FISHERMAN'S STEW...

I never used to like okra soup, the thought of the slime would make me gag. Then a friend cooked this stew and at first i laughed at her eating rice and okra, made fun and asked if she also dunks her bread in water before eating since she's into yucky combinations. She asked me to taste it and i went from "God forbid" to "I'll only have some fish" to settling down with another spoon and then getting a recipe.

This stew is easy, it cooks a lot faster than Nigerian conventional stews. You can edit it to suit you as long as the okra and seafood remains constant.

1 Large Tilapia (scaled, gutted and cut)

1 White Onion (chopped)

3 Large Tomatoes (chopped)

2 Cups of Roughly Chopped Okra

1 Chopped Spring Onion

Seafood Mix (Prawns, Crab, Mussels, Baby Octopus, Calamari)

1 Cup Beef/Chicken Stock

Salt & Pepper

2 Seasoning Cubes

1 Teaspoon Curry

1/2 Cup Palm Oil

Pour your oil into a dry pot and allow to heat up but not get smoky. Add your okra and fry it for about 2 minutes, this cuts down the slime by more than half as fisherman stew isn't meant to "draw" as much as okra soup.

Add tomatoes and onions next and allow to cook together for about 5 minutes. Add beef/chicken stock as well as your tilapia and allow to cook for another 5 - 7 minutes depending on the size of your cuts of fish.

Sidebar: If you have no packaged stock or any saved, don't let your fishmonger throw away your fish head and fins after cutting them off and cleaning your fish. take them home, wash them, season and cook for 10 -15 minutes. Use a spoon to carefully remove any film that would've formed on the surface of the stock or any bits of bone, that should give you a nice stock.

Taste for seasoning and add to your taste. Always season AFTER you've added stock to food so as not to over salt or over season in general. A tablespoon of crayfish also works well with this ingredient, be careful not to add too much so it doesn't over power the stew.

Add palm oil and the seafood mix and cook for another 5 minutes and your stew is ready.

I still enjoy mine the way i had it the very first time, with white rice or i'd just dish up a hearty bowl of the stew alone and go at it with a spoon.

PS. I'm now an okra soup "semi-fan", its not on my top 5 of favorite soups but i eat and cook it pretty well. I even have a post on okra soup...

THE LAZIEST FRIED BROWN RICE AND SEARED SALMON DINNER...

This recipe is exactly what it says it is, a quick and tasty meal even the laziest one of us can make. 

Everyone gives brown rice a bad rap, but i kind of like it. Yes it tastes different but everything will taste different until you get used to it and manipulate it to your taste. This was dinner for 2 and did i mention super healthy?

For this i used some left over plain cooked brown rice...

2 Cups Cooked Brown Rice

2 Beef Franks (Chopped)

1/2 Onion, Medium Carrot, Green Beans, Medium Tomato, Yellow Pepper (Chopped)

Sliced Green Pepper & Spring Onion

1/2 cup Chicken Stock

Olive Oil (Zero Calorie) Cooking Spray

1/4 Cup Balsamic Vinegar

Salmon Steaks

Salt & Pepper

1 Teaspoon Oriental 5 Spice

Chopped Dried Garlic

1 Seasoning Cube

Mix balsamic vinegar with a pinch of salt, pepper and garlic and allow to sit for 30 minutes.

Spray some olive oil into your pan/pot and soften your onions until translucent, about 2 - 3 minutes.

Add chopped sausages and cook down for an extra minute.

Add vegetables and season with spices.

We don't wan't to cook the vegetables for more than 30 - 45 seconds so it doesn't "die" completely before the cooking process is done.

Add the rice and mix gently with a fork so as not to mush it all up, pour in chicken stock and turn down the heat. Allow the rice to cook through with the pot uncovered, it shouldn't need more than 5 minutes.

While that is going, spray some more olive oil into a non-stick pan and sear your salmon for 2 minutes on each side. If your steak is pretty thick, turn down the heat, add a few drops of water into the pan and cover it. The steam build up will fish cooking it through.

Garnish with chopped parsley and a slice of lemon if you please. Count the minutes, you have dinner on your plate in less than 20 minutes.

:)

PS. I got my mojo back, no more long absences...

;)