Tag: Experiments

Chocolate Glazed Cassava Balls

~ Sophie ~ 7 Comments

 

Hope you had a wonderful Easter holiday(s). If you have been reading this blog for quite some time you probably know that I am a hard-core (OK, that’s a little bit of an exaggeration) lover, cook(er) and eater of savory foods. I love dessert too …occasionally. What I love most about dessert is the small portions. Unlike large portions(think cake slice), small portions can help you control your intake(sometimes…I think), unless the whole batch of those small sweets is guzzled by one person(happens a lot!). These cassava balls are a delightful treat that is surprisingly well textured and flavorful. How they happened is as baffling to me as it will be to you. I believe that random spur-of-the-moment creations are one of the best. Do you agree with me? Shall we make some cassava balls?

What you’ll need:

½ Kg. Grated cassava

5Tbsp. Sugar

2Tbsp. Baking flour

¼ C. Milk

A drop of vanilla extract

Pure chocolate bar

Biscuits

Groundnuts

Method

Squeeze excess water out of the grated cassava and then put it in a bowl. Add sugar, milk and vanilla and stir.  Add the flour and keep stirring. Using your hands, form bite-size balls. Bake for twenty minutes or until slightly golden brown. Remove from oven and let them cool. In a separate small bowl, melt chocolate bar. Once fully melted, dip the rounded side of the cassava ball half way in the melted chocolate. Repeat the method till all the cassava balls are coated with melted chocolate.  Crush the biscuits and groundnuts and sprinkle them on top of the balls and insert toothpicks. chill for 30 minutes.  Serve as dessert…if they are not consumed by the time the whole preparation method is done ha!

You will get textured chewy mixed flavors all in one ball. Isn’t that awesome? One thing I observed with these cassava balls is that the flavors intensify as time goes by. So you may want to let them sit in the refrigerator or at room temperature for quite some time(probably like three hours or so) before serving or eating them.

Do you prefer large portioned desserts or small treats?

 

🙂

Sophie

 

PS: You might need more or less baking flour to get a perfect ball. It takes practice. The key is not to make it doughy. You still have to be able to taste and chew the grated cassava.

PPS: I used an oven toaster. If you are using a real oven the settings should be the same as the ones used to bake cookies.

 

 

Stir-Fried Posho

~ Sophie ~ 14 Comments

We have had our fair share of posho (hashtag uganda). From primary school all the way to senior secondary school. No wonder it has a bad name. There is so much more to posho you guys, especially when you are out of school and have to become responsible for yourself and what you eat. So picture a scenario where you prepare posho and  then a supposedly better dish comes along and everyone goes with it forgetting the dear posho. It ends up in the refrigerator. The next day rolls around and everyone ignores the posho (again) till it goes bad and is discarded of.  I set out on a quest to change this behavior a few years back (…OK, in 2013) and was impressed by the first outcome which you can read about here. This stir fry posho is inspired by the first recipe. It includes less oil, and a wider variety of ingredients especially vegetables. The great thing about this dish is that you can play around with it till you get a desired combination of ingredients.

What you’ll need:

2 Kg. Posho

¼ Kg. Beef/Ground Beef

2 Slices of bread

12 Ntulas/eggplants

2 carrots, diced

1 Onion, diced

1Tsp. Ginger, finely chopped

1Tsp. Garlic, finely chopped

Rosemary flakes

1Tbsp. Royco Mchuzi Mix

½ Tsp. Ground Black pepper

1Tbsp. Soy sauce

Salt

5 Tbsp. Water

Cooking oil

Method

Cut the Posho into 1 inch cubes and set aside. Using a sharp knife, cut the beef into small pieces (½inch cubes), wash well and set aside.  Crumble the bread slices and set aside. Dice the ntulas/eggplants and set aside. In a hot sauce pan, add a little cooking oil and let it cook for 30 seconds. Add the beef, salt and rosemary flakes. Let the beef cook for 15 minutes or until it turns a deep brown color and is crispy. Keep stirring occasionally.  Next, add the garlic, ginger and onions while stirring.  Next add the ntulas/eggplants and let it cook for 5 minutes while stirring occasionally. In a separate bowl, mix the mchuzi mix, black pepper, soy sauce and water and set aside. Add the carrots and cubed posho and stir.  Pour in the spice mix and keep stirring till evenly distributed. Lastly add the crumbled bread and stir. Remove from fire and serve. Garnish with chopped green onions.

At least no posho has to go to waste anymore these ends.  Ha!

What do you do with your left over posho?

🙂

Sophie

PS: Left over posho or posho that has spent a day works best.

Honeyed Sweet Potato Balls with Simsim(Sesame)

~ Sophie ~ 2 Comments

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There are days when food is in season (and those are the best days) that we find ourselves stocking up on fresh produce. For example, there was one time when sweet potatoes were in season (and incredibly cheap) that we bought half a sack for only 5000 shillings. After sometime though, people started complaining since we had exhausted all methods of cooking sweet potatoes known to us. But then there is this cookbook that resides in a corner somewhere and I remembered flipping through it and bookmarking all the dishes I want to try out when the time is right(I am still waiting for the time to be right!) and these sweet potato balls were high on that list. So I set out to experiment with everyone skeptical on how it will turn out since sweet potatoes, sugar and milk are an odd combination. I’d like to say I was not disappointed. These balls turned out great. They are a little bit on the radical side and it would take a real food enthusiast to love the flavor and texture. Nevertheless, they are really great and can be cool fancy desserts to impress your guests.

What you will need:

4C. Sweet potatoes, boiled and mashed

2Tbsp. Margarine(blue band)/butter

500gm Bread crumbs/ 4 slices of bread)

1/2 C. Milk

1/2 C. Honey

I cup simsim(sesame)

Method

Peel sweet potatoes, cut them into medallions and boil them till tender. Let them cool completely. Using a glass, mash the potatoes in a bowl. Add the margarine and mix well. In a separate bowl, mix the 1/2 cup of milk with the 1/2 cup of honey and stir till a syrup forms. Pour the syrup in the sweet potato mix and mix well. Next add the bread crumbs and mix till the mixture forms a firm dough. Using your hands, form small bite-sized balls and roll them in the simsim. After all the mixture is formed into balls and rolled in simsim, chill for 30 minutes in the refrigerator. Serve

Apart form steaming, how do you prepare your sweet potatoes? Let me know in the comments section below.

Oh and by the way, head over to AfricanWoman to get a recipe on how to prepare Sautéed Irish Potatoes.

Have a great week.

🙂

Sophie

 

PS: This recipe is adapted from Tickle Your Taste Buds Internationally.