I DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU BUT AM IN LOVE WITH WHAT I SEE.

Sometime ago my sister decided that she was tired of swallow and soup or the regular Nigerian rice and stew for dinner. She wanted a trained cook that can fix continental dishes at the snap of her finger. In Lagos some ladies assumption is that anyone that speaks French and says he can cook should able an expert in gourmet dishes.

Here is how part of the interview of my sister and her then cook went:

Madam: Cecil what dishes can you cook?

Cecil: Madam I fit cook anything and plenty Oyinbo food (Cecil needs to ensure that any angle madam comes from, he will block her… Hahaha)

Madam: Like what? 

Cecil: I fit cook Egusi soup, I fit make salads, braised beef and potato kroket (as pronounced with emphasis on the ‘t’) ah madam that potato kroket….you will like it.

Well Cecil was employed not so much for his claim to be able to make potato croquette or any continental dish for that matter but for other qualities he exhibited at the interview. He did make excellent crispy on the outside potato croquette whenever he needed to. As for other continental dishes unfortunately Cecil failed woefully.

If you are looking for a simple quick something that is not messy to eat particularly if you have kids then Potato croquet and barbecued chicken is what you should be serving up.

New potato is in season. It is quite easy to peel but less sweet and I like the texture and taste.

Potato is a good source of carbohydrate as well as having good levels of calcium which is great for bone health rich in vitamin B and C. Rubbing off the skin instead of peel with a knife helps to retain the nutrients.

Potato croquette and some meats is my go to meal when I am looking for something to cook that will not take about 45 minutes to fix.

To peel the potatoes, I use a scrubbing sponge or iron sponge and I easily get rid of the outer skin without losing the very fine top coat. You can also achieve this by boiling the potato in the skin and peeling when it’s cold. For this recipe though you need to handle the potato when it’s hot.

The size of the croquet can be varied from very small cylinders to medium size cylinders. Enjoy

Recipe for Potato Croquette

4-5 pieces Potato

1 Egg

1 tablespoon Butter

Bread crumbs

Black pepper

Cheese (optional)

A pinch of Salt

Vegetable Oil for frying

 Method

To start the process get your beaten egg and bread crumbs ready before the potato is well cooked. This way you get cooking as soon as the potato is ready

1. Peel and boil the potato till very soft.
2. Drain off the water whilst potato is still very hot.
3. Add the butter and mash the potato into a smooth paste
4. Whilst the potato is cooking, beat the egg with a pinch of salt and some black pepper and set aside.
5. Get bread crumbs ready also. To make your bread crumbs, toast the bread till only light brown, allow to cool, crush into pieces and blend in your dry ingredient part of the blender, or pound the crumbs into a smooth crumbs. To make the crumbs extra special add some herbs like thyme or rosemary and a little dry pepper. This way your fried product is even tastier and flavorful.
6. Take about a tablespoon mash per time, roll between your palms into a little cylinder. Dip first into the egg, then the bread crumbs to coat properly. If you are adding the cheese you cut a piece of the cheese and place in the centre of the mash, close up properly and roll into a cylinder.
7. Allow the potato croquet to rest for about 5-10minutes
8. Heat the oil till hot, and fry the croquet cylinder till golden brown. When the oil is hot enough you only need to fry for just 1 minute to brown the croquettes.

Ofe Akwu with Rice

 Nigerian Soups,Sauces, Soup Recipes

Ofe Akwu is a favorite Nigerian soup in the Enugu / Abakaliki areas of the southeast. A lot of the women interviewed confirmed that they do like to eat Ofe Akwu with rice. This was not surprising as there is a lot rice cultivation going on in Abakaliki. I visited Eboyin state a few weeks ago and it was an interesting visit to the rice farms in Abakaliki. Following this visit I resolved to try as much as possible restrict my rice meals to locally processed rice that is not over polished. This is of course healthier than the over polished imported ones we buy in markets.

My visit to Abakaliki was truly an eye opener as I realized that the local Abakaliki rice is now refined and packed locally. Gone are the days when you had to buy a calabash for washing the rice and plan way ahead to eat a local rice meal.

Although it was not possible to get into the mud of the rice fields since I had not taken the right foot wear along I found the visit very educative. A rice field is indeed a ‘muddy affair’. I did manage to get into the rice sidling farm where some young ladies were busy tending to the farm. The green color of the rice plants was very beautiful.

For today’s recipe I decided the pair Ofe Akwu with local Abakaliki rice. Palm fruit juice is used commonly across West Africa in many variety of soups. Banga, Abak Atama are some of the more popular soups.

Besides the squeezing out the palm fruit juice, this is a simple soup to prepare. Enjoy!

How to prepare Ofe Akwu?

Ingredients

6 cups of Palm fruit juice

2/3 pieces Smoked Fish

6-8 pieces Beef

6-8 pieces Pomo or Kanda

10 pieces dry Prawn

2 pieces Stock fish (optional)

1 handful Nchawun (chopped in large pieces)

2 tablespoons Crayfish

2 pieces Okpei (fermented local seasoning)

Pepper to taste

Beef seasoning cubes to taste

Salt to taste

Method

1. Season and steam the beef and stock fish with salt, pepper, beef seasoning and boil until half cooked. If the kanda is tough you may wish to steam it with the beef.
2. Boil, pound and squeeze out the palm fruit juice
3. Pour the palm fruit juice into the meat pot. Add the crayfish, smoked prawns, washed smoked fish, pepper, seasoning and salt to taste
4. Dissolve the Okpei in a little water and add to the soup.
5. Allow soup to boil and thicken. Taste for seasoning again and correct.
6. When soup is thick enough still with a droopy consistency, you add the Nchawun for just one minute and the soup is ready.
7. Serve with rice or any swallow.

OFE AKWU

OFE AKWU

OFE AKWU

OFE AKWU

OFE AKWU

How To Make Chapman Drink

Drink Recipes

How to make the perfect Chapman Drink?

I had lunch with my sister over the weekend and I had ordered a glass of Chapman as one of the drinks. In my mind’s eye the expectation was that of a drink with lots of oranges, cucumber (which I will crunch on as I sipped the drink), a good dose of angostura bitters for flavor and some smack of bitterness from Campari. What I was served was far from it. I then wondered if Restaurants actually know what the original Chapman recipe tastes like. For some restaurants, anything with a reddish/pink color with sparse fruits and a straw to suck on is fine. By the way you may get loads of water ice cubes, and then you end up sucking on only flavorless water at the end of the drink.

So you see my motivation on setting the records straight on Chapman. I have travelled quite a bit around the world and can authoritatively say that Chapman is a Nigerian drink /Nigerian cocktail. Like we say in Nigeria Chapman is our own origi.

As part of my dietetic internship straight out of the university I had to work in Federal Palace hotel and Bristol hotel (heard it has gone into extinction) both in Lagos. It was at these two places I learnt how to make the real and true Chapman. For those that do not take alcohol, you may wish to skip the Campari and angostura bitters.

The twist I have brought to this recipe is the added flavour of curry leaves and the iced cubes made from the drinks. The cubes guarantee that you will enjoy your drink to the last drop full the flavor of your first sip.

I note that Chapman is always served in big glass mugs locally called “who send you come”. We can enjoy even indulgent drinks like this in small doses. A small mug will not hurt. Enjoy!

Recipe for Chapman Drink (1 Glass)

1/4 bottle Lacasera drink or Sprite

1 small pack Ribena (black currant)

2-4 tablespoons Campari

2-3 dashes Angostura Bitters

8 pieces Curry leaves or Patmenja leaves

1/4 Orange cut in segments

4-6 slices Cucumber

Curry Leaves

Method

1. Freeze some of the Lacasera and Ribena in ice cubed trays. These will form the iced cubes. You need about 4-6 ice cubes
2. Chill the remaining Lacasera and Ribena.
3. Cut up the oranges and cucumber into desired shapes. Wash the curry leaves and set aside
4. In a glass put in 1/2 the quantity of fruits and curry leaves at the base .
5. Pour on the Campari , Lacasera and Ribena .
6. Add the remaining fruits and curry leaves
7. Finish off with the iced cubes and the sprinkle on some dash of angostura bitters.

Tip: You will generally find angostura bitters in the sections of shops where wines and drinks are sold. If you cannot find it then you may want to replace it with Bitter Apperito

Noodles in Coconut Milk

 Homemade

Noodles in Nigerian meals did not gain acceptance until about twenty years ago. Today even the most nutritionally disciplined mum finds herself caving into the pressure of the kids wanting their noodles. Today I bring a noodles version that will appeal to both kids and the adults, Noodles in Coconut milk.

My nephew came by my house the other day and requested to cook his meal. All the nice Nigerian soups I offered could not sway him to a swallow and soup meal. He eventually made his noodles with some sausage, dry chili pepper, because the noodle has to be spicy hot and he added some seasoning but not the one in the noodles pack. I taste the end product and was impressed. This was a job well done in the kitchen by a young Nigerian male. Noodles is sure getting our young men into the kitchen. I only hope the men continue to cook when they get married so the wives can rest from time to time….Hahaha

So what is it about a noodles meal that gets a kid wanting more? I think it’s the fun in twirling the strands round a fork and the fact that the meal and taste is less complex than most Nigerian meals.

Fela Anikulapu Kuti once sang a song about Ojuelegba in Lagos, a place where there’s hardly a time when everyone goes to sleep. It is here you are likely to find noodles sold to people returning home from parties at between 1am – 3am. Some other place called Obalende in Lagos Island, has similar places where noodles is prepared and served.

Today I share a recipe that will get you to enjoy a noodles meal at home and even the adults will be asking for more … Noodles in coconut milk. The ginger and the Chilli pepper with the coconut milk just brings this dish together. If you are looking for something quick, yummy and different to rustle up for the family, today’ dish is what will do it for you.

Recipe for Noodles in Coconut milk

2 packs of Noodles or Instant Noodles (75g size)

11/2 cups Coconut milk

4-6 pieces Prawn

2 tablespoons shredded Ginger

1 piece Shombo pepper

1 piece yellow Pepper

Seasoning to taste

Shombo Pepper

Method

1. Measure coconut milk into a pot, add the pepper sand ginger and bring to boil
2. Add the prawns, seasoning and salt  to taste and cook till prawn is cooked.
3. Steam the noodles for just a 1 minute in boiling water, strain and add to the coconut milk. Cook for another one minute and the meal is ready
4. Serve the Noodles in coconut milk hot

Spicy Koko Mai Gaya with Fruits

 breakfast recipes, Corn Recipes

Koko Mai Gaya

Nigerian breakfast option

From the north of Nigeria to the South, people enjoy fermented pap whether it’s from corn, guinea corn or millet. Something tells that even when our village dwellers and our grandparents did not know the science or benefit of cereals in providing slow releasing energy, they knew that starting your day with cereals was great for the body.

I have always known Koko as a common breakfast eaten both at home and on the street in the northern part of Nigeria and so today I present to you this cereal dumpling and pap all in one bowl. The dumpling is called Gaya in Hausa. You can make this cereal meal with white or yellow corn pap or millet pap.

I have brought my twist to this breakfast favourite by adding spices and some dried fruits. The spiciness of the ginger and pepper and the nice aroma from the cloves brings an interesting new dimension to this meal When I tasted the pap I just wished I was having this on a rainy day. Why not start your day on a spicy note with this Spicy Koko Mai Gaya with fruits (Fermented pap with corn dumpling)?

Recipe

You will need: 

1/2 cup Thick raw Corn pap

1 table spoon Honey or enough for your sweetness level

1/2 teaspoon Yaji (combination of dry pepper, dry ginger and cloves)

1 table spoon black currant

1 table spoon chopped dry date

2 cups Water

koko Mai Gaya

How to make Spicy Aromatic Koko?

1. Season the pap slurry with half the Yaji and one teaspoon honey. Mix the mixture very well and mould into tiny balls, called Gaya in Hausa
2. Bring water to boil in a pot, add the currants and dates to boil and soften
3. Drop the balls into the boiling water and cook for 8-10 minutes. The smaller the balls, the quicker they cook.
4. Mix about 1 tablespoon raw pap with 2 table spoons of water, stir rapidly into the dumpling mix cook for 1 minute and your pap is ready to eat.
5. Add more honey to taste and sprinkle remaining Yaji on the pap and serve hot. The Koko Mai Gaya is usually eaten with Akara.

Koko Mai Gaya

Koko Mai Gaya

Koko Mai Gaya

Koko Mai Gaya

Koko Mai Gaya

How to make Ofe Okazi Soup

 African Soup, Nigerian Soups, Nigerian Vegetable Soup, Soup Recipes, vegetable recipes

Nigerian woman and her soup…

There is a Nigerian expression which says ‘she who has the soup holds the man’ which is why soup continues to be the central point of many Nigerian meals. I had thought that with the abundance of rice in Nigeria, swallows will take a second place but no. Most of us just like the simplicity of eating which is use your hands, cut the swallow, dip it in the soup, accompany it with small fishes and vegetables and swallow or chew. Come to think of it this process I just described in a few words is quite complex. Have you thought of how our brain processes this? I mean when the soup gets to the mouth the ball of the pounded yam is swallowed and the vegetables and meats remain in the mouth before is chewed and enjoyed before being swallowed? This is quite intriguing.

So back to the matter of soups, it’s Ofe Okazi soup from Abia state, Nigeria and trust me this soup was so good that there were no leftovers after cooking.

The discovery for me in this soup was the Ogiri Isi and the way it is wrapped. You get this big ‘packaging’ made of leaves only to find a very small quantity of the Ogiri hiding in the last layer of leaves. Now the smell? Oh no this one was something else, which is why it is called Ogiri Isi meaning smelly Ogiri. But again fermented products like yoghurt and cheese are good for the gut so I believe Ogiri Isi is same.

The other ingredients I was using for the first time was Ofo another Nigerian soup thickener. I understand that some people use Achi for this soup but ofo is preferred for its texture. As I wanted to be sure I was buying Ofo and not Achi, I bought the unground one and blended myself at home.

So here is how to prepare Ofe Okazi soup.

Recipe for Ofe Okazi Soup

You will need:

6- 8 pieces Beef

1-2 segments smoked Asa Fish

Handful Stock fish pieces

6-8 pieces Pomo (cow skin)

1/2 cup Okazi

1/4 cup Uziza leaves

1/4 cup Achara (optional)

1 table spoon Ofo powder

1 wrap Ogiri Isi

1 table spoon ground Crayfish

2 cooking spoons Palm Oil

About 4 -6 cups water

1-2 yellow or Cameroun Pepper (chopped)

Beef seasoning to taste

Salt to taste

How to cook Ofe Okazi soup?

1. Season the beef with dry pepper or one of the yellow pepper, beef seasoning and salt and allow beef to marinade for about 20-30 minutes
2. Start by steaming beef in its juice till the beef juice dries up, then add water and cook till beef is soft to your desired texture. If you are using stock fish and tough Pomo then cook with the beef. You can also add the fish to the meat pot and cook in the meat stock towards to end of cooking the beef. When fish is soft take out and set aside so it does not completely crumble in the soup
3. To start cooking the Ofe Okazi soup, add the water to the meat and bring to boil. Add the Crayfish, Ogiri, the remaining pepper and palm oil and cook for about 10 minutes to reduce the flavor intensity of the Ogiri
4. Stir, check to correct the seasoning, reduce the heat so the soup is just simmering. Sprinkle on the Ofo in the pot and stir rapidly to mix it in the soup and then raise the heat slightly so the soup starts to thicken. The consistency of the soup is like Ofe Nsala or white soup.
5. When soup thickens enough which will take just about 2 minutes, add the Okazi and Uziza leaves and cook for about 3 minutes. Voila! Your Ofe Okazi soup is ready. Serve with any swallow of choice.

Coconut Milk Sauce with White Snapper and Spring Onion

 Fish Recipes, Sauces,Seafood Recipes

Looking beyond tomato sauces

The scarcity and high cost of tomatoes in Nigeria is real at the moment. Many cooks have learnt how to manage the use and stretch things a bit. I know that some of us are bulking up the stews and Jollof rice with onion and tomato purée which by the way is not getting cheaper.

Whilst we hope that the price of tomatoes will tumble down, not that I have too much hope as past experience has thought me that food prices do not observe the law of gravity. I have tried to bring to this blog as many none tomato sauces as possible. White Snapper in Coconut and Spring Onion sauce is one of such dishes. You may also consider another interesting offering which is Cat fish in Onion Sauce.

I must say today’s sauce happened because I had a lot of spring onion at home sent to me by a friend and as you know when you are cooking for a very small family frail vegetables like spring onion do not keep for too long. For  small quantities of left over spring onion though you can place the onion root downwards in a water container and leave in a cool place with some sun light and it remains alive and fresh for a couple of days.

For the coconut and spring onion sauce it was one of the easiest recipes you can turn out from the kitchen.

I used canned coconut milk which makes things even easier, besides it is creamier than when you use the fresh coconut for this recipe. On the contrary I will always use fresh coconut for my coconut rice.

The quantities of ingredient in this dish will have to be by eye measure depending on the number of people you are cooking for and the quantity of fish you have. I noticed that the coconut milk dries up quite fat so you need to have some extra can at home just in case you need to increase the quantity of sauce.

So grab some fish and get cooking… White Snapper in Coconut and Spring Onion sauce

Recipe for Coconut Milk Sauce with White Snapper

You will need: 

4 segments Fish

1 can Coconut Milk

2 -3 cups chopped Spring Onion

1/4 cup green Chillies

1 table spoon chopped fresh Ginger

1 -2 yellow or Cameroon Pepper (chopped)

1 cooking spoon vegetable Oil

Fish or chicken seasoning cubes to taste

Salt to taste

How to Cook?

1. Season the fish with some freshly grated ginger and salt and allow to marinade for about 15 minutes
2. Heat the oil and fry the fish to brown slightly on the outside  The fish may not have cooked through, this is okay all you want is to brown the fish. The final cooking will be done in the coconut milk
3. In the remaining oil used in frying the fish, add the ginger and chopped yellow pepper and fry for a minute , then add the spring onion, green Chilli, chicken seasoning to taste and fry for 2 minutes also.
4. Pour in the coconut milk and return the fish to the pan, lower the heat and cook for about 5 minutes or until the fish cooks through. Taste again and correct for seasoning and salt.
5. Serve your White Snapper in Coconut and Spring Onion sauce with rice. I choose to jazz up my rice with some chicken seasoning and Tumeric.

Fruity Ogi (Maize Pap) with Akara

 breakfast recipes, Corn Meal Recipes, Fruits

I want some crunch in my Ogi…

How to make Ogi such that it turns out well? Sometimes the simplest meals could be the most difficult, here I am talking of two ingredients. Ogi and water. I have seen many failed attempts at this dish, lumpy Ogi, watery Ogi, undercooked Ogi, over cooked Ogi and so on. Hopefully after reading through this you can make a perfect Ogi and even add some crunch, sweetness and fruitiness to it

I am one of those Nigerians for whom Ogi may be eaten ones or twice a year. Food has to be chewed or drank but not in between. So when I am confronted with soft textures I try to infuse something to chew. Today’s offering though goes beyond the texture, it is about using natural sugars in our meals whenever this is possible as this helps to maintain good health.

Weekend breakfast in Nigeria will most often feature Akara and Ogi. So my Fruity Ogi will take your breakfast to an interesting new level.

My inspiration for this dish has come from the presence of dry dates everywhere in Lagos thanks to the #ramadan season. I am amazed at so many things we can do if only we look around us and use ingredients available to us. Dry dates are available in markets now mainly hawked my Hausa traders. Now is time to buy the dates and store in the fridge for use now and later. Purple or green seedless grapes are practically are available in shops and green grocers and they are hawked on the streets in traffic jams in big cities in Nigeria so getting grapes is not a big problem.

So pick up some Ogi from the market or a shop near you and enjoy a great Nigerian breakfast of Fruity Ogi with Akara. I will advise that you prepare the fruit topping before making the Ogi, get the Akara ready so you can enjoy the Ogi hot.

Recipe

1 cup purple seedless Grapes

6 -10 pieces dry Dates

1/2 cup Ogi slurry

1 cup water

How to make Ogi?

1. Boil 1 cup water
2. Mix the Ogi slurry with 3 tablespoons water in a pot
3. Add the boiling water slowly to the Ogi slurry and stir rapidly
4. You may have to put the pot on the fire to further cook the Ogi? Whilst to the Ogi is on fire stir continuously for about 2 minutes
5. Serve hot.

How to make reduced Grapes and Date topping

1. Boil water and soak the dry dates for about 1 hour till soft
2. Deseed the dates and chop into small chunks
3. Wash the grapes and place in a pan ,using a spoon smash the grapes to release some liquid such that it is the grape liquid that will cook the grapes and dates to soften it
4. Place the grapes pan on the fire, add the dates reduce the heat and allow the fruits to soften. You may wish to add about 3-4 tablespoons of water to the fruit to have enough sweet liquid when you spoon it onto the Ogi.
5. Scoop fruits onto the freshly made Ogi. The fruit acts as sweetener. You may wish to also add milk to the Ogi.

Spinach and Uziza Seafood Eforiro

Nigerian Vegetable Soup, Seafood Recipes, vegetable recipes

Uziza helping to flavour many Nigerian dishes…

Eforiro is a favorite soup from the south west part of Nigeria and the vegetables commonly used are Shoko or Tete. For today’s dish I used the English spinach which is called Efo amunututu and added Uziza to bring that special minty flavor to this Seafood Eforiro. Like we say in Nigeria….your Eforiro will not remain the same again after you try this recipe with Uziza.

Uziza leaves and the seeds are great flavour agents in soups and stews and even grills. I am so in love with is southeast Nigeria herb right now.Just yesterday at my hair salon I could not help but sell this herb to my Edo hair dresser, just shows my passion right now.

Growing up my grandmother will hardly cook Otong soup without adding some Uziza leaves or etinkeni as it’s called in Efik. I am not so sure that the Yorubas use Uziza in cooking but heck, with some many people from the southeast trading across the country a herb like Uziza can be found in every big city in Nigeria.

For most Yorubas shokoyokoto or shoko for short (don’t really have the English name) is the main and favored vegetable used but I see other vegetables being used these days for Eforiro. In my Spinach and Uziza Seafood Eforiro, I am using the fresh English spinach, called Nmongmong ikong mbakara in Efik or efo amunututu in Yoruba. I got my self some seeds and young plant of the spinach to grow thanks to @kraftplus, one of my Instagram followers that was kind to share.

The other key ingredient that brings authenticity to an Eforiro dish is the fermented locust bean called Iru. The first time I touched Iru you cannot imagine how much I scrubbed my fingers to remove the strong aroma, but as with most foods you get to develop and acquired taste for it. When put in the soup, Iru loses some of its strong smell, and that is because palm oil has a way of reducing such smells. You are then left with a dish that tastes nearly as good as your grandma’s.

For the seafood, please feel free to use whatever is available to you; snails, calamari, fish chunks etc.

Enjoy my offering of today; Spinach and Uziza Seafood Eforiro.

Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup dressed Shrimps

4-6 pieces dressed Crab

4 cups cut and blanched fresh Spinach

1/2 cup shredded Uziza leaves

2 cooking spoons ground and boiled Tomatoes

1 cooking spoon coarsely ground onion/ pepper mix

1 teaspoon Iru

3 cooking spoons Palm oil

1 tablespoon Crayfish

Beef seasoning to taste

Salt to taste

Method

1. Pick, wash and cut the Spinach into medium size chunks. Boil enough water to cover the leaves. Pour boiling water over the spinach ensuring that all the leaves are well steeped in the water for about 1 -2 minutes. Quickly drain out the hot water and steep vegetables in cold water. Drain off the cold water, squeeze out excess water in the spinach and set aside. You will notice a bit of slime as you squeeze, so press hard to get rid of some of the slime. Do not worry about the slime because it does not appear like this in the soup.
2. Pick wash and shred the Uziza leaves and set aside. You shred into very thin slices like you will do for Okazi or Afang
3. Heat the palm oil, fry the onion/peppermix first and then add the tomato, crayfish, Iru, seasoning and salt to taste. Allow to fry until the water in the tomato mix is dry.
4. Add the seafood, lower the heat and allow to cook till done.
5. Take out the shrimps, add first the Uziza and allow to cook for about 2 minutes. Add the spinach last stir to mix well and allow to cook for about 2 minutes. Return the shrimp to the pot, stir well cook for 1 more minute and the Spinach and Uziza Seafood Eforiro is ready.

Whole Wheat Coconut Pancakes with Caramelized Apples

Exploring a different pancake option…

Is there a kid out there who does not like well-made hot or warm pancakes? Adults like me are also in love with this breakfast option because of the variety of twists that one can bring to basic pancakes like fruits, nuts and spreads. Whole Wheat Coconut Pancakes is an interesting option I have created to help those trying to keep off white wheat flour. The fibre content of the whole wheat is certainly more digestive system-friendly and also has an interesting texture you will not find in the white wheat flour.

I was pleasantly surprised at the light fluffy texture of these whole wheat pancakes and the other exciting thing about the pancakes was the coconut crunch that awaits you with every bite. The use of honey just completes this fairly clean breakfast. The pancakes themselves were not too sweet, so the controlled drizzle of honey just before eating allows one to minimize the sugar level in this dish. Why not try this Whole wheat Coconut Pancakes with Caramelized Apples at your next breakfast meal?

Enjoy!

Recipe

Ingredients

3/4 cup whole Wheat Flour

1/2 cup Dry Coconut chips or desiccated Coconut

1 Egg beaten

1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder (measure should be level spoon)

1 1/2 cups Coconut Milk (shake the can well to mix before opening)

2-3 tablespoons Honey

2 Apples

For the Drizzle

3 tablespoons Honey

1/2 teaspoon Lemon rind

Method

1. Measure out the flour, baking powder, coconut chips and mix together.
2. Beat the egg, add the coconut milk and honey to the egg and mix well
3. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix well with a fork until smooth. Cover mixture and leave to rest for about 10-15 minutes
4. To cook the pancake, line a very small frying pan with very little oil, just enough to coat the base of the pan. Fry small batches of the whole Wheat coconut pancakes 2-3 minutes on each.
5. To make the caramelized apples, simply slice into light pieces and place in a hot frying pan or pot to brown and soften on each side. No oil or water needed to do this.
6. To serve the pancakes, mix the lemon rind in the honey and drizzle over the pancakes and serve with caramelized apples.