Asian style chicken stir fry with veggies.

Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog! Hope we all had a wonderful weekend. I want to share another yummy and easy recipe, Asian style chicken stir fry with veggies!

 So lets get into it and start with the ingredients needed:

•  500g boneless chicken thighs (you can use chicken breast instead)
• One medium size carrot
• One small bell pepper
• Two jalapeno pepper
• One medium size onion
• Four cloves of garlic
• Baby corns 
• Green onions
• Three tablespoons of light soy sauce
• Three tablespoons of dark soy sauce
• Two tablespoons of rice wine vinegar
• Two tablespoon of cornstarch
• Half a teaspoon of ginger powder
• One teaspoon of honey or half a teaspoon of sugar
• One tablespoon of chilli powder (optional)
• Sunflower seeds or cashew nuts (optional)

STEPS

First, wash your chicken and cut them into the desired shape and size. I will advice that whatever shape and size you cut your chicken, you should do the same with your veggies as well, e.g if you cut the chicken into strips, cut your veggies into strips as well, e.t.c. After that, marinate the chicken with a drizzle of soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and two tablespoons of cornstarch, let it sit for about 15-20 minutes.

Next up, heat up your wok or frying pan with about two tablespoons of vegetable oil, add in just the chicken and stir fry till it's golden brown and then take it off the heat. Clean your wok/pan and drizzle in some vegetable oil, add in the onions and garlic first, stir fry for a few seconds and then add in the peppers and carrots, stir fry for about a minute, then add in the baby corns, and then the chicken. Fry them all together for about a minute and then add in your three tablespoons of dark and light soy sauce, ginger powder, dry chilli powder, one teaspoon of honey and mix. Fry all together for a minute or two and then add in half a cup of water(depending on how saucy you want it to be)

If the sauce is too watery for you, you can mix a little bit of cornstarch with water and then add it to the sauce to thicken it up some more, but the cornstarch on the chicken should thicken it enough.

 At this point you can add in the green onions and sunflower seeds, let it simmer for 3-5 minutes, check and see if any additional seasoning is needed, if not, your stir fry is ready!

You can serve this with some fluffy white rice or noodles. This recipe is really quick and easy, I do hope you give it a try and enjoy!

Chilli con carne.

Hello everyone, welcome back to my blog. Hope we all had a wonderful weekend. So, today's recipe is going to be an easy yummy stew called, chilli con carne!
I was introduced to this lovely dish in my first year in uni by my very good friend and then roommate Stephanie (shalla to dilichukwu :D). She used to always make it back then and it was soo good, I had to learn the recipe!

So lets start with the ingredients needed:

• 450 g of minced beef
• One large onion (chopped)
• One bell pepper (chopped)
• One red chilli (chopped)
• Three cloves of garlic (chopped)
• Two tomatoes (chopped)
• Two tablespoons of tomato puree
• One can of kidney beans
• Two bars of dark chocolate (optional)
• One tablespoon of dry chilli powder (optional)
• One teaspoon of smoked paprika
• One teaspoon of cumin
• One teaspoon of dry coriander
• Two beef bouillon
• One teaspoon of salt
• A dash of dry thyme

STEPS

Heat up your sauce pan or pot with a little drizzle of vegetable oil, add in your minced beef and stir till it's all brown. Then add in your onions and garlic, stir fry all together till the onions turns translucent, then add in the chopped chilli and bell pepper, stir fry for a minute or two and then add in the two tablespoons of tomato puree, also stir fry for a few minutes, then add in your chopped tomatoes, stir and mix well, then add in about 2 - 3 cups of water or if you have meat stock, you can use that instead.

After adding the stock or water, add in all your dry ingredients (salt, dry thyme, dry coriander, cumin, smoked paprika, dry chilli powder, beef bouillon). Stir and mix everything, then let it simmer for about 30 minutes. Taste and check for additional seasoning, if its ok, go ahead and add in your kidney beans, then let it simmer for another 15 minutes. Finally, add in the two bars of dark chocolate if you wish, stir and let it simmer for another 5 minutes atleast and your sauce is ready!

This recipe should be enough for about 4 servings.You can serve this with some white rice, pasta or any side of your choice. I served mine with some fluffy white rice :)

I really hope you give this recipe a try and enjoy :)

P.S. I have made this with and without the dark chocolate, and they are both amazing! But if you like a little bit of sweetness, definitely add in the dark chocolate :)

Buffalo chicken wings with veggie sides.

Hello everyone, hope we all had a lovely weekend. I want to share my take on buffalo chicken wings and I hope you enjoy my recipe :)

So lets get right into it and start with the ingredients needed:

• Ten pieces of wings (cut into flats and drumettes)
• Roasted vegetable puree (two tomatoes, two red chilli peppers, one onion and three cloves of garlic)
• One tablespoon of honey
• One tablespoon of rice wine vinegar
• One tablespoon of soy sauce
• One chicken bouillon
• One tablespoon of dry cayenne pepper
• A dash of salt
• A dash of dry thyme
• Vegetable oil
• Veggie sides (cucumber and corn)
• Sesame seeds

STEPS

Firstly, wash your wings, cut them into flats and drumettes, season your wings with salt ( or a seasoning of your choice) and deep fry them or boil them a little and then deep fry them. Add your veggies in a roast pan and drizzle a little vegetable oil on them, sprinkle some salt and black pepper, then cover with a foil and roast them in the oven for about 10 -15 minutes, like so

I roasted the veggies a little to bring out their lovely flavours. Now add the roasted veggies in a blender,  add the one tablespoon of dry cayenne pepper to it and blend till it is silky smooth, like so

Heat up your wok or pan, drizzle about two tablespoons of vegetable oil and then add in the vegetable puree, let it fry for about 5 minutes while constantly stirring it. Add in the chicken bouillon and soy sauce, a dash of dry thyme, stir a little and then add in the honey, stir again and then add in the rice wine vinegar. Keep stirring till the sauce reduces by a quarter at least, taste for seasoning and then add in the deep fried chicken. Mix and make sure everything is well incorporated and then let it cook in the sauce for about 3 - 5 minutes and your wings are done!! 

You can serve this with fries or any sides of your choice, I served mine with fresh cucumbers and boiled corn. And don't forget to garnish with sesame seeds when serving ;)

I really hope you give this recipe a try and enjoy!

Chicken tandoori with pickled onions.

Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog, hope we all had a wonderful weekend. I am back with another yummy recipe, chicken tandoori with pickled onions! Now this recipe is not as authentic as the traditional one because I couldn't get all the spices and I don't have a tandoor :(. So I made use of what I had, used my oven as a tandoor  and added my own little twist :). If you are like me and just want a little bit of that Indian cuisine, definitely give this a try :).

So lets start with the ingredients needed:

• Three chicken leg quarters ( you can use other parts)
• One cup of plain yoghurt
• Half of a lemon
•  Fresh ginger ( enough for a tablespoon, blended or grounded into a paste)
• Two big cloves of garlic (blended or grounded into a paste)
• One chicken bouillon (optional)
• One teaspoon of salt
• One teaspoon of black pepper
• One tablespoon of dry paprika
• One teaspoon of cayenne pepper
• One teaspoon of turmeric
• One teaspoon of nutmeg powder
• One teaspoon cinnamon powder
• One teaspoon coriander powder
• Some cardamon seeds 
• A dash of dry thyme
• A dash of curry powder
• Mustard oil (mix a little mustard with vegetable oil if you can't find any)

STEPS

So we are going to make two marinades for this recipe. For the first marinade, wash your chicken and score them on both sides, put them in a bowl, squeeze in the half lemon, add in your chicken bouillon, a dash of salt, half of the one tablespoon of dry paprika, garlic and ginger. Mix everything together and let it sit for about 15 - 30 minutes.

For the second marinade, add in the one cup of plain yogurt in a bowl, add in your salt, the remaining dry spices and mustard oil. If you have garam masala spice available use it instead of the spices I listed above. Give everything a whisk and add it to your already marinating chicken and make sure the chicken is coated all round, like so

Some people like adding red food coloring to make the chicken appear red but I prefer the natural color.

Let this marinate for about one hour then preheat  your oven to about 180 degrees celsius for about 10 minutes. Add in your chicken and grill it till its dark brown and thoroughly cooked. It should take about 30 - 45 minutes. Don't forget to flip the chicken and dab oil on it from time to time. That's it for the chicken!

Now for the pickled onions, slice up half of an onion, add a dash of salt, 2 - 3 tablespoons of vinegar and a dash of black pepper(optional). Mix and let it sit for about 30 minutes and that's it! you can make a lot in a jar and just keep it in the fridge to use as a topping :) 

I hope you give this recipe a try and enjoy!!!

Minced beef kebabs with sour cream sauce.

Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog! I know it has been a while but I am back now ;). I hope we are all having a wonderful week. I am here to share another lovely recipe, minced beef kebabs with sour cream sauce!

So lets get into it and start with the ingredients for the kebabs, you will need the following :

• 300 - 400 g of minced beef ( enough for about 7-10 sticks)
• One green onions ( about a tablespoon finely chopped)
• Half of a small onion (finely chopped)
• One big clove of garlic or two small cloves (finely chopped)
• One beef bouillon 
• Half a teaspoon of salt
• Half a teaspoon of curry powder
• Half a teaspoon of dry thyme
• One teaspoon of dry pepper
• Half a teaspoon of black pepper
• Quarter teaspoon of dry ginger 
• Quarter teaspoon of smoked paprika
• Quarter teaspoon of dry coriander
• Skewers

STEPS

Put your minced beef in a bowl and add everything listed above to it. Use your hands and mix everything up, make sure all the spices and veggies have been absolutely incorporated! Notice I said finely chopped for all the veggies, that's because if they are not finely chopped, it will cause you meat to break off on the skewers. You will have something like this

You can leave the mixture to marinate in the fridge for about 30 minutes to an hour and then its ready to get on the skewers! If you have an ice cream scoop at home, you can use it to scoop up the meat or you can use your hand. Before you scoop up the meat, dab your hands in some vegetable oil or coat the ice cream scoop with some oil, scoop up the meat and make it into a ball. The scooped up meat should be the size of an ice cream scoop since we are using these skewers, but if you are using the long iron skewers you can put in a lot more. Gently but firmly press the ball of meat around the skewer and start pressing it down in a pulsating manner using your fingers, till the meat is spread along the skewer evenly. When you are done you will have something this

Heat up your grill pan or oven and simply grill them till they are golden brown and thoroughly cooked! That's it for the kebabs, now lets move on to the sauce, you will need the following ingredients:

• Two tablespoons of sour cream ( you can also use plain yogurt)
• One teaspoon of soy sauce
• One teaspoon of ketchup
• A dash of garlic powder
• A dash of dry red pepper
• Chopped dills and parsley (about a teaspoon)

Add up everything in a small bowl and whisk away! that's it for the sauce,simple and easy!

Garnish with some fresh parsley and dills. I do hope you give this recipe a try and enjoy! 

Honey and teriyaki grilled beef ribs with creamy mashed potatoes

Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog,hope we all had a wonderful weekend! Well this weekend is special because tomorrow will be the one year anniversary of this blog,can't believe its a year already! I am really grateful to everyone that has visited this blog and has been supportive of my little journey,God bless you all abundantly!
 So I decided to share another wonderful recipe,coincidentally it also has mashed potatoes in it which was among the dish I first posted ;) so lets get to it!

let's start with the needed ingredients for the ribs:

• Beef ribs (any cut you want)
• Four tablespoons of honey
• Two-three tablespoons of teriyaki sauce
• One tablespoon of soy sauce
• One tablespoon of ketchup
• Two tablespoons of rice wine vinegar 
• One teaspoon of chilli powder
• One small fresh chilli (finely chopped)
• Two cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
• A dash of thyme 
• An all purpose grill mix or salt and paprika mix

STEPS:

Wash your ribs and score it (making superficial lines on the ribs with a knife),now sprinkle your all purpose grill mix or the salt and paprika combo on the ribs,rub it in and set aside for an hour,like so

While the ribs is resting for an hour,lets make the honey and teriyaki coating.

In small bowl,add all the ingredients mentioned above asides the ribs and all purpose seasoning,mix everything together and you will have something like this

Set the coating mix aside.Put some oil or butter in your grill pan,add in the ribs and let each side just brown,we are not cooking it fully on the grill pan.Once all the sides are browned,coat the ribs with the honey and teriyaki mix and then put it in the oven for about 45 minutes to an hour at 180 degrees celsius.Now every 10 to 15 minutes coat the ribs with some of the mixture until it is fully done,and that's it for the ribs!

I also made a quick sauce to go with it,I poured the remaining coating mix in a pan,added a one spoon of flour and a quarter cup of water mixture to it,a dash of butter milk,a dash of salt and mixed everything,then I let it reduce a bit and that's it.

the recipe to my creamy mashed potatoes is on the blog already ;)

 This recipe is easy and simple,I really hope you give it a try and enjoy :) 

P.s I will be announcing a giveaway on my instagram page later,if you haven't followed me yet please do @meenahs_cuisine 

Pan seared Hake fish in teriyaki sauce with cous cous and veggies

Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog,hope we all had a lovely weekend.So in the spirit of valentine,I developed this simple yet delicious recipe to go as a dinner inspiration for your significant other ;) So get your candles lit and wow bae ;)

So lets start with the ingredients needed: 

• Hake fish fillet (you can use salmon for this recipe as well)
• 100g of cous cous (for one serving)
• One small carrot (cut into chunky strips)
• Three medium size mushrooms (sliced)
• Quarter of a bell pepper (sliced)
• One small onion (chopped)
• Two tablespoons of green peas
• Two tablespoons of sweetcorn
• Two cloves of garlic (chopped)
• Three tablespoons of teriyaki sauce
• One tablespoon of rice wine vinegar (or lemon)
• One chicken bouillon (or chicken stock)
• A dash of salt,black pepper,thyme and paprika

STEPS:

 

Lets start with the fish fillet.Wash your fish and make sure there are no bones on it.Then in a deep plate or bowl,add in half of the chopped garlic,the rice wine vinegar and two tablespoons of the three tablespoons of teriyaki sauce,add a dash of black pepper,mix and let your fish marinate in the sauce for about 15-30 minutes.When its done marinating,drizzle some oil in your grill pan,once its sizzling hot,put the fish with the skin under,let it cook for about 3-5 minutes then flip it over and let the other side cook too.

Now for the veggies,I sprinkled little salt and pepper on them,drizzled some oil in the grill pan and added them in,let them cook for about a minute or two,but just before taking them out add in the remaining one tablespoon of teriyaki sauce on them and let them soak it in.That's it for the veggies :)

Last but not the least,the cous cous.You can basically be versatile with this and make any recipe of your choice but here is how I made mine :)

So drizzle some oil in your pot,add in the remaining garlic and onions,saute them for a minute and then add in the peas and sweetcorn,saute for minute as well and then add in a cup of water or chicken stock,if you don't have chicken stock,add  chicken bouillon to the water,add a dash of salt,black pepper and paprika,let it simmer and then taste to adjust anything.If everything is fine add in your cous cous.It should be done in about 5 minutes and that's all!

For the sake of presentation,I tied the carrots up in a bundle using green onions,and topped the fish with the mushrooms and bell pepper.Remember you can always switch things up and make do with what you have,you can use rice instead of cous cous and so on! I do hope you give this recipe a try and I hope it will help you seize bae this 2017 ;)

Spaghetti Bolognese

Good evening everybody,how are we all doing ? Hope we all had a wonderful weekend! Anyway,its another day to share another lovely recipe,its easy and super yummy! This dish originally belongs to the Italians but I can say other nationalities are in love with it too ;) So I present to you,spaghetti bolognese!!

Lets start with the ingredients needed:

• 400g of ground beef (enough for 3-4 servings)
• Three tablespoons of tomato paste
• Two chopped tomatoes
• Two cloves of garlic(finely chopped)
• One small onion (finely chopped)
• One carrot (grated)
• Two finely chopped chicken sausages(optional)
• Two-three tablespoons of worcestershire sauce (you can use red wine instead)
• Two-three tablespoons of milk (optional)
• One teaspoon of dry oregano
• One teaspoon of dry thyme
• One teaspoon of salt
• Half a teaspoon of sugar
• One knorr beef bouillon(if you are using water instead of beef/chicken stock)
• Two cups of water(you can use beef/chicken stock instead)

STEPS:

Heat up your sauce pan or regular pan with some oil,saute your onions and garlic till they turn translucent,then add in the ground beef,sausage and thyme and stir fry till its all brown.

Next up,add in the carrots,saute for a minute,then add in the tomato paste and chopped tomatoes,mix and fry for a minute then add in the two cups of water,salt,sugar,oregano,bouillon and worcestershire sauce,let it simmer for about 30-45 minutes on low-medium heat,you can taste and adjust anything.

Then lastly before its done,add in the milk to give it that bit of creaminess and that's all! Yummy and ready to serve! Now you can serve it with any pasta of your choice but the classic one is usually spaghetti and don't forget to garnish with some parmesan cheese and parsley ;)

I really hope you give this recipe a try and enjoy!

Yoghurt and basil based chicken thigh kebabs with curry rice.

Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog,hope we all had a wonderful weekend.Today's recipe has some Mediterranean and Jamaican roots,but of course I added my own flair to it! So I present to you,yoghurt and basil based chicken thigh kebabs with curry rice!

So lets start with the kebabs,you will need the following ingredients;

• Boneless chicken thighs(I used four,it will be enough for six sticks)
• Three scoops of plain white yoghurt(for those in ukraine you can use smetana instead)
• A handful of fresh basil leaves
• One small onion
• One chilli pepper
• Three cloves of garlic
• Two tablespoons of rice wine vinegar 
• One teaspoon of salt
• One teaspoon of chilli powder
• One teaspoon of cumin
• Two chicken bouillon
• Half a teaspoon of sugar
• A dash of curry and thyme
• A dash of black pepper

STEPS:

Cut your chicken thighs into cubes and throw the remaining of the ingredients into a blender and blend away,add the resulting mixture to the chicken and let it marinate for preferably twenty four hours,but if that is too much,an hour will also do.like so,

Cover with cling film and let it marinate in the fridge.

When it's done marinating,you can now go ahead and stick the chicken into kebabs,if you like you can add in some vegetables in between the meat or you can just stack them like that straight up,for mine I added some onions and bell pepper,just cut them into cubes and arrange in between stacks,like so

Next up,brown the kebabs in a grill pan or normal pan and then put them in the oven to continue cooking for about ten to fifteen minutes at 180 degrees celsius,but if you own an outdoor or coal grill you can just do it at once there,or even in your grill pan,just make sure it is thoroughly cooked.

Now lets move to the curry rice,you will need the following ingredients;

• One cup of basmati rice 
• One teaspoon of curry (depending on how much color you want,you can use more)
• Half a small onion (finely chopped)
• Two cloves of garlic
• One teaspoon of thyme
• One teaspoon of black pepper
• Two chicken bouillons
• Two cups of chicken stock
• One teaspoon of chilli powder
• A dash of salt if needed

STEPS:

So this rice is pretty easy and simple,in hausa we will simply call it dafa duka(meaning cook all at once) :)

So just parboil your rice a bit,and add everything up to it and let it simmer for about fifteen to twenty minutes,you can taste and adjust anything if you want before its done,plus you can also add in any other additional ingredientS and make it your own :)

 And there you have it,simply plate and enjoy everything,I really hope you give this recipe a try :)