Category: fusion

Lemongrass Iced Tea

~ Sophie ~ 4 Comments

Lately, I have been challenging myself to drink more water because as glorious as the rainy season was, it is slowly coming to an end. Almost every morning now we wake up to blinding sunshine. I was looking for more creative ways to hydrate the body. A few months ago, I talked about lemon iced tea and had been toying with the idea of trying to make lemongrass iced tea. We have this (barely there) lemongrass bush that I almost destroyed while making these amazing potato wedges. Lemon grass tea is a real treat because aside from its health benefits it has a captivating flavor. Since I am making a mental list of different drinks for this hot weather, this lemongrass iced tea did not disappoint.

What you will need:

6C. Water

20-25 blades of lemongrass

Sugar

1 Lemon

Ice cubes

Method

In a clean saucepan, add water and lemongrass blades and bring to a boil. When the water changes color and start releasing a sweet scent, remove from fire. Let the tea cool completely. Once fully cooled, Add sugar and lemon juice. Keep refrigerated. When it is time to serve, add ice cubes in a glass, some fresh lemongrass blades for a visual aesthetic and pour in your tea.

It is so easy to make and a real cooling treat. Also, you can easily double or triple the recipe to make drinks for impressing guests and friends at a party. They will not know what hit them. Trust me.

Have a lovely week

🙂

Sophie

Discaimer: This post is part of the monthly link up party Our Growing Edge. This event aims to connect food bloggers and inspire us to try new things. This month is hosted by Pia at Joi de Vivre and Cupcakes

Lemon Grass Palm Oil Pan-Fried Potato Wedges

~ Sophie ~ 4 Comments

I fell in love with potato wedges in my fourth year of high school. We were lazing around and decided to go to yellow cab and order pizza. The pizza came with potato wedges as sides and up to this day, they are the best wedges I have ever had. Believe it or not, I have tried several times to recreate this recipe and I think I am a lot closer than when I first began.

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Have you heard about palm oil? It is the red semi-solid oil that is popular in West Africa and the western region of Uganda. In almost all my childhood, we always had palm oil and I can recall it being cooked quite a lot. It is recently that I have really learned to appreciate the benefits of palm oil. It adds a rich orange-reddish color to food, it has a great unique taste too and I just read on Wikipedia that it has zero cholesterol. Also I have been using it for my hair for the past one year and the benefits are amazing. But hey, this isn’t about hair. This is about how pan frying potatoes in palm oil is probably one of the best things I have ever done! As you can see, I had a hard time naming this dish! It has a variety of flavors, from lemon grass roots, palm oil, garlic and also the crunchy touch of green beans.

What you will need:

I Kg. Irish Potatoes, washed and cut into wedges

2 C. Green beans, julienned

2 Large onions, thinly sliced lengthwise

3 Garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 Tbsp. Lemon grass root, finely chopped

½ C. Palm oil

Ground black pepper

Salt

Method

Add the palm oil in a clean and dry saucepan and put it on high heat. Wait for the oil to fully cook. This might take 5-7 minutes or until the yellow foam on top of the oil is gone. Add the lemon grass root and let it brown a little. It will release a sweet flavor. Next add the garlic. Let it brown a little and then add the potatoes. Stir occasionally. After five minutes, add salt and stir the potatoes. After another five minutes, add the onions and black pepper and stir well. Cover the pan and let the potatoes cook on high heat. Don’t forget to stir occasionally. Once the potatoes are starting to become tender, add the green beans and stir well. Let the potatoes cook till soft when a fork is inserted. Remove from fire and Let them cool a little. Serve

 

Observations:

  1. I skipped peeling the potatoes though you can peel them if you prefer to.
  2. Lemon grass root can be obtained by uprooting a mature lemon grass plant which is crazy really because it took almost a year for that little bush to grow (the things we do for flavor!). Make sure that the lemon grass root is tender.

How do you use palm oil? Lets discuss in the comments.

🙂

Sophie

Avocado Yoghurt Parfait

~ Sophie ~ 8 Comments

I cannot say that I’m that good at baking (but I believe I am trying…kind of…). And because of my shying away from baking elaborate desserts, I am always (kind of) looking for a way to make hustle free desserts. I made my first parfait months ago  and was really impressed by how easy it was to make and how really delicious it is not to mention money friendly. I can definitely say this dessert will be made often as long as there are biscuits and yoghurt or ice-cream. This avocado variation is phenomenal since it incorporates creamy avocado. The whole combination is amazing.

What you will need:

Two medium-sized avocadoes

Biscuits

½ C. Milk

½ Litre yoghurt

3 Tbsp. Sugar

1 Tsp. Lemon juice

Mint

Method

Peel the avocadoes and cut them into cubes of about an inch. In a blender, combine avocadoes, milk, ½ cup of yoghurt, and sugar and blend till pureed. Add the lemon juice and continue blending for 20 more seconds. Using a glass bottle, crush biscuits till coarse.  Layer the biscuit, avocado puree, biscuit again and yoghurt till the glass is filled. Garnish with mint and serve

Observations:

  1. I would recommend refrigerating the avocadoes for a day before blending them.
  2. Make sure the yoghurt stays chilled till it is time to layer the ingredients. I used strawberry flavored yoghurt.
  3. I did not put a specific measurement for biscuits because you will need a lot to finish up the avocado puree.

Enjoy

 

🙂

Sophie