Tag: kaluhi’s kitchen (Page 19 of 22)

Butternut Soup with Crispy Toasted Seeds

June 12, 2015 / Kaluhi / 16 Comments

I could hear the rumble of thunder from a distance, and I knew that particular weekend would be a cold, rainy one. The house grew dark & cold, so I went upstairs to grab myself a pair of socks. No sooner had I come back down than the rain began aggressively beating on the roof. Huge, angry drops of May Nairobi Rain. A bright flash of lightning lit the entire sky and with it, power was gone. Typical! Since I could not go anywhere outside, nor watch anything I decided to retreat to my favorite place: the Kitchen. That day, I decided to prepare some soup to warm myself up as I waited for electricity to return and keep myself busy.

This butternut soup is so beautiful I literally stared at it for so long. I took so many pics of it and it is one of my most visually appealing dishes yet. It is so filling, very nutritious and very warming. While it is currently not as rainy in Nairobi right now as it was a week ago, it is still rather cold especially in the evenings (22° C / 72F qualifies as cold in this equatorial country). This is the best soup for you to have. Whether as a the perfect prelude to a magnificent meal or just to warm you up, this butternut soup will still make you happy!

Chili and Ginger Githeri

June 9, 2015 / Kaluhi / 19 Comments

I am one of those people who can never EVER miss githeri when it is cooked. It’s almost an obsession. Ask my sisters, I absolutely love githeri. When I tell this to people, I get that look as though I just said I love eating kittens, live ones, in a graveyard, while chanting sacrilegious hymns of an extinct tribe . This may be because majority are yet to have that deliciously celestial githeri-eating experience. But I will give you one..

One of my earliest recipes on this blog was that of githeri, where I prepared it with coconut cream and curry which brought our its softer elements. You can get that recipe here. This time, I am using stronger flavors of chilli and ginger which brings out its more savory side. There is more than one way of preparing anything. And that is what makes cooking very exciting and a constant adventure. Do not allow your self to cook one meal the exact same way for all the days of your life. You will be missing out!

To warm you up as days get colder: Chilli and Ginger Githeri

Cake Festival 2015 – How it went down…

June 7, 2015 / Kaluhi / 14 Comments

When the event organizers for the Cake Festival 2015 say come and eat as much cake as you can, they are actually very very serious about that. This event had about 200 bakers showcasing their skill. It was a day of pure indulgence. We ate so much cake and I feel I will not have any more cake in a long long time. The bakers were very engaging and warm and majority of them had really high quality cake. And the best part is that all funds raised from this event shall be used to further education for students who come from needy backgrounds. It was all for a worthy cause.

This is how it went down.

Cayenne and Red Onion Nyama Choma Dry-fry

June 2, 2015 / Kaluhi / 9 Comments

In my country it is almost an abomination to throw away left overs of any meal. In the Kenyan spirit of resourcefulness, all meals that are left over from the current meal are set aside to be eaten as part of or for the next meal. Wastefulness is totally discouraged in our culture. And I believe that is a totally fantastic thing.

But lets be honest, at times having left-overs over and over can sometimes be monotonous. Hence it is always advisable to change things up and add new flavors to and transform an already awesome meal. Following the Madaraka day celebrations, we had some left over nyama-choma. To make this richer and tastier, we usually turn this into a dry fry. The process of frying it tenderizes the meat further but it still retains that smokey flavor. The onions and the chilli enhance the flavor of the nyama choma meat so well. It is soo good, just typing this made me salivate.

Garlic Masala Fries

May 15, 2015 / Kaluhi / 18 Comments

I am not such a big fan of junk food as I highlighted in this post not too long ago. But in all honesty, I find it so hard to turn down a good plate of masala fries. And I guess these garlic masala fries have to be the only exception. Fries have become quite common in Kenya over the past decade and different ways to have them have come up with time. I first heard of masala fries from my eldest sister while I was still in boarding school and the name alone made my mouth water. I vowed to have a taste of them as soon as my holiday begun. With some of my savings at hand, I made my way to Wimpy and bought some. I was not disappointed!

Today I made masala fries, but added my little twist to them, as usual! I added plenty of garlic which brought out the taste of the chilli so well and added to the juiciness of the masala sauce. These garlic masala fries iare a must try for all my readers.

Spring Onion and Cumin Seed Farfalle Stir-Fry

May 12, 2015 / Kaluhi / 0 Comments

I just feel like I must begin by reassuring you not to be intimidated by the name of this dish. LOL! Remember when we did this dish with a very different name, but it turned out very simple (and most popular for that month)? This farfalle stir fry is one of those dishes with long name but so simple to make. I promise! This is simply a stir fry made using a type of pasta called farfalle, which in my opinion are the prettiest pasta on the face of the earth. They resemble little bows and the girly girl in me almost automatically gravitated to them.

This stir fry was suggested to me by my friend, Vidhi, who loves cooking just as much as I do. Her recipe used cardamom seeds and white sauce. I put my own twist to it and used the ingredients I have available. Because this type of pasta is already inherently beautiful, this shaves off a lot of time trying to make the dish look pretty. Do read through and discover how easy this farfalle strir fry is to make:

Chocolate and Raisin Banana Split Delite

May 5, 2015 / Kaluhi / 0 Comments

I am the kind of person who is very analytical before I get into something. A few weeks before I started this blog, I used to post some pics of what I make at home on my personal Face Book page. I did that to see how the reception would be and how the public warmed up to them. To my surprise, people loved them and requested for the recipes. I was then sure the best platform to share the recipes would be via a blog.

One of the pictures I shared were those of this banana split. I made it first for my sisters and it was a hit. I initially made it with just ground nuts but this time I tweaked it a little bit and added some raisins for some extra sweetness. This is one of those very simple desserts that are just as healthy as they are breathtaking. The flavors of the chocolate, robustness of the raisins, softness of the vanilla yoghurt and texture of the nuts came together in perfect harmony in this banana split.

As I posted on Instagram, for the month of May, I shall focus on very simple recipes that bring out high profile flavors. Today, feast your eyes (and tongue) on this 🙂