Eukay's Kitchen

Looking at the beautiful sky while I enjoyed the lovely weather, memories of my childhood kept flocking through my mind, amongst other things, I remembered how I used to love visiting Mama Dana just to have a taste of her yummy chin chins, even though my regular visits were quite disturbing, she seemed to have enjoyed my fairy tales while I watched her mix, knead, roll and fry her chin chins. Mama Dana was a distant neighbour who lived few blocks from mine, she was a caterer and our family friend too. While I watched every stage of her chin chin, I always asked questions like '' Aunty, how did you learn this?'' ''Is it difficult?'' ''Will I be able to make it when I grow up?'' Probably tired of my numerous questions she said to me on a fateful day, ''Young girl, there is no mountain greater than your mind.''  Inspired by Mama Dana's reply many years ago, I set out to make my own chin chins today. Chin chin is a ...

It's another weekend guys and people who know me well can guess that the weekends were made for me. On these days, I try to do something new or different. Today, I decided to make Groundnut (Peanut) stew. Even though this is not totally new to me, it's not an everytime kind of thing. According to the oxford dictionary, ''Groundnut is a north American plant of the pea family, which yields a sweet edible tuber.'' It can be eaten raw, boiled or roasted, it can also be used as a thickener for soup or stew or used as a paste for garden eggs and kola nuts. In Nigeria, people from different parts of the country use groundnut differently, for example, some people are new to the fact that aside boiling and roasting, groundnut can also be used to make stew or soup. In northern Cross-River Nigeria, there is hardly any home without groundnut. GROUNDNUT STEW DECORATED WITH SLICED SCOTCH BONNET  To make groundnut stew/sauce, you will need; Two cups of ...

Finally, it's weekend guys!!! Having had a stressful week, I know we all look forward to the weekend to unwind a little and get fuelled for next week's activities. But how do you intend to enjoy the weekend? Take strolls, have a party, or sleep through it? All these and more are wonderful, but how about trying something new, easy and delicious? something like homemade ICE CREAM. The good thing about homemade, meals or desserts is that you add or subtract whatever you wish. For example, my ice creams have no sugar or eggs in them, in fact, they are made from only three ingredients each. Below is the very easy process. WHAT IS NEEDED    Hand mixer (Electric or non-electric) A bowl 300 ml whipping cream 200 grams Sweetened condensed milk  Vanilla flavour ( This is for vanilla ice cream) 7 large Strawberries ( This is for strawberry ice cream) 150 grams of milk chocolate (This is for chocolate ice cream) 3 Airtight plastics Blender A spoon HOW TO...

Ogbono soup is no doubt one of Africa's finest delicacies, it is made from ground ogbono seeds and used as a thickener. One of the most fascinating things about this delicious soup is its slimy nature which enables the ogbono soup to go up, down and around a small ball of hand moulded eba/fufu  (swallow) ready to be swallowed. One can not also ignore how the use of assorted meats/fish and a selected vegetable of choice has made this meal a very special one. WHAT YOU NEED One hand full of ground ogbono Half a cup of palm oil Two tablespoons of crayfish or more Assorted meats  Dry fish/stock fish/frozen fish/fresh fish one scotch bonnet Salt to taste Seasoning cubes to taste Half onion bulb (optional) Vegetable of choice ( spinach, hot leafs, bitter leafs or pumpkin leafs)  HOW TO PREPARE Wash assorted meat and any fish of choice and put in a pot Add seasoning cubes, sliced onions, pepper and salt to the mixture above While meat/fish is boiling, pour the ...

Variety they say is the spice of life and indeed it is. Imagine a nice plate of white rice with a lovely sauce different from the usual tomato stew, wouldn't that wow minds and water mouths? One of Africa's finest is the ofada sauce usually eaten with ofada rice. The name ofada is from Ogun state in Western Nigeria where the brownish rice was first cultivated by a soldier who allegedly smuggled it from Asia. The ofada rice and ofada sauce are usually a must have in many parties in Western Nigeria. However, we can not all wait for a party to enjoy this delectable sauce; so why not bring the party home? This recipe is for ofada sauce. The ofada rice is quite difficult to get outside Nigeria so other rice species can be used as a substitute. WHAT IS REQUIRED? Green peppers (9) Scotch bonnet (3) Tablespoons of crayfish (2) A handful of da wa da wa (locust bean) Seasoning cubes (to taste) Salt  (to taste) Dried fish or smoked fish Shaki (cow tripe) Pomo (cow hide) Pa...

SAMPLE OF FRESH OKRO VEGETABLE ''Choose one and let us go please, I am tired'' I told my mum who would not simply pick any plate of okra portion at the Tinubu market in Lagos. We had walked 45 minutes turning round and round a very small market, I still couldn't understand why mum wouldn't just pick some portions and pay for them so we could go home and have our lunch, I was just too famished for all this , the scorching sun made it even worse, I stared at my mum and felt like strapping her on my back home, but she did not even blink twice at me. ''So madam, how much is this plate of okra'' mum asked another seller at the market ''I sell a hundred naira for one portion and two hundred naira for 3 portions, buying 3 portions is better'' the seller said and further advised.  ''Ok, I will be back'' mum said and left the sellers shade. At this point, I felt even worse. This was the fifteenth shop we had visited wit...

FINELY MADE MEAT PIES .......so, I finally pulled through yippie!!! Hi guys, this is my fourth attempt to make meat pie in the last two months. I always love to try something new and so I set out to make my first meat pie in January this year. I searched YouTube and got recipe ideas from different YouTubers yet all trials failed woefully.  My meat pies were too soft and stuck to my baking tray. However, I set out to make another set of meat pies in the same month, this time, they came out very hard, burnt and dry. I tried again the third time in February, trying really hard to make it work, unfortunately, it came out with a funny shape, looking dry and hard as indicated in the picture below. FAILED MEAT PIES REASONS MY MEAT PIES FAILED Feeling determined, I set out the fourth time to make another set of meat pies but not without trying to figure out the reasons I failed earlier; 1. I did not use any measuring scale. I tried to guess every measurement I used, thi...

Running out of meal ideas? or tired of the everyday rice, beans and swallow (eba, fufu, pounded yam amala etc)? You are not alone in this. A lot of people have totally exhausted meal ideas yet there is a kind of pressure to make tummies happy. Eukayskitchen has summed up some quick, easy and highly nutritious meals you can try out. POTATOES This is a starchy vegetable and part of the nightshade family (Solanaceae) amongst tomatoes, peppers, eggplants etc. Potatoes have been in the world for thousands of years. Over time, different potato species has been discovered and produced in many parts of the world. This vegetable could be baked, fried, boiled or mashed. It is healthy and highly nutritious, containing potassium, copper, vitamin C, dietary fibre etc. Potatoes can be used as a substitute for plantain or yam and it takes quite some time to get ready, one has to be sure that it is well cooked by piercing a fork through the potato to know if it is soft and ready for consum...

"Easy girl, why have you been so grumpy today?" Peter asked his younger sister Jamila as she banged the door on her way out of the car not minding him one bit, "come here Jamila, I am talking to you" shouted Peter, but Jamila did not say a word as she moved swiftly to her bedroom. Jamila and her Family had just returned from a family friend's birthday party and everyone except Jamila was so excited at the party especially because there was a lot of catching up to do with friends and distant relatives who were also present. No one could understand Jamila's mood swing, she was initially excited about the party but returned looking disappointed. she was not always like this, so dad decided to find out what was wrong with his little girl. " Jam-jam, my own baby girl, the last child of my noble clan, the crown that sits beautifully on my shiny bald head, talk to daddy, kilode (what is it)?" Dad always got away with whatever he wanted calling Jamila...

''Madam that onion is not properly chopped naa! can't you see that it's too big? I don't want the onions to be visible, chop it into smaller bits, or better still blend it first.'' These were my mother's words whenever I chopped onions to garnish our meal as a growing girl living in our family house. Mum hated onions so much that it had to be chopped into tiny bits or blended into any meal we prepared if at all. I and my siblings grew up toeing the same line, detesting the world's strongest vegetable, ONION. Finely Chopped Onion   Cut pieces of Onion Come to think of it, what is it about onion that some people detest so much? Is it the strong smell it leaves in ones mouth and hands after handling and consuming, or the tears it brings to the eyes when cutting ? Whatever it maybe, none of these reasons is good enough to ignore this palatable, highly nutritious and lovely looking vegetable especially as there are remedies to the aforementio...