Tag: uganda

Banana Ice-cream Parfait

~ Sophie ~ 3 Comments

I have been shying away from making desserts in general because I think (and believe) they are a lot of work. Seriously! Until I came across a parfait. I used to feast my eyes on picture perfect Pinterest parfaits. Thinking, ‘who has time to do this elaborate dessert anyway’? Then someone simplified it by saying you just layer things in a tall glass. I was sold. I wrote it down on my list of foods to make because I was itching to make this supposedly easy parfait. Usually a parfait calls for yoghurt and as much as it is cheaper than ice-cream, I wanted this dessert to be fancy.

 

Funny story. One day we set out to create an ice-cream cake and we prepared everything. When it was time to arrange the biscuits and the ice-cream, we discovered the ice-cream was mostly foamy. How disappointing. Whenever we spooned it on top of a biscuit, it would just melt to the side and instantly become liquid. After that experience, I decided a parfait might as well be the right thing to do with ice-cream until I find one best suited for an ice-cream cake.

What you will need:

200gm Biscuits

500ml Ice-cream

1 Banana, fully ripe

A handful of roasted groundnuts(peanuts)

 

Method

In a bowl, crush biscuits till coarse and set aside. Peel the banana and thinly slice it crosswise then set aside. Coarsely crush the groundnuts and set aside. Prepare two tall glasses. Spoon ice-cream in (one spoon) the first glass. Next add a spoon of crushed biscuit on top of the ice-cream. Next add banana slices. Repeat the process till the glass is  full. Finish with a generous amount of ice-cream  then top with crushed roasted groundnuts. Repeat the process for the second glass. Chill the parfaits in the fridge for 5 minutes. Garnish with mint(or anything else) and serve.

 

What you get is a mixture of flavors and textures. It’s really good! Its basic but i am excited to try out new combinations in the future. The ice-cream melts fast so it soaked up all the other ingredients in the photo shooting moment. I realize this is way past valentines but, hey, you can still make this for your loved one(s).

Have a great week

 

🙂

Sophie

PS:I used strawberry flavored ice-cream and coconut flavored biscuits.

Katogo

~ Sophie ~ 2 Comments

This week, I would like us to talk about katogo . What do yo love most about it?  I googled katogo and found a Wikipedia page dedicated to it. That is good news. I’m sure we all have grown on eaten katogo at one point in our lives.  Katogo is one of the dishes that define Uganda. But then the thing is that you can absolutely customize it to your preference. It is also quick food. You know, chopping up things and throwing (not literary) them in a pan and letting them boil, right? When I made this katogo, people were hungry and needed to eat thus the simplicity though they still bore with me as I took a few snaps of it before it was devoured.

What you will need:

Irish potatoes, peeled and halved

Tomatoes, diced

Onions, sliced

Groundnut powder

Salt

 

Method

In a pan, add all the ingredients with enough salt and water and let the food boil. Stir occasionally to make sure it does not burn (because groundnuts burn easily) while checking the water content. Let it boil till the Irish potatoes are tender. Remove from fire and serve hot.

What katogo combination do you prefer or like cooking the most? What totally radical combination would you like to try or make? This is a basic recipe but I would like to make tilapia, cassava, sukuma wiki and whole roasted groundnuts in beef stock.  That is still edible. No?

Comment below to let me know.

 

In other slightly related news, there will be major changes to the blog from now on wards. There will be rebranding, a change in the domain name and other small things to improve the blog. The changes are for the greater good.  The content will still be the same though. I wanted to mention this beforehand so that you are all aware. Thanks for reading.

 

🙂

Sophie

 

PS: I did not put any measurements on this katogo recipe because I believe we have different serving sizes and the number of people we are cooking for varies greatly.

PPS: You can use groundnut paste instead of the powder.

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