I am on vacation in India, Visited Malaysia for few days.
I have been laying my fingers on a variety of foods, sampling and comparing with our African food.
There are a lot of differences between Asian and African cuisine, nevertheless the food is GOOD!!!!
Today I crave for African food, had Mandazi for breakfast, Ugali with coconut fish stew and braised cabbage for lunch. Good food should be shared, here is the glimpse of how Mandazi is made. In most parts of East Africa, they have them fried. As usual, I always look for healthier version. I got my own baked.
Healthy and yummy.

You will need the following:-
1. 2 1/2 cups of brown wheat flour ( traditionally white flour is used)
2. 2/3 cup of brown or white sugar.
3. 1 cup of thick coconut milk.
4. 1 1/2 teaspoon of  instant yeast.
5. 5 cardamom , remove seeds and powder them.
6. 2 tablespoon butter for glazing.

How to make.
1. Take a deep plate or bowl, mix all dry ingridients.
2. Add coconut milk gradually, mix thouroghly until u get a ball.
3. Knead the flour dough until soft and pliable (it takes longer if white flour is used)
4. Keep for half an hour or till it doubles its size.
5. Divide into 4 equal balls, roll (flat) each one into about 6 inches in diameter and cut into 4 pieces.
6. Dust the baking tray with flour, place cut mandazi on it.
7. Bake for 20mins at 175C till golden brown.
8. Remove and smear butter on hot mandazi.
9. Let it cool on baking try, remove and enjoy them with coffee, tea or just on its own.

Children love them with jam.

Buffalo wings here I come ready or NOT. If you love Buffalo wings, You will surely change to Simba wings.  They taste so GOOD!!!!  WELCOME to African variety.  When I visit USA, my first meal is always Buffalo wings.  Now I have my version, I dont have to be in USA to enjoy this delicacy.
Go ahead and try, below is the recipe of my Simba wings.
Get 12 pcs of chicken wings. Cut each into 2 pcs
2 tablespoon butter, margarine or sunflower  or canola oil
3 tablespoon of ketchup
1 tablspoon of Tabasco sauce
1tablespoon of soya sauce
2 teaspoon of All purpose seasoning
1 teaspoon of citric vinegar

Mix all the ingredients to cleaned and cut wings and marinate for atleast 30mins.
Arrange into baking tray and bake for 45 mins at 200C.
Enjoy with dip of your choice with dinner buns or fried plantain or boiled yam of potato wedges. Have salad on the side.

SEE HOW HEALTHY SIMBA WINGS ARE!!! no frying, healthy pleasure.
CAN U BEAT IT????
TRY IF YOU CAN.

After a month of fasting, meditating, contemplating and spritual struggle we celebrated the special day of Eid from sunday the 20th and still the festivity mood is present to-date. People exchaged greetings with utmost joy. After the Eid prayer families visited friends and relatives. Every house you go you will be offered goodies and non-alcoholic drinks. Everyone dressed at  their best. The atmosphere is wonderful. Children were happy receiving gifts and money.  Some people do like to go to the beach. In Accra they had motorcycle procession and horse riding show.
I prefered to be at home with family and friends. Made Biryan and salad and it turned out great. Below is the  recipe, you must try , you would love it.

YOU WILL NEED
1. Long grain rice preferable basmati rice  500 grms
2. Chicken   750grms
3. Onions     3 medium size
4. Garlic/Ginger paste  1 tablespoon
5. Yoghurt   1 cup
6. Biryan spices or mixed spices  2 tablespoon
7. Green chillies  2
8. Mint leaveas 1/2 cup
9. Tomato paste 1 tablespoon
10. Juice of  one lime
11. Salt   1 teaspoon and 1 tablespoon
12. Orange color  powder a pinch
13. Ghee (clariefied butter)  5 tablespoon
14 Water 11/2 water


HOW TO MAKE IT.
1. Cut Chicken into medium pcs and marinate with yoghurt with Biryan or mixed spices, chopped chillies, one teaspoon of salt and chopped herbs for atleast half an hour.
2.  Fry slices onions in 5 tablespoon of clarified butter till golden brown.
3.  Add marinated chicken fry till oil separates.
4.  Add the tomato paste and juice of one lime and continue to fry for about 30 seconds.
5. Pour half cup of water and cook on low heat for 25 minutes.
6.  Boil rice till 3/4 done with a tablespoon of salt and 11/2 litres of water and strain
    take a 1/2 cup of the cooked rice and add the color
7.  Take a caserolle dish arrange cooked chicken gravy at the bottom and place uncolored rice on it evenly then on top put the colored rice.
8.  Place  the dish in the oven at 150C for 20 minutes.
9.  Remove from oven and serve on a platter.

SERVE WITH SALAD VEGETABLE SALAD
EID MUBARAK

Some people find happiness going to the beach, swimming in the ocean, but for me it is different.  I perceive the sea or ocean as aggressive. It doesnt give me the peace, solace and tranquility I am looking for.  I prefer walking on the shores, picking some shells, drinking tender coconut instead. It is the lakes I adore the most. I feel very close to my Creator and nature. The serenity is remarkable. I embarked on a journey to  Lake Bosuntwi two years ago. It  is situated in Ashanti Region of Ghana. My daughter got to know about this lake on the internet and she knew I will be excited to visit. The lake is approximately 8kms across and it is the only natural lake in Ghana. It took us 6 hours by road from Tema.  I saw many small villages around the lake, I came to understand as many as 30 of them.
Villagers dressed in their traditional attires walking as we drove by on the narrow path gave us warm greetings. Our hotel was situated about 4.5km from the main road, which goes to Kumasi the capital of Ashanti region. To cover distance of 4.5kms  took us an hour to reach due to crooked and rough road.
The villagers consider the lake as sacred. I inquired a bit about the history of this
lake and I learned it  has a traditional story behind it. The indegines believe the souls of the dead come there and perform some rituals like bidding farewell to their deity Twi. According to this traditional belief it is only permissible to fish with wooden planks in this lake. 
We stayed in a not-so-big hotel but the staff were cordial and the service was satisfactory. At night we sat in the chalet which serves drinks, facing the lake. However we couldnt see anything as the lake was dark at night, but the feeling of being there was wonderful. We had dinner  by candle lights as there was no electricity and went to bed early, I  still remember the creepy reptile in our room that looked like half lizard and half snake, it was scary. I called the room attendant and he said we shouldnt worry it will go away. There was a fat cat, I ended up giving our food which I carried from my house, hoping it may chase away this creepy animal. I dared not go to bathroom in the middle of  the night, I was really terrified I may be bitten by this creature. Mosquitoes were singing the whole night fortunately there was mosquito net, so we could hear them, but they could not suck our blood. The night was a nightmare, three of us had to sleep on one big bed as I was scared to let  my daughter sleep alone in her room. The night was a nightmare, slept for few hours.
Next day early morning  we had the most amazing experience. My husband and daughter went with the local fishermen for fishing, I stayed back and enjoyed the beautiful scenery, admiring the splendid surroundings, nature at its best, from birds chirping to  different kinds of insects crawling and flying here and there. The hotel garden was magnificent, heaven on earth!!!
Later when my husband and daughter got back, we played volleyball with the locals. There was only one lady occupant besides us at the time we were there and she was there to have a quite time, therefore all attention of the staffs turned on us. The breakfast was good, vegetable omelet, toasted bread,butter, tea and coffee. I wish they had fruits.

I fell in love with the lake and I wish I will be able to visit again, definitely we will
stay in  a better hotel.

 

 

Did you know woman is the best creation in the whole universe?? But see what has happen to this species? Should we blame ourselves for being taken for a ride? We accept to be used and  discarded like bag of rotten potatoes. We are treated as commodities, when we are not on demand  later in our life , men take the fresh ones. Yes I am talking about how women are subjected to violence, extortion, exploitation, stigmatised and sometimes being murdered. How many women who are in a better position come forward to help?? Our first ladies once they are at presidential palace , they care less. Look around the world from child marriage as young as 10years old to kidnapping of our young girls and use them as sex objects. Anytime I switch on the TV or read online news I see women and our girls subjected to inhuman treatment.
Husbands get drunk and use their wives as punching bags. Single mothers are on the rise!! unfaithful husbands sleep around with sexual workers and bring diseases to their wives. Sadly those wives are blamed and some cases beaten. Once they are widowed, they are called all sorts of names , from witches, killers and greedy to inherit their husbands money. In some parts of the world they are chased out of their houses, get killed or burned alive. I am proud to be born as a woman and I thank my Creator I am fortunate enough to enjoy my womanhood, but what about the majority of other women??
We women dont help  ourselves, one sister is ready to step on another sister to achieve her goals, instead it is better to stand together and support one another and crush mens chauvinism.  I get pissed off when I see two women fighting for a man, tearing their clothes, disgrace!!  There is many fish in the ocean, find your own damn it. Dont spoil your friends or somebody elses marriage.
I call all women to join hands and help one another, supporting and encouraging
each other. If you see a single woman be kind ,spread your hands and help. Take her children along with yours when you go out for icecream or funfare. Invite her when you have parties, so she can  too have the goodies which you enjoy. Adopt  or sponsor a poor child and give him/her a  better life. If there is amore equal distribution of weatlh, our world will be a better place.
WOMEN, now is the TIME, what will do to make a difference???

 I have been throwing away overripe bananas for a long time, but not anymore.
 I have found this delicious bread a rescue for these bananas .
Previosly  I tried to make milk shakes but was not my cup of tea, though no harm in trying , it can please some of your taste buds.
Before reaching the result of this yummy banana bread which I want to share the recipe with you all. I have tried many recipe available online. You have to make my version , you will  be glad you did.
Me and my family  have fallen in love with the bread and I want to spread the love to you all especially during the holy month of Ramadhan.
My daughter cant stop nibbling, she loves it wholeheartdely. We have saying in swahili language which says "Wish for your brother, what you wish for yourself" this goes without explanation what I mean , make this bread and taste the paradise on earth.
Check out the recipe in the recipe section at www.thekickblog.com.

When I was little I loved going to town with my dad. I made sure I accompanied him once in  a month  to receive his pension at the  government ministry office where all oldies retired men met to collect their monthly pension money, (sorry to say I had not seen any woman at that time,  I dont know why? and it never occured to me to question. Frankly at those days I doubt if they were many women working in government institutions. I am talking about late 1960s).  To me it seemed they were all having a gala time , discussing of their yesteryears, but in my mind my intention was to have those town kababus at K.Tea Shop after my father collected his pension money and my father knew about it. I didnt mind stopping every few metres as  my father met somebody he knew and  he would chat. I had patience those days being a kid. Till today this K. Tea shop is much alive!! with the same tasty delicacies available. God knows how they kept  the same recipes till today and I  am sure till the end of the world!!!  Oh !! I have to mention the drink I loved most to wash down with those Kababus, it is called Portello, though it is  no more produced now in Tanzania, it is something like Vimto (fruity kind cocktail) it was sooooo good.  I loved it straight from the bottle, I felt that straw or glass spoiled the fun.
Let me come back to the topic, Kababu, it is made of minced meat(ground meat) mixed with spices and herbs and  deep fried. On every vacation I visited Tanzania the first place I go is K.Tea shop. I have taken my children and they loved it. Nowadays I have these kababus with tea. They served tea in small cups, and you could ask for refill. The taste is really great, I get satisfied with only one cup. Apart from kababus, they  have other snacks like meat chop, sambusas, potato cutlets, bean dumplings,rice cakes, fried fish, doughtnuts and a lots more, but everytime I go there, I settled for my childhood favourite "Kababu".

What an easy way to have a good meal with less hassle!!!
This dish is easy to make yet very nutritional.
Lets start making, I am really excited to share with you all.
For two  people, boil 4 eggs for 10mins. Chop one medium onion, one medium tomato and two green chillies. Have ready a teaspoon of ginger/garlic paste, a teaspoon of curry powder, cumin powder, mixed spices,coriander powder and half teaspoon each of chilly powder and black pepper powder. Get a 450ml of coconut milk.
Start with a tablespoon of cooking oil in a deep frying pan or a saucepan, sautee chopped onions, add garlic ginger paste, then chopped tomatoes, chopped green chilles, all spices and salt to taste, fry till soft and marshy. Add coconut milk, stir continuously to avoid cuddling, lower the heat and cook for 10 mins. Add boiled eggs, in full or halves as you desire. Give the curry a nice boil for just 3 mins. Sprinkle coriander leaves(cilantro leaves).

Dish out and enjoy with rice or bread along with salad of your choice.