Tag: food

Stir-Fried Macaroni (Pasta)

~ Sophie ~ 1 Comment

Are you a fan of stir-fried food? This recipe is somewhere between stir-fried vegetables and noodles. I first attempted this on the Christmas of last year. It came out perfect. And by perfect I mean everyone loved it (even those who don’t fancy pasta in general). But I felt there was something missing. Then a few weeks ago, I had purchased soy sauce and recreated the recipe. The soy sauce changed the overall quality of the dish. As much as this pasta is stir-fried, I justify it with adding plenty of vegetables ha! This pasta dish works great as a main dish and as of right now, I have made it more than three times in a span of just two weeks. It’s that good!

What you will need:

500 grams Spaghetti pasta

5 Medium carrots, thinly sliced lengthwise

4 Large green peppers, thinly sliced lengthwise

2 Large purple onions, thinly sliced lengthwise

1 Tbsp. Ginger, finely chopped

3 Tbsp. cooking oil

½ Tsp Black pepper

6 Tbsp soy sauce

Salt

2 Handfuls roast groundnuts

1 Lemon

 

Method

Break the pasta sticks into three equal parts. Fill a medium-sized pan with water and let it reach boiling point. Remove lid from the pan and add the pasta. Sprinkle a little salt in the pasta while it cooks and make sure to stir occasionally to avoid clamping of the pasta strands. After 5-7 minutes, drain the pasta, wash with cold water and set aside. Over high heat, pour oil in a larger pan and let it cook for one minute. Add ginger and let it saute for one minute while stirring. Next add salt, and then the pasta.  Keep stirring the pasta using a fork and a wooden spoon (mingling stick).  After two minutes, add the onions and stir till they are evenly distributed in the pasta for two minutes. Add the green pepper and the carrots while distributing them evenly in the pasta.  In a separate bowl, add the soy sauce and dilute it with 6 tablespoons of water and mix well. Sprinkle the soy mixture in the pasta while stirring till also even distributed. Keep adding the soy sauce till it is over while constantly mixing. Make sure it does not burn. Remove from fire.  Coarsely crush the groundnuts (either in a grinder or manually with a glass) and sprinkle them on top of the pasta. Squeeze the lemon over the pasta (make sure the seeds are sieved). Serve Hot.

 

Have a great week

 

🙂

 

Sophie

 

Ps: You can add more soy sauce for more flavor and color

PPS: If you don’t like the crunchy texture of the groundnuts, you can finely grind them and add them in the pasta while it is still cooking, right before it is removed from fire, to achieve an overall nutty taste.

PPPS: Soy sauce is found in major supermarkets in Kampala

 

Fried Ntula With Mukene Powder

~ Sophie ~ 7 Comments

So I am in this dilemma as of the moment. These ntula are called ntula in the local luganda dialect. I cannot call them eggplants because that will change the whole meaning since eggplants are called bilinganya. But that’s not all. There are two types of ntula. The green slightly bitter ones and the white bland ones (which a great for stews because you can work with them anyhow by infusing any flavour or style you desire). Bottom line is that, these darlings will be called ntula until I find out their English name.

I’m sure most of you have had plans in at one point in your life and probably still do. That is a good thing. A week earlier I read an article and I felt it speak to me. We all make plans but in the end, they may work out or may not and that is life. I have learnt to make peace with that fact. This dish is one that I extensively planned in my head but at the last minute, a suggestion to add mukene powder changed everything. And now that I think about it, I realize the dish was actually meant to have mukene.

Among the two kinds I preferred using the green slightly bitter ones because the bitterness adds character

What you will need
14 Ntulas, chopped
5 Tomatoes, chopped
1 C. Ground mukene
1 Onion, chopped
1 Tsp. Fresh ginger, finely chopped
2 Tbsp. Cooking oil

2 Tbsp. Maize flour
3 Tbsp. Soy sauce
Salt

 

Method
In a cooking pan, pour cooking oil. Add salt and ginger
then stir for one minute. Add onions and tomatoes then
stir for a minute. Cover the pan and let the tomatoes
cook for five to eight minutes. Check if they are soft and
tender. If so, add the ntula and cover them for ten
minutes while stirring occasionally. Stir in the mukene
powder. In a separate bowl, dilute the soy sauce with
three tablespoons of water; add the maize flour and
mix. While stirring, pour the mixture in the cooking pan.
Continue stirring for a minute, and then remove from
fire. Serve

🙂

Sophie

 

 

 

 

 

Bean Burger Patties

~ Sophie ~ 7 Comments

So  its back to school/work time  and  all  the time for spending hours in the kitchen cooking extravagant meals is over for most of us. No worries though, I got us covered(I think!). Earlier on I shared a basic black bean stew and lately I have been thinking how cool it would be to make a mock burger patty using beans. So I am here to report that the kitchen experiment went well after a couple of trials. These bean burger patties are so filling and packed with flavor they can be eaten on their own.

What you will need:

2 C. Beans boiled and drained

2 packs Soya Chunks

1/2 C. Green onions

1/2 C. Green pepper

1 Small purple(red) onion

2 Eggs

4 Tbsp. Tomato sauce

3 Tbsp. Wheat flour

Rosemary flakes

Salt

Method

In a hollow and fairly large bowl,  mash the beans (do not puree them).  Add the eggs and mix. Next add the green onions, the green pepper and the onions and mix well. Next add the tomato sauce, rosemary and salt. Keep mixing. Empty all the contents of the soya chunks except  the spice sachets  in a mixer and grind them till they are like coarse bread crumbs. If you don’t have a mixer,  put the soya chunks in a paper bag (preferably the ones that store baking flour) and  crush them using a heavy weight object till they are like coarse bread crumbs.  Add the soya chunks  and flour in the bean mixture and continue mixing. Leave the mixture for 10 minutes for the soya chunks crumbs to soak in all the liquid. After 10 minutes, dust your hands and shape the mixture into round disks. Add about a teaspoon of oil in a non stick pan  and gently put the patties in (the size of the pan determines how many patties you can cook at once). Once you add them to the pan, lightly press flat with a spatula  and let them cook for two minutes  on medium heat  and then flip them  and let the other side cook for another two minutes . Repeat the process till all the patties are made. Remove from fire and  let them cool. Makes 14+

The great thing about these patties is that you can  have then as they are (snack anyone?),  or put them  in buns with other vegetables, some mayonnaise or cheese and have  easy burgers.

Another idea is that you can double the recipe and keep the patties refrigerated, you know,  for those days when you just don’t feel like making anything but still want to have a great meal.

Comment below on how they turn out and how you would eat them

Have a great week.

🙂

Sophie

PS: You can use any kind of beans. The flavor will change though depending on the kind of beans you use. Here, I used yellow kidney beans  which are locally known as mairungi