BLACK MAGIC CAKE

 

 

 

HURRRAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY, am excited,  its weekend yyyuuuuupppppppiiiiiiiiiiiii. ok guys, what is better on a weekend than a complete home cook menu? I mean all week we might have been so busy with no time to prepare a complete meal for our family, so lets give them a treat, what do you think? my suggestion?  BLACK MAGIC CAKE. I got this recipe from a friend and when I tried it, it was simply heaven, perfect desert.

 

 

 

 

 

INGREDIENT

 

 

1 cup sugar

 

11/3 cups of flour(all purpose)

 

3/4 cocoa powder

 

pinch of salt

 

2 tsp baking soda

 

1 tsp baking powder

 

2 large eggs

 

1 cup butter milk/ sour milk/ normal milk

 

1 cup veg oil

 

2 tsp vanilla extract.

 

2 tsp instant coffee

 

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

 

8ounce unsalted butter

 

8 ounce cream cheese

 

1 cup suger

 

1tsp vanilla extract.

 

 

 

PREPARATION

 

 Pre-heat oven at 350 degrees

 

Mix sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, mix then u add eggs, milk, coffee, veg oil, vanilla, then mix until well combined and smooth, then pour mixture in your paper cupcake tins and bake for 15-20 min, or until ready depending on your oven.

 

when ready, take out and keep to cool completely, while its cooling make your frosting

 

In a mixing bowl, mix together butter and cream then add sugar and vanilla and mix until smooth.

 

frosting is ready as well as the cake, so now u can apply frosting on cake as desired.

 

ENJOY

 

 

I can imagine someone wondering COFFEE IN CAKE?  trust me, coffee in chocolate cake is simply heaven. I never believed it until I tried it.

 

 

 

 



 

 

COCONUT PUFFPUFF

BAMMM!!!!!!!!,  I can imagine what some people might be thinking now, with coconut puffpuff, " why will someone want to put coconut in puffpuff?" I thought same when I first saw it, but being Thomas in the kitchen as I am, I decided to give it a go, and I was surprisingly amazed at how sweet and awesome it was. its same like puffpuff but with a twist of coconut milk and flakes, and more of a snack than our usual puffpuff. personally  I will have this as a snack, and have the other with beans. physically you can`t tell the difference, but you bite through this, you will definitely know what I am talking about. ENJOY

INGREDIENTS

1 cup warm water

2 cups coconut milk

14g dried yeast

1/2 cup of sugar

pinch of salt

1 cup coconut flakes

4 1/2 cups of plain flour

oil


PREPARATION

In a bowl, add warm water, coconut milk, salt, sugar and yeast, and set aside for about 5min, then you add flour into the mixture, and mix very well until u have a smooth paste, then add your coconut flakes, mix until fully incorporated, set aside air tight for 1-2 hours depending on how fast it will rise.

Then use the same frying technique put up on the normal puffpuff and fry.


TRUST ME you will love this, perfect party snack

PUFFPUFF TIME.

 

 

 

PUFFPUFF TIMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. Back in  Africa puffpuff is a popular meal/snack. In Nigeria, its a snack, but back from where I come from, in Cameroon it could be both, but its mostly popularly a meal. its eaten with beans and even pap/ akamu.  every time I eat this, I think of my school days back in Cameroon.


INGREDIENTS

250g plain flour

2 tbsp dried yeast

1/2 cup sugar

pinch of salt

1 tsp ground nutmeg ( optional)

2 cups of warm water



PREPARATION


First of all, mix your yeast in half or less cup of water, and set aside.

In a bowl, mix flour, sugar, salt, nutmeg.

Then add your warm water, gradually, mix after every portion of water you put. then u mix until your mixture is  well combined, at this point you add your yeast.

Mix until everything is smooth, and u are left with a smooth paste, the texture should not be as light as pancake, neither should it be too thick. To know if you have got the right consistency, take a quantity in your hand, and drop in the same bowl, if it runs, then its too light a bit more flour could solve it, but if it falls gently in lumps then your there.

Cover with foil, and make sure its air tight by folding the sides of the foil, or u can use a cling film or if the container your using has an air tight lid, its still fine. set aside to rise for about 45-1hr.


when ready, pour a good quantity of vegetable oil in a pot,  (1ltr) leave to get hot, to know it its hot, put a small drop a small puffpuff  inside, and if it comes up immediately, it means the oil is hot enough.

now dropping the puffpuff in the oil is a little bit tricky, take a handful of the mixture in your hand, and lightly cover close your hand,, and put your hand over the oil on heat, kind of turn your hand upside down, so your thumb is actually facing downward, now you close your hand firmly but not firm enough to squash the dough through your fingers. with your hand in that position, squeeze only your thumb, and the dough will drop in the oil, do that until your done frying.

when the puffpuff is ready, remove from oil, and transfer unto a paper towel, to drain off excess oil.

let me know how it turned out for you.

 

 

MY TOMATOES STEW

 

OK! they are  so many different ways of cooking stew, but this one keeps me going again and again for a refill. Its a stew where u can combine so many things inside. Eat this with basmatic or thai fragrance rice, hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Try it and get back to me.


INGREDIENTS

1kg shaki ( cowl towel)

1kg cow beef or oxtail

1 chicken

1 cowleg

4 cans of tomatoes( chopped)

4 tblsp tomatoes puree

2 large onions

1 clove of garlic

ginger

1tsp curry

1tsp turmeric

1 bunch of spinach

pepper

pinch of salt

4 maggi cube

vegetable oil


PREPARATION


wash your cowleg and shaki very clean, put in a pot and put on the heat, add a pinch of salt, and let it cook for about 30min, then take out all the bones on the cowleg, and keep aside. then slice ur chicken to desired size, wash and season with salt, maggi, thyme, and let it cook until ready, take out the chicken from the juice, leaving the pot on the heat, add ur washed beef, and let tit cook until ready as well.

while the chicken is on fire, you can now blend chopped tomatoes, onions, garlic, ginger and pepper, then put in a small pot, and put on the heat as well, so now you have two pots on fire. allow the tomatoes mixture to boil until all the water u added when blending has dried off, it will be like a dry tomatoes paste, set it aside.

when ur beef and chicken are now ready, take them off the heat put a frying pan on the heat add oil and when oil is hot fry the beef, then the chicken.


Then put the pot you wish to prepare your stew in, add 2 tbsp of vegetable/ olive oil, add chopped onions, and stir, let the onions cook for 2min, then add the tomatoes puree, and keep stirring, let it cook for about 5min, then add the chopped tomatoes you boiled to a paste earlier, keep stirring, be careful at this point because the pot will be boiling heavily and u will have some bits boiling out and jumping everywhere, what I do at this point is I shift my pot off the heat while adding the boiled chopped tomatoes. cover the pot for say 5min, then add your chicken or beef stock, and 1 glass of water, add you maggi and salt, and cover the pot to boil for 8min  or there about, then add chicken, beef, cowleg and shaki, if you stew seem to be burning under due to lack of water, add another cup of water, curry, and leave to boil for 10 min or until your stew seem to be dry, with no water inside the pot.

slice spinach very thinely and add, stir and take off the heat immediately.

serve with basmatic rice,  I truly can`t stop eating when I use this method.

hope you try it and enjoy it.

ERU/OKAZI/AFANG SOUP

This vegetable is eaten in most African countries, with each country cooking it differently. In Cameroon we call it eru, Nigeria, they refer to it as okazi or afang soup, depending on whether your from calaba or Igbo.

Am going to share with my Nigerian, Congo, Kenya, and even British friends on how we do it in Cameroon, especially in the southwest province, referring to the BAYANGUI people.


INGRIDIENTS

1 onions
1 clove of garlic
ginger
 1kg beef
1kg canda ( smoked cow skin, kpomo)
 Dry fish of your choice( mbonga fish just gives is a sweeter taste)
pepper
salt
maggi
 1kg fresh, green okazi/eru leaves
2kg spinach/ waterleaf
1cup crayfish
2 cups of palm oil

PREPARATION

wash your canda very clean, and put in a pot, turn on the cooker and place your pot, put water, add salt, chop the onions and add, blend the ginger and garlic, and add, leave your pot to cook for about 30-45min.

wash your meat, and then add into the boiling pot, leave to boil until both meat and canda/kpomo are almost ready, add your dry fish, blend or chop pepper and leave to boil for another 20min, while you wash and chop your spinach.

At this point, check the level of the water, the water should be almost drying off, then you put the spinach, and leave to boil for another 10min, reason why you want the water to be drying off before adding your spinach, is because the spinach or waterleaf turn to produce their own water, and you don't want to end up  with too much water in the pot, which will cause you to keep your pot on the fire for long after adding the spinach because u want the water to dry off, it will end up spoiling your end result.

When your spinach has cooked for about 10min, and if it brought out a lot of water, let it cook for some time to reduce the level of water to half, but if not, and there is not much water in the pot, at this point, add the okazi / eru, using a wooden spoon, mix properly to combine, check your salt and maggi, then leave to boil for 5 min, then add the palm oil, and stir very well, leave to boil for say 5min, and add your crayfish and stir( the more u you stir your pot, the more combine the okazi/eru is to the spinach/waterleaf, thus making your okazi soft.)
 
At this point, take it off the heat and don`t cover your pot immediately, you want your green leaves to stay green.

you can now serve with either waterfufu, Eba, or ground rice.

TIPS:  The right amount of palm oil and spinach will make you okazi soft and tasty. seen some people blend the okazi leaves to make it soft, I think its a no go area.

my attempt at homemade pasta with no machine.

OK I woke up one morning and I kept asking myself, what will it be like making your own homemade pastas? I mean will that not be healthy eating, without all the strange ingredients you see on supermarket pastas which are there only to preserve the pasta nothing more, and maybe causing some kind of strange sickness in our body at a long run? Besides real Italian mothers make their own pastas, why not give it ago?

   so I searched online and the ingredients were pretty much available at home, BINGO! lets give it a go,!!! but hang on, I have no pasta machine, oooooooh! wait a minute, what did Italian women use when they was no technology? I searched again, guess what? I realised u can use ur own two hands in making a delicious homemade pasta with no machine, so I gave it a try.


INGREDIENTS

2 cups of flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

3  large eggs ( if u don't have large eggs u can add the eggs, say 4 medium or 6 small)


PREPARATION


In a mixing bowl, put flour and salt, you could use a clean working surface in your kitchen. make a hole in the middle and break your eggs inside.

with a fork, whisk the egg, gradually combining it with the flour from the bottom, do not rush this process, keep doing until everything is combined to a smooth paste.

Then you knead the dough on a floured surface, it will be soft at first, but trust me, it will gradually firm up, knead for about 10min, until dough is smooth, its very important to knead very well, to know if dough has had enough kneading, take a Sharpe knife and cut the dough, if u see lots of bubbles, then some more kneading is needed, If u see less bubbles, then its gud.

Put dough in a clean dry bowl, cover with a plastic wrap or cling film, and leave to set for 30min.

Put dough on a floured surface, divide into four parts, (at this point u can use your pasta machine if u got one).

take one part, covering the rest damp clean kitchen towels, ( now its time to exercise your arm) using your rolling pin, on a floured surface, roll the dough, you need to roll until dough is thin,  but not a see through sort of thin, as thin as a table mat.

Then with a sharp knife, you can slice your pasta, if your making long stripe pastas like spaghetti, slice with care and slice really thin, if making your own desired shape then slice according to the shape you want to make.

you can either leave to dry up, for some days, or hours,( pasta really dries up very fast) or you can boil immediately.

if cooking immediately, it takes less time to cook than the dried pasta or store bought pasta, so keep an eye.



waow! this was a challenge for me, but it turned out just fine.


TIPS:Proper rolling and kneading of you pasta is all you need to have a perfect homemade pasta.

Try it, and let me know.

OKRA SOUP

 

 

 

This soup happens to be one of my best meal. Okra is one thing you either love or you hate. Many people all over the world eat okra in many different ways. In Cameroon alone we have many different ways of cooking okra. This method is one of my favourite methods. hope u try is and enjoy it.


Ingredients

20 pieces of okra
 8 pieces of beef
 1 cow leg
 2 dry fish
200g prawns
100g crayfish
200g crab
100g spinach
pepper
3 tbsps palm oil
2 cups of water.
salt
maggi


preparation

wash your cow leg with care, put in the pot and bring to boil, let it cook for about 30-45min, then u take it out, and wash again taking out  most of the bones and excess fat. Then  bring back on the boil add your washed beef, and chopped onions,  Maggi, salt, pepper, let it cook for another 40min.
       while your pot is boiling,  wash your okra, and chop in tiny bits, and keep aside, then blend together crayfish, garlic and ginger, keep aside, wash your spinach and slice thinly, and keep aside.
       when your beef is almost ready, and the water has reduced to about half, then add dry fish, blended crayfish mixture, crab and palm oil, let it boil for another 10min, then add your chopped okra and stir, you might need to add about one cup of water, you don't want it watery, let it boil for about 5min, then add chopped spinach and stir, leave it for one more min and take it off.  both the okra and the spinach will have to maintain their green colour.


tips: its very important to have the water right. This could be eaten with any solid of your choice, pounded yam, ground rice, wheat fufu, maize meal, cassava dough etc.

I  find it easy, and healthy, nothing to fry. let me know if u tried it.

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lucrese bilong (you)

IAM FUNNY,FRIENDLY AND A LOVER OF EVERYTHING KITCHEN

University of Bolton

London, United Kingdom

 

Nice post! Here are a few quick tips...

Find a typo? Use the drop-down menu on your post to edit or delete it. Don't want people to leave comments or reshare it with others? You can turn that off there too.

Okay, got it!

lucrese bilong (you)

IAM FUNNY,FRIENDLY AND A LOVER OF EVERYTHING KITCHEN

University of Bolton

London, United Kingdom