[#Cooking] Spicy Curry Shrimp

My coworker (who is West Indian) and I had been talking about making a curry dish, mostly because we were hungry and fantasizing about food. She had previously brought curry chicken to a pot lock we had at work which we all loved. she was thinking of what kind of curry she could make then, I mentioned how much I loved curry and that I made awesome curry shrimp. Which some how  initiated a "cook off" lol.  So after work I bought my shrimp because that was the only thing I was missing to make some curry shrimp then I headed home.

    So the interesting thing about this recipe is that it all kind of came together as I was cooking it. You'll see the picture below and the ingredients list differ a bit.  Like with the garlic, I was thinking "garlic makes things taste good so maybe I should add some".  Same with the lemon. So here's my spicy curry shrimp which I have to say was just perfection.  

Ingredients:

Curry powder

shrimp 

coconut milk 

Garlic 

oil 

onion 

tomato 

pepper 

ginger  

lemon 

black pepper

shrimp seasoning.

Directions. 

Before you start: chop and dice Onions and tomatoes, put aside. Also marinate shrimp with curry and fresh lemon juice and set aside.

1. Blend garlic ginger and pepper together to a paste

2.Heat oil, sauté chopped onions.

 Add your garlic ginger pepper paste Cook for a 2mins.

 

3. Add curry, and cook for a minute.

Then add diced tomatoes. cook for a few minutes mins.

4. Add marinated shrimp and black pepper. 

Mix then add coconut milk.  

5. Let it cook until shrimp is fully cooked. If your sauce is runny, turn up your heat and soon enough it will get thicker. 

[#Cooking] Serious Fufu

     I was at work yesterday thinking to myself, "what am I going to eat for dinner tonight?"  Then I suddenly got a craving for fufu with light soup.  So I started thinking of what I had in my fridge to make some light soup. I thought to myself, I don't wanna have any ole fufu, this fufu has to be serious. So I remember I had some meats left over from the last time I cooked and it was a done deal I got excited and was determine to have my "serious fufu".  Now you might be thinking... What exactly is serious fufu? Well my friends,  it's all in the soup.  I wanted my light soup to be rich and irresistible. The meats I had at home were... Cowfeet, goat meat, tripe and fish so it was going to be a big deal. 

     As soon as I reached home I immediately took out all my ingredients and started to thaw my meats.  Cow feet  takes a while to cook so that was the first thing I did. Then I made the soup and this is what it looked like. 

I was hungry from fasting all day so my intent was less on blogging the whole process and more on eating my serious fufu.  So I will be posting the recipe and process at a later date.  However, the first picture above was the final result. And boy was it delicious. It was everything I had hoped it would be and more. 

[#Cooking] How to make non-sticky rice.

It has come to my realization that there is a soggy rice cooking epidemic.  Apparently many people just simply can't get rice correctly.   People tell me...."It's a struggle to get that rice to come out like the Chinese restaurant"  and "I only use a rice cooker to make my rice" and "I use the rice that comes in the box".  I've heard so many horror stories about cooking rice.  I even know some people who has just given up on rice because they just can't make it right.  So I've been thinking to myself hmm.. Well I don't have that problem, perhaps I should share my tips. 

      The problem with rice is, it's either soggy and mushy or it's undercooked.  Now, If you're lucky enough to be a Ghanaian then you know to turn your mushy rice into "rice balls" and call it a day.  And if you're lucky enough to be like me, you can turn your undercooked rice into some delicious fried rice.

Here's some things to consider about cooking rice. 

1.  Steam cooks rice.

2.  Never use more water than rice

3.  Rice doesn't take more than 15 mins to cook.  Consider your heat level and cooking time. 

Now don't get me wrong, I didn't always get my rice perfect.  No one is born making perfect rice;  it takes a few tries.  But once you get it, you got it.  So don't fret your not alone.   Im going to show you my fool proof way of making non-sticky rice.  Now lets cook some rice. 

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups  Jasmine Rice

2 cups water

1 tbs Oil

1/4 ts salt 

Small sauce pan

Wooden spoon. 

Directions:

Turn your stove on medium heat. 

1. Place your sauce pan on the stove and add oil. 

2. Add your rice and salt. mix till its well coated with oil. 

3. Fry your rice(that's right, FRY) for about 5 minutes till you start to see some white opaque grains. 

4. Add your water and cover to boil. 

5. Once most of the water has evaporated turn your heat to low cover cover again and let steam for 5-10mins. 

This should be your rice after 5mins.  But u can leave it on low for up to 10 mins for your desired firmness. 

Plate and eat with your stew, gravey or soup.

Adiza's Shrimp and broccoli pasta Alfredo.

                      

One of my favorite dishes to eat is pasta Alfredo. It's creamy, it's cheesy, simple to make and just darn right delicious.  There's several ways to make pasta Alfredo it all depends on what you like.  I myself have five variations of making it but, my favorite way is how I make my shrimp and broccoli pasta Alfredo.  It's simplest way. 

     

 WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

                    

• Classic Alfredo sauce.

• Shrimp {peeled and deveined}

• Broccoli 

• Pasta {I always use fettuccine, linguine or rotelle}

• Salt/Seasoning

WHAT TO DO: 

{Before you start, you can steam your broccoli and lightly seasoned shrimp in separate bowls for 2 minutes each in the microwave.}

1. Start to Cook your pasta according to package directions.

2. Then Place a wide pan or wok on stove top.  

Pour in your Alfredo sauce then turn your stove to medium low. 

3. Add broccoli to sauce and stir gently but frequent.

4. Cook broccoli in sauce for a few minutes until sauce is hot. Then add your shrimp.

{Make sure to accidentally drip some shrimp broth in your sauce. This is where my unique flavor comes from.}

5.Mix for a minute or two. 

Then scoop out half of your shrimp and broccoli sauce into a bowl. 

Then add pasta to your sauce 

6. Mix altogether with the rest of sauce mixture and you're done. 

7. Plate your pasta and garnish with more shrimp and Parmesan cheese and viola!

This dish also goes great with some nicely toasted garlic bread. Mmmh yum!

Change is coming..

          HEY GUYS, SO IM TURNING "RELATIVELY AFRICAN" INTO A FOOD BLOG.

 As much as I want to dedicate time to this I've obviously failed at coming up with enough content.   For a long time now I've wanted to turn my love for cooking into a food blog.  I figure I'll have more time to blog about food because I love cooking and I'm always going to cook so I will always have content. So far I've only come up with two names for the blog.  "Love from the stove top" and "I cook, you eat". I'm not sure which one it'll be; It could be neither but whatever it is, I plan to dedicate more time to it than I did for "Relatively African". Sooo wish me luck guys. I hope you'll love all the yumminess to come. :-)