A COLORFUL NIGHT: RED CURRY WITH YELLOW RICE & A GREEK SALAD

Happy Tuesday-ing like a friend of mine would say. * Shout out to you Angie :-) *

How about a little spice to start off your week.

I've always been a fan of the red-chicken tikka that is usually charcoal grilled, but last night I was in the mood for a stew yet I wanted that sharp red color too. So I figured I'd make my own spicy meal and created a red curry. Bought some very strong curry powder, a whole lot of veggies and some chicken thighs and made what you see below.

Never been a  fan of yellow rice yet I needed a vibrant plate and the yellow and red clashed so perfectly :-)

The meal was even more spicier than I expected, I guess I owe that to the extremely spicy curry powder I got and to think I got the mild-medium one..tsk tsk....so I figured a nice Greek salad would sooth things down since it was basically a grated cucumber and some yoghurt.

Ingredients:- serves 4

1 1/2 cup Jasmine rice

2 tablespoons turmeric spice

5-6 chicken thighs

3 tablespoons curry powder

Black pepper

1 packet tomato paste

3-4 tomatoes

1 cucumber

1 courgette

1 egg plant

1/2 cup Peas

1 green pepper/ capsicum/ hoho

1 tablespoon royco

1 tablespoon tomato red food color

3/4 cup maziwa mala/ buttermilk/ sour cream

2 onions

4 cloves garlic

Ginger

Vegetable/olive oil

Salt to taste

Start off by washing the rice. Chop 1 onion. Heat vegetable oil in a sufuria and add chopped onions to cook. Add the 2 tablespoons turmeric powder and cook for a few seconds before adding the rice and water.



















Follow by adding the rice, a bit of salt and 3 cups water and leave to cook for about 10 minutes. Once it is done, cover and put aside.

Wash the cucumber and grate into bowl. Press out all the water with your hands since the cucumbers carry a lot of water and we wouldn't want the salad to be watery.

Add natural yogurt, a bit of black pepper, a hint of lemon and some salt. This salad is very simple and slightly sour. The original recipe calls for Greek yoghurt which is a bit hard to find here in the Kenyan market. I used natural yogurt which works as well but I'm still on the hunt for a thicker yoghurt. Put aside.

 Start of by washing and chopping all the veggies except the tomatoes. Grate the tomatoes and put aside. In a sufuria heat oil with chopped onions, garlic and ginger. Follow by adding grated tomatoes and then tomato paste and curry powder.

Leave to cook while stirring continuously. After that add the chicken and cook for 5 minutes. Once the 5 minutes are up, add the chopped courgette, egg plant, peas and chopped green pepper.

Mix 1 tablespoon royco in a 1 1/2 cup water and add to the sufuria. Cover and allow to cook for 10-12 minutes.

 After that mix 1 tablespoon red color and maziwa mala and mix into the stew. Add a bit of black pepper and salt to taste.

Cover and cook for another 10 minutes for sauce to thicken. The beauty of chicken is that it cooks very fast so no need to overcook. The aim is to for all the ingredients to blend beautifully together and to release all their flavors.

Once it is ready, serve with yellow rice and the Greek salad in a small bowl separately.

ENJOY

And for those who were curious about my short two week hiatus, this is why, my bestie recently got married and I must say God is amazing!!! Here's a snippet of how it all went last Saturday.

Just look how stunning she was :)

Her and her love <3

Two of the bridesmaids :)

Me and my love with the bride and groom <3

Also I'll have you know:-

-I'm up to 7000+ pageviews-thankyou Jesus! and thankyou all for following and trying out my recipes.

-I'm now on Youtube, you can subscribe and check out the video here: CookingwithJaz

-I am officially on twitter on this account (@cookingwithjaz)

-I am also on facebook on this page "cooking with jaz"

-If you want to be featured on the "GUEST AND RECIPE OF THE WEEK" email me on "cookingwithjaz@yahoo.com"

-If you have tried any of my recipes, do tag me or send me the pics on any one of my social media pages

Have a lovely week :)

Sincerely,

Jaz.

JUICING DIARIES: ANOTHER GREEN SMOOTHIE: SPINACH & MIXED FRUITS

Hey beautiful people,

I'm so glad that many of you have joined me in juicing regularly.

I love seeing and trying out your suggestions, please keep em coming :-))

In the meantime, how about you try out this simple and energy packed green juice I made a few days ago.

Ingredients:-

2 heads spinach

1 banana

1 green apple

2 red apples

1 orange

1/4 watermelon

Wash and chop up the spinach and fruits.

 Use blender or juicer. Blend or juice for about 1 minute straight so that the juice is nice and smooth without big particles.

Serve or store in glass jar.

Health benefits of this juice:-

• The high nutrients content level in spinach helps in the creation of red blood cells and is an outstanding blood builder. So, you never become prone to anaemia.
• Loaded with Vitamin C, spinach juice helps cure bleeding gums.
•  Fights vision problems like night blindness and cataract with the presence of vitamin A and caretonoids in it.
•  Since spinach is rich in fiber, it helps combat stomach problems like colitis, ulcers, poor digestion and constipation.
•  Fights osteoporosis since the Vitamin K present in spinach helps anchor calcium in your bones, assuring healthy and strong bones.
•  Apples are great source of super antioxidants – polyphenol and flavonoids – that are beneficial for heart’s health. Furthermore, it provides your body the important mineral, potassium which is also crucial for heart. So, taking one serving of apple juice every day facilitates the heart to function properly.
•  One of the unique advantages of apple is that it contains flavonoids. This imperative nutrient is well-known to prevent asthma attacks. In addition, flavonoids play significant role in making your lungs strong and effectual.
•  The alkalinity in apples assists in cleansing the destructive toxins/waste by-products from liver in addition to maintaining the pH levels of body. 
•  Along with the other several benefits of apple juice, an important benefit is its assistance in lowering the cholesterol levels.
•  Bananas contain high fiber they help in the movement of the food in the digestive track which contributes to better digestion. Fibers also have the capacity to absorb water this softens the stool and prevents constipation.
•  A glass of watermelon juice everyday could reduce the risk of acquiring or worsening diseases such as osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma and colon cancer. Furthermore, since a watermelon is rich in antioxidants, it can preempt the development of kidney stones.
•  A watermelon is vital to obtain a low fat, low cholesterol diet. In fact, a glass of watermelon juice is enough or is considered a complete meal already. Watermelon also contains protein in addition to water, sugar and other minerals i.e., a balanced diet in every sense.
• You can improve your diastolic blood pressure by adding a glass of orange juice into your diet. Studies have found that orange juice contains hesperidin, a very healthy, water-soluble plant pigment. It improves the activity of small blood vessels bringing your overall blood pressure into balance and helping to decrease cardiovascular risks.  

Just a few of the amazing health benefits of drinking this juice. The more fruits/ veggies the more the benefits :-)) so juice up :))

Also I'll have you know:-

-I'm up to 7000+ pageviews-thankyou Jesus! and thankyou all for following and trying out my recipes.

-I'm now on Youtube, you can subscribe and check out the video here: CookingwithJaz

-I am officially on twitter on this account (@cookingwithjaz)

-I am also on facebook on this page "cooking with jaz"

-If you want to be featured on the "GUEST AND RECIPE OF THE WEEK" email me on "cookingwithjaz@yahoo.com"

-If you have tried any of my recipes, do tag me or send me the pics on any one of my social media pages

Sincerely,

Jaz.

MUST-HAVE SNACK: JAVA'S CHICKEN PIE

Hey lovely people,
First of all, my apologies for not posting any new recipes this past week.
It has been rather eventful and I did very little cooking and way too much take-out *sadly* and cereals for dinner *confessions :)))*

Anyway do expect some new sizzling and simple recipes coming up your way before the weekend.

As for now, I'll leave you with my "MUST-HAVE-SNACK" this week which is Java's chicken pie.
Yesterday evening as I waited for my boo, I was feeling abit hungry seeing I missed lunch. I was in the mood for something salty and not too heavy so I decided to give the CHICKEN PIE a try.
I was totally impressed by the pie crust that I must say is done perfectly. Tender and slightly crunchy, with not too much pastry but just enough to cover the chicken-veggie filling and to fold on the sides finished off with a brilliant and shiny coating.

Yap if you're looking for a good pie, try their chicken pie out and compliment it with a nice cold lemonade and a good book while you're at it.

That is all for today.
Go get it :))

Also I'll have you know:-

-I'm up to 7000+ pageviews-thankyou Jesus! and thankyou all for following and trying out my recipes.

-I'm now on Youtube, you can subscribe and check out the video here: CookingwithJaz

-I am officially on twitter on this account (@cookingwithjaz)

-I am also on facebook on this page "cooking with jaz"

-If you want to be featured on the "GUEST AND RECIPE OF THE WEEK" email me on "cookingwithjaz@yahoo.com"

-If you have tried any of my recipes, do tag me or send me the pics on any one of my social media pages

 

Sincerely,
Jaz

THANK YOU ALL!

Yes just this.
I guess its a week for the SEVENS. Also celebrating 700+ likes on my facebook page!

Thankyou all.
God bless you for supporting me.

#Liveoutthosedreams #Dayatatime

PANCAKES, STRAWBERRIES & SWEET LOVE

Hey lovely people!
New week, new mercies.

Thankful for the gift of life, family, friends, love and salvation.

Eager to see everything that God has instore for this Easter week.

So so much instore! Woop woop!

As for now-here is a sweet post to start off your week.

I had previously posted another pancake recipe here on the blog. Here is a quick reminder of sorts of how to make your pancakes extra thick and fluffy. And to top it off I made pickled strawberries and did away with the maple syrup.

 

Now I know you're wondering where will I get nice and juicy strawberries?? I really didn't like the small packs that had tiny strawberries that we usually find in most supermarkets but to my surprise I found some very big and juicy ones at Nakumatt Ukay for only 200 bob. And get this they're not even imported! 

How awesome! Just look at how beautiful they were! 

Do make sure you try this one out...

Ingredients:- Makes 10-12 

2 cups Self Raising flour
1 cup melted butter
3 eggs
250 ml milk/ 1 whole cup milk
2 tablespoons vanilla essence
1 teaspoon salt
Half a cup sugar
Fresh strawberries
Vinegar [white wine or apple cider]
Whipping cream in a can
Vegetable oil

Start off by washing and cutting all the strawberries. Place in a bowl. Sprinkle generous amount of sugar on top and some vinegar. Be careful not to add too much vinegar because if the vinegar you have chosen is too strong, the strawberry syrup will be too acidic. Cover and refrigerate until serving time.

Start off by beating eggs with the sugar. If you do this for a good 2 minutes straight, air is captured inside and the pancakes become fluffy and cook easily.  Follow by adding milk and the vanilla essence and beat once again.

 Add flour in bits while beating. At this point the batter is nice and smooth [not too thick and not too light]

Finish off by mixing in the melted butter. 

In a pan, heat vegetable oil and add a big spoon of the batter as indicated in the pic below. Do not move pan to spread the batter. Leave it to cook on one side as the top side bubbles. Once the bubbles have lessened after about 1 minute turn and cook the other side for about 30 seconds until it is browned perfectly. 

Do not worry about having thick undercooked pancakes. The beauty of this recipe is that when the batter is made right, and the heat is moderated, the pancake cooks well on both sides. 

Once you have made your batch of pancakes, remove strawberries from fridge.

 At this point, they have sucked up all the sugar with the help of the vinegar and are very sweet in taste. The vinegar and sugar also creates a very nice and tangy syrup.

Serve on a plate with whipping cream, melted butter and some the tangy strawberry syrup.

Enjoy.

Here is a snippet of my weekend. Celebrated a dear friend of mine who is getting married pretty soon. We held her bridal shower at a beautiful venue in Muthaiga called Kingdom garden. If you're looking for a quiet, serene and beautiful place to hold your event, this is definitely the place to have it.

Their service was great. The staff was friendly and fast. We had it in a lounge directly next to their gardens. The wooden floors, the well painted yellow walls and decor that matched with our "yellow and white" heavenly theme. 

The wonderful cake, cupcakes and cake pops were done by Heavenly delights which is a company that I highly recommend to anyone looking to fill their sweet tooth.

All in all, we love you Sheila and Kevin. 

Here's to love.

Sincerely

Jaz.