Stuffed Steak Flanks

I’m not a big fan of beef but once in a while I get the urge to indulge in something meaty. If Nyama Choma is available that would be my first option, but if I want a quick fix that I don’t have to monitor too much a good steak baked in the oven is the first option. This recipe is tasty and simple. Its great recipe to impress guests with, and it’s also a great recipe to make the family feel special and appreciated. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Ingredients:

-1/2kg beef steak flanks sliced to 11/2cm thick slices
-4 tablespoons soy sauce
-2 tablespoons steak spice (if you don’t have this use a mixture of garam masala and parsley or any of your favourite spices)
-½ teaspoon brown sugar
-1/2 a red pepper thinly sliced lengthwise
-4 spinach stalks
-150 grams button mushrooms thinly sliced
-7 tablespoons of oil
-200 g cheese grated cheese of your choice
-Toothpicks

Method:
-Preheat the oven to 175 degrees centigrade

-Mix the oil, soy sauce and steak spice mix. In a plastic bag put in the sliced steak flanks with the mixture, tie a knot and shake until distributed evenly. Put in a fridge and marinate for at least 2 hours to overnight.
-Once marinated lay one steak at a time on a chopping board, cover with a plastic polythene paper and beat with a rolling pin to tenderize.
-After tenderization lay the steak out and sprinkle a thin layer of cheese. After that lay spinach that corresponds to the size of the steak flank. Then arrange the strips of the red pepper and sliced mushrooms.
-Finally roll out the steaks with the stuffing firmly nested inside. To hold the rolled out steak flanks in place pierce firmly with toothpicks.
- Put on an oven dish and place in the oven for 30 – 45 minutes depending on how you like your steak done.
- When ready remove from oven and let it rest for 5 minutes. Serve with roast potatoes.

Best Lasagna Ever!

I’ve been off the grid lately, but I’m now back with a bang! And to kick things off I am sharing how to make lasagna. To be honest I have only heard of lasagna in movies and it seemed so exotic. I knew I could never make it in my mother’s house because I thought she would never approve but now in retrospect I don’t think she would have minded lol!

The first time I ate a lasagna was in an Italian restaurant and I think that’s when my love affair with pasta begun. But that being besides the point, my first lasagna was amazing. The way the pasta, ground beef and cheese came together was a wonderful marriage and ever since then I have been fantasizing about making my own lasagna.

Finally a long weekend presented itself and I decided to try it out. The recipe said 3 hours but I must have taken around 2 hours. Reason being I didn’t simmer my mince-meat tomato mixture long enough as a result even though my lasagna was tasty there was a slight tangy taste from the tomatoes which the simmering would have removed.

Anyhow check out this simple classic lasagna recipe. I used three cheeses but in my opinion all you need is Mozzarella cheese, the other cheeses are a nice addition. Also in the original recipe I used they mentioned Italian sausage which isn’t available locally so I just used normal sausage which also is a “nice to have.” I also used pasta sheets but once I had a lasagna where normal spaghetti was laid across the baking tray which I thought was really innovative. The surprising thing about this recipe was that the cheesy taste was not overwhelming the flavours married well together and achieved perfect balance. All in all Lasagna isn’t an expensive taxing affair but a real tasty labour of love.

My rookie lasagne, i had so much left over minced beef I just sprinkled it on the top with the parmesan cheese.

Serves 5

Ingredients
750grams mince meat

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

2 cloves garlic, crushed
4 large grated tomatoes

3 teaspoons tomato paste

2 (6.5 ounce) cans canned tomato sauce

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons white sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil leaves

1 tablespoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
6 Pasta sheets or 1 packet of spaghetti

12 lasagna noodles

1 egg (optional)

1/2 teaspoon salt

500grams mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Method

-Fry onions and garlic in a tablespoon of oil. When the onions are translucent. Add the mince meat and cook until well cooked
-Stir in grated tomatoes, tomato paste and water. Season with sugar, basil, 1 tablespoon salt and pepper. Simmer, covered, for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.
-In a large saucepan in boiling water cook and salt for seasoning cook the Spaghetti/ Pasta Sheets for 8-10minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water.
-Preheat oven to 190 degrees C
-To assemble, spread ½ the meat sauce in the bottom of a baking dish. Arrange 3 pasta sheets/ spaghetti lengthwise over the meat. Top with half the mozzarella cheese slices. Then spoon the other half of the meat mixture. Arrange remaining pasta sheets/spaghetti lengthwise then top with the remaining mozzarella. Finally sprinkle with Mozzarella cheese.
-Cover with foil ensuring it doesn’t touch the cheese. Bake for 25 minutes. Afterwards remove the foil and bake for another 25 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes then serve.

How to make home-made Pizza

Pizza is a food most people associate with eating out or ordering in. Its that yummy treat that you have once in a while when you have that craving for something cheesy with bread. Growing up most pizza I ate was in school. Though it was different from what was in the fast food joint I loved it because my parents didn’t believe in pizza but ugali. Then I went to boarding school abroad and when my friends and I couldn’t stand cafeteria food we would order in Pizza.

Now that I am older and more health conscious (read my metabolism has greatly slowed down) Pizza is something I eat 4 times in a year. Though in this age of “Terrific Tuesday” and sparse toppings, I often get disappointed when I buy Pizza. This spurred me to make my own with all my favourite toppings. I thought it would be hard task but it was a pleasant surprise that the dough was super easy to make and all I needed was instant dry yeast and all purpose flour, For my toppings I used all the leftovers in my fridge. The only thing I will change next time I make pizza is the flour. I read online that using bread flour gives it a “breadier” texture while all purpose flour gives a “chewy” texture.

Enjoy!

This is how my Pizza looked out of the oven. If you look closely at the sides I put foil on the base to prevent the Dough Sticking on the rack.

Serves 5

Ingredients

Dough
4 cups all-purpose flour/bread flour
1½ cups warm water
¼ cup oil
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon active dry yeast

Pizza sauce
5 tomatoes grated.
2 cloves of garlic crushed
1 tablespoon mixed herbs

Toppings (The only mandatory toppings the cheese otherwise go crazy on the toppings, I used leftovers)
Grated Cheese (I used pizza cheese, but feel free to use the cheese you like best)
2 chopped onions
250g Mince Meat (Precooked)
¼ Cup Sweet Corn
3 frankfurters thinly sliced
¼ pineapple finely chopped
3 slices ham
¼ cup mushrooms finely sliced
100g Bacon finely chopped

Method
-Put on your oven and let it heat at 175 degrees centigrade 
-In a bowl mix the warm water, yeast and sugar and let the mixture rest until the yeast foams up.
-Add the flour, oil and sugar and mix the dough until all ingredients are evenly distributed. Let the dough rest in the bowl covered with cling film as you prepare the tomato paste and topping.
-In a sauce pan put a tablespoon of oil and add the garlic. Cook until aromatic but not brown.
-Add the tomatoes and mixed herbs and cook until the tomatoes are tender this should take around 10 to 15 minutes. Let the tomato paste cool
-Roll out your dough and place it on the oven rack in which you will bake your pizza.
-Spread the tomato paste on the base
-Sprinkle all the toppings except the cheese.
-Sprinkle the cheese on the top
-Place the pizza in the oven at 175 degrees centigrade. Closely monitor so that the pizza base does not burn. It should cook in 20-30 minutes.

How to make Bhajias

I love potatoes especially any version of fried potatoes.  In as much fries, roast potatoes and lyonnaise potatoes will never go out of styl, once in a while there is need to jazz it up a bit.

I fondly remember bhajias from my childhood days. There was an old Arabic woman in the estate who would sell 1 bhajia for 2 shillings. It was so affordable and with 20 shillings you could get 10 humongous bhajias that were fried as you wait. They were served with a sauce called “ukwaju” which in my adult years I later learnt is tamarind sauce. The bhajias were so tasty and you would be such a social misfit if you didn’t have your plastic bag of hot oily bhajias in the afternoon during the school holidays.

I also remember bhajias being sold in Kenchic, a popular fast food chain in Kenya. The few times my Mum or big Sister would buy for me a packet of bhajias when we would go to town I considered  it a real treat. I remember wolfing them down fast for fear of my other sister asking me to share with her when I got home.

I’m glad that now I can recreate this treat. The recipe is really easy the only thing that you may have to go out of your way to find is Gram Flour. Also another trick to great bhajias that I have outlined below is putting the Potatoes in the frying pan one at a time, and not overflowing the pan. This way they will cook faster, crispier  and they won’t come out in one unsightly lump.

I hope you enjoy cooking and eating this as much as I did.

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 ½ cup Gram Flour
1 teaspoon Cumin powder/seeds 1 teaspoon
1 teaspoon Pounded Ginger/Ginger powder 1 teaspoon
1 small bunch Dhania/Coriander – finely chopped
Salt to taste
Pepper (optional)
Water to make the batter
10 potatoes thinly sliced
Oil for deep frying

Method

-Peel and slice the potatoes thinly. This is to ensure that when fried they cook all the way through. If sliced thick the potatoes might not cook all the way through. After peeling and slicing the potatoes drain well and set aside.
-To prepare the batter mix the gram flour, cumin, ginger, coriander, salt and pepper (optional). When they are all mixed add the water. Add a bit at a time to ensure that the consistency is slightly thick. If too thin then it will not coat the potatoes well enough.
-Add the potatoes in the bowl where the batter is and mix all to ensure that all the potatoes are well coated. As you start cooking you may notice that the batter may start thinning out, you can add more flour to maintain a thick consistency.
-As you fry the potatoes put the potatoes in the oil one slice at a time and don’t fill the pan with too many potatoes at a go. If you do they will all come out in a lump which is unsightly.
-Fry until golden and put them on a serviette to drain.
-Serve hot with a nice salad or as a snack with ketchup

Mushroom Pilaff Rice

Keeping in line with my theme of rice dishes, this is another well loved recipe. I first ate Mushroom Pilaff Rice in the cafeteria in my office. Unlike other spicy rice I had eaten this one had a distinct flavor because of the mushrooms. I personally love mushrooms so I thought it was heavenly and clever addition. Mushrooms also have a lot of nutritional benefits having nutrients found in both veggies and meat. It’s also full of anti-oxidants plus cancer fighting nutrients.

I then enquired as to why it was Pilaff and not Pilau, I was told a Pilaff is a spicy rice that does not have the full spice range of a Pilau. This recipe is very easy and quick the only ingredient that could be difficult to obtain are the button mushrooms but searching for them is well worth the effort. Enjoy!

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 cups of rice
200g Button Mushrooms
2 onions finely chopped½ cup peas (optional)
1 teaspoon garlic
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cardamom
½ teaspoon clove
4 drops soy sauce
Salt to taste
3 ½ cups hot water
3 tablespoons oil

Method

-Fry the onions, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and garlic until the onions are translucent.
-Add the mushrooms and start frying until you can smell the aroma. This should take 3-4 minutes
-Add the hot water, soy sauce and salt to taste and bring to a boil
-Add the peas
-Add the rice and allow it to boil until all the water is absorbed.
-Reduce the heat and cover with an airtight lid and let the rice finish cooking
-When ready serve hot with Chicken Stew.