Tag: Experiments

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

 

Creamy Dodo Pasta

~ Sophie ~ 24 Comments

Another dodo recipe. Here is why. When the rainy season started, dodo sprouted from everywhere and it was very green, healthy and luscious that we could not let it over grow. So we started incorporating it in most of our meals. This is another recipe that has made dodo very enjoyable. I have always loved creamy white pasta sauce and maybe someday I will get around to making it but this creamy dodo is flavorful in its own way and not to mention the dodo itself has a ton of nutrients. Another time you find yourself with more than needed dodo, you can try this.
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What you will need:

250 Grams of pasta

2 Small Irish potatoes, peeled and halved

Four handfuls of dodo, washed

2 C. Milk

2 Medium tomatoes, chopped

1 Tsp. Garlic, finely chopped

1 Tsp. Ginger, finely chopped

½ C. Green onions chopped

A handful of crushed groundnuts

Oil

Salt

Method

In a medium saucepan, add water and one cup of milk and bring to a boil. Break the pasta strands in half and once the water has reached boiling point, add the pasta. Keep stirring the pasta to avoid it from clamping together. Sprinkle a little salt and after 5-8 minutes, remove the pasta from the fire and drain it then set aside to cool.  Boil Irish potatoes till tender and remove from fire.  Steam the dodo until almost tender. Remove from fire and let it cool.

In a blender, combine the steamed dodo (leave a few strands for later), boiled potatoes and the remaining cup of milk and salt to taste and blend till pureed.

In a separate saucepan, pour oil. After a minute, add the garlic and ginger and salt and let them brown a little. Next add the onions and tomatoes and stir till the tomatoes are soft. Pour in the dodo puree and stir well. Let it simmer for 10 minutes and then remove from fire. Pour the sauce over the pasta and mix well adding in the reserved strands of steamed dodo. Garnish with crushed groundnuts and sprinkle with lemon or orange juice. Serve.

Let me know how it turns out when you try it.

🙂

Sophie

 

 

PS: if  a lemon is too strong for you, you can use a raw orange which is slightly sour.