Peperroni Pizza

Homemade pizza is the best. Some store bought pizza are so not it especialy here in Nigeria.

I once bought a pizza from a shop at the mall with the expectation to have a delicious lunch at hand for the kids once they returned from school. My older daughter took one bite and asked me "did you get this from a sugar factory"?

The pizza tasted like it was dipped in high fructose corn syrup then rolled in sugar? I couldn"t understand how they took a pizza and turned it into a dessert.

I realize that making the dough is what keeps people from making pizza. Pizza dough is super easy to make and once you make a batch you can freeze it and have a dough at hand to whip up a pizza any time you want. Just bring it out from the freezer and thaw on the kitchen counter or do it more slowly in the refigerator.

Here is the recipe for my go to pizza dough even if you dont have a mixer you can knead this by hand it isn't difficult.

Pizza Dough

500g plain flour
300ml lukewarm water
100 ml oil
1 TBSP sugar
2 tsp dry yeast
1 tsp salt


I start by mixing the yeast and sugar with the water mix it very well to dissolve the yeast let it stand for about 10 minutes to prove.  Yeast needs sugar to grow even if you don't want to add sugar to the dough add a little to 'feed' the yeast.

Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre of the flour pour in the yeast mixture and the oil. Using your hands combine the dough together.

If you have a mixer you can now knead it until smooth and elastic. If you don't have a mixer cover it in the bowl and allow to rise for about 40 minutes.then knead with your hand for about 7 minutes. Don't be discouraged about kneading with your hand consider it your bicep exercise for the day. * I smile* remember to dust the kneading surface with flour to keep it from sticking.

If you used a mixer, oil a bowl,  place the dough inside the bowl and cover allow to rise for about 40 minutes. At this stage if you don't want to make pizza you can freeze the dough.

Divide the dough into 2 balls and roll each ball into a large circle using a rolling pin. If you don't have a rolling pin you can stretch out the dough with your hand flip to the other side and stretch it out some more until you have a nice circle. The dough is smooth and pliable so you can easily strecth with your hands. You can freeze the other ball or use it all to make pizza after all  na beanz that you are making pizza. Dust your pizza tray with a little flour and place the dough on it set aside.


Peperroni Pizza

2 Peperroni links ( I used beef suasage)
150 g Mozzeralla cheese
1TBSP sweet corn
1/2 cup pizza sauce ( I used our Nigerian styled stew just add a teaspoon of sugar)
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dry oregon
1 tsp black pepper
Good pinch of salt

Pre heat the oven to 200c. Spread the sauce on the prepared pizza dough sprinkle the shreddered cheese on the sauce, put the suasages and sweet corn on top of the cheese.

Finally sprinkle the garlic, oregano, pepper and salt drizzle a little oil on top of the pizza and pop into the oven. Bake until golden I like to bake my pizza with the grill setting of my oven it grills the topping perfectly though I over grilled this pizza but it was delicious.


 Tips: If you bought a big package of yeast put it in a container  with a tight lid and freeze. Dry yeast can go bad if left out in the open especially with our hot weather.

Red Velvet Cupcake

I love to bake! That’s a fact.

I absolutely love red velvet cake...so... so yummy. Its inviting red color and super moist feel is delightful and the cream cheese filling oh so amazing to me its the best. There are so many recipes for red velvet cake but my absolute favorite is made with oil rather than butter.

Red velvet is a super moist cake almost comparable to devil's food cake. The best part aside eating it is that it so easy to make. There are only two step instructions which is mix the dry ingredients together and mixed the wet ingredients together combine and bake now how's that for super duper easy!!!!

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup vegetable oil (the original recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups, I reduced it and it was just fine)
2 eggs
2 TBSP red food colour liquid
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp white vinegar


Pre- heat the oven to 180c. Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners, lightly spray the liners with cooking spray (this makes it easy to remove the paper liners).

In a stand mixer add the eggs and whisk then pour in the rest of the wet ingredients with the eggs and whisk. Sift the dry ingredient into another bowl after sifting combine the dry ingredients with the wet ingredient until its smooth and lumps free.

Gently pour the cake batter into the prepared pans don't fill it all the way up to the brim. It should be about 3/4 filled. Put the pan into the oven and bake for about 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Bring it out of the oven transfer to a tray and allowed to cool completely before frosting.

Frosting

1 cup butter
1 cup milk
1 cup sugar
5 TBSP flour
1 tsp vanilla
Pinch  of salt

Put the milk, sugar and flour in a pot and slowly bring it to a boil while continuously stirring it. You have to do this or else you end making a dumpling look-alike which is not what we want here. As it boils it will thicken and become a smooth paste allow it to cool completely.

Using a mixer cream the butter then add the cooled boiled milk and whisk until it is fluffy. Then decorate the cakes with the frosting. The name of the frosting sounds weird and unpalatable but it tastes amazing. Give this a try.

Tips: it is difficult to get buttermilk in Nigeria so make one by adding a tablespoon of white vinegar to a cup of milk allow it to stand for about 15mins and your buttermilk is ready. To reconstitute powdered milk simply add 1/3 cup of dry milk to 1 cup of water.

Palm Nut Stew (Ofe Akwu)

I like to make this stew for Sunday lunch this is because it takes quite some time to make. So I reserve it for Sunday afternoons when I have that much time to cook. Though the only time consuming part is actually preparing the palm nut to extract the sauce but this can be avoided if using the palm sauce that comes in a can which can be gotten from most market within Lagos or any African shop. I love to make this stew with dried fish or dried shrimps which gives me little bite size bits to chew on with every bite. Any type of meat or fish can be used but I prefer beef with tripe which I think makes a more delicious stew.This recipe can be adjusted to suit your palate.

Ingredients
2 Kg Palm Nut Fruit or 1 can of the palm nut sauce
500g Beef
500g Tripe
1 large onions
1 cup shredded basil leaves or mint leaves
pepper to taste
Opeyi this is a seasoning make from locust beans(optional)
dry crayfish
dried fish or dried shrimp
salt to taste
beef seasoning

The beef and tripe should be cut up and boiled with about 1.5 liters of water seasoned with a few slices of onions add a tsp of salt and two cubes of beef seasoning.

In another pot bring the palm nut to a briskly boil. Once it starts to boil allow it to boil for another 15 minutes to make it very tender.

The actual bulk of the work lies at this stage once the palm nut are boiled drain in a colander and put into a mortar and pound. The pounding should be done so that the husk are pulled away from the nuts but not strong enough to crack the nuts. I have actually seen some people do this extracting with their palms without having to pound. This is achieved by allowing the nuts to cool down a bit so as to be handled by hand. The nuts are gently squeezed to remove the husk from the nut when all are remove then the husk can be bashed with a meat mallet. But if you can get your hands on a can of palm nut sauce use it, you would only be missing a great chance of burning some calorie from pounding the palm nuts.

Use the beef stock derived from the boiled beef pour it into the pounded nut and give it a good swirl drain in a colander placed over a pot the resulting sauce in the pot is the base for this dish. If using a canned sauce scoop this into the boiled beef and stock.

Bring the palm nut to a boil care should be taken so that the sauce is not too watery the thicker it is the better. Add the dried shrimps or dried fish which has been washed and broken into bite size let it boil for about 5 minutes then add the the onions, crayfish, opeyi and pepper all blender up together. I usually blend the first three before adding the pepper it more appealing and colourful seeing bits of pepper.I love blended onions in my dishes I think once an onion is blender it adds more sweetness and aroma to a dish.

Allow this to cook for another ten minutes then finally add the basil. I tried mints leaves once when I couldn't get fragrant basil which is locally called scent leave the mints added a new dimension to the dish though it wasn't bad but the basil are better. Add salt to taste and cube seasoning let it boil for another 3 minutes.

Serve with boiled white rice.