Sweet plantain fufu

We fry, boil, grill, roast, make into cakes, make into mosa, mix into puff puff batter.. So why not turn it into swallow? I gave it a try, and I'm glad I did.... If you are looking for healthier options and you want to be sure of what goes into your tummy rather than some processed flour that has mystery powder, why not give this a go?

Ingredients 

2 boiled medium sized ripe plantain (don't add salt)

1. Once properly cooked, put the plantain to a food processor then blend. (If you lucky to have a mortar and pestle, use it to pound).

2. Blend it very smooth and combined. 

Accompanied mine with spicy Nsala soup (white soup) 

Healthy scrumptious bulgur Pancakes

Bulghur (also known as bulgar, bulgur, burghul) is a kind of dried cracked wheat which still has a lot of its fiber intact so it can be very filling and very easy for the body to digest. Although it recently started gaining popularity in healthy food circles, it has always been common in Middle Eastern and Indian Cuisine.

It can be eaten in several ways, e.g. steamed and eaten with stew, prepared like a hot cereal (e.g oatmeal), cooked like jolly or fried rice.
Today it will be prepared as pancakes. If you are feeling adventurous, you can switch or add to the ingredients e.g add mashed bananas or honey.

INGREDIENTS
2 Tbsp Overnight Soaked Bulghur (Simply put 1Tbsp of bulghur in half a cup of water and keep in the fridge overnight)
1 Egg
Half a cup of milk (liquid milk, if using powder simply measure after you have mixed it)
2 Tbsp Whole Wheat
A pinch of salt
A pinch of ginger powder (optional)
A pinch of any ground pepper (cayenne, cameroun...optional)
1 Tbsp Sugar (Honey can be used if worried about Sugar)
Cooking Spray
*Baking powder can be added also, I didn't add any in this one as I wanted the pancakes to be dense    like traditional Nigerian pancakes

 PREPARATION

 Mix all the dry ingredients together.

Mix in the egg and milk.

 Mix in the bulgur

 You should have a mixture that looks like this.

 Spray your pan. Use a non stick pan and place on heat.

 If you like a wide pancake pour in half of your mixture under low heat.

 When air bubbles start to form gently flip over with a spatula.

 In less than a minute it should be ready as the other side cooks real quick.

Serve with any fruits of your choice.

MACKEREL LOADED GARDEN EGG SAUCE

Garden eggs, a variety of the egg plant is popular as a vegetable snack in a lot of African countries and people eat it on its own or with peanuts/peanut butter.
The sauce is truly beautiful and is popularly eaten with boiled yams, boiled plantains in West Africa. There is also a version that is eaten with swallow meals which we will explore in future.

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INGREDIENTS
15-20 Pieces of Garden Eggs
1-2 Medium Mackerel Cooked/Roasted, deboned and flaked
Onions, chopped
Ata rodo (scotch bonnet peppers)
Spring Onions, sliced
Ground Cray fish, about 2 tbsp
Seasoning cubes
Palm Oil
1 cup of water

*Ingredients can be adjusted for personal preferences, you could use more or less onions, chunky rather than flaked fish, bits of meat, whole dried shrimps and cowskin can also be added for a more robust sauce.

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METHOD

Chop off stalks from your garden eggs and cut into quarters or more for the bigger pieces.

Heat up some palm oil in the pot you want to cook with. 1 cooking spoon of oil or more will be needed as the garden eggs soak up the oil.

Add all your chopped and sliced ingredients beginning with the onions and ending with your garden eggs. Also add your seasoning cube.

*A lot of people would be more familiar with the other cooking method which requires boiling and mashing the garden eggs and other vegetables before frying. This method is just as effective and even faster. Also your vegetables get the opportunity of cooking in the sauce which makes it more flavorful.

Stir fry for a bit and add your ground crayfish. Allow the flavors to combine well.

After simmering for about 5 minutes, add the water and cover so the garden eggs can cook and soften. This should be under 10 minutes.

What do you think? Our garden eggs are all soft and they had the opportunity to absorb more taste since they pretty much cooked in sauce.
At this stage, it can be mashed with your cooking spoon right there in the pot. I like mine a little chunky so I'm not doing much mashing.

Add your mackerel, stir and taste for salt in case you need to add more. Cook for another 5 minutes and it's ready.

I served mine with home made boli/bolé (roasted plantains).
Give it a go and tell us what you think.