Blanching is a cooking method where food is immersed in boiling water for a short time, then immersed into iced water to stop the cooking. It is used on vegetables, meat, bones for stock, fruits etc. Here I have explained how to blanch vegetables, starting with onions. I will include […]
A lot of people love food made with palm fruit but the processing of the palm fruits manually using mortar and pestle is so tedious, they shy away from cooking such food. Others resort to canned palm nut cream concentrate, nothing wrong with that, just that it is a divided […]
Dry fish is an important ingredient in Nigerian cuisine. Fish is smoked till it dries, during the smoking process, the fish oils are released which stay on the fish skin, this attracts dust and sand. Sometimes bugs go into the flesh. To wash dry fish properly before consumption is very […]
Cocoyam is a starchy edible root of which there are several varieties. It can be boiled, fried or roasted, depending on the variety. Cocoyam is typically used as a thickener in soups like ora, bitter leaf (onugbu), ofe ukpom and ofe ugu. For this purpose, it has to be cooked and pounded […]
To make Beans powder is very easy. Homemade beans powder tastes way better than the store bought brands I have tasted so far. There are no additives, just pure unadulterated beans. It can be re-hydrated into beans paste for use in cooking Moi-moi, akara, etc. It is a life saver […]
Bitter leaf can be air dried but some days you might just need to dry bitter leaf in a hurry or any vegetable for that matter, especially a small quantity, this is where the microwave oven comes in.
For long storage, especially for those who can’t readily access bitter leaf, or for variety in Ogbono soup, dry bitter leaf is a necessity. I always buy the pre-washed bitter leaf from the market, which I then dry. Before I dry or dehydrate bitter leaf, I normally soften it, this […]
You will need to soften bitter leaf most times before use in soup, ukwa, etc., especially the dehydrated bitter leaf, since it is a very rugged leaf. It also needs to be washed thoroughly to remove the bitterness inherent in it. Some people boil the leaf with akanwu/kaun to soften […]
Bitter leaf as the name implies is very bitter, and for it to be used in a large quantity for cooking as a vegetable, the bitterness needs to be washed out. Like I said in my post on Bitter leaf soup/Onugbu soup, to wash out bitterness in fresh bitter leaf […]
The food processor is such a versatile machine, you sometimes wonder how you managed in the past without one. It is such a lifesaver. It makes beans peel quite a breeze. To peel beans using a food processor is quick and easy especially if you are processing a large quantity […]
I am Ganiru, a wife, a mother, a food blogger, a chef, an author and an accountant. I love to cook and write about food, especially Nigerian and afro-centric food... Read More