MEXICAN: CHICKEN TACOS WITH SPICY RICE & BEANS

Hey everyone,

Happy Thursday!

The weekend is almost here and what is more perfect than some homemade chicken tacos for dinner.

They're sooooo good and even easier to make.

If you're like me, Kenyan and living in Kenya, you know that Mexican restaurants are not as common here. I think the only place I've had a taste of Mexican cooking is at the Java coffee house since they serve burritos and fajitas with beans and rice. I almost always order the same meal when I go there. So I figured, why not make the same at home for me and the hubz.

Ingredients:- (Serves 4)
1 Packet 8 soft tacos [I bought them at Nakumatt Ukay]
500gr Beans <approx 3 cups>
3 boneless chicken breasts
3 onions
2 tomatoes
1 red hoho/capsicum
1 green hoho/capsicum
7 cloves garlic
Mixed lettuce
4 avocados
1 chilli pepper
Edam/ Cheddar cheese
Black pepper
Curry powder
Pilau masala
Cayenne pepper
Soy sauce
Royco
2 cups rice
1 lemon

For the Beans:-

I had previously boiled them the day before for about an hour. The tricky thing about beans is that most times they are either too hard or too mashy. To avoid both, monitor them well as they cook and stir regularly.

>Peel and chop 1 onion and 4 cloves garlic and put to cook in a sufuria/ saucepan with a few tablespoons olive oil. <You can also use vegetable oil>

>Wash and and grate two tomatoes and add to sufuria/saucepan.

>Follow by adding 1 tablespoon curry powder and tomato paste. Use a little bit of water so that the paste doesn't stick to the sufuria.

>Add pre-boiled beans and mix well

>Add 5 cups water with one tablespoon royco and leave to cook slowly over a moderate heat.

>Stir occasionally and allow to cook for about 1 1/2 hrs

> When the beans are almost done season with salt, black pepper and some chopped chilli <optional> and cook for another 10 minutes

For the rice:-

>Use double cups water per cup rice. Use a tablespoon olive/vegetable oil. Season with salt, pilau masala and a hint of turmeric powder for color.

For the tacos:-

>Preheat oven to 180 degrees

>Grate some edam/cheddar cheese and put aside

>Peel and chop avocados and mix with 1 chopped onion, a hint of salt and the juice of half a lemon <The lemon helps the avocado not to oxidize and turn black. Refrigerate>

>Peel and chop 1 onion and 3 cloves garlic and put to cook in a sufuria/saucepan.

> Chop chicken breast in small chunks and put aside.

>Wash and chop red and green capsicum/hoho and add to the sufuria/sauce pan to cook.

 

>Shortly after add the chicken chunks

>Season with salt, black pepper and a dash of soy sauce<approx 4 tablespoons> and leave to cook. <The aim is for the chicken to be juicy but we do not want a stew so no water is needed>

> Once chicken is done, remove from heat. Follow by placing soft tacos on a greased oven tray and start by putting the cooked chicken and top it with grated cheese.

>Put in oven to cook until the cheese is melted for about 3-5 minutes.

> Once they are done, top them with mixed lettuce and guacamole.

When serving, put a portion of rice, beans and the tacos on the side of the rice so that they don't drain the sauce from the beans. Serve when folded <see picture below>

Enjoy :-)

Also I'll have you know:-
 -I'm up to 16000+ pageviews-thank you Jesus! and thank you 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"
-You can also find me on instagram under the handle, "@cookingwithjaz"

-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.

3 MEALS: ONE KEY INGREDIENT: SPICY SAUSAGES

Hey lovely people,

First of all, I pray your week has started of well.

If you love breakfast as much as I do, you must love spicy sausages. I usually buy the farmers choice brand and have come to use them in many ways in my kitchen.

At first I only made them for breakfast or as a snack until I began to experiment and funny enough, these are now key meals in our home.

Have you ever watched the program "chopped" that comes on the food network? If you haven't seen it, you must! Its addictive and very original. It features 4 chefs [mostly amateur and sometimes professional] competing for a sum of money, by making the entree, main course and dessert. The flipside though is that they are presented with very interesting ingredients on every round. Let me call them "somewhat strange" ingredients. Sometimes they get salty ingredients for dessert and sometimes sweet ones for the entree and main course. Its amazing how "out of the box" the meals are since everyone does the coolest and weirdest things with the same ingredient and that is how they stand out in the end. 

So think of this as chopped, instead of the usual sausages and toast for breakfast, you can use these same sausages and make them in a funkier way.

>To start with, have you ever had SCOTCH EGGS
  This is one of the easiest ways to incorporate spicy sausages in a different way for breakfast. Check the full recipe on the link below:
http://cookingwithjaz.blogspot.com/2014/03/bachelor-meal-of-week-spicy-scotch-eggs.html

>How about SPICY MEAT BALLS
I absolutely love meatballs and the hubby does too so I make them every now and then. Below is a recipe that works perfectly for me and I absolutely love how the spice in the sausages gives them so much more flavor apart from the beef.
http://cookingwithjaz.blogspot.com/2014/02/spicy-pork-beef-mini-meatloaves-with.html

>Lastly SPICY BAKED PASTA
This is my favorite since I make pasta at home almost twice a week. Gimme spaghetti, gimme maccaroni, gimme tortellinis, but just gimme pasta in any shape or size.
 Here is a simple recipe to try out and enjoy.

Ingredient (Serves 3)
5 Spicy sausages
Pasta about 300 grams
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
1 large Red hoho/ capsicum
1/4 cup tomato paste
1/2 cup Cooking cream
1 tablespoon royco
Cheddar/ edam cheese
Oregano
Basil
Olive oil

>Start of by boiling some water for your pasta. Once it has boiled, add the pasta, a hint of salt and oil and leave to cook for 10-12 minutes. Once it is done, drain the pasta in a colander and put aside.

> Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

>In a pan, cook the spicy sausages for about 5 minutes. Once they are halfway done, but hard enough to cut, allow them to rest for a few minutes, then cut them in large chunks.

>Grate the cheese and put aside.

>Peel and chop onions and garlic. Wash and chop the red hoho/capsicum and set aside.

>In a sufuria, put chopped garlic and onions to cook with olive oil. Shortly after, add the red hoho and allow to cook. Follow by adding the tomato paste and spices except the royco. I like allowing the spices to cook at the beginning before adding the protein so as to remove any bitter taste. Use a little bit of water so that the spices and paste don't stick to the bottom of the sufuria. Add the chopped sausages and allow to cook. Follow by adding cooking cream and 1 tablespoon royco in 1/2 cup water and seal with a lid.

>After about 5-7 minutes, when the sausages have picked up all the flavors in the sufuria and the sauce has thickened, add the drained pasta and shredded cheese and mix well for about a minute. Remove from heat and add a bit more cheese and bake for 5 minutes until cheese has melted.

Simple, fast and sooooo good! 

<Note: This recipe doesn't work the same with normal sausages since the spicy ones have so much more flavor.>

So there you have it, 3 ways to make nice meals with spicy sausages as the key ingredient.

Also I'll have you know:-
 -I'm up to 16000+ pageviews-thank you Jesus! and thank you 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"
-You can also find me on instagram under the handle, "@cookingwithjaz"

-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.

RED VELVET

Hey lovely people,

Hope you're enjoying this holiday season! Here is a little something to brighten up your day.

If you love cake, then you must love red velvet. The following is a timeless recipe, one that  I've used countless times and its never failed me.

The good news is that its very easy to make.

Also I'll have you know that you can make this recipe in two ways, baked into a cake, or into 24 cupcakes.
What I love the most about this cake is that its not an overly sweet cake because it has a slightly sour taste. Most people mistake red velvet with just any ordinary red cake. I especially hate going to some coffee shops that claim to serve red velvet but it ends up being a stale red cake. Red velvet is not just about the color but about the taste and texture and here's how to make it.

Ingredients:-

For the cake
2 1/2 cups self raising flour
3 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 tablespoons vanilla essence
2 teaspoons soda bicarbonate
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup maziwa mala (buttermilk)
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 tablespoon red food color [either bright red or tomato red]
Margarine [blueband] to grease your tin before baking

For the icing
200 gr Cream cheese
100 gr Icing sugar
200gr Unsalted Butter
4 tablespoons Milk
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

For the cake
Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
So start of by beating the eggs in a large bowl. Beat for about 1 minute. This enables the eggs to trap in the air which will help the cake in rising. Follow by adding the sugar and oil and beat well.
In a separate bowl, sieve the flour and mix with the cocoa powder and put aside. Once that is done, add the vanilla essence, soda bicarbonate and the apple cider vinegar and beat well. In a cup, mix the red food color with a tablespoon milk, and then add the rest of the milk and maziwa mala and add to the mixture. I have found this to work well as opposed to adding the color directly to the mixture which makes the cake bitter.
Finish of by mixing in the flour at a low speed until the entire mixture is blended well. Do not overbeat.

Use margarine to grease your baking tin and dust with flour before adding the batter to bake for 30-35 minutes. If you're making cupcakes, spoon the batter into the cupcake liners and bake for 12 minutes.
Note: Do not open the oven unless to remove the cake once it is done, since the air will escape and your cake might not cook well in the center.

For the icing
Beat the butter and cream cheese together in a bowl. Add milk, vanilla essence and the icing sugar and beat well until smooth.

Remove from oven. Insert a toothpick or knife in the center and if it comes out clean then you'll know that your cake is ready. Place on a rack to cool down. [Do not refrigerate]

Once the cake or cupcakes have cooled down, ice them with the cream cheese frosting.

You can also serve with fresh strawberries. Enjoy ;-)

Shout out to I6 Photography for taking the cupcake pictures a little while ago. Like I said, its a timeless recipe.

As always, I'll have you know:-

-I'm up to 15000+ pageviews-thank you Jesus! and thank you 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"
-You can also find me on instagram under the handle, "cookingwithjaz"

-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.

CHICKEN COCONUT CURRY

Hey guys! 

Its 3 days to Christmas. Hope you all have your trees and decor up! I certainly do. I love how glorious Christmas is. I love celebrating Christ daily and a holiday to do just that is truly a plus. I'm super excited to spend my first Christmas married to the hubz. I'm thankful to God for life, salvation and for each and every one of my loved ones. I'm also extremely thankful for the growth of this blog and for open doors and all the closed ones that God has guarded us from.

So yes on to food things! I have been meaning to make a meal using coconut milk. I love how diverse of an ingredient it is, used in indian food, swahili dishes, and even thai cusine! I had some chicken thighs and a can of coconut milk so I decided to make a spicy meal yesterday together with some rice and steamed veggies. I also asked the hubz to buy some nans from one of our favorite Indian restaurants that complimented this meal perfectly.

Ingredients [serves 4]

Chicken [6 thighs/ 4 breasts cut in big chunks]

2/3 can coconut milk

140 gr tomato paste [two packets tomato paste]

1 onion

4 cloves garlic

1 tablespoon chopped ginger

Dhania

1 tablespoon royco

Olive oil

Salt

Black pepper

2 tablespoons chicken masala

2 tablespoons curry powder

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 yellow/red hoho/ capsicum

1 courgette

1 1/2 cup rice

1 packet mixed veggies [sliced carrots, french peas, brocoli]

Start of by cooking your rice. [Remember its double the cups of water per cup rice so in this case 3 cups of water for 1 1/2 cups rice] I used a rice cooker with a steamer so I used the lower part to cook the rice and the to part to steam my veggies. Season veggies with olive oil, black pepper and salt and leave to cook with rice.

For the chicken, peel and chop onions, garlic and ginger and cook them with olive oil in a sufuria.

Add the chicken masala and curry powder and allow to cook. <Use a few tablespoons water just incase the spices start to stick to the bottom of the sufuria.> Add the tomato paste and also allow to cook with the spices. Wash and chop the yellow pepper and courgette and add to the sufuria. 

Shortly after, add the coconut milk, a hint of salt and allow to cook with the spices and veggies.

After a few minutes, add chicken and leave to cook.

Mix 1 tablespoon royco, cayenne pepper, black pepper in a 1/4 cup water and add to the sufuria. Finish of with adding the dhania/coriander and seal with lid. <By adding it in the end it gives the curry a boost of flavor>

Allow to cook for another 15 minutes. Note that white meat tends to cook very fast. Make sure that the sauce is thick and light brown color.

 Remove from heat and serve with rice, nan and steamed veggies.

Enjoy.

As always, I'll have you know:-

-I'm up to 15000+ pageviews-thank you Jesus! and thank you 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"
-You can also find me on instagram under the handle, "cookingwithjaz"

-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.

DATE NIGHT: ROMANCE & THREE COURSE MEALS

Hey guys, 

Hope you're all well in the Lord :-)

Before I start, I'll have you know that our wedding video is up on Youtube. If you weren't able to attend our wedding, we thought we'd share a clip about how the day went.
Thank you to everyone who made the day extra special. We truly bless God for each one of you.
You can find the video on the link below:
Jasmine + Daniel

Back to food, thought I'd write a post about dining in on those special date nights. Husbands, this is the part you start taking notes ;-) If you're looking to spice up your love life over a romantic dinner without it costing you an arm and a leg then this is for you.

Last night was our weekly date night. Me and the hubz vowed to make an effort every single Wednesday or basically once every week to go on a special date. It could be dinner at a new restaurant or dinner at one of our favorite spots or a movie, etc but yesterday we decided it was going to be indoors since we couldn't decide where to go. I told the hubz to take me home and we'd still make it extra special by me making a nice three course meal. 

We started of with a simple snack of roasted chicken potato crisps and macadamia nuts. <Just a small portion, the idea isn't to fill up before the appetizer>

Ingredients:-
Fresh bread/ Baguette <I usually buy a fresh loaf/ roll at The Bakery at the Shell Petrol station in Westlands for about 120 Ksh>
Steak slices <Preferably the tenderloin, ask your butcher to give you softest part of the cow>
Fresh salad in a pack <retails in Nakumatt and Uchumi for 80 Ksh>
1 can Sweet corn <retails at about 130 upwards depending on the brand>
Balsamic vinegar <retails at about 400 upwards>
Extra virgin olive oil
Vegetable oil
2 Tomatoes
Sandwich cheese sliced <retails for about 230 upwards depending on the brand>
Pesto <retails for about 300 upwards depending on the brand>
Plantain < large bananas commonly used in West Africa>
1 Zucchini <also known as courgette >
Dried parsley
Black pepper
3 garlic cloves
Fruits < I used watermelon and nectarines>

Note: Remember that these are ingredients you can use more than once so it would be very good investment for your kitchen.

For the Appetizer: Pesto bites  

Heat oven to 180 degrees.

Cut bread and tomatoes in slices.  Apply pesto on the slices and put cheese and tomatoes on the top. Sprinkle some parsley and olive oil and put in a oven for 5 minutes.

 

For the main course: Steak, fried plantain & zucchini with a garden salad

Start by peeling the plantain and slicing it. Wash and slice courgette.

Heat vegetable oil in a pan and once it is hot, fry plantain and courgette slices. Once they're cooked, remove them from the oil and place on a plate with kitchen tissues/serviettes to drain out the oil.

Wash salad greens and put aside.

Follow by slicing steak in large strips. Peel and chop garlic and put to cook with olive oil on a grill plate/ pan. Add steak slices and season with salt and black pepper.
Bonus tip: Steak is cooked last because meat tends to dry up when kept for long before serving, serve when juicy and hot>

For Dessert: Fruit platter
Wash and cut up the fruit.

Plating
Place pesto bites and fruit neatly on two separate long plates.
Sprinkle some olive oil on the pesto bites before serving.
On a fancy plate <cause remember its date night> place fried plantain and courgette on top. Follow by placing the salad greens with a handful of sweet corn on top and drizzle with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Lastly place the steak slices and serve. < Optional-You can sprinkle some sea salt on the top of the steak before serving>

For the married, enjoy with some well lit candles, some music, a good glass of wine or juice and finish it off with the fruit platter.
Above all, enjoy each others company, take time to discuss your passions and plans together. You may be married but you can still date your spouse until you're old and grey.

For the singles, this could be an awesome meal to impress your friends or it could serve as practice for the future :-)

As always, I'll have you know:-

-I'm up to 13800+ pageviews-thank you Jesus! and thank you 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"
-You can also find me on instagram under the handle, "cookingwithjaz"

-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.

MY SATURDAY GRILL

Hey lovely people,

Its a sunny Thursday and God is good, so why not have a good meal to finish of this week on a 10!

So since I got married, I'm all about cooking for the hubz daily. I have so many recipes that I want to try out just to make him happy since he absolutely enjoys my cooking. Although I'm also trying to be careful with the content of fat in the meals I make. I'm incorporating a lot of vegetables, fruit and fiber in our diet. We both love fruit and veggies so its easy when I throw a whole bunch of them together for supper because we really enjoy them. My aim though is always to make my meals flavor-full no matter what ingredients I use. If you're a Kenyan like me, you most probably grew up eating watery stews and are probably not a believer that veggies can actually taste good. THEY CAN but only if they're cooked right. I always look for ways to cook them well, either by stir-frying, grilling or steaming them. The aim is not to overcook or over boil them because they loose their nutrients and taste in the process. I also try to get spices and sauces that don't overpower the natural sweetness of the veggies. So here's a recipe to a meal the hubz and I enjoyed a few days ago. I basically threw in just about everything.  I used white meat, lots of veggies, and opted for olive oil instead of vegetable oil so healthy is an understatement. We are pretty blessed to live in a country where we can enjoy a large variety of fresh vegetables all year through. So visit your local market before the weekend, stock up and try this at home.

Ingredients

4 chicken breasts/ thighs

4 garlic cloves 

1 red onion

ginger

1 courgette

1 green capsicum/ hoho

1 yellow capsicum. hoho

1 celery stick

3 carrots

2 fuji/ pink lady apples

6/7 potatoes

Coriander/ Dhania

Olive oil

Salt

Black pepper

Cayenne pepper

Oregano

Parsley

Worcestershire sauce

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees. Peel and slice onions, garlic and ginger. <Put garlic aside> Peel, wash and slice apple, potatoes and carrots.Wash and chop up celery, capsicums, courgette and coriander. <Put coriander aside.>

Cut up the chicken breasts in half. Grease an oven tray with olive oil. Mount all the ingredients together and sprinkle oil, salt, a generous amount of Worcestershire sauce and spices over them. Finish of with placing chicken breasts scattered on the tray. Add the chopped coriander on top of everything.

Make sure the veggies and chicken are smothered in a bit of oil and spice. Put in oven to grill in the middle of the oven for well regulated heat. Time 40 minutes and allow to grill.

Make sure to check and turn ingredients every 10 minutes so that they can cook evenly. 

15 minutes into cooking, add the chopped garlic on top to give the grill a boost of flavor.

Serve with white rice.

Its really that simple! The sweetness of the vegetables and the fruit and the spiciness of the chicken blend perfectly.

Enjoy