I’ve been quite obsessed with Ube the last couple of days. After making a Corn on Cob rubbed with Ube a few days back, I realised Ube can be a great Dip, pretty much like Hummus. Hummus is originally made with chickpeas, it’s of middle eastern origin.
Since Ube already pairs well with Corn, I tried it with some of my favourite things and it paired really well.
Cooked Ube’s is like mashed Sweet+Irish potatoes with a tang.
RECIPE
Makes about 2 250ml Mason jars.
50 medium sized Ube
1/2 Cup Olive Oil
* Optional Ingredients (didn’t use any)
Chill pepper
Garlic paste. Procedure
Wash Ube gently but thoroughly to get rid of sand.
Bring about 1.5 litres of water to a boil.
Once boiled, dunk the Ube in it for not longer than 3 minutes and strain. (You can salt the water if you like but it’s unnecessary.
Allow it to cool a bit so you don’t burn your fingers before using a small knife to open the skin and peel the flesh off the seed of the Ube.
Blend in the Ube with Olive oil two batches a blender.
Procedure in pictures. Wash, Blanche, Peel
Store in an air tight container and refrigerate. (I haven’t tested the shelf life inside the fridge yet, with do, I’d update this post)
It’s funny how I file all my baking therapies in the “Not Really A Baker” category. Well I love to cook and sometimes it involves baking and I’m game, but so that people won’t start asking me questions I have no real answer I have to make the a disclaimer. I spent 3 days dreaming up this recipe and when I was done, four happy little feet were ready to devour it almost without giving me the chance to take pictures. Very milky, coconutty and yummy. Recipe
Ingredients
• 1 Cup Self Raising Flour
• 1/2 Dessicated Coconut
• 1 Cup Coconut Milk
• 1/2 Cup Caster Sugar
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 2 Eggs
Procedure
– In a bowl mix flour, dessicated coconut, salt and ser aside.
– Break eggs and separate egg yolks from whites.
– Using the whisk attachment of your mixer, whisk the egg white till stiff peaks and set aside.
– At high speed, whisk egg yolk with caster sugar till it is pale yellow and it and nearly double in size.
– Using a spatula, mix gently the egg yolks into the flour mix, then add coconut milk , mix well but gently and then fold in egg white.
– Line a baking tray with parchment paper or spray non stick cooking spray on the pan or light grease the pan with oil.
– Pick your preferred icing tip, fill a piping bag and pipe you desired shape on the pan. (I used the 6B open star nozzle )
– Bake in an oven preheated to 250°c for about 20 mins or it till it is mellow golden brown.
I’ve been making snacks all weekend, let me quickly share my Doughnuts recipe with you. This is a very basic recipe. Recipe (Yeilds 16 – 20) All Purpose Flour 500g Margarine 50 – 100g Sugar 75g 1 Egg 1 1/2 tbsp Dry Active Yeast 1 cup warm Milk 2 tablespoons water Procedure – Sieve flour into bowl, add yeast and stir, then add sugar, margarine and rub in. – In another bowl, measure 1 cup warm water, add milk, beaten egg and mix. – Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in liquid mixture the mix with your hands. Knead until elastic or place on a mixer and knead using the dough hook until elastic or smooth. – Leave to rise. Once risen, knock out the air. – Roll out with a rolling pin, use a cookie cutter or any round object to cut rounds, scoop jam into the middle of rounds , using a pastry brush or the tip of your finger wet outer edges of rounds with water, liquid milk or egg, cover with another round of same size and seal edges allow to rise or double in size, then fry in hot oil until golden brown. Alternatively instead of filling the middle of the round with jam first, fry till golden brown first then use a syringe to insert jam into the doughnut. For doughnut with a hole in the middle, skip adding jam and use a small cookie cutter or any small round cutter, press it in to cut the hole in the middle. – When cool roll in granulated or caster sugar if you want.
Scotch Egg is hard-boiled egg enclosed in sausage meat, rolled in breadcrumbs, and fried. It is a very tasty snack and it’s easy to make.
Recipe
• 6 Peeled Hard Boiled Eggs
• 300 grams Beef Sausage Meat (You can make your own Sausage Meat, find the recipe HERE
• 2 cups Bread Crumbs
• 1 Egg
• 1/4 cup flour
Procedure
– Roll Eggs in flour,
– Cover the eggs with beef sausage
* taste your beef sausage, if it is bland and unseasoned, season lightly with salt and pepper. I used the Chi brand and it comes seasoned.
– Dip in beaten egg
– Roll in bread crumbs and Fry till golden brown
– Serve warm or cold. You can eat it alone or with dipping sauce or some salad like I did for dinner. Still enjoying my romance with mangoes
I have a confession! Puff puff is my number one weakness! When I started dating my husband, we went together to Lagos Island to do some shopping, I saw a puff puff vendor by the road side and bought 200 naira’s worth of puff puff . The puff puff were sold at 5 naira each and so we had about 40 pieces between the two of us. The young man was shocked when i single handedly ate 30 little pieces of puff puff (I was very hungry sha o), there and then he confirmed that I was the puff puff eating queen. My little oga is the new king of puff puff, he danced with glee when he saw me step out of the kitchen with a plate of puff puff and went straight for the kill.
Recipe
375 g Flour ( 3 Cups)
100 g Sugar (1/2 Cup)
1 tablespoon of active instant Yeast
1/2 tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1 cup of Water or less
(Eggs and Milk are traditionally not added to puff puff. However you can if you want to. You can add 1 egg to this recipe. For the milk use half a cup of liquid milk and half a cup of water to make up the 1cup required in the recipe. Remember that adding milk and eggs will significantly alter the texture of the puff puff on the inside, but it will taste good)
Test to see that your yeast is active. To do this, add 1/2 tsp of sugar to a 1/8 cup of warm water and add the yeast. Leave it for about 10 minutes, you may not even wait up to 2 minutes before you see the yeast start to froth. See picture below for active yeast and inactive yeast.
The yeast on top is active while the yeast below is not. If you don’t test your yeast before use, you might find yourself wasting a batch of puff paste that refused to rise. Even if you go ahead to fry, you wouldn’t not get the puff puff chewy effect or taste. The water used to activate the yeast should not be too hot, you should be able to stick a finger into it. Sugar is added to yeast so that the bacteria can start to work on the sugar hence activating the yeast.
– Mix all ingredients together with clean hands, a wooden spoon or with a dough hook until smooth and elastic.
– Cover to rise for about 1 hr in a warm place, it would right to about twice it’s size .
– Heat up oil and turn the heat to medium or low.
To fry scoop into your palm and squeeze into hot oil. As shown in the picture below
**Update***
After making your puff-Puff mix, you can pour the batter into a freezer bag and allow it to rise in the freezer bag. Seal the freezer bag allowing room for air inside. When the batter has risen, snip the tip of the bag with a scissors, to make a small hole large enough for the batter to pass through. Squeeze the bag gently to let the paste out and sip the paste with a scissors when you have passed enough to make your required ball size.
Pictorial coming shortly.
Turn the sides frequently to have both sides, evenly browned. Scoop out of the oil when it is a golden brown. *If you have bigger balls, that it is golden brown on the outside may not mean it is cooked through.
Serve hot or warm
*Personal Tips
– Fry in a deep pan.
– Once the oil is hot, Turn the heat down to the lower range of medium.
– Don’t fry balls that are too large.
– A tip I learnt from the street vendors is that, as they scoop the paste into the hot oil, they wait for the balls to float,then they use a slotted spoon to move it to the side and add more into the oil. The frying basin may look crowded but it helps with heat control. The balls won’t burn and they would cook through. As they scoop out the first set they add more to the second set, and so on till all is done.
The possibilities with puff puff are boundless. Here are a few ways you can enjoy your puff puff.
Puff puff dipped in Citrusy Sugar Syrup.Puff Puff soaked in citrusy sugar syrupJam Filled Puff Puff
