Life. Love. Food
If I could have it my way, I could have pizza every darn day. There are so many different flavors, you can just never get bored. Never complain about loneliness when you need is pizza in your life! Pizza can solve all world problems coz we can all universally agree how awesome it is. On that note, Lets make pizza the world president! I am sure you now understand how much I digg my pizza. And what better way to indulge in its awesomeness than in a 5-day long Pizza festival right here in Nairobi!
Mum: What are you making?
Me: I don’t really know, but I feel the flavors will work.. carrot-something
Mum: That’s the name you will use?
Me: That’s not it’s name-name. I will think about it as I type out the post.
Mum: What if you do not get a name?
Me: *Gives mum a polite and respectful side-eye* Then I will not post until I get a name.
***
My mum asks too many questions. For real. Especially when watching a movie and when she finds anyone making a new dish. Besides that, she provides much needed constructive criticism that has aided my growth as a food blogger. Wouldn’t have it any other way. Hours later after that conversation and long after they were devoured, I decided to name this after its ingredients. Just four ingredients, all of which are beautifully married to each other.
I was going through one of the books I jot down recipe ideas so that I do not forget what I feel would work in the kitchen. On the day I made this, I was going through a notebook I was using in 2014 and came across and orange-ginger sauce I was writing but never completed. The ingredients seem to work in my head, and I had some chicken breast sitting in my freezer so I decided to give it a try.
Mum loved it! Dad enjoyed it too, and my youngest sister described it as a chicken recipe you will never taste anywhere else. Seeing people enjoy my recipes gives me so much satisfaction. I have a feeling you will enjoy this too as much as my fam did :))
I had been thinking about tikka recipes sometime back and I came to the realization that nearly anything can be made into a tikka…Any meat that is! These meatball tikka masala were totally experimental. My dad suggested we make meatballs coz we had not had them for quite some time so I chose that time to try this out. I was so afraid I would mess up not only because I have not tried this recipe before, but also because I was making a large quantity. Nothing hurts more than making a lot of bad food. Ya relate?
But I thank God for whispering in my ear and heart how exactly I should go about it. These meatball tikka masala were a hit with my family. Spicy, juicy and delectable. #MUSTTRY for sure!
Besides sharing make-up secrets, brain-storming on business ideas and combing through our latest fashion finds, among the things my sisters and I enjoy doing are exchanging recipes. Be it from a good meal one of us ate at someone’else’s home or from a recipe we saw on TV, if it is makeable, we always share it.
This recipe was inspired by my eldest sister, Cheredi after she returned home from her friend’s place with a certain book that had the best cooking secrets. The recipe I read had several ingredients which I did not have at hand. This called for creativity on my part and in the process, this baby was born. Its fast, super easy and in the usual KK fashion, very delicious.
I made this at the spur of the moment after my youngest sister’s complaints that she needs to eat unique delicious food before she returned to college for the beginning of the next semester. LOL There were plenty of accompaniment dishes in the fridge but no main so I decided to play around with a recipe I have been thinking about for some time now. My wali wa nazi turned out great! My other sister’s boyfriend, Kipngetich, was also around during this day and was able to join us for lunch. He loved it.
Wali wa nazi simply means coconut rice. It is a coastal favorite and I decided to add my own twist to it. If my picky little sister enjoyed this, then you, without doubt, shall too :)).
Lord knows how long I have been waiting for the sun to come out! After months of grey skies and layers of sweaters, I can finally soak in the sun and wear all those cute dresses that were kept at the back of my closet. With this weather too comes the soft beaconing call of fresh fruits, juicy roasted meats and chilled drinks. And for me, nothing would be more welcome to sooth my dry throat in this September heat than my Honey and Cinnamon Pina Colada.
This is a fresh pina colada made from ingredients you can readily find. One single sip will take you straight to your dream tropical getaway. It is creamy, delicious and deeply refreshing.
What better way to be woken up than to the sweet aroma of something delicious cooking!? And nothing won’t ever get me out of bed faster than the aroma of something good cooking. I like giving myself a break from always being the one cooking. Luckily in our home everyone likes cooking. So in the morning, I like treating myself to the delicious things my mummy and sisters make for us.
My elder sister Sieva likes making crepes for breakfast. My eldest sister, Cheredi, once added freshly grated coconut to hers sometime back and they were great. I decided to add my own twist to the same and in the process made what the gods would eat for breakfast. This was that good! I was abit anxious about how it would turn out but was pleased when it came out great. Want to start your day on the right foot? This is how :))
One of my favorite humans in this world is my sweet friend Nasimiyu. She is seriously genuinely sweet and always a pleasure to hang around. Whenever we meet for lunch, I always let her decide where we are going to eat. She always seems to know the best places to have a good meal. She is more conversant with great places to eat out than I am. And nothing beats girly musings, mischievous giggles and hearty laughs over a good meal. One of the places she introduced me in 2009 was an eatery that had the best fish fingers ever. I have forgotten it’s name, but never how good those fingers were! Being fresh from boarding school, that was as close to heaven as my tongue could get. I decided to create fish fingers at home but of course with a #KK twist. You will totally love this!
Nothing beats a good chicken recipe. And like all other meats, there are several ways of making the same dish. I asked sometime back on Instagram what you, my readers would like to see for the month of September. One of my followers requested more chicken recipes and I remembered I wanted to share a tikka recipe for the longest time. I couldn’t think of a better recipe to kick off September.
Chicken Tikka Masala is a crowd pleaser. It is one of those things if on a buffet, will be the first to be cleared. It is spicy but not in a repulsive way. And because it is chicken it will always be delicious. You will enjoy this just as much as my sisters and I did.
My mom received some broccoli from one of our neighbors who seemed to have plenty. Because the batch she took never seemed to get finished, this has forced me to be quite creative with it and in the process created some phenomenal recipes. I have totally come to love this vegetable which has so much nutritional benefit.
I was perusing through some of my old Yummy Magazine and I came across a recipe for brussel sprouts. It seemed easy enough to make. Because I did not have brussel sprouts or white miso, I decided to modify the recipe and use broccoli instead. I threw in some carrots and it was even better. The steamed veggies absorbed the chili caramel so well. This sounds so sophisticated, but read through and see how easy it is.
Today being my birthday, this recipe is my gift to you. Allow me to charm your Friday with a recipe I loved so much. :))
I have always loved my french toast. I have plenty of memories attached to this dish. And that’s what will always make it special to me. Besides that, I love french toast because it is easy to make and you can make it in a million different ways.
I stumbled upon Girl and Apron while I was making my photo own submissions to Food Gawker and I loved her blog the instant I checked it out. Her recipes are simple and we happen to even use the same theme LOL. I guess great minds really do thing alike! She made these french toast with some almonds and oranges. I thought I could recreate the same with what I had at hand. I decided to make tangerine and sesame seed french toast. This was G.O.O.D.
There are certain things you know will always upgrade any meal, and Guacamole is one of them. Whether in small bits of huge amounts, guac will always add some excitment to your food. Want to add flavor to your githeri? Guacamole will save the day. Want something to accompany your ugali and nyamachoma? Guac is here for you. Or maybe you want to add something creamy to add to your bhajia…no need to go any further than guacamole. Perhaps you would like something creamy to temper the spice of your chicken wrap..You guessed it! Guacamole is the answer.
In addition to being so easy to make, guacamole is very very healthy. And when you have healthy and tasty in one package, its a win!
Have you ever made a meal and it turned out so hideous that you are afraid to eat it even if you made it yourself? I know in one way or another you can relate. I had attempted to make a certain pork recipe I found on Daily Mail as it was. It looked good, but when I read through I didn’t quite feel it was right. I tried it nonetheless and developed a disaster of the millenium. LOL!
I decided to try again, but this time with a recipe iI myself developed. Not to brag but, my pork recipe was phenomenal. Sometimes it is just better to trust your gut (see what I did there ;)) and cook how you feel best. Knowing that pork goes so well with sweet flavors, I decided to play this characteristic up and made a really delicious sweet and sour sauce and a pineapple salsa to accompany it. Ready for something super delicious and super easy? Try my sweet and sour pork.
“You must always accompany each meal with some veggies, girls!” Mum would tell us over the dinner table as she watched us serve. As I looked at mum, towering over me and heaping veggies on my plate,the then six year old me never saw the importance. I took the plate, but as soon as she turned her back, I returned a huge chunk back to the serving dish. Years later, I got to appreciate all the veggies mum makes at home, particullarly traditional veggies. In high school, all we had were cabbage and kale. This made me miss all the wholesome, wide variety and bountiful flavor traditional veggies offer. Nowadays, I eat traditional veggies 99% of the time. They are actually very much easily available in the city if you are just observant enough. Today, savor my creamed garlic kunde, a recipe from my mama bear :))
I get inspiration for my dishes from an aray of sources. One of them being the cooking shows on food network. My current favorites are Pioneer Woman, Siba’s Table, Trisha’s Southern Kitchen, Food Network Star, Chopped and Grandma’s Cookbook. Do you guys watch these too?? This dish was however inspired by Buddy Valastro of Kitchen Boss. I like his recipes because they do not take too long, neither are they too complicated which makes them relatable to me and million others. He likes Italian flavors, as his roots are Italian and incorporates them so well in his cooking.
His recipe used mushroms and macaroni. But I decided to use broccoli and penne pasta. It was outstandingly good. You know those meals you eat so fast because they are so good? This is one of them!
As we go through the final weeks of the cold season, no better way than to make the most of it than with some soups. I have recently grown to like soups because not only are they warming, but they make the perfect appetizer and are so nutritious.
During the unveiling of the new menu at Sarova Panafric’s Flame Tree Restaurant, one of the appetizers was tomato soup. This soup can be a bit tricky to make since it tends to get acidic but the one we had was phenomenal. I decided to recreate the same at home and liked it just as much. I am sure you will too :)).
I have a bunch of things I turn to when I want to add a bit of flare to my meals. Though some of them I do not use every day, I consider some must-have in my kitchen. They are not only tasty but transform an otherwise normal/boring dish into something very delicious.
Last week Wednesday on Instagram, my instaFam and I were discussing about the ingredients we like most in the kitchen. While it was nearly impossible to single out just one, there were some ingredients that were of common to all of us. Read the entire interactive conversation here. I shall take you through some of my (and some of my readers’) pantry essentials and why my I (we) deem them so important.
*Side Note* : I had so much fun taking these pictures and was so stocked with how they turned out. Improvement is a good thing :))
Someone asked me to tell more about myself beyond what I share on the blog. To just get to know me. It is abit beyond what I feel comfortable doing, but no harm in doing it. So here is a tiny bit of who I am: 30 things about me.
Hey there! My name is Kaluhi and I love food! Through my blog, I am happy to share with you my self-taught recipes, steeped in nostalgia and the happiest of memories. I hope each recipe you try out is as addictive as the previous one and is shared on a table full of love and hearty laughs!
Karibuni Sana!
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