Tag: kenyan food (Page 1 of 5)

Mushroom & Sausage Egg Muffins

July 5, 2023 / Kaluhi / 18 Comments

One thing I love more than an early morning during the work week is a late – super late – and super slow- morning during the weekends. A slow morning allows you to take in the beauty of the day. The slower pace of things allows your spirit to merge with the wave of time and ride it. Slow mornings allow you to taste the sweetness of the songbirds. As someone who really goes hard during work weeks, slow weekend mornings are a much welcome relief and calm sweetness. It also allows me to really take time and eat yummy things; and yummy things need not be complicated ones.

One of my current weekend favorites are my mushroom and sausage egg muffins. All my favorite yummy things are things are packed in these little beauties. They are the perfect savory bite, super simple to prepare and a true joy to have!

Ginger Coconut Cream Tilapia

October 5, 2022 / Kaluhi / 12 Comments

Obviously I was going to start this blog by saying I. LOVE. FISH. We have walked this journey since 2014 and those of you who have been part of my tribe since then know in my heart of heart, the one meat I can comfortably eat every day for the rest of my life is fish. The variety is plenty. Each different fish tastes and feels different and I love love love that there are a billion ways to cook it too.

Tilapia has always been most common in this country. It has gained popularity in other countries as well over the recent years (which I noticed on twitter that they call Tilapia a lab animal and one that does not exist in real life (???) but I also understand in first world countries so much Genetic Modification happens such that one can live a full life without seeing or tasting the real thing). It is pretty affordable, super tasty and extremely flavorful. Today’s recipe is a take on one I made in 2016 – you can check it out here – with today spinning my original recipe and upgrading it very slightly, but in a manner that your palate will love!

Ginger Sweet Corn Fried Rice

June 22, 2022 / Kaluhi / 25 Comments

Life is super fast paced, more so now that we are adults and it has gotten real! I have made a conscious choice to stop and smell the roses. It is very easy to get swept by the undercurrent of life. And if one does not deliberately stop and just be, the present business can consume you. Lately I have been reminiscing about my career, especially now that I am nearly reaching my 8th anniversary! Who would have thought that this girl would build a monster of a brand off of her name! Who would have thought I would keep this going for nearly a decade? Who would have thought simple ideas would turn into laughter on your dinner tables? Who would have thought! It has been quite the journey and I am deeply appreciative of every win, every stress point, every steep learning curve, every glorious collaboration and certainly, for every one of you.

Today’s recipe – my ginger sweet corn fried rice – is super simple. This particular one is a better rendition to this one I made and posted in August of 2014. I have no idea why the images are broken on that post, but it is completely worth it that I tweaked it a little bit and posted it once more for you to try out.

Roasted Garlic and Rosemary Kuku Kinyeji

December 23, 2021 / Kaluhi / 30 Comments

I cannot begin to explain how fast December melted right through my fingers. For me, it has been my most intense, most fast paced month of 2021. One minute it was 1st, the next, it was 2 days to Christmas. What a ride! I have had the highest highs, and my lowest lows were definitely this month too. Even then, I celebrate the silver linings.

We are smack in the festive season and it cannot be complete without a delicious chicken dish to bring all of us together. There are billions of ways to prepare and enjoy chicken, however one that always speaks to my soul is kuku kienyeji. I love my kienyeji and to me, it is the taste of home. For this Christmas season, I hope you get to enjoy my roasted garlic and rosemary kuku kienyeji.

This post is in collaboration with Kenchic Limited and I have a massive giveaway for you guys!

Cumin Nduma Fries with Roasted Garlic & Grapefruit Aioli

January 20, 2021 / Kaluhi / 23 Comments

There really isn’t any place on earth where you can get the freshest, most bountiful, most flavorful, cheap organic produce than you would in Kenya. Most African countries also have the best tasting fresh produce but god was in a fantastic mood when he gave Kenya her fresh produce. I know for a fact we do appreciate it and I hope we intentionally enjoy it because life is to be lived and enjoyed!

If you have been following me for a long time now you know I love potatoes. I however never shy away from switching things up and in as much as regular potatoes are dope as hell, other root tubers also really bring alot to the table! Nduma in particular not only tastes fantastic, they are also so versatile and they take up flavor so beautifully! We made this nduma recipe waaaay back in 2015 ( I cannot believe I have been blogging this long!) and today we add another one that is even better, and for sure, plenty more are coming in the future!

Curry & Coconut Cream Njahi

May 6, 2020 / Kaluhi / 31 Comments

I totally get and respect the fact that we all like different things because we are different people. But aki you guys – especially my twitter family- huwa mnaongea mbaya sana juu ya njahi lol! It’s actually not many people who talk smack, it is just a few people who are loud about their dislike; so it seems like the whole world hates njahi. The likening of njahi to soil, to a mattress, to rocks, to sweat; are really hilarious to be honest, but it kinda breaks my heart too that some people are actually living life without having ever tasted delicious njahi. In my book, anything and everything can be made delicious. If you match up your ingredients well and play up on fresh herbs, anything -including njahi- can be tasty!

If you have been looking for a perfect njahi recipe, this one is for you. If you already love njahi, here is another recipe to make you fall inlove with it once again!

Coconut OatMeal with Cinnamon Zinzagaya (cape gooseberry) Compote

March 11, 2020 / Kaluhi / 22 Comments

I love oats as a quick breakfast. I personally don’t find them bland- I love their simple flavor when I make them with just milk on a busy morning and also deeply enjoy how well they take up flavor of other ingredients I decide to pair them with. I love my oats with a fruity element- often a compote- and today I made one with what we the Maragoli call Zinzagaya (cape gooseberries).

I ran this past you guys on Twitter and I got to learn they are pretty common throughout Kenyan tribes, not just mine. The Kikuyu call them Naathi, the Kalenjin call then Cheloliit and the Kisii call them Chinsobosobo. So regardless of the part of the country you are reading this from, you will totally fall inlove with this breakfast beauty!

Mala Marinated Kuku Choma with a Mango Habanero BBQ Sauce

March 4, 2020 / Kaluhi / 24 Comments

Picture yourself hosting friends for a delicious lunch. It is a potluck lunch and everyone is bringing something. You made sure you book chicken as the dish you would be making. You have the perfect recipe, and you are not only excited to show off the magic you are about to put together, but equally excited to feed your friends some great food. They arrive on time. The food is laid out. The wine is corked open. Some amazing music is playing. The sun is out. Laughter cracks across the room and the vibe is right. The chicken you made is the first thing to be cleared, and everyone is asking for the recipe you used. You take all the compliments, and you tell them “The recipe I used is Kaluhi’s Mala marinated kuku choma with a mango habanero bbq sauce. Get on it!!!”. You send them the link of this blog post and the video, and this recipe becomes the signature dish you guys make each time you link up. You own delicious tradition!

This is kuku choma recipe is without doubt so easy. But as always, one you will fall head over heals inlove with!

Chicken Biryani

October 3, 2019 / Kaluhi / 35 Comments

Good food puts me in an excellent mood! Food is the perfect icebreaker and the perfect conversation starter. Food is comfort. Food makes a road trip more scenic. Food makes a visit more memorable. Yes food is primarily for sustenance, but because we eat everyday anyway, why not make it enjoyable no? And let’s praise the heavens that it is not complicated at all to make delicious, deeply flavorful food!!

Some people may think making chicken biryani is complex, however, that is far from the truth! Flavor packed does not need to unattainable, and I am right here to show you that! I made a goat biryani last year January, and today, we do some bomb ass chicken biryani!!

Mtapenda!

Karafuu & Ginger Drop Scones

May 29, 2019 / Kaluhi / 19 Comments

One of the things I love waking up to is the aroma of drop scones on a Saturday. My mom makes them once in a while, and when she does, you bet I am always the first to go eat lest my siblings finish everything as i dilly-dully in bed. She makes them so well, and I honestly not only love these, but everything mom makes. Mom’s food always rocks, right? I took her recipe and added a twist on my own. I was kinda nervous when I made these, and wanted her honest opinion on the same. She loved them and asked me for specifics of what I added and decided to make them as I did going forward! My heart melted!

If mom said this recipe is bomb, trust me, it is 100% worth a try!

Cardamom Coconut Faluda

January 30, 2018 / Kaluhi / 4 Comments

I have reached that time of year where I am just itching for a trip. A cute stay-cation would do just about now. I am aching for the coast, especially after looking through my pictures from my Lamu trip. I want to wake up to the sound of waves beating the white sandy shores. I want to have a slooooooooow morning and have breakfast overlooking the ocean. I want to spend my afternoons walking through the narrow Lamu streets, having a taste of every single delicacy I come across. I want to have some faluda after enjoying some sea food pizza for lunch. I want to go have an afternoon nap, and there after go for a sunset dhow ride . I want to have prawns and fries for supper then have a little sippy sippy on the floating bar. I want to go back to Lamu so hard!

When I was eating this dish I had Lamu on my mind. I made this recipe in November of last year and the pictures got lost. But now that I have found them, I am excited to share the recipe with you inspired by one of my favorite places on earth! <3

Coconut cream & Oregano Githeri

January 16, 2018 / Kaluhi / 12 Comments

My younger sister, Kadesa, finds it so weird whenever I say I am Kraving githeri. She finds it so so so weird that I actually enjoy githeri. She does not find githeri any way exciting because of how frequently we had it in boarding school, same way I deeply dislike cabbage because of high school. Different folks, different strokes, right? I love anything with beans, and githeri is right up there among the things I love! I could eat it everyday of the week! But you know what’s even more exciting? That it can be prepared in 6 million different ways with each recipe bringing out its beauty in a unique, exciting way!

For today, I hope you truly enjoy my coconut cream and oregano githeri as much as I did <3. I made a beautiful short video on the same, but first, lets get into detail!

Coconut Chai Masala Breakfast Buns

November 29, 2017 / Kaluhi / 1 Comment

I love slow mornings. Those lazy weekend mornings where you wake up and decide to spend an extra 2 hours in bed, just because. Those mornings that are not powered by the rush of getting out of the house or getting work done, but those mornings that are warmed by ease and relaxation. Mornings that bask in serenity. Mornings whose air is filled with the soft waft of only delicious things. I love lazy weekend mornings so much so that I think that in another life, I am a sunny Saturday morning :D!!!

I made these when I was home alone one weekend morning (because I wasn’t sure they would turn out ok so I wanted to endure that shame alone if that was the outcome *nervously bites nails*). The house smelt BETTER than paradise! I hoped the buns tasted just as good and guess what, they did!!!! Yes, there is more than one way to use your chai masala besides just tea and today, let’s think outside the box as we go through the recipe <3. Mtapenda!

Naan

October 17, 2017 / Kaluhi / 10 Comments

Do you ever have those moments where you have been saying you will eat a particular meal but you just keep postponing to make it? “I’ll make it tomorrow!” Tomorrow comes and goes and nothing! “I’ll start cooking at 2 sharp!!” 6 p.m comes and goes and you are instead immersed in a series or eating out. That has been me with naan. I love it since it is a great substitute to chapati, but kept postponing making it for reasons only God knows :DD. After my trip to South Africa, I returned well rested and my creative juices are now back and I got to work. I have developed so many new recipes (Nov & Dec posts are ready and will be so L.I.T!!), and I wanted to post this one mid November. But since sooooooo many of you have been crying in my DMs for this naan recipe, I decided today should be the day and not any later!

So lets get down to it!

Iliki and Lemon Zest Mitai

September 26, 2017 / Kaluhi / 10 Comments

Most times when I try out a new recipe, I surprise myself at how fast I ace flavor combinations at first try. Other times, oh Lord, the struggle is very very real! You see, when one is conceptualizing and developing completely new recipes, the result can very easily go south. The first time I tried making mitai with my own twist, they turned out so badly. But I excused it as my first try and just let it slide. I tried again the second time, and the outcome was even worse. They looked like little rocks from a plateau in hell *wipes tear*. By that point, I had enough for the day, so I wrapped things up and prepared for my weekend. I was done :(. After an amazing weekend, enough rest and recharging, I made adjustments to the original recipe for the third time, gave it another shot and guess what, my mitai turned out SO SO WELL!! To you too, when you cook things you haven’t tried before, you will fail sometimes. It is normal! Don’t just give up and run away from the kitchen forever. It happens to everyone!! Give yourself sometime, find where you went wrong and try again. I am sure you were’t raised a quiter, so keep at it.

Now, let’s get to it!!!

Spicy Lime Honey Marinated Seared Shrimp

September 8, 2017 / Kaluhi / 23 Comments

One of my favorite moments of 2016 was when 6 Kenyan food bloggers and myself got to visit Lamu for the annual Lamu Food Festival. It was a magical three day trip that saw me fall in love with the island paradise, it’s people, their culture, their scenic beaches and enchanting buildings. The food was delicious and having been prepared by the masters themselves, it couldn’t get any better! One of the things I always remember having and often day dream about to this day was a sea food pizza we had on one of our busiest afternoons there. It had lots of uduvi (shrimp), lobster and peppers all on a base of a rich tomato sauce. We then went for a sunset dhow ride, came back had dinner (more shrimp for me :D) then set out to again for another dhow ride until midnight. Is there such a thing like overdosing on seafood? I don’t think so! You can never really have enough!

Since I can’t go to Lamu (for now…hehehe) why not bring Lamu to me? I gave you a sneak peak of this recipe on my Instagram Story and Twitter page on Wednesday and as promised, here is the recipe <3

Coconut Milk Chili Bean Stew

July 11, 2017 / Kaluhi / 13 Comments

I have been doing a back to basics series on my Instagram Stories for a couple of months now. I have not done one in quite a long time though (sorry guys :((((, life got in the way. ). Some of the recipe request I got were too detailed to be done as a back to basics so I will instead post them as blog posts; and my coconut milk chili bean stew is one of them. One of my followers requested for a bean stew, thought there is one I posted in 2015, I decided to make one that is richer and in my opinion of fuller flavor. What would a Kenyan food blog be without a coconut milk bean stew be after all?! 😉

With warming flavors of chili and garlic, this one soooo perfect for July-August when it is much cooler in Kenya. And I promise, it is so easy to make too <3

Garlic Grilled Tilapia Fillet in Lime Coconut Milk Sauce

June 21, 2017 / Kaluhi / 43 Comments

After a long day, I just had to make one more run and dash to City Market and buy some fish fillet. It was a pretty hot afternoon, and I just wanted to get home, but I knew what I prepare for dinner make would make the short trip worth while. I got to city market and was pleased to see that they had plenty of freshly filleted fish. I slowly weaved my way through the small market, quietly but very intensely surveying each stock. The sellers, ever eager to earn an extra coin, would try woo anyone that walks through in. “Sister wacha nikifungie fresh” (Sister let me pack some fresh ones for you) “Mrembo kwani leo hununui kwangu?” (Are you not buying from me today?) “Brenda si leo nikufungie wings” (Let me pack some wings from you, Brenda.) My name is not Brenda by the way, they were literally guessing LOL! I finally settled on one vendor I passed just at the entrance and got myself a juicy cut of tilapia fillet. I rushed home, rested a little bit and embarked on making my dinner. I wanted something delicious, so I had to deliver on all the flavors. And let me tell you, I was not disappointed and totally blown away!! I made this again this past Sunday when we had guests over and it was a hit! And today, I share the recipe to my garlic grilled tilapia fillet with lime coconut milk sauce.

Ginger and Coconut Milk Matoke

May 23, 2017 / Kaluhi / 26 Comments

“Would you make a matoke recipe without spices?” One of my readers requested of me way back in 2014. I love getting requests from you guys and a good chunk of my recipes are inspired by your suggestions but this particular one made me hesitate a little. Quite a challenge that was! I am a girl who loooooooves her spices and loves her food with lots of flavor and character, but nevertheless, I took this up. The result was pretty good, but still, I think spices would have brought out the flavors much better.

I always say there are more than a million ways to prepare one dish. That is why it is just not fair to your self to eat a meal prepared the same way for 70 years when you can enjoy it in many other ways. You get? One of the meals I totally love due to their versatility in the kitchen (besides potatoes and rice) is matoke. There are many ways you can prepare it one of them being my ginger matoke masala. Today’s recipe is very similar to this one I made in 2014, as per request of one of my readers. So with inspiration from that #KRecipe form 2014, here is an upgrade of the same with layered rich flavors: My ginger and coconut milk matoke.

Garlic Kuku Kienyeji (with homemade spice blend)

May 12, 2017 / Kaluhi / 32 Comments

My mom is obsessed with her chickens! Each time she comes back from her visit upcountry, she has to bring new chickens with her. I do not like them because of the work involved rearing them. I would prefer if we kept just three at a time, but she wants us to have a whole brood with us. Recently she brought 3 new ones, which later got anxious because of the new environment, panicked and retreated to the hedge. So ~~my mum and I in unity and strength~~ I had to chase them down, catch them and get them to their pen. It is never an easy task! My mum was laughing the whole time while I was doing the hard work. This city girl just couldn’t keep up!! But eventually, all three were caught and secured in their pen. Keeping chickens is such a hassle, which I would rather not indulge in. But all this is made worthwhile by knowing the feasting that will come after all the trouble will be unforgettable. And my sweat paid off when I dug my teeth into this kuku kienyeji (free range chicken) recipe that I made with a homemade spice blend. I shared sneak peaks with you on twitter and InstaStories over Easter but today, the long wait is over and I will share the recipe with you! You will loooooove this one!