Kezia Eniang

Lunch

Bacardi Rum Cake

By Keziaskookbook on January 29, 2020

When I was approached to collaborate with Bacardi on this project during the festive period, I was elated! I’m a huge fan of the brand & of-course their rum and even though Christmas is well and truly over – January too, I have solid plans on making this Bacardi rum cake again!

What’s to love about the Bacardi Rum cake?

It’s has the perfect balance of sweetness with hints of vanilla & the [8 Year Old] Bacardi Reserva Ocho rum that thankfully doesn’t overpower the cake.

It’s moist thanks to the sweet rum syrup is drizzled ever so delicately over the cake a few minutes after it’s been out of the oven. It soaks right in not only amplifying the taste but also the texture.

Watch my recipe video on my IGTV here:

https://www.instagram.com/tv/B6bfaFXnlbQ/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

Recipe for the cake:

225g unsalted Butter, Softened
225g muscovado Sugar
4 medium eggs
225g self-raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
pinch of fine sea salt
50ml whole milk
30ml BACARDI Reserva Ocho Rum

Rum Syrup (for drizzling over the rum cake :))

100g demerara sugar
50ml water
100ml BACARDI Reserva Ocho Rum
Juice and zest of 1 lime

Icing/Decoration:

200g icing sugar
20ml lime juice
10ml boiling water
1 medium pineapple (alternatively I used a pack of dehydrated pineapple slices which can be bought from the supermarket).

Extra butter for the tin
1 x 22cm non-stick bundt tin

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Lunch

Fried Beef Jollof Rice

By Keziaskookbook on November 19, 2019

Being both Nigerian & Ghanaian I can never say which Jollof rice is better ( as I don’t want trouble! Lol) but honestly, I believe each of them have their own strengths and whenever I make Jollof I usually draw inspo from both sides. What I would say is that this particular jollof recipe is inspired by the ones I ate when I was in Nigeria. As you may or may not know, Jollof rice is a one-pot dish and is simply rice cooked in a delicious aromatic tomato stew! It’s eaten in almost every part of West Africa from Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, Benin, Togo and Sierra Leone (the list goes on) and traditionally it’s cooked in a cast iron pot over an open flame of coals and firewood. This method imparts a unique yet, delicious smoky flavour & I tried recreating my own at home which I will be sharing with you! Hopefully you find this useful X

Beef Jollof served with an extra side of BBQ suya ribs

Utensils:

Stainless steel pot
Stock pot
Chopping board
Blender / food processor
Knife
Tin opener
Cling film or foil
Wooden cooking spoon

Fried Beef:

750g diced beef

1 Maggi cube

1 scotch bonnet, deseeded & chopped

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon white pepper

¼ teaspoon nutmeg (optional)

1 small onion, shopped

1 cup of water (to steam)

2 cups of oil (to fry)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Jollof:

3 cups of long grain rice

2 cans plum peeled tomatoes

2 mediun onions, sliced

2 tablespoons del Rica tomato onion & tomato pureé (normal tomato puree should do).

1 tablespoon garlic & ginger paste (alternatively 2 garlic cloves)

500ml beef stock

50g butter

Oil

Spices:

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon curry powder

½ teaspoon thyme

½ teaspoon sugar (for tomatoe sauce)

¼ teaspoon white pepper

Salt

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Snacks

Chocolate Moment’s with Cadbury’s | Celebrating the launch of the new Dairy Milk 30% Less Sugar chocolate.

By Keziaskookbook on October 19, 2019

It was an Afternoon Tea bus ride around central London & I had just arrived off a 6 hour flight from Lagos earlier that morning. Anticipating the few hours ahead, I got ready, swapping my sandals for winter boots & my grey knit dress for brown body suit, Jeans and black over the knees boots before I set out to London Bridge for my afternoon tea with Cadbury’s.

The red bus stood out, parked right outside London Bridge station, surrounded by photographers & on lookers. From the distance I could see it’s entrance adorned with purple balloons with the familiar Cadbury logo above. That was our ride for the day and I couldn’t wait to get on board.

Sipping on peppermint tea, phone in hand, I began snapping away with what was set before me. We were seated at the upper deck, which was adorned with beautiful purple, green and pink flowers. A table neatly laid, out with our individual place cards next to a Cadbury Dairy Milk 30% less sugar chocolate bar and edible menu, literally.

The chocolate themed afternoon tea was inspired by Cadbury’s in collaboration with Brigits Bakery to celebrate the launch of the new Dairy Milk 30% less sugar chocolate.

I helped myself to some chocolate whilst I surveyed the chocolate inspired menu, my eyes settling on the Chilli choc vennoius with chicken and mustard mayo. I couldn’t believe I was about to indulge in a savoury chocolate meal not to talk of their Pastrami bun, with tomato salad and chocolate sauce!

It was delicious to say the least, and for a split second felt like I was in Charlie and the chocolate factory with the amount of options listed before me, not to talk of the edible rice paper menu we were able to eat.

We learnt a lot about the process of making the new Dairy Milk chocolate and the reason behind making a less sugar alternative from their chief innovator & product developer Adam, including a nutritionist and members of the Cadbury marketing team.

*My Diary milk Cadbury notes:

Healthier option with less sugar.Challenge faced maintaining usual flavour snap and texture while reducing sugar, but managed to achieve it.
Process took 3 years to make.
Nutritionists, innovators & chocolatiers worked on this.

Tastes exactly the same as the normal dairy milk, I did notice the chocolate is denser however, and I could taste the cocoa a bit more. Verdict 7/10 and perhaps my new preferred option to the normal dairy milk! Have you tried it? Let me know!

Competition Time!

To celebrate the launch and to share the love with my readers too! I’m giving away a mini chocolate dairy milk gift box with anasssortment of dairy milk chocolates including the new Dairy Milk 30% less sugar chocolate, just comment if you’d like to try out the new Dairy Milk less sugar & what your favourite dairy milk chocolates are, competition closes end of the month Oct 31st. Open to UK/Europe. T&C apply!

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Dinner | Lunch

Sweet fried plantains.

By Keziaskookbook on

Who doesn’t love plantains? I find it can be enjoyed any way and can go with almost any savoury dish.

During a recent trip to the market I set my eyes on a well placed stall with an array of plantains bundled in sets of 4 varying from green to bright yellow ones speckled with black & brown dots. I picked up a set of the yellow ripe ones to make with the stew and rice I planned on having later that evening. I learnt the secret to making sweet plantains is selecting the riper ones. The browner and more speckled it is the more promising it will be and of course the softer it should be at the touch.
I made this over the weekend, the first time in a while.

Peeling the skin off, I scraped the first layer of the plantain with a knife. The texture feels slightly rough at the touch and scraping it off reveals a much softer layer which becomes sticky at the touch. I slice diagonally on a chopping board. Sometimes with the plantains in my hand, a way my mother usually does it after many years of practice.

I place the sliced plantains in a bowl and sprinkle with salt and sugar. Sugar being the secret Ingriedient to amplifying the sweetness and lending a crispy yet caremalised outer layer.

Ingredients:

3 ripe plantains
1 cup vegetable oil
¼ teaspoon salt (large pinch)
½ teaspoon sugar

I think it’s best to use a non-stick pan or a skillet.

Heat the oil on medium heat, the oil must be hot before adding the plantain. To test for this, drop in a slice of plantain & once it starts to crackle add the remaining.
It’s always a good idea to cook in batches, and again I found over-crowding the pan with plantain (which I am often very guilty of) makes it hard for them to cook evenly.
Cook them on both sides for about 3 minutes until they are golden brown and transfer to a dish, I find using a kitchen towel is great for soaking up excess oil.
Once all the batches are cooked leave to cool before serving. It’s often tempting as I have a habit of picking at them because they taste so good.

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Lunch

Tomato Chicken Stew with rice and sweet plantains | Lagos Diaries

By Keziaskookbook on September 8, 2019

If there is one thing I could eat over and over again it’ll be rice and stew with sweet fried plantains. It’s a Nigerian dish, well flavoured often spicy tomato sauce cooked with either chicken, assorted meat or fish.

For this recipe I used chicken legs. Traditionally we use a hen (which is a lot leaner and tougher) than a rooster. It lends a unique flavour but I find this kind to be more accessible hence why I’ve used it for this recipe.

The night before I marinated the chicken drumsticks with salt and black pepper after discovering that the secret to a juicy and well flavoured chicken was in the process of brining but also seasoning your chicken with salt and few hours prior to cooking.

Why is this recipe different?

The method – we use plum peeled tomatoes either fresh or canned in tomato stew. As opposed to blending the tomatoes with pepper which is what we usually do I crush it roughly with a fork to give the stew a bit of texture.

I brown the chicken in butter as it adds a nice depth to the sauce.

Rather than sprinkle stock cubes directly onto chicken or in the stew I dissolved the cubes in starchy water from boiled yams I made earlier. Normal water will do for this however!

Ingriedients:

8 chicken drumsticks
2 onions
2 cloves garlic
1 can plum peeled tomatoes
1 tablespoon tomato purée
1 tablespoon butter (not margarine)500ml chicken stock / 2 stock cubes
2 Bay leaves
Vegetable oil for frying

Seasoning

1 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon dry pepper (in place of scotch bonnet)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Preparation makes cooking easier…

Start by prepping all the Ingriedients – peel and slice your onions, chop garlic & gather all the herbs and seasonings you need for this recipe. Pour can of plum peeled tomatoes in a bowl and crush with back of fork. A cooking pan / pot, chopping board and dish cloth (to wipe hands) will make things 10 x easier.

Season drumstick with all the dry ingredients – salt, black pepper, white pepper, paprika, chilli powder, coriander and 2 tablespoons of oil to seal the marinade. The onions, garlic, butter and bay leaves as stock cubes will be used later.

Heat oil and butter in pan, add bay leaves then chicken and brown on all sides. Then add sliced onions, garlic & tomato puree then continue to fry on medium to low heat. Once it’s cooked for 10 minutes pour in crushed tomatoes then stock. Cover and leave to simmer for 20 minutes.

Once it’s done serve with rice and sweet fried plantains! 😊

758 total views, 2 views today

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Lifestyle | Lunch

Making the most out of summer | BBQ season

By Keziaskookbook on July 2, 2019

This weekend, I hosted my second mini BBQ with friends to kick-start summer. I wore my favourite mustard playsuit from Primark and gave a hand at working the BBQ. On the menu was a selection of hotdogs, BBQ chicken, salad and party jollof rice. We kept it simple, played games & danced to our favourite afro-beats tunes.

For drinks I made my favourite sparkling non alcoholic cranberry punch:

Ingredients

250 ml ginger ale

750 ml cranberry juice (chilled)

Garnish: citrus or seasonal fruits

We all know it’s fun yet, tiresome whenever hosting a party and the aftermath is usually what we dread having to clean up and get things in order. One of the things that’s saved me time and stress cleaning up particularly, my BBQ grill (which I’ve been guilty of in the past of neglecting) is the fairy power spray.

It’s simple as spraying your grease stained grill with the fairy power spray & leave for 2-3 minutes – rinse or wipe clean. I also like using it to clean the oven which makes cleaning so much easier. So it’s worth looking into this BBQ season as it may save you a lot of time with the cleaning.

Find our more about the fairy power spray here

Do you love hosting BBQs? If so what’s your favourite thing about it? Let me know down below.

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Lunch

Seriously good curry goat…

By Keziaskookbook on November 12, 2018

750g mutton ( I like mine with some bone on the meat)
250g baby potatoes
500g cherry tomatoes, crushed
2 cooking spoons of vegetable oil
2 shallots (or onions)
2 spring onions
2 chillies (or scotch bonnet pepper, depending on how hot you like it)
1 tablespoon tomatoes paste
1 teaspoon garlic paste
1 teaspoon ginger paste
1/2 of each – Red, green & yellow bell peppers
1 – 3 bay leaves

Spices:
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon all spice
1/4 teaspoon thyme/herbs
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamon (2-3 cardamon pods)
2 star anise
2 jumbo stock (maggie) cubes
1 tablespoon honey or brown sugar
Salt

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Lunch

Indulge in this utterly Chocolatey Pancake…

By Keziaskookbook on November 5, 2018

Drizzled in warm chocolate & cinnamon sauce. It’s the sweet comfort you need for a fancy breakfast or a sweet treat.

Serving: 4

Time 20 Minutes

What you’ll need:

A mixing bowl (for dry ingredients)
A measuring jug or large cup
Spatula
Whisk
Frying Pan

Ingredients:
– 175g Self raising flour
– 50g brown caster sugar
– 25g cocoa powder
– 25g milk chocolate buttons (optional)
– 1/2 vanilla extract
– 1/4 teaspoon basking powder
-1/4 nutmeg
– 350ml almond milk (because of consistency I needed more, however, if using normal full fat milk 275ml will do
– Unsalted butter (for frying)
– pinch of salt

Chocolate Sauce…

100g Dark chocolate
50g milk chocolate
100ml almond milk or double cream
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinammon powder
25g unsalted butter
pinch of salt

Method:
1. Mix flour, baking powder, sugar, cocoa powder & salt in mixing bowl
2. In a separate jug whisk milk, egg & vanilla and pour into flour mixture.
3. Whisk all the ingredients together and pour back into jug.
4. Add a knob of butter to heated frying pan (make sure pan on medium-low heat).
5. Pour about 10cm (CD disk size) into the pan, cook pancake on each side foe 2-3minutes (can keep warm in preheated oven) whilst you cook the remaining batch.

For the chocolate sauce, add a knob of butter, sugar, chocolate, milk and cinnamon whisk slowly over low medium to low heat, add a pinch of salt and if the chocolate remains thick as 2-3 table spoons of milk or hot water. Once ll has melted and you get the glossy melted chocolate you desire, drizzle over warm pancakes.

Serve with fresh strawberries and there you have it 🙂

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Lunch

Chilled Sunday Cooking | Seafood Pasta

By Keziaskookbook on September 30, 2018

I’m hoping to make this more of a segment on my channel and blog – a chilled Sunday cooking whilst having a conversation with you guys. This week I had a few friends round for some pasta & wine and as I sat down to eat (and film my outro for the video) I thought I’d answer a few of your questions in a candid Q&A.

One of the most asked questions was based my career, love life and surprisingly more popular undergarments (bras) and whilst I have a few tips and tricks of my own I was never sure if it would be suitable to share on my blog or my channel but as I inundated with questions regarding this subject of course I had to answer.

That will lead me onto a more detailed video and may have inspired a new topic on my channel, so in regards to that stay tuned for my Q&A video where I will be answering your questions in my next video, in the meantime let ‘s get to the recipe for this seafood pasta dish.

First things first….

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

Spaghetti – 175g (half the pack, I like to use (De Cecco Spaghetti & supermarket own brands)
Cooked Scottish Mussels, 300g (For this I used, Rope-Grown Scottish Mussels with Garlic & shallot sauce).
Raw jumbo prawns, 1 pack
Extra virgin olive oil, 4 tablespoons
Any dry white wine, 200ml ( I used Gallo white Chardonnay, as it’s most affordable)
Butter, 1 tablespoon
Tomato Puree, 2 tablespoons or 1 can of chopped tomatoes
Garlic paste, 1 teaspoon ( I love using Gia Garlic Puree)
Shallot, 1
Bunch of Flat leaf parsley
Red Chillies, 2
Salt & Freshly Cracked black pepper (or aromat seasoning, my ultimate fave!).

Pre-cook your prawns in butter for 3 minutes (alternatively 1 tablespoon oil).
Cook the mussels for 8-10 minutes on it’s own and set aside.
Boil the spaghetti in salted water for 8 minutes ( I like mine al-dente) and set aside when done.
In a deep pan, saute shallots (or onions), chilli, along with garlic puree for 2 minutes. Add the tomato paste,salt & black pepper & stir for a few more minutes,then add the wine stir and cookdown for a few minutes 3-5 minutes.

Add cooked prawns, mussels to the tomato/wine sauce and stir for a few more minutes. Add cooked spaghetti and little of the spaghetti water and coat in the sauce. Roughly chop fresh parsley and drizzle on top, (this should be done right at the very end).

I like taking the pan straight to the table for everyone to help themselves, the pasta is best served with some extra chilli (more parsley if you like) & olive oil.

Enjoy (and remember have fun with it) xoxo

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Lunch

Absolut Juice Sprtiz coctails #SummerInABottle

By Keziaskookbook on September 29, 2018

I’m typing away whilst sipping on the absolut apple & ginger ale sprtiz I made earlier… The weather has been quite good so I took the opportunity to make the very most out of it & invited friends round for cocktails & nibbles. Which included these two spritz cocktails.

As some of you know Absolut Vodka recently released 2 new limited edition juice flavours – apple & strawberry, flavours very reminiscent of summer.

Absolute Elderflower & Strawberry Spritz

1 part Absolut Strawberry
2 parts elderflower presse
Fresh strawberry slices
Ice

Absolut Apple Ginger Spritz:

Me with my (Absolut) Apple & Ginger Fizz

1 Part Absolut Apple Juice
1 Part Ginger ale
1 Part Ginger beer
Cinnamon stick (to garnish)
Ice

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Lunch

Summer Diary: Marrakesh

By Keziaskookbook on September 28, 2018

As I was going through my phone deleting & reorganising photos, I came across my Marrakesh photos and I was instantly reminded of the bittersweet feeling I had. As some of you know, if you’ve have watched my Marrakesh experience video I shared a few experiences during the first few days of our stay & although unfortunate & deeply disturbing at the time it didn’t stop us from making the most out of our stay taking photos along the way. I also realised that I hadn’t shared a blog post about the trip so here goes…

A few friends reached out shortly after the experience and asked for some tips and advice as they were planning on visiting and this is the notes I shared:

Relaxing poolside at our Riyad (Chayma) after the most relaxing Hammam session.

Visit the markets in the old town called Medina (just make sure you’re wearing appropriate clothing) they also have a secret garden which is super pretty and ysl garden.

Do a Hammam at Les Bains de Marrakech Morocco (it’s amazing) is really relaxing and good for a skin, although a little on the pricier side but if you want to treat yourself I’d certainly recommend. You can also do Hammam for as little as £2 in the old town.

If you can depending on your hotel you can book yourself into a day resort like move pick hotel or hotel Pullman palmeria resort.

Try to spend as much time in the new town as well and make sure you book activities beforehand like quad biking and atlas mountain (if you’d like to visit the waterfall).

Use taxis if you don’t have transport organised and negotiate price.

Places we ate:

Lunch – Terrace De Spices (old town) you can smoke really nice rooftop.

L’addresse really good lunch spot (and ice cream)

Cafe del la poste – sit outside if you can really beautiful and the food is good.

Cafe De La Poste gave me the post 1920’s vibe.

Dinner –

Maker:0x4c,Date:2017-9-29,Ver:4,Lens:Kan03,Act:Lar01,E-Y

Restaurant Azar

Dar Moha – riad but so beautiful and romantic perfect for your dinner date (tables are by the pool).

A lot of the new town has the best and modern restaurants so try and got there for dinner most times.

Club – triple 55 club they also have a shisha rooftop bar next door by the pool and it’s really pretty

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Dinner | Lunch

One-Pan Baked Chicken & Potatoes.

By Keziaskookbook on September 25, 2018

This recipe is for the days when I wish to spend no longer than an hour in the kitchen . I’m sure you have those days too, particularly when the plan is to lounge around in your PJs all day in front of the TV, submerge yourself in a good book (as I have of lately) or simply want to savour every hour of your Sunday before as Monday begins.

I cheated slightly with this recipe by using these oven ready roast potato wedges. However, you may make yours from scratch 😉

what you’ll need:

A fairly decent sized baking dish, don’t be like me and use a small/medium pan. The bigger the better to give the meat and potatoes enough room to crisp.
Chicken legs, 6 pieces
Pack of oven ready potato wedges, like this
Seasoning:

2 maggie seasoning cubes
salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 chopped chilli
1 chopped spring onion
2 spring onions
4 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
Dried Herbs (either thyme or rosemary)
1 lemon

Wash your chicken in lemon water (1 lemon), pat dry and place in baking dish. Season with all the ingredients listed above. mix well then the oven ready potatoes. You may roast this separately if you wish, just follow packet instuctions.

Place the chicken and potatoes in a preheated overn for 35-40 minutes. Turn chicken halfway through cooking.

Once cooked served with roasted veggies of your choice.

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Lunch

Slow cooked oxtails with rice & peas & sweet plantains | Caribbean Delight

By Keziaskookbook on March 9, 2020

Slow cooked oxtails with rice & peas has to be one of my favourite Jamaican dishes & one I can’t get enough of. For this recipe I tried to make it as authentic as I could with a few twists of my own! Once I had decided I was going to make this I made a list and headed to my local afro-Caribbean store to buy to ingriedients.

*At my local Afro-Caribbean store shopping for the ingriedients! Also picked up one my fave curry powder seasoning from River Dunn.*

Oxtail Recipe:

*It’s all about the prep! I like to ensure I have everything ready before if start! It really relieves stress when cooking and ensuring I don’t miss an ingriedient.*

1kg oxtails
1 medium onion, chopped
1 scotch bonnet, chopped
1 teaspoon garlic & ginger paste
1 teaspoon Jamaican hot sauce
2 teaspoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons River Dun’s Jerk Paste
2 maggi [stock cube] seasoning
2 teaspoons browning
3 spring onions, chopped
Sprigs of fresh thyme
1 can butter beans
Salt & black pepper
Bicarbonate soda [I know, but this is a cheat way for tenderising the meat if you do not have a slow or pressure cooker]

A little story: A day prior I’d decided to defrost some oxtails I found in the freezer to add to the new batch I was going to cook so it didn’t waste. Once the meat had defrosted I cooked it in some water with bay leaves and just brown sugar. Without realising how time went the fire alarm began to go off. The meat had cooked down, the water evaporated and the oxtails began to burn at the bottom. I was gutted as I thought I had wasted them and scarily enough (even though I was present in the kitchen at the time) I was too engrossed in washing and cleaning to turn the oxtails off as it cooked down. The oxtails has burnt with charred bits at the bottom of the pot. I decided to keep these semi-burnt oxtails in a bag in the fridge until I figured out what to do with them. When I cooked this new batch of oxtails I added about 3 pieces to the oxtail sauce and was amazed at how it gave the sauce an amazing smoky flavour!!!

I did take it out though as I feared it would make the sauce bitter but leaving it to simmer in the sauce for a few minutes gave my sauce a completely different dimension. So I’m not recommending burning oxtails to get this (ok maybe I am) maybe on a bbq but as it really worked & goes to show sometimes little mistakes when cooking can actually lead to something! But that being said It’s very important to please pay attention & not like me at the time as it’s dangerous if food is left unattended.

But yes, here is how to make the oxtails:

I start by washing my oxtails in salt or lemon water, then pat dry with a tea towel. I began prepping them when I returned from the store so they were already at room temperature which is important as cold meat doesn’t cook evenly compared to when it’s at room temperature ! Once my oxtails where cleaned I began to season ever so generously with the following:

Salt, black pepper, brown sugar, garlic & ginger paste, 2 Maggi cubes, Dunn’s jerk paste (feel like this adds a nice dimension to the sauce) hot sauce (I like using Dunn’s Rivers or Econa Wes Indian hot sauce) scotch bonnets, thyme, browning, onions & spring onions.

Note: I usually add onions last as I want the seasoning to get to the meat first. Often times I add onions first but sometimes the seasonings just lay on them without actually getting to the meat.

Scotch bonnets add a floral note to the dish along with the heat, but the hot sauce adds another dimension I think, but this too is optional.

Once I’ve seasoned my oxtails I tend to marinate overnight or for several hours before cooking just so those flavours can really penetrate.

Cooking time: 1 hour 30 minutes

I don’t have a pressure or slow cooker so I usually cook my oxtails in a cast iron pot or my trustee ceramic pot which is great for slow cooking! the trick is to add about a 1/4 teaspoon of bicarbonate soda to the oxtail to start the tenderising process when it’s cooking. I recently tried this and it worked!

In a hot pan I shallow fry my oxtails on both sides for several minutes until they are browned/caramelised. The caramelisation is also helped with the use of brown sugar. I then proceed to pour the remaining seasoning from the bowl where the oxtails was marinating in, into the pot. I then add 1 litre of stock, bicarbonate soda (to tendersise the meat) and cook the oxtails on medium to low heat for over an hour.

During the cooking process, I ensure I check on it regularly just to ensure the liquid doesn’t reduce entirely and if it does I just add more stock! I also like to taste along the way adjusting the seasoning to see what it needs whether it’s salt, more jerk paste, stock, browning and so forth but please do feel free to adjust to your preference. What you’re looking for is a balance of flavours and tender oxtails I sometimes use, gravy granules to thicken the sauce but cornstarch will do. Within the last 15 minutes I then add my butter beans, I do this so they do not overcook with the oxtails.

Once your oxtails have cooked until tender for over an hour you can begin your plantains and rice. I have a recipe here for my sweet plantains which go down a hit everytime. As for the rice and peas I’m using basmati rice which I wash and soak for about 20minutes before cooking.

Rice & peas:

2 cups of basmati rice
1 can of coconut milk
250ml water
1 can red kidney beans
1 spring onion / scallion
1 whole scotch bonnet
2-3 sprigs of thyme
Salt & white pepper

*Foil or Cling film is needed to cook rice

Simmer coconut milk for a few minutes, add pinch of salt, white pepper, thyme, spring onions, 1 whole scotch bonnet and then your washed rice. Cook on high heat for about 3-4 minutes then turn down and cook for remaining 5 add 1 can of red kidney beans (drain a little bit of a the liquid not all prior to adding to the pot), stir lightly with a fork and cover with cling film or foil and simmer until the liquid has soaked evaporated. Stir lightly with a fork and serve with plantains and oxtail.

There you have it my loves!

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