Fried yam chips and plantain with chicken wings and antilla chilli sauce

Ingredients

• A piece of yam sliced into short rectangular pieces. You can cut up as many as will be enough for you.
•  A finger of ripe plantain chopped into small pieces
• Turkey wings
• 4 Antillas chilli peppers
• Two fresh tomatoes
• one onion
• Salt 
• Curry powder
• one table spoon of olive oil
• sunflower oil                

I always start with the chicken since it takes a while for it to cook. Since I usually buy my meat in bulk I often spice it when its fresh with ginger, garlic and some mixed spices and a little bit of salt before storing it in the freezer. This allows it to have much more flavour when cooked.
However since most people do not practice this method, you can go ahead and spice the fresh chicken with the spices mentioned and then steam-fry it in a pan. I would recommend  using no oil because the chicken contains enough fat to cook itself.  Then regulate the cooker to medium temperature and cover the pan to allow the steam to cook the chicken until the oil secretes and it begins to fry.

Put the sliced yam pieces in salty water and let it sit for about 15 minutes before pouring the water out. Fill a deep pan with oil leaving space at the top of the pan of at least 2 inches to serve as a safety margin when the oil bubbles up when the yam is added. Allow the oil to get very hot before adding the yams a few pieces at a time. Avoid over crowding the pan so that the yams do not get saturated with oil. The yam is ready when the coating turns yellowish. You can turn the pieces over when needed to ensure that they cook evenly.
When ready remove them with a spatula and place them in a plate coated in paper napkins. This helps to absorb excess oil.The plantain will be cooked in the same manner after the yam is ready

To prepare the hot chilli sauce, chop up the tomatoes, onion and antilla peppers and put them in a blender.
Blend till smooth and heat the table spoon of olive oil in a small pan. When the oil is hot add the blended mixture and allow it to fry for 10 minutes. Add a little bit of curry powder and salt to taste and stir. Allow to cook for 10 more minutes till its ready for serve. Now that everything is ready you can put them all in a plate and even add some artistic arrangement to make it look more palatable. This is a very popular quick meal in Ghana and can be easily prepared by anyone.

My upcoming attempt at making a 3/4 wig

I recently ordered some items that I would need in making my own 3/4 wigs. With Fall and even Winter around the corner I need to find other ways of protecting my natural hair which tends to easily break under harsh weather conditions. So this explains my new area of interest. I must say I am really grateful for youtube and all the tutorials the hair gurus upload because I have learned a lot of techniques on how to make very beautiful wigs. A few years ago I never once imagined that this was even possible. This is because back in my home country Ghana people hardly do their own hair or make their own sew ins so the thought of someone actually being able to make their own wig is always a surprise to most people. We alwasy marvel at the thought. But having been in France where it is outrageously expensive to visit a salon to even get your hair washed and its quite difficult to even find salons that can work with African kinky textured hair, I quickly learned how to take care of my hair and even progressed to doing my own sew-ins. Now I want to go further and start making these 3/4 wigs which I will mostly just sew to the perimeter of my head. I find these wigs more convenient since they are not sewn to every braid on the entire head. They are therefore not time consuming to sew in and also take off. I can therefore switch wigs as often as I want and be able to wash and condition my natural hair as often as possible as well. So I am prepping myself to make my wig tomorrow and I just pray that I do not ruin it. These are the items I had to purchase and as well find below  the link for the French company. However they can be bought from any local beauty store or any beauty shop online by just googling the item.

http://www.djene.fr/accueil-caaaaaaaa.asp
http://www.superbeaute.fr/

My "simple" Combination fried rice

So thanks to some little extra research, I have diverted from the traditional way of making fried rice. Before I would simply get a tiny pan, saute some onions and cabbage and then quickly mix it with the rice. Talk about lazy cooking. Those were the days when I hated spending more than 15 minutes in the kitchen but still craved for there to be some variety in my diet. Today I can proudly say that I can spend valuable time in the kitchen chopping and mincing to come up with something delicious, without feeling like I am being punished.

So what went into my so-called combination fried rice? Well all the ingredients are easy to find at any local supermarket.

Ingredients:

Rice

Chopped Cabbage

1 Bell pepper

2 eggs

One sliced onion

Chicken cut into pieces

Soy Sauce

black pepper

salt

Method:

The rice I used had already been cooked so I went straight ahead to the vegetables.

So in case you don't have already cooked rice, make sure you do so with salt  before starting the mixture.

I started with a table spoon of cooking oil (sunflower) which I heated in a wok for a few minutes then put in the onions to fry for a few minutes, added the cabbage and bell pepper, then the eggs. After that I  added the chicken and allowed the mixture to fry for a few minutes. I then sprinkled a teaspoon of black pepper just to give it some taste, then added the rice and soy sauce. Once the rice is added you have to mix it very well to ensure there are no rice lumps and the color is even. Having done that allow it to heat for a few more minutes and voila food is ready to be served.

So fellow food lovers if you are in for a quick home cooked meal. this is one of them. Wont take more than 12 minutes to be ready. Give it a try and let me know how it turned out.

I will be back soon with another sumptuous dish!!!

Simple Chinese stir fried noodles

So my long-term idleness which is a result of a long break from school has exposed me to new ways of keeping myself occupied so that I do not die of boredom. One of my favorite which is recipe searching and trying out various cuisines has actually become more helpful than I thought it would be. I can actually cook many different cuisines besides the usual traditional Ghanaian dishes that I hardly manage  to stay away from. This new diversion to some continental dishes (I must say very simple ones though) has actually given me the chance to try out different meals with different ingredients I initially would have never even dreamed of trying out. I am also doing my best to add a whole lot of vegetables which is an attempt to pursue this healthy diet craze that is catching on "worldwide". This evening I was browsing the internet as usual and found this sumptuous looking Chinese noodles and decided to list the ingredients and quickly get them from the grocery store. I know it may sound a bit like a cliche but I am a lover of Asian cuisine but I never really thought I was capable of preparing a meal by myself. Well tonight I did and would love to share with my fellow "Asian food lovers." Give it a try and share your thoughts and any new ideas on substitute ingredients or other different methods.

Simple Chinese Stir Fried noodles

Ingredients

• A pack of Chinese noodles (16oz)
• Oil (2 tablespoons)
• Minced ginger (1 tablespoon)
• Garlic Powder (1 tablespoon)
• 1 bulb of onion (sliced)
• 1 large carrot (sliced)
• Half a pack of sliced cabbage
• 1 bell pepper (sliced)
• 2 hot green pepper (chopped)  *optional
• 2 eggs
• Chicken filet (cut up into small pieces and steamed)
• Soy sauce (2 tablespoons)
• Vinegar (1 tablespoon)
• Hoison sauce (1 tablespoon)

Preparation

1. Set water to boil to cook noodles
2. When water reaches boiling point put noodles in the water and leave it to cook for not more that 5 minutes
3. Pour water out and wash noodles with cold water
4. Add a little bit of oil to prevent them from sticking together
5. Place wok or large saucepan unto to cooker and pour the oil to allow it to heat
6. Once oil is hot enough to fry, pour in minced ginger and allow to fry for a few seconds while stirring
7. Next add the garlic powder and allow it to fry for a few seconds while stirring
8. Now you can add the sliced onions and allow it to cook for one minute
9. Add the sliced hot pepper  and allow it to cook for one minute as well. At this stage you can cover the pan to allow the pepper to simmer.
10. Next add the bell pepper, carrots and sliced cabbage at 30 second intervals.
11. Do not forget to keep stirring to prevent it from burning
12. Now you can cover the pan to allow the vegetables to cook for a minute
13. Now push the combination to the side, crack the eggs and fry them on side by. They should be scrambled
14. Once the eggs are cooked mix them with the rest of the vegetables.
15. Now add the steamed chicken and allow to cook for 2 minutes
16. Add noodles to the preparation then add vinegar, Hoison sauce, soy sauce and black pepper then stir
17. Allow mixture to cook for about 4 minutes 
18. Meal is ready for serving