MY GOAT-HEAD RECIPE (ISI EWU).

So on Father's day, I had a laid back day. Hardly did any cooking. Very Unusual right? Lol.

Well, twas for a reason. My mother-inlaw said to me..."You guys don't come over to eat. I cook and no one comes over". Gosh, I felt kinda bad. 

So on this Fathers' day, I did her the honors of letting her cook for us. I Let her cook her son. I let her cook for her baby again. I know it made her happy. So we went to church then came home to already cooked really tasty food. Then lay in bed the rest of the day and watched movies . Quite awesome!;-)

For me, everyday is special I thought. So I could always make my special dishes for my crew anyday of the week.

Made some burgers for breakfast that day though...used some burger rolls bought off the shop, some meat patties, tomatoes, onions, mozzarella cheese and some frilly greens then smothered in some spicy mayo (Try the Heinz hot and spicy mayo). 

Then later in the evening, made some grilled chicken parts for snacking cum dinner...cos after Oma(grandma in German) fed us, we sure weren't gonna be needing any heavy meals cos we were super sated :-)

Then sometime in the week, made hubby a special...he did request for it. Made Goathead A.K.A Isiewu. He had been craving local foods, lol.

Also made him some Afang soup to top up the local food cravings. Afang soup is my favourite too. And I'm sure you can guess why...All them beauties in one pot. Getting better and better at making it as well.

For the midweek specials, made some minced beef tomato sauce garnished with bellpeppers and carrots served with pasta....my son is a sucker for sauces. You should see his face when the aroma wafts into his nostrils, Lol. That garlicky, herbie aroma. You'd want a taste too lol.

And for the protein, oven-roasted some pork spiced up with fresh herbs and some barbecue spices. Pork tastes really yummy...the fat oozes out and leaves the back crispy with the insides very tender...it's a must try.

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For my ISIEWU RECIPE.

INGREDIENTS.

.Goathead chopped into sizeable bits plus the brain (I usually ask my butcher to put the brain matter into it's own separate  polybag)...To have enough meaty bites, procure both the goat head and the neck.

.Ash/potash (I personally don't use potash)...Ash is made from burnt Palm Fruit head (Isi akwu after the kernels have been removed from it)
.Local spices...Efu, Ehuru(African nutmeg) and uziza (Benin pepper)
.Onions
.fresh(Red or Yellow Scotch Bonnet) or dry pepper
.Maggi
.Salt

.Scent leaves(Nchanwu...a few)
.Anara leaves(Garden Egg leaves) or utazi leaves for garnishing
.Red oil

RECIPE. 

.Pound fresh pepper with some onions, scent leaves and onions and set aside.

.Prepare ash to get the NCHA by pouring boiling water into it, Sieve off severally with a sift to ensure particles and sand don't remain. What you'll make use of is the greyish liquid got after sieving the ash.

. Season 

with maggi/knorr/Onga classic, lots of  Onions and some salt then boil meat till tender - I try to boil mine with very Little water so I end up with little or no stock. (You can strain off any excess meat stock and us for soup or any other dish)

. Allow the meat to cool a bit. 

.Also cook up your goat brain with a little salt and onion in a little pot. Mash up and set aside.
.Mix your red oil(Palm oil) with the ash water until it becomes thick and pale. 

Then add a teaspoon of grounded Efu, a teaspoon of grounded  Ehuru, a pinch of grounded Uziza seeds plus the grounded fresh pepper, Scent leaves and Onions. 

.Add the Mashed up goatbrains to the Ncha. 

.Mix all with the cooled goat chunks, then add salt and maggi to taste. 

.Garnish with onion rings and finely chopped Garden Egg leaves or Utazi leaves(Quite bitter so use a little) 

.You may enjoy this alone or Served with roasted or boiled yam...Goes as a meal in my home. 

*NB - Use of the Goatbrain matter is optional...Some people may want to avoid  it for health reasons but there has been no proof of any health-related problems from consuming goat/lamb brain. But for anyone's peace of mind, skip if you aren't comfy with it.

;-).... .... 

MY SWEET COCONUT PUFFIES (Puff puff)

I love to cook a whole lot but this past sunday I didn't do much cooking. Really didn't feel up to it for some personal reasons. I'm going to be needing a lot of self psyching for the next few weeks.

Made an effort the previous day before letting myself slump into a not-so-good mood. 

Started out with some coconut puffs....inspired by the so much loved Nigerian Puff puff. Had some lil cuties I wanted to send some over to. Got an awesome feedback too.
My son Ethan loved the puffies as well. I'm so glad he's beginning to try some new things. Had refused to try such breadlike textures in the past. Maybe because we had kept him away from pastries all these while because of his egg allergy.
The coconut puffs were really nice...tried it with the desiccated coconut shreds and replace water with coconut milk and some cinnamon. This combination of flavor packs a punch. Not for weight watchers cos it's eat one, want more.;-).

Then for Saturday lunch, I made some Spaghetti with canned plum tomatoes(thanks to scarcity), chicken strips and some diced up Russian sausages left over from the previous weekend....nothing goes to waste in my home.;-).

Also made some sticky lamb chops to go with our Lunch. Made them with mixed seasoning and as usual panseared them before coating with barbecue sauce and sweet chilli sauce before grilling them.

Spiced up some smoked chicken chunks for in between snacking....You should try smoked chicken. Really lovely. I didn't smoke it myself. Bought it off the deparmental store shelf already smoked and salted...then did justice to it with my own blend of seasoning and onions.

Then finally on Sunday morning, made some Chicken gizzard assortment A.K.A Gizdodo or Dodorishi (Dodo with orishirishi) and we had that with the previous days leftover pasta.
Try the Gizdodo. ..your kids will love it.
I always improvise when i'm out of some stuff. couldn't get my sweet bell peppers over the weekend so just deseeded the big chilis i had, chopped them up with the readily available green pepper and used in place of my red and yellow bellpeppers. the important thing is to give colour to the food and some heat too, Lol.

Had the traditional boiled rice and Goatmeat and kpomo(Cow hide) stew for our Sunday lunch. and because I was determined not do any real cooking, I used our leftover stew from a previous week so the goatmeat and cow hide were super tender and properly infused with the stew....mouthwatering innit? :-D

So for every post will share atleast one recipe. 
Just leave a comment if you try it and enjoyed it.

MY RECIPE FOR COCONUT PUFFS...

INGREDIENTS.

*2¼-teaspoon active dry yeast (1 packet)
*1/2 cup of sugar (or less for weight watchers).
*1 teaspoon salt
*About 1&1/2 cups of coconut milk (You can still use coconut powder if you can't get the milk. In that case, still use liquid milk for the mixture)...you'll have a nicely rich mixture.  
*1/4 cup of warm water or less.
*3 cups of all purpose flour
*1/2 teaspoon of grated nutmeg
*1  teaspoon of Cinnamon. 
*A teaspoon of vanilla powder or I spoons of liquid vanilla essence. 
*Sweetened desiccated coconut shreds...about 1/2 a cup
* Veggie Oil for deep-frying
*Some fine sugar (confectioner's sugar or icing sugar) for dusting the puffies after frying. 

INSTRUCTIONS. 

1. In a small bowl add the warm water, a teaspoon of sugar, and yeast. Set aside for 5 minutes...should bubble up to show yeast is alive.

2. In another bowl, Sieve your flour. Add the cinnamon, vanilla powder,  nutmeg, coconut milk powder (if that's what you are using) and half a teaspoon of salt.

3. Then add  the activated yeast  plus liquid milk or coconut milk and mix with a wooden spoon. Mix well and ensure the dry mixes with the wet properly.

4. Set the mixture in a warm area and cover with a kitchen napkin or clingfilm and let it rise (double in size) for approximately 1- 2 hours. 
I prefer the clingfilm as it's see-through and you can monitor the mixture without opening severally and thus prevent interfering with the rising process. You'll see the mixture bubbling up at the top once the mixture is ready. ..this is the tricky part. If you don't get it right , you will have a bun instead of a puff.

5. Once the mixture has doubled in size, sprinkle the desiccated coconut and mix minimally to preven making the risen mixturefall (lol, complicated English huh?)

6. In a large, sauce pan or a wok, pour a good quantity of vegetable oil, until it is atleast 3 inches deep (or about 5 centimeters) high (too little will result in flatter balls), and place on medium heat.

*The dough is going to be sticky so use your hands to grab a little bit of mixture at time and drop in the oil or use a spoon to spoon up the batter, and another spoon or spatula to push it into the oil, forming the shape of a lil ball. The hand works better too but not for a 1st timer. (I used to use my cookie scoop but not anymore)
*Do not overcrowd the pan.

7. Fry in batches....Fry for a few minutes until the bottom side is golden brown.Turn the ball over and fry for a few more minutes until the other side is golden brown. Most of the time, they'll turn themselves if the texture is right...you just watch them flip over as they get done.

*Use a large perforated spoon  to scoop them out of the oil.

8. place them on paper napkins right away to soak up the excess oil.

Take out the napkins after a few minutes, then sprinkle your fine sugar on the puffies and flip them up and down in a bowl...just to ensure the sugar touches all your puff balls.

Serve with a glass of fresh juice or cocoa beverage.

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