PURPLE CABBAGE COLESLAW

Did you know that coleslaw is from the Dutch word koolsla which literally means "cabbage salad". We simply just call it slaw, a common salad that consists of, no surprise there, finely shredded cabbage. Dressing for the slaw can either be mayonnaise, vinaigrette or even sour cream. Toppings for coleslaw come in many options like onions, Bacon, carrot, pineapple, bell peppers and even herbs. Coleslaw is eaten as a side dish that accompanies barbecued meats, French fries, fried chicken and sometimes even potato salad. You can even add coleslaw to hamburgers, top on sandwiches or layer in chili. And if you don't have cabbage you can always substitute with broccoli to make broccoli slaw! I had made pineapple coleslaw last year so today I chose to use purple cabbage instead, it gives the slaw a vibrant color and intense flavour. Purple or white cabbage, which is your favorite slaw?

GINGER GARLIC BALSAMIC FISH FINGERS

I've never made fish fingers before and I really do not know why I never did, but am glad I made them. Totally delicious and warm and such spicy. Its the second last day of 2018! It just hit me and am here anticipating the coming year yet I already miss this year that is coming to a close. It's been a bit of a roller coaster with both the good and the bad, yet I cannot regret it. Well, back to fish fingers. I love how simple and fast this recipe is. Fish is not only delicious but full of nutrients like omega fats that are great for your body and health. You can choose to make the fish fingers spicy or just add herbs to have that earthy taste.

PILIPILI CHICKEN WINGS

Chicken wings are morsels of delicious bites that you can serve as a starter at a party or even at home for the family. If making for kids or even people who do not like chili, you can still make them delicious, though I love my wings with some kick. These wings are absolutely crunchy and moist on the inside, coating them with the flour gives them that texture. You can have fun and add more spices or create your own sauce to toss these wings with. Pilipili is a Swahili word that means pepper, whether green or red. Mostly in Kenya we add to salads like kachumbari, mutura a local street food. Everything just tastes better with chili and these wings certainly taste heavenly!

SWEET POTATO VIAZI KARAI

Sweet potatoes have always been my favorite vegetable to work with when it comes to having them as a breakfast option or main meal for lunch or dinner. I have made viazi karai  before but this time I used russet potatoes that do not need precooking.  Since then I thought why not make viazi karai with sweet potatoes! The results, AMAZING! Sweet potatoes are not only delicious but filled with lots of healthy nutrients that are actually good for your body. Besides simple starches, raw sweet potatoes are rich in complex carbohydrates, dietary fiber and beta-carotene (a provitamin A carotenoid), with moderate contents of other micro nutrients, including vitamin B5, vitamin B6 and manganese. You can make sweet potato fries, or even baked sweet potatoes. As you can see sweet potatoes are a very versatile vegetable that can be used in so many ways to create awesome dishes that the whole family will love. 

BANANA FRITTERS

A favorite breakfast or snacking option, banana fritters are sweet, filling and so easy to make you will be waking up feeling like making them everyday. A fritter is a fried food usually consisting of a portion of batter or breading which has been filled with bits of meat, seafood, fruit, vegetables or other ingredients. Fritters are prepared in both sweet and savory varieties. Fritters are extremely popular roadside snacks all over South Asia and are commonly referred to as pakora (pakoda) or bhajji (bhajia). In the south Indian state of Kerala, Banana Fritters are extremely popular and are known as Pazhampori. In Malaysia and Brunei, it is common for a type of fritter called "cucur" (such as yam, sweet potato and banana to be fried by the roadside in a large wok and sold as snacks. In the Philippines, egg fritters are called kwek-kwek (quail) or tokneneng (chicken), and squid fritters are called kalamares. These, along with shrimp fritters called okoy, and banana fritters called maruya are also sold in travelling cart or street side vendors. West African countries have many variations similar to fritters. The most common process includes the blending of peeled black eyed beans with peppers and spices to leave a thick texture. A Yoruba version, Akara, is a popular street snack and side dish in Nigerian culture.

SIMPLE APPLE CIDER GLAZE

Want to add great flavor to your sweet or savory treats? Why not try something other than sugar or chocolate glaze? Apple Cider Glaze is great for glazing turkeys, as well as roasted chicken and roasted turkey breast. You can also glaze doughnuts, cakes and even pour over savoury crepes.

NO COOK PIZZA SAUCE

I love homemade sauces, not only are they authentic and delicious but you can always play about with ingredients and make them your own. There are so many homemade pizzas that you can whip up in minutes, some you can cook, blend or even just whip up the ingredients in a bowl and spread on your pizza. I have made a cooked pizza sauce that was for my first ever home made pizza, loved how delicious it made the pizza. Today I decided to make something that was fast and does not need any cooking. No cook pizza sauce is for those days you are craving pizza and you do not have any cooked pizza sauce on hand. So excited about using this delicious pizza sauce on another homemade pizza, so look forward to that recipe soon. Have you made pizza sauce before? Cooked or no cook, what's your best sauce? 

GERMAN POTATO SALAD

This is one of my very best warm potato salads I have ever had. Crunchy, luxuriously fluffy and tangy at the same time. So easy to make and ingredients that are readability available in the market, this bacon potato salad is one dish that has become a hit in the house! I love warm salads, they are so comforting sort of like soup on a cold dreary day. Potatoes and bacon go so well together, well bacon goes great with anything really. I decided to use skin on potatoes just to add a touch or texture and also potato skins are healthy as well so include them more in your diet. This German potato salad you can have it as a side or eat as the main dish since it is that filling. 

PINEAPPLE RAITA

Raita makes a perfectly easy cooling sauce to cover your delicious spicy Indian dishes and add a touch of creaminess to any meal. I made this simple cucumber mint raita that pared well with my chicken curry dish. Pineapple raita is the perfect condiment to any spicy Indian curry and tastes best when chilled. Other fruit raitas include, Banana raita,  Mango raita, Guava raita, Grape raita, and Pomegranate raita. For best results use thick yogurt since the pineapple is heavy and wet,it will easily dilute the yogurt making it wet and not too delicious. You want the pineapple raita to be creamy and thick to enjoy it even more. For my green onion flat bread I served with a delicious onion raita that blended so well with all the flavors of the flat bread. This pineapple raita is fresh, creamy,spicy yet sweet at the same time. You will not want to eat Indian cuisine any other way or without a raita dip to accompany it!

MANGO GUACAMOLE

Add a tropical touch to your guacamole with mangoes that have started their season here in Nairobi. This guacamole is so delicious I practically ate up a whole bowl all by myself and I have no shame in that.It is that damn delicious! The best part about guacamole is that you can add pretty much any ingredients depending on what kind of texture you want. Want to add crisp and crunch try this bacon guacamole that was too good to have left overs. Want to give your guacamole a spicy taste? try this jalapenno pepper guacamole that was perfect for my fried dish. Some of the great nutritional values of guacamole comes mainly from the raw avocado and include  vitamins, minerals and fats, providing dietary fiber, several B vitamins, vitamin K, vitamin E and potassium in significant content. Avocados are a source of saturated fat, monounsaturated fat and phytosterols, such as beta-sitosterol. They also contain carotenoids, such as beta-carotene, zeaxanthin and lutein. Not only will you be getting great nutritional value from this dish, you will be enjoying the freshness and tangy flavor that comes with adding the ripe mangoes.

ORANGE BANANA WATERMELON FRUIT SALAD

Nothing beats fresh vibrant fruits filled with lots of crispiness and sweetness. A fruit salad is a dish consisting of various kinds of fruit, sometimes served in a liquid, either in their own juices or a syrup. When served as an appetizer or as a dessert, a fruit salad is sometimes known as a fruit cocktail or fruit cup. There are a number of home recipes for fruit salad that contain different kinds of fruit, or that use a different kind of sauce other than the fruit's own juice or syrup. Common ingredients used in fruit salads include strawberries, pineapple, honeydew, watermelon, grapes, and kiwifruit. Various recipes may call for the addition of nuts, fruit juices, certain vegetables, yogurt, or other ingredients. One variation is a Waldorf-style fruit salad, which uses a mayonnaise-based sauce. Other recipes use sour cream (such as in ambrosia), yogurt or even mustard as the primary sauce ingredient. A variation on fruit salad uses whipped cream mixed in with many varieties of fruits (usually a mixture of berries), and also often include miniature marshmallows. Rojak, a Malaysian fruit salad, uses a spicy sauce with peanuts and shrimp paste. In the Philippines, fruit salads are popular party and holiday fare, usually made with buko, or young coconut, and condensed milk in addition to other canned or fresh fruit. I love how vibrant and colorful fruit salads are since they incorporate different fruits with their own yummy bright colors. You can make the fruit salad as simple as you like or as complicated as you want. You can even use two fruits or even as many as 10 fruits. Have fun with your fruit salad!

POPCORN CHICKEN

You will be seeing a lot of chicken recipes this month,I ended October with this delicious Teriyaki Baked Chicken and I wanted more chicken! And more chicken you shall get! Before we get started on the recipe here's a bit of history about the Popcorn Chicken.Popcorn Chicken was invented by food technologist Gene Gagliardi, a KFC product consisting of small, "bite-sized" pieces of chicken that have been breaded and fried. It was test-marketed in the United States from March 1992, and had been launched nationwide by September 1992. It has been periodically available in KFC outlets. It was re-introduced in the US in 1998, and again in 2001. It was later re-introduced once again in 2015, under the name "KFC Popcorn Nuggets". The product is targeted at teenagers and young adults, young or old, you will find yourself nibbling at these delicious crunchy biting that just melt in your mouth! I had always wanted to cook these scrumptious bites but kept postponing, why? I have no idea. Now I'm like,where have you been all my life? Delicious, spicy, crunchy,what more would you want in a chicken dish?

WHOLEWHEAT AVOCADO NAAN

I always love Indian food and one of the most popular dishes is Naan or Indian flat bread that accompanies most curries especially chicken curry. And therefore today's recipe is Avocado Naan. Combining two of my favourite foods in the world. I love that Naan is usually soft buttery fluffy goodness that goes so well with sides and even main meals. Avocado makes these Naans so soft and delicious, you can skip the yoghurt when you use avocados since they lend that creaminess to your Naans. To make the Naans even more healthy I used wholewheat flour that is great for this recipe. 

VICHYSSOISSE SOUP

Soup Sunday is here with us and I'm going all French. With Vichysoisse Soup! Layered with rich flavour, velvety smooth and aromatic this soup is what you should be having almost daily. Vichysoisse soup is made of boiled and pureed leeks, onions, potatoes, cream and chicken stock. Traditionally the soup is served cold but can also be eaten hot. When cooking with leeks you need to clean them thoroughly since they tend to have dirt stuck in between tr stalks. Trim off the roots and tough green leaves, slit leeks length ways to the center, hold root ends and run under cold water to wash out the dirt. You can use coconut milk to add extra richness and a tropical flavour. I'm loving soups and I always look forward to Sundays when I get to make delicious soup. 

FRESH GINGER CARROT DRESSING

Make your salads great! With amazing dressing! I love how tangy, sweet and aromatic this salad dressing is. Salad dressings can be sweet, spicy, light or even thick depending on what you will be pouring over. Some of the types of salad dressing include thousand island dressing, wafu dressing, tahini, blue cheese, Italian, ginger, honey mustard, French salad among others. Dressings make your plain ol' salad exotic by upping the flavour and taste. Fresh ingredients with a little sesame oil to add that nutty flavour gives you this perfect salad dressing that will take you for several salads that you will prepare as starters, lunch or dinner. Add this to my pineapple coleslaw salad or even the avocado cucumber salad to add vibrant flavors that match perfectly

CHUNKY POTATO BROCOLLI SOUP

It's still cold here in Nairobi and soup is just the best way to curl on the sofa and watch Master Chef Australia, my favourite show, or you can watch your favourite movie. Either way you will enjoy this delicious chunky soup. I've become a bit obsessed with soup since realizing that they are healthy filing and most importantly delicious! When it comes to chunky soup, you can really decide to have it as the main meal since it is heavy and would go well with just a salad. 

ONION RAITA

In India raita is usually used to cool the palate especially since most Indian cuisine has a lot of spicy elements. I made my first raita and from then I have been hooked and wanted to try other flavour combinations. Raita is mainly a dip that can traditionally be served as a side dish with biryani, pilaf/pilau seek kabab or even paratha. In today's modern world raita is served as a sauce that goes well with salmon, tacos and even grilled chicken. It has also found its way as a dressing in pasta salads, budhaa bowls and even some salads. Since most of India is vegetarian you will find vegetable raitas like spring onion raita, tomato onion raita, carrot raita, pumpkin raita, potato raita, spinach raita, mint and peanut raita, beetroot raita, boondi raita among others. I had this onion raita with a delicious green onion flat bread that was just perfection in every way. I am looking forward to trying all other raita recipe as I try to eat my way through lovely Indian cuisines!

GREEN ONION FLAT BREAD

Have you ever tasted flat bread so fluffy, soft and delicious you didn't want to share? These green onions are exactly that and more. Flat breads are usually served as side dishes because they go so well with curries, dips and even chutneys. My very first Naan bread was a total hit and they went as first as they came to the table. I never knew any this else could top that but I have been proved wrong by the utterly awesome flavour combinations that you get from the green onions. They give this bread a fresh crunchy element that is just out of this world good! The aroma that cones from these breads as you cook them will just give you an indication of the kind of party your taste buds are just about to have! What is your favourite flat bread recipe?

SPICY BROWN SUGAR APPLE CHUTNEY

The burst of flavours that come from this chutney are just out of this world! Chutney is uaually a condiment that originated from India, specifically East India and comes from the word "chatni" which means strongly spiced. Chutneys usually consist of a mix of vinegar, sugar, chopped fruit and spices and are traditionally served with curried foods. There are so many different ways of making chutney. When it comes to spices you can use cardamom, ginger, all spice, cinnamon, nutmeg and even cloves. For the fruits you can use raisins, peaches, mango, apricot, tamarind and even most citrus fruits would work well. Herbs that you can add to chutneys include coriander and even mint. All these wonderful combinations of tart, sweet flavours and a touch of aromatic spice really compliments strongly flavoured dishes especially meat. Serve the chutney as a side to accompany curries, meats one even breakfast options.

ICED CUCUMBER SOUP

Hello soup lovers! It's Sunday and I have decided to make soup a weekly thing, so from now on we'll be having Soup Sunday! Homemade soups are totally delicious and utterly versatile. A chilled soup will make for a simple, Cook ahead starter for any dinner or lunch party. You can use chicken stock to make this soup but vegetable stock makes it great for vegetarians and even vegans, skip the buffer too and use coconut oil or olive oil. A quick tip when it comes to stocks especially homemade ones is to freeze in ice cube trays then once frozen solid you can pack the cubes in freezer bags. Then dilute them in water before using. That way you always have stock in hand to make your soups. Since this is a chilled soup, you can pour into a rigid plastic container, leaving head room for expansion, then label and freeze. To serve warm, just reheat, stirring frequently until heated through.