Introducing Simple food Recipes with Rachael Phiri: October 2015

Friday, October 16, 2015

FOR THE LOVE OF FOOD

FOOD FOOD FOOD

One of my favorite topics is about food, I love food , hopefully you do too .So the main focus of this blog is to share food recipes as well as to also talk about anything and everything centered around "FOOD" .

Everything that is to be discussed on this blog will leave you marveled and wanting to go try out what you just saw . This blog will try as much as possible to share about different kinds of food eaten in various parts of the world .Some of the food may look weird but just know that it all tastes good when cooked right .

AS LONG AS YOU LOVE FOOD..THIS BLOG SHOULD BE YOUR BESTFRIEND.......

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

BRAAI

BRAAI

Oh how I love braai meat , the smell , the taste ,anything to do with braai is amazing .

I personally love braaied Boerwors and Meat ,chicken also tastes amazing .

There are various ways of braaing meat, you do not always have to have a braai stand to braai your meat , one traditional way of braaing meat is

-what you will need :-

-bricks

-charcoal

-fire lighters

-braaing tray(were you place your meat when braaing it on a braai stand)

The example below shows how your traditional braai stand would look like

zzzzz

oooooooo

uuu ---- uuu

uuu ---- uuu
uuu cc uuu

KEY

oooo-->tray

uuu---->bricks

--- --->fire lighters

ccc --->charcoal

zzz ----> meat

In other words you do not always have to stress about having the most expensive equipment or spending more money on cooking equipment , at times keeping it simple helps and saves costs .

I hope you will find this helpful and go try it out and before you braai you meat make sure you was it and marinate it to the flavor you want .

Monday, October 12, 2015

KAPENTA

KAPENTA

I guess most of you are wondering what 'Kapenta" is ,well Kapenta is commonly known and eaten in Zimbabwe and Zambia.

It is what I would consider as an extremely smaller version of normal sizes fish.In most cases this fish is caught at night using a kapenta rig. It is usually dried in the sun on a clean surface ( good example of good food environmental hygiene) . Kapenta is usually salted as this helps in speeding up the drying process .

HOW TO COOK KAPENTA

INGREDIENTS

-water

-salt

-cooking oil

-tomato and onion (optional)

DIRECTIONS

-soak the kapenta in boiling water for at least 5 minutes .

-heat up some oil isn a pan

- drain the water from the kapenta

- put the kapenta into the pan and stir it continuously to prevent it from burning

-add some salt , for flavoring

-add tomato and onion(optional)

Kapenta is mostly enjoyed with maize meal but can also be eaten as a snack.

KAPENTA (do not let those eyes intimidate you)

kapenta(uncooked)

Kapenta with maize meal and vegetables (healthy meal)

***************ENJOY*******************

GINGER BEER

GINGER BEER

Well to my suprise I got to find out that there is "alcoholic and non-alcolic "g ginger beer , since I only knew of the non-alcoholic one . Ginger beer is just like any drink but what makes it unique is the taste and ingredients .It is used as medicine and flavoring foods in China and India ,

Ginger beer also known as "gemere " in Botswana and some countries in the Southern part of Africa such as "South-Africa and Lesotho"

Ginger beer when served cold , it refreshes you to that point where you just want to lie down in a cool place far away from the sun .

Ginger beer can be manufactured or made at home for drinking ,an example of manufactured ginger is "Stoney" which is part of the "Coca-Cola" brand and is widely sold in Africa .In this post we are specifically going to focus on "home-made ginger beer .The home made ginger beer is easy to make and is not time consuming .

HOW TO MAKE GINGER

INGREDIENTS

-water

- lots of fresh grated ginger

- sugar

- yeast

EQUIPMENT

a grater; a funnel; a clean 2-liter plastic bottle with cap

DIRECTIONS ( as provided by "epicurious.com"

-Grate enough ginger to measure 3 1/2 tablespoons
- then put in a fine-mesh sieve set over a bowl to collect juice, pressing on solids and then discarding.
-Place funnel in neck of bottle and pour in 3 tablespoons ginger juice (reserve any remaining for another use). -Add sugar, lemon juice, yeast, and a pinch of salt.
-Fill bottle with water, leaving about 1 1/2 inches of space at top. Remove funnel and screw cap on tightly. -Gently shake bottle to dissolve sugar.
-Let stand at room temperature until plastic feels hard and no longer indents when squeezed, 24 to 36 hours.
-Chill ginger beer until very cold.

Ginger beer keeps, chilled, 1 week

As the yeast ferments over a day or so, it creates a natural carbonation.

You do not have to travel long distances just to get the nessesary ingriedients needed to make this drink , all that is needed is the exact ingredients and appropriate equipment that will help ensure that what you make turns out good .

.Add ice-cubes to make it extra refreshing and cold when drinking .

ginger beer served with some ice

results of home-made ginger beer.(refreshing taste, indeed)

FOOD POISONING

FOOD POISONING

Food should always be handled with care as well as in a clean environment with good hygiene in order to avoid food poisoning .Of which at times it is even rare to determine whether food is safe to eat or not .But in most cases I usually determine whether my food is safe to eat by looking at the chef (s) , the environment as well as the cooking place both internally and externally .

One thing I learnt from my research is that it is important to always was your hands every time you handle food ,dry them using a clean cloth and avoid touching your face or even your body as a whole as well as touching doors or anything that many people touch as germs also spread easily that way.

Food poisoning is usually caused by poor handling of food as well as working in a dirty environment where germs can spread easily .

For more information on causes of food poisoning ,check out "health gallery" website . One of the consequences of eating contaminated food is -diarrhea , stomach cramps and sometimes nausea .

IMPORTANT TIPS TO AVOID FOOD POISONING

-wash your hands all the time

-ensure that your working environment is spotless or rather clean

-avoid touching door handles or any surface unless you are done cooking and avoid answering your phone while cooking as research shows that cell-phones are one of the most dirties objects ever .

-ensure that all the equipment you are to use is very clean

-avoid working with wet hands , after washing them wipe them with a clean clean cloth

-get rid of expired products and always check the expiry date before buying the food .

-always have a hair cap that will also hold your hair together and prevent it from falling off

_ensure that your working envirnment has good ventilation to avoid chefs from sweating a lot while cooking

With that being said "your working environment will always determine the success of your business".

SWEET POTATO LEAVES

SWEET POTATO LEAVES

The most unknown leaves that people know less about and that they are edible are sweet potato leaves , also known as "kalembula" in Zambia ,.

Sweet potatoes are sweet and tasty but sweet potato leaves are easy to grow , they do not require consistent watering they are what I would call "drought resistant crops" .They do not require much , they are simple to maintain and easy to cook .

They taste on so delicious to that point where your stomach is craving for more . They are a true definition of Mouth-watering .


sweet potatoes withh sweet potatoe leaves

Cooking Kalembula is easy !

DIRECTIONS

-cut the stems of the leaves

-wash the leaves

-let the water drain for atleast 10 minutes

-heat up a pan and pour some oil into the pan

-once the oil is heated up , put the leaves into the pan, stir until the leaves sink into the pan

-then cover the pan so and allow the leaves to cook for atleast 8 minutes

-add salt for flavor.

This is how sweet potatoe leaves look like after being cooked .

**********AMAZING**********

Served best with maize-meal

****************ENJOY****************

SESWAA "POUNDED MEAT"

SESWAA

Seswaa is Botswana's traditional meat dish , it is just ordinary meat over boiled for easy pounding and chewing . For example:

-------->

INGREDIENTS
-meat
-salt
-water

^{HOW TO COOK}^SESWAA

^{Boil the meat until it is overcooked , to ensure easy chewing of the meat and that it is soft and juicy}
^{Add some salt to the meat , for flavor}
^{then once all the water is drained into the meat , use a pound and mortar to pound the meat}^.
^{You add little water to make the meat more juicy.}
^{And lastly for a mouthwatering taste, serve it with maize -meal or sorghum meal , it can also be served with Samp or rice .}


rice with seswaa and cabbage

maize meal with seswaa and vegetables

^{One thing I learnt from my mum is that never limit something to what you know but learnt to go beyond what you know , and that is being "Creative" with what you do.}

^{One way of being creative with seswaa is by "frying it and also add spices for strong flavor"}

NOODLES

Have you ever tried imagine life without noodles ? well I did at some point and learn't to value them , why , because they are easy to cook especially when one is extremely hunger like I am at most times . I usually consider noodles as mini spaghetti ,reason being , it is thin in size ,pre-cooked and takes less than 5 minutes to prepareas compared to spaghetti which does'nt take all day to prepare but in most cases feels like it is taking too long to get cooked especially during those times when hunger strikes .

Good-news , for those who did not know ,you do not have to own a stove to be able to cook the noodles ,all you need is BOILING WATER !!! ,yes BOILING WATER...

Noodles before cooked look like this ----->

But then after all the cooking magic is done , you will wonder if you really cooked noodles or spaghetti .

There are various food stuffs that can be adde4d to the noodles to make the look more appealing and the taste more extravagant .

For example , you can add mixed vegetables , prawns , some meat, chicken , eggs ,e.t.c, the list is endless depending on your choice or preference.

Cooking noodles is easy,all that is needed is boiling water, spices and , any food stuff of your choice which is to be cooked in a separate pan .

noodles with eggs and chicken


noodles with mixed vegetables

noodles with soup (taste is amazing)

OKRA

OKRA

Okra also known as "delele" is one of Southern Africa's indigenous foods that pretty much looks slimy after cooked but tastes AMAZING .In other words it usually looks like this before it is cooked ---->

Then looks like this , after it is well sliced and cooked

There are different ways of cooking it , it can be fried , roasted .But in most cases the way it looks in the picture above is usually the result of cooking it the African way. It is very much edible with maize -meal and it is so mouth-watering .Looks weird but tastes amazing .

HOW TO COOK DELELE

INGREDIENTS

-water

-salt

-bicarbonate of soda

Always have a pan with you

HOW

-Wash the okra

-Trim the stem end. Do this without cutting the pod itself. The conical stem attached to the pod can be carefully trimmed around to remove if desired. Doing this ensures that the whole vegetable is edible.

-then slice it in sizes of your choice but most preferably like this:

-then once all the slicing is done , boil some water , then add into the water bicarbonate of soda, as soon as the water boils add your okra to it then stir continuously until the liquid becomes thick and slimy Add salt too . Then when done cooking , let it settle for a while and serve .

******You can avoid your okra from being slimy by soaking it with vinegar ******

___________________ENJOY_______________________

BOTSWANA's very own "MOPHANE WORMS"

MOPHANE WORMS

Mophane worms also known as "phane" is one of Botswana's very own indigenous food loved by citizens and residents of the country .It is mostly found in the northern parts of Botswana and in most cases the demand of mophane worms flactuates depending on the season of availability of phane.

Funny enough at some point I always told myself that I would never eat phna but well I guess I was wrong .It looks weird and a bit scary but tastes good ,and not only does it tastes good but is a good source of 'protein'.

In most cases it is usually eaten as a snack or as relish. It's taste is UNIQUE AND AMAZING!!

Many usually eat it with maize-meal , to my suprise after doing my research I found out that mophane worms can be eaten with almost anything . And depending on how a person wants to eat the mophane worms , one can boil it or fry it .I would recommend it being fried as it tastes crispy and WOW.

How to fry mophnne worms

INGREDIENTS
-boiled water
-cooking oil
-salt

*****Always have a pan with you *****

HOW

Firstly soak the mophane worms in boiling water for atleast 10 minutes , to make them a bit soft,then heat the source pan for few seconds , then pour in some oil in in the pan, enough to fry the phane , then after the oil is heated up drain the worms and immediately put them into the heated oil and stir until they turn brownish and as you fry them put some salt in them .

Once all this is done,your mophane worms are ready to be eaten with whatever you feel comfortable eating them with.

******ENJOY ******