And Dinner is Served!

Hello People,

Its been one busy week (or two?) for me. Yeah I know...my weeks are always busy but these past two were at an all time high. I had loads of sewing to do and was also appointed as part of an electoral committee for a professional organisation. So I was combining work, out of office meetings, sewing and of course the "constants" like traffic, "no light" (power outage) and inefficient shop attendants (story for another day); its been an interesting period.

Did I mention this past week was our Thanksgiving week in church! "HALAL" Week. Basically one week of awesome praise and thanks to God for His goodness in our lives...and I sure do have a lot to be thankful for...Well I danced my heart out (and my leg into a sprain lol) and had an awesome week of praise and thanksgiving.

Ah yes, back to the post. For dinner today, (which started out as lunch actually), I decided on Braised Chicken with boiled ripe plantains and a cool cucumber salad to cleanse the palate afterwards.

Here's a list of the ingredients and cooking instructions

Ingredients: Braised Chicken
Chicken Laps (Or any cut you prefer - 2kg)
Fresh Tomatoes - Chopped ( about 1kg)
Onion (1 Large Bulb)
Cameroon Pepper - Ground (1 Tablespoon)
Herbs - I used Fresh Rosemary, Basil, Mint and Parsley
Ginger
Salt and stock cube
Spices (of your choice)
Olive Oil
Dark Soy Sauce
Lemon Juice
Ketchup (Optional)

Directions
Rinse the chicken and drain/dry off water; Heat about a quarter cup of olive oil in a pot and brown the chicken in it to get the caramelized flavor.
Once the chicken has browned on both sides, add your chopped tomatoes, onions, grated ginger, seasonings and spices. Tie the herbs with a clean cotton rope (this makes it easier to pull them out later) and add to the pot. Add just enough water to cover the chicken and bring to the boil; put on the lid, reduce the heat and allow to simmer for about 40 mins.
Take off the lid, add the juice of half a lemon, about 1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce and a squirt or two of ketchup (I actually added the ketchup to mask the rosemary which I was a bit heavy handed with :P).
Simmer and reduce until you have a thick sauce and take off the heat. Fish out your bouquet of herbs and dispose.

For the plantain I basically cut each piece in three parts and boiled them until a fork slid in smoothly without any resistance. I then drained out the liquid and salted.

And now for the salad.

Ingredients: Cucumber Salad
1 large cucumber
2 Large Tomatoes
1 small Onion
A sprig of mint leaves
1 Tablespoon Sugar
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar (or red wine vinegar)
Salt and Black Pepper to taste.

Instructions:
Cut and remove the seeds from the cucumber; slice (about half an inch thick), sprinkle with salt and place in a colander to drain excess liquid (about 30 minutes should do)

Chop tomatoes, onions and mint leaves. Combine all ingredients and mix well. refrigerate and serve cool.

Dinner was delicious and filling (Is it just me or is boiled plantain more filling than fried plantain? - same quantity).

I've got quite a bit of catching up to do (a long line up of posts) and I'm actually typing this up while getting my hair braided (yayy for multitasking :D)

So until next time, "BeThankful"

Love,

Preye