Happy New Year Foodies!!
I hope your year has started on a delicious note,mine has.
After much dreaming, hoping and plenty of postponing the blog has finally become a dot.com site!!
Move over with us to www.leotunapika.com
Happy 2014
Love,
Gatuiri
One Pot Pasta
Quick lunch /dinner recipe that will leave your taste buds asking for more.
This is a dish I have prepared on several occasions. It’s debut on the blog was as pasta motukanio which is a vegetarian version.
Ingredients:
1 onion chopped
3 cloves of garlic minced
2 tomatoes sliced
1 zucchini /courgette halved then sliced lengthwise
1 green bell pepper sliced
5 sausages sliced
250gm pasta of your choice (I used short cut pasta)
Water / Vegetable, Chicken or Beef broth
A handful of dhania finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
In a sufuria, heat the oil then fry up the onions and garlic. Season with salt and pepper.
Once lightly browned, add the sausages.
Cook till browned.
Add the veggies.
Cover and let it cook down.
Now add the pasta and stir it in.
Now add the water/broth. Add just enough to reach the level of the pasta. Cook the pasta according to the time specified on the pack or till al dente.
Taste for seasoning and adjust accordingly. Turn off the heat and add the dhania and stir.
Serve and enjoy. Feeling  a bit naughty, grate over some cheese 🙂
Quickie: Tomato and Bell Pepper Omelette
I woke craving eggs, or rather I went to bed thinking of eggs. You see with school and all I normally get home very late. On most occasions hubby waits for me in town so that we go home together thus we both get home late and no one is really up to cook. Anyway I digress, so yesterday on our way home hubby tells me that my mum had called him requesting us to pass by for some ripe bananas, yeah we live near both our parents. Since we left town  at around 9:30pm we arrived at almost ten, so we just  picked the bananas and I packed what they were having for dinner and so when we got to our home I didn’t make the eggs. Pretty long explanation for my egg craving 🙂
This is a quick and easy  recipe that you can whip up even on a workday.
Ingredients:
2 eggs
1/4 green pepper chopped
1/2 tomato chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/2 tomato sliced lengthwise for garnish
Oil for frying
Assemble your ingredients.
Heat your skillet/pan , heat the oil about a two tablespoons would do.
In a bowl, mix in the eggs, tomatoes, bell pepper, salt and pepper.
Now the fun part, pour in the egg mixture and fry away 🙂
Cook the egg according to your preference. I like mine well done.
Then the hard part, egg turning. Let’s just say even with hubby not being around I did it successfully!
Set your table…
Enjoy your breakfast.
Life Lately
Hey food lovers?
I know I’ve been a bit MIA, things have been rather hectic with school meaning that I’ve also been doing very minimal cooking 😦
All in all, I’ve been feeling all your love, through the new follows, the comments, emails and likes. I am very humbled. Despite my lack of cooking, I have been involved in lots of baking projects, I even got a chance to bake a wedding cake. That was a whole different ball game and for sure I know I’ll do a better job next time.
I plan to resume regular blogging soon with new recipes and hopefully a whole lot more. In the meantime, enjoy trying out the other recipes.
More cake pics
Love
Gatuiri.
Guest Post: Chicken Masala
After being dared by my short and noisy workmate I decided to cook chicken masala .
Ingredients
 Shalimar one sachet
2 tablespoons cooking oil
2 tomatoes cubed
2 onions chopped
3 potatoes cubed
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon Royco
Half a chicken
Place some oil in a pan
add the onions and cook till brown
add the potatoes and cook for 2 or 3 min
add the tomatoes
Add the tomato paste and royco
add the shalimar and stir the mixture till a paste forms
add the chicken pieces
add a glass of water and cook for 30 min under low heat.
Serve with rice, potatoes or ugali.
About the author: Anthony Kadima, is a budding almost actuary who has a hidden passion for cooking.
We are One
http://mutuamatheka.co.ke/downloads/wallpaper-monday-145-we-are-one/
The words echoing in our hearts. We are One, in the midst of adversity we choose to stand in one accord.
We thank the Lord for delivering us.
For all who’ve lost their loved ones, we pray for comfort and peace.
For the victims, May the Lord’s peace be upon you.
For the brave soldiers who’ve worked tirelessly, we salute you.
For our President, May the Lord grant wisdom as you lead us and in the decisions you make.
Above all, let’s continue in prayer.
Love Gatuiri
Creamed Spinach
The other day I attended an ‘itara’ – it is one of those celebrations that lead up to a wedding, where the bride’s family go to see where the bride will be married i.e the groom’s parents’ home. The catering was so on point and for the first time ever I got to taste real creamed spinach. Creamed spinach is a dish many hotel claim to serve but I can guarantee you, it’s just a rip off, just ordinary cooked spinach if you ask me.
Anyway, after the wonderful experience, I got inspired to find out how to make it. As usual I searched for a recipe online and was pleased to discover that one of my favourite food bloggers Ree of The Pioneer Woman has one. Ree is such a funny writer and I always enjoy reading her recipes.
This recipe may look a bit complicated but I guarantee that it’s foolproof 🙂 I sorta halved her recipe since I was just cooking for hubby and I. If you are planning to cook for more people I suggest you follow her quantities.
Ingredients:
For the cream sauce
Butter about 50 gms
3 tablespoons plain flour
1 small onion finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic finely minced
1 cup milk
Salt and pepper to taste
A pinch of nutmeg
For the spinach
Spinach – enough for 4 people (hard to say quantity, I bought 3 bunches for Kshs. 10 each)
2 tablespoons butter
In a sauce pan start by making the white sauce. Melt the butter, do this on low heat.
Sprinkle over the plain flour and start whisking, I don’t have a whisk so I just used my handy dandy wooden spoon.
Cook for five minutes, stirring frequently till golden brown.
Add the onions and garlic.
Stir together and cook for another minute.
Finally add the milk whilst whisking.
Cook the sauce for about five minutes, stirring occasionally. It will start to thicken
Now, saute the spinach. Here I got hubby to assist with both the sauteeing and the photography 🙂
In another sufuria, melt the 2 tablespoons of butter. You may be required to add in the spinach in batches. Luckily my sufuria was large enough so it sufficed.
Add the spinach.
How deceptive the spinach is, it fills up the sufuria only to wilt and reduce in after a few minutes of cooking. Ensure not to overcook the spinach, it should still have a crunch to it.
Back to the sauce, at this point, I got a bit worried cause mine had really thicken, nothing like Ree’s , don’t fret though. Season the sauce with salt and pepper and add the pinch of nutmeg.
Now spoon over the sauteed spinach stirring it in gently.
The thickness of my sauce didn’t mess up the outcome. Such a relief.
In case you find it a bit too creamy for your liking add more sauteed spinach.
Serve immediately.
Wow!!! Someone say AMAZING!!!\
I dare you, try this creamed spinach recipe and for sure you won’t regret it.
Thanks Ree.
Fried Bananas
Sometime back hubby and I had gone for dinner at my parents home and mum had prepared some boiled bananas that complemented the beef and veggies very well. I had never thought of preparing them like that, with new ideas in mind I purposed to try it out. Fast forward a few weeks later, I get a bunch of unripe bananas from my pal Judy.
This recipe is pretty simple and requires minimal ingredients 🙂 I chose to fry mine instead of boiling so as to add a nice touch to the taste.
Ingredients:
4 medium sized onions sliced
8 unripe bananas, peeled and washed
water
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Serves 3 people
Tip: When peeling the bananas, to avoid the sap from sticking onto your hands, you can either wear a polythene bag as gloves then peel or apply some vegetable oil on your hands. 🙂
In a sufuria, heat the vegetable oil then add the onions.
Patience is required to ensure the onions cook down well, we want them translucent not burned, so do it on low heat. Season with salt and pepper.
Once cooked add the bananas and coat with the onions. Cover for a few minutes to let the flavour of the onions infuse the bananas.
Add some little (emphasis on little) water to get the bananas cooking. As the bananas cook down the water will also evaporate.
Cover and let the bananas cook.
You will know the bananas are done when they flake easily when pierced by a fork.
Serve with your favourite stew and veggies.
I served with chicken in coconut sauce and creamed spinach. The recipe for creamed spinach will be up on the blog tomorrow 🙂
Verdict:
This was one delicious meal. I have to say this, I surprised myself.
Green Eggs
Hey foodies, I know, I’ve been away for a while but now I’m back 🙂
Green is my favourite colour so it would only make sense if some of my food is also green, right? Anyway, this is a simple breakfast recipe that could easily serve as light lunch or for brunch.
Ingredients:
Handful of broccoli florets
Handful of spring onions chopped
Handful of dhania finely chopped
1 tablespoon dried oregano
4 eggs lightly beaten
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons vegetable oil for frying
Start by stir frying the broccoli and onions. In a large skillet, heat the vegetable oil, then pour in the greens.
Toss the veggies around to ensure they cook. Do this for about 5 minutes. The broccoli should be green and have a crunch.
Season with salt and pepper.
Stir in the chopped dhania and dried oregano into the eggs.
Next pour in the egg mixture.
Let the egg cook to your liking. We like ours well done.
Once the top is cooked, we get to the hard part. For this, you may need an extra pair of hands. Luckily hubby was around so he helped out.
And the turning was a success.
Let the other side cook for a few minutes then gently slide the eggs onto a plate and enjoy.
Delicious and very filling.
Enjoy.
Yoghurt Dip
A quick dip for your fish fingers.
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons plain yoghurt
Handful of dhania finely chopped
Salt and black pepper to taste
In a bowl pour in the yoghurt and add the dhania.
Mix well then season with salt and pepper.
Taste for seasoning and adjust accordingly.
Enjoy.
The combination of the fish fingers and the dip is just heavenly.
Another fish finger recipe.
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