Archive for the ‘: AFRICAN’ Category
Mushroom & Clove Spaghetti
I love mushrooms and spaghetti, so this sounds like a win win. I made this on 2 Feb 2019, and I was pleasantly surprised, this is very delicious, Even my wife liked this dish. This is not like a typical spaghetti with a tomato sauce, this is not drenched in sauce. The clove is a subtle flavor but very nice.
Ingredients
- 250 grams dry spaghetti, (8 oz)
- ¼ cup butter, (½ stick / ¼ block)
- 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
- 1 red onion, diced
- 3 whole cloves, or ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1½ teaspoons ground coriander
- 4 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 200 grams button mushrooms, sliced, (7 oz)
- 1½ tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 tablsspoon light soy sauce
- fresh spring onion, chopped, for garnish
Instructions
- Heat a pot of salted water and bring to a boil, add the pasta and cook until tender. Drain and run under cold water. Set aside.
- While the pasta is cooking, go ahead and start cooking the rest. Melt the butter in a large non stick pan on low heat, when completely melted, whisk in the flour until mixed together, then add the onion, cloves, coriander, black pepper, and garlic.
- Stir until the onion is soft and garlic is fragrant. The kitchen will have a wonderful aroma.
- Add the mushrooms and tomato paste. I got snap happy with the camera and took this before adding the tomato paste.
- Saute for 4-5 minutes or until the mushrooms are nice and tender. You will not get a lot of liquid from this, this a dry sauce.
- Add the spaghetti and soy sauce, and mix with the mushroom mixture. Saute for 1-2 minutes to heat the pasta through.
- Place pasta on plates, garnish with chopped spring onion if desired, serve with sides of your choice, enjoy.
Notes
Low cost per serving.
Variants: 1. Add blanched spinach. 2. Add smoked ham sliced into strips (highly recommended).
Variant 1 provided by Mike Early, United States.
African Spinach Stew with Chicken & Shrimp
This sounds really good, chicken and shrimp go together well. The spinach is the frozen type, just thaw, squeeze out the water, and chop.
Ingredients
- 1 kilo frozen spinach, thawed, water squeezed out, chopped, (2 lbs)
- 5 cups tomatoes, chopped
- 1 cup onion, chopped
- 3 teaspoons chicken stock powder
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1½ cups shrimp, peeled, deveined, tails removed
- 2 chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch slices
- ¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
- salt, as needed
Instructions
- For the spinach, if you can get chopped, perfect, it just leaf and frozen in balls, you can still use, thaw them out and grab a Chef's knife and chop them, problem solved. Squeeze out the water, and set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, add the shrimp, season with a pinch of salt and half the white pepper, mix to coat all the shrimp. Set aside.
- In another mixing bowl, add the chicken, and season with ¼ teaspoon salt and remaining white pepper, mix into the chicken to coat all the pieces. Set aside.
- Heat some oil in a large pot, add the shrimp and cook, turning them after about two minutes and cook for another 2 minutes, until the shrimp are pink and cooked through, do not overcook them as that makes for tough shrimp. Remove when cooked through.
- Same pot, now add the chicken, also just cooking for about 4 minutes, turning them at about 2 minutes, until cooked through, remove the chicken from the pot.
- Same pot, heat more oil if needed, add the onion and saute until is translucent then stir in the tomatoes and cook on high heat, covered, for 10 minutes, stir occasionally, after 10 minutes covered, leave pot uncovered and cook for 5 more minutes, also stirring occasionally.
- Lower heat to a simmer, add in salt to taste, the chicken stock powder, and spinach and mix well, then add in the shrimp and chicken mix to combine, Allow to heat for just a few minutes to warm the chicken and shrimp through. Remove from heat.
- Serve warm with rice, or even pasta.
Notes
Figure 35 Baht for the chicken and maybe 100 Baht for the shrimp. For 10 servings, this is about 40 cents per serving.
Chicken & Shrimp Fried Rice, African Style
This sounds absolutely delicious! On my to cook list for sure.
Equipment
- Rice Cooker
- Mortar & Pestle
Ingredients
- 2½ cups dry white rice, basmati works well
- 1½ cups fresh shrimp, peeled, deveined, tails removed
- 500 grams chicken breast, cut into 1 inch slices, (1 lb)
- 5 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1 inch ginger, peeled
- 1 sprig fresh parsley
- ½ teaspoon ground white pepper
- 2 bay leaves
- ½ teaspoon curry powder
- 3 teaspoons chicken stock powder
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup onion, diced
- 1 spring onion, chopped
- 1-2 carrots, chopped, 1 large or 2 small
- handful fresh long beans, chopped, hand full chopped, not a full bundle
- ¾ cup sweet corn, fresh cooked, frozen, or canned
- ¾ cup sweet peas, fresh cooked, frozen, or canned
- salt, to taste
Instructions
- Use a rice cooker to cook the rice, to the cooker add the rinsed rice, 1 teaspoon of salt, bay leaves, curry powder, and the chicken stock powder, add the appropriate amount of water and set to the Cook mode. When the cooker switches to Warm, spread the rice out on a large tray to cool, discard the bay leaves.
- Using a mortar and pestle, pound into a paste, the garlic, ginger, parsley, and a little water, as need to form a smooth paste. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, add the shrimp, season with a pinch of salt, ¼ teaspoon white pepper, ½ teaspoon of the garlic paste, and mix to coat all the shrimp. Set aside.
- In another mixing bowl, add the chicken, and season with ¼ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon white pepper, ½ teaspoon of the garlic paste, and mix into the chicken to coat all the pieces. Set aside.
- Heat some oil in a large pot, add the shrimp and cook, turning them after about two minutes and cook for another 2 minutes, until the shrimp are pink and cooked through, do not overcook them as that makes for tough shrimp. Remove when cooked through.
- Same pot, now add the chicken, also just cooking for about 4 minutes, turning them at about 2 minutes, until cooked through, remove the chicken from the pot.
- Same pot, heat more oil if needed, add the onion and spring onion and saute until the onion is translucent then stir in the remaining garlic paste and cook for about 2 minutes. Add the carrot, long beans, corn, and peas and stir to mix well.
- Stir in the chicken and shrimp, then add the rice and stir until well mixed, let this cook for just a minute or two to heat everything through, serve.
Notes
Figure 35 Baht for the chicken and maybe 100 Baht for the shrimp. For 10 servings, this is about 40 cents per serving.
