  • 2 cup of All-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup of sugar
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup of milk
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon nutmeg
  • Cooking oil

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and mix.

Add milk, eggs, vanilla extract, nutmeg and mix and stir until mixture forms a thick batter.

Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour (Optional)

Pour oil into heavy bottomed pan (dutch ovens or deep cast iron pans are fabulous for frying), until oil is about 2 inches deep. Heat over medium heat until oil comes up to 350 F degrees. Adjust heat level as needed to maintain the 350 degree temperature.

Once oil has reached 350 F degrees, use a cookie scoop to scoop up batter and drop them into the hot oil. Be careful when dropping the batter, do it from just above the oil so you minimize splashing!

Fry doughnuts in hot oil until golden brown, turning once. Remove from oil to drain on paper plates.

Serve with milk, melted chocolate or vanilla sugar …

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Yam Balls Fritters

Yam Balls Fritters (Yele Kakro = Ojojo)

1/2 medium water yam

1/2 cup crayfish

2  habanero pepper

1/2 onion

1/2 teaspoon ginger

salt

oil for frying

Peel yam by removing the skin with a knife; then drop the white part into cold water.

Wash and grate each the yam with the smaller side of a grater. 

Grate ginger and pepper on the small side. Grate the onion on the biggest side. 

Add the crayfish, salt and whisk. 

Heat oil to 350 degrees and drop little to medium sized dollops of the yam puree into the oil and fry.

Fry the yam balls until golden.

Serve warm

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Curry Goat

One-pot Curry Goat

Curry Goat is a combination of goat meat and spices mainly curry seasoning slow cooked until the goat is tender. The curry goat may have originated from the Caribbean or India. The Jamaican curry is marinated overnight and slowed cooked.

Goat is a popular meat of choice for Hindus because they do not eat beef and for Muslims because they do not eat pork, so it is a good medium. This seasoning can be used with beefs, chicken or shrimps. If you follow my blog, you know I love my goat meat because the flavor is quite appealing, cooked properly the meat is succulent tender and rich. I get my goat meat from Restaurant depot but you can purchase goat meat at most African or from Mexican markets and Latin American butchers.

Chunky pieces of goat are slowly simmered in aromatic blend garlic, onions, hot pepper and the start of the sow “curry”. Jamaican adds ginger, thyme and scallion. Indian adds ground cumin, ground turmeric, ground coriander, plain yogurt, fresh cilantro, garam masala, fresh cilantro, and fresh lemon juice. They are all succulent.

Curry Goat can be served with roti cane flatbread, steamed rice, fried plantain. There are many variations on the dish that include using mutton when goat is not available or bulking it out with potatoes, carrot or the vegetable of your choice.

I use my One-pot slow cooker because I was in a rush. I came back from work and my kids absolutely wanted Curry Goat. I worked out at the end and they love it.

  • 3- 3 1/2 pounds goat meat (cut in chunks)
  • 5 teaspoons minced garlic
  • 1 medium onion sliced
  • 5 Tablespoons Curry powder
  • 1- teaspoon pepper
  • 4 medium potatoes
  • 1 scotch bonnet pepper (optional)
  • 1 tablespoon Bouillon powder (optional)
  • Salt to taste

Mix all the ingredients together except for the potato and scotch bonnet pepper. Refrigerate for 24-48 hours.

Transfer to the one-pot and add 1 cup water and pressure cook for 30 mins.

Add potatoes and adjust seasoning to taste. Add the scotch bonnet pepper. 

Slow cook for 15 or until potatoes are tender.

You may adjust thickness of soup with water or stock.