Cooking For KnK

Tasty spicy meals for the Hubby 

[cookingforknk]

A return to the Pot

I can't believe it's been almost 2 years since i posted.

Well I'm back.

What has changed:

I don't often cook for K or for myself, but i cook a ton for baby NK.

What has stayed the same:

NK is turning 3 in about 3 weeks and he is still mildly allergic to eggs and peanuts. We do allow him a bite (he enjoys them quite a bit) every now and again. He just itches a little but nothing major, so we indulge him.

So whats newly different:

NK experienced two incidents of severe allergic reactions last month. His eyes were red and got swollen, coupled with violent sneezing fits. As a result we are trying to figure out if it has to do with spice or msg or some flavour additive. Our current restrictions: no cereal (cheerios, wheatabix), no goldfish crackers (one of his favourites) and all meals AND snacks cooked by me. Whew.

My cooking days are Sundays and Wednesdays and i like to preplan and batch cook to make life easier for this working mama.

My friends and i have also been sharing recipes on a WhatsApp group so im looking forward to posting some of those recipes when i test them out.

So welcome back to me.

Let's get cooking and documenting!

[cookingforknk]

Egg Less Birthday Celebration!

Baby NK can’t eat eggs. 

I know this for a fact but I got further confirmation this past Wednesday, which was his birthday.  I gave him a lunch of boiled eggs to go with the customary mashed yam (etor) used to celebrate birthdays. 

He tooore the yam and palmoil mash up. I could have added tuna or sardines but I said let’s take a ride on the wild side and try some of the eggs. He ate maybe a third of the boiled white of the eggs.

But Thursday he had the beginnings of allergic eczema flare up on his face, his elbows and his belly. Sigh.

Funny enough i actually made him a breakfast that was totally eggless and yummy. 

For Breakfast I made Crepes. These were the lightest “crepiest” egg free crepes ever. Normally I make egg free pancakes, I use bananas, however I just wanted a simple non banana pancake since I wanted to bake a banana bread.

Egg Free Crepes

Ingredients

3 cups All purpose flour

3/4 tsp salt

3 tbsp sugar

1 1/2 Cup water

1 1/2 Cup Almond milk ( I used coconut milk)

3 tbsp Coconut Oil ( some for frying)

1 1/2 Vanilla extract

Preparation.

Combine all ingredients and mix till smooth. You can use a blender. 

Refrigerate at least an hour or overnight.

Fry and serve with fun and yummy fillings

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I filled his with apple butter and some with condensed milk. He happily chomped down 2 whole pancakes! whew, what a start to a birthday.

Double Chocolate Nut Banana Bread

The recipe was from an instagram account: theallergenie. Super easy and to the point.

Dry Ingredients

2 Cups flour            

1 tspn bicarbonate of soda     

3/4 tspn of baking powder

3/4 tspn of sait

3/4 cup of Cocoa Powder

Handful of chopped walnuts ( I subbed for chopped raw cashew and almonds)

Handful of chocolate chips ( I just broke up a piece of chocolate)

Wet Ingredients

3 large mashed bananas

1tbsp White wine vinegar

1 tspn Vanulla extract

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup brown sugar

Add water to loosen about 1 cup

Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl and mix wet ingredients( with half the water) in a separate bowl. Mix the two to combine ( do not over mix). I would add the rest of the water now. 

Pour into a greased bread tin and bake for 35 mins at 180degrees. Turn oven off and leave for further 10 mins.

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Super delish and I also poured some into 2 ramekins to bake as birthday muffins.

[cookingforknk]

Goan Fish and Prawn Curry

I got a fresh consignment of grouper from my auntie and decided i needed to cook some fresh fish. I don;t like cooking fresh fish, the smell from the fish nauseates me. I however pushed through with this and i made a delightful dish.

I loved it but the hubby hated it. I think it was the coconut milk, it made it a touch too creamy. 

For The Curry 

1 Tbsp coconut oil or vegetable oil 

1 onion, finely chopped

 2 garlic cloves, crushed 

1 inch fresh ginger, grated 

2 tomatoes, diced fine 

1 c coconut milk (regular or light) 

½ c water 

2 mild green chilies, cut into strips

 ¾ lb firm white fish (pollock, cod, haddock), cut into 1 inch pieces 

Instructions 

In a large saucepan, heat 1 Tbsp of oil over a medium high heat.

 Add the onion and sauté until lightly golden, 3-4 min. 

Reduce heat to medium and add the garlic, ginger, and spice mixture. 

Cook, stirring constantly, until the spices are fragrant, 1-2 minutes. 

Return the heat to medium high. Add the tomatoes and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated, 3-5 minutes. 

Mix in the coconut milk, water, and chilies. Bring the mixture to a boil. 

Reduce the heat to medium and simmer, uncovered, until the sauce thickens slightly, about 10 min. 

Add the fish, and cook until opaque and firm, 5-7 min.

I added shrimp to mine cos i’m extra and I was cooking for my husband. Overall, 7/10 but more for me than for the N and K.

[cookingforknk]

Hurray for Hummus!!!

There is a deep sense of satisfaction that comes with scooping finger heads of hummus and shovelling them into your baby's mouth with him slurping it down without hesitation and without complaint. 

I experienced said satisfaction this past weekend. 

I had purchased two cans of Chickpeas a while ago and had told myself i would finally make hummus. 

Hummus, the easiest of the middle eastern treats to make. Packed full of goodness from the garbanzo ( Chickpeas) and easy to snack on, it was a dish that I always loved having whenever someone offered, but I had never really looked up the recipe. The instructions are offensively easy: basically blend everything and add oil!

INGREDIENTS

2 c. canned chickpeas

2 ripe avocados, cored and peeled

1/3 c. tahini

1/4 c. lime juice

2 cloves garlic

3 tbsp. olive oil, plus more for serving

1/4 tsp. cumin

kosher salt

1 tbsp. Chopped cilantro, for garnish

Red pepper flakes, for garnish 

DIRECTIONS

Combine chickpeas, avocados, tahini, lime juice, garlic, olive oil and cumin in the bowl of a food processor and season with salt. Blend until smooth.

Pour mixture into serving bowl and garnish with cilantro and red pepper flakes. Drizzle with more olive oil if desired and serve. 

I didn’t have any Tahini, because 2 years ago I purchased some Tahini and said I would make hummus, i threw said tahini out less than a month ago. I also didn’t bother with the cilantro cos ..... 

Cilantro is a pain anyway. Yummy to have to cook with, but it wilts so easily that the only thing that it doesn’t make sense to buy it as they always offer too much. The best plan is to have a plant that you visit whenever you need some.

Anyway, I eyeballed it and I didn’t use much garlic because of baby. I also went easy on the red pepper flakes but rather added some freshly milled black pepper to it. 

It was sooo easy I will be making carrot hummus ( add roasted carrots), Beetroot hummus (add roasted beetroots) and sweetcorn hummus ( I tried it at a restaurant and loved it.. basically add roasted sweet corn).

I didn’t feel like I missed the tahini, but I will try adding some other bean or cashew to add to the texture. 

[cookingforknk]

Tuna Pasta for the Little Man

Anyone who knows Starkist tuna knows they try to create local variants of their canned tuna 

In Ghana they have Star Kist with Kpakpo shitor, which is tuna in sunflower oil with lightly cooked onions chilli peppers. 

It is slightly spicy in that the peppers have a bit of heat to them but it tends to be behind the flavour. 

Well I wanted to try out a Tuna Pasta bake for toddler NK and all I had was this tuna. I figured we have been introducing him to a wide range of flavours and baby led weaning has been successful with him, so why not give it a try.  Albeit tweaked for my purposes.

Ingredients

·         1 pkt elbow pasta cooked al dente

·         1 large tin tuna in springwater, drained

·         1 onion diced

·         2 sticks celery, chopped  (Didn’t use any)

·         1 tsp butter

·         3 tbsp plain flour

·         1 tin corn kernals 

·         60g butter  (Didn’t use any)

·         2 cups milk  (Didn’t use any)

·         2 tsp chicken stock powder 

 method

1.    Heat 1 teaspoon of butter in a frying pan and cook the onion and celery until translucent. Remove from pan and set aside.

2.    Heat the 60g of butter in the frying pan and add the flour. Cook until it starts to brown and then whisk in milk and stock powder. Whisk until smooth.

3.       Add to the sauce the tuna, celery and onion, corn and pasta. Mix until all the ingredients are thoroughly coated in the sauce.

So I cooked this without baking it and I added no salt and did indeed grind out some black pepper. I cooked it till it was nice and creamy and the cheese had melted in and was Incorporated. 

I tasted it and it was yummy but I detected the faint burn of the chilli. What to do what to do.

Daddy K was with baby who had just woken up. I told them I had cooked 3 dishes but wasn’t sure which one baby NK would like. They decided to come nose around in the kitchen. 

Immediately daddy took baby’s spoon and straight from the pan began giving him bites of the pasta, all whilst standing. 

He yelled, “ Don’t come in here, we are digging in!”

( Baby sometimes gets distracted when i’m around and won;t eat properly (Boob over everything you see) or would want to fuss).

10 mins later, I was called in. I walked in to find baby stuffed with almost a third of the pan consumed! Goodness me. 

I was so proud of them and pleased as punch.

A Plus for the dish and next time we make this, we will incorporate veggies!!!

[cookingforknk]

Spicy Beef for a spice lover

My husband aka K and I love spice. It is a cultural thing we have taken up several notches. 

In our culture a meal can be made up of ground chilli pepper, onions, tomatoes with a hint of ginger and garlic. This is eaten with meat or fish ( his preferred combination) and a side of Kenkey (cooked corn meal akin to an unstuffed tamale) or gari (grated cassava reconstituted as a paste).

So we love our heat.

My challenge was to cook some meat and to make it spicy. 

Easy right? Not really. 

Hubby doesn;t like vegetables so.... if I don;t want to merely dump beef in a pan and douse it with a chilli paste, i have to build flavour and also create a sauce that can be eaten with rice and can exist with minimal vegetables.

Enter Korean Spicy Beef  Stir- Fry Recipe.

Ingredients:

500g beef, sliced into thin strips , washed and drained

1 tbsp oil

2 clove garlic, minced

1 onion, sliced

Spring onions, for garnish

Rice, to serve

Marinade:

½ cup pear, grated  (I took out the pear..didn;t see the point but added some rice wine vinegar to tenderize the beef)

¼ cup onion, grated

½ tsp fresh ginger, minced or finely chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tsp sesame oil

3 tbsp gochujang (Wasn’t sure what this was so used some good old Sambal Oelek and used some in the stir fry as well)

Instructions:

In a bowl, combine all ingredients for marinade.

Add in beef and mix to incorporate the marinade.

Keep in the fridge to marinate for at least 30 minutes or overnight. ( I went with overnight!!)

To cook, in a non-stick wok or skillet over high heat, add in oil.

Saute garlic and onion and cook until fragrant.

Add in marinated beef. Cook for about 7 minutes or until cooked and caramelized.

Serve with white rice. Garnish with sliced spring onions.

I loved it. It was caramelized and not too sweet ( cos I added more sambal oelek), very rich and deep in flavour. 

Well, K Hubby didn;t like it. 

He took a heap of it on the side of his rice and tomato stew. I was, of course, excited and then he asked:

“what did you coat the beef with?” 

I spun my neck around and said calmly, “it has a bit of brown sugar in it”

“I don’t like it”

He proceeded to eat around the beauty i had created and left that for me. Basically, “come eat your own stuff”.

Sigh.

Pick myself off the ground and dust up and try again.

This will feature in a few weeks time, with no sugar and more ginger and garlic to balance it out. 

HE. WILL. EAT. IT!

[cookingforknk]

Cooking for the Loves of my Life

K represents one of the initials of my husband, my son and myself. 

For our wedding, our monogram was KnK and interestingly, my sons’ first name begins with an N,  so it is only appropriate that I be cooking for KNK.

Join me as I muddle through recipes, experiment with mixes and ultimately try to get a picky eater, my husband, and a new eater, my 10 month old son, to eat in a fun and new way.

Enjoy!