I grew up eating rice.Mostly rice and beans,this is the main combination in Kenyan cuisine.Just plain old rice and plain old beans.I have seen lemons being used so many ways in different dishes around the world but lemons have been the underdog in Kenyan cuisine.When you mention lemons to a kenyan,one thing always comes to mind;weightloss haha.I dont know who told us that lemons can only be used in hot water while trying to lose those inches off your waist but that’s mostly what we do💁🏿‍♀️.So i have made a solemn vow to always incorporate lemons because they are a very diverse bunch.Here’s a recipe for my lemon rice;

Ingredients;

• Rice
• Lemons duuh just one is enough
• Ginger ,finely chopped
• Coriander leaves
• Peanuts
• Grated carrots(optional)

• Start by cooking your rice until its tender but not mushy.
• Fluff it up with a fork then set it aside to cool down.
• In a hot pan,add a teaspoon of oil then add in your chopped peanuts.Fry them until they are nice and golden brown.
• Remove them and place them aside.
• In the same pan,add in your finely chopped coriander leaves, grated carrots amd ginger. sauté them for 30 seconds.Dont fry them for too long because the ginger will turn bitter.
• Add the peanuts back in then add the cooled rice.mix it up for a few seconds.
• It’s now time for our hero,the lemon ,squeeze in your lemon use a sieve to avoid putting in the seeds.Mix up all the ingredients and taste.
• Serve as you like.I ate mine with beef stew 🍲🍲

We have all had croquettes at some point in our awesome lives knowingly or unknowingly.I dont think i knew their name when i first ate them.I have made croquettes a few times but most of the time my filling was protein.Today i decided to make carrots shine.

Croquettes can be oval, cylindrical or round so i guess i’m handling 10-20 balls today🤡🤡.I have wanted to make these for the past week but i tended to have one ingredient and missing another.Weell today didn’t disappoint either because i didn’t have breadcrumbs but homegirl came through and made her own💃🏿💃🏿.I toasted slices of bread and ground them up in the processor.I don’t think i’ll buy breadcrumbs again i feel like an Iron chef 😂😂.

I didn’t just happen to think about carrots for the filling haha i was watching masterchef, one contestant was making them.I was like if it’s good enough for masterchef then it certainly is good enough for my little old blog😎😎.I know you know how to make this but i’m gonna tell you anyway💁🏿‍♀️💁🏿‍♀️.

Prep time is maybe an hour .

Ingredients needed;

• Potatoes
• Carrots
• One egg
• Seasoning obvi ;salt,pepper and my favourite ,chilli powder to get that punch.
• Cream /butter/margarine.

• Peel your potatoes and boil them whole in salted water until tender.
• Grate your carrots and set them aside.
• After boiling and draining them,mash the potatoes then add the carrots
• Add in your seasoning and continue mashing.
• Mix in the egg and the cream.To keep the mashed potatoes moist.
• To prevent them from falling apart in the fryer, add in some of the breadcrumbs and mix until its a nice dough.
• Okay now your dough is formed,time to get your hands dirty.Wash your hands then dry them.Form small balls and roll them in breadcrumbs.
• Heat oil in a frying pan then dip them into the oil until they are nice and golden brown .

I think I ate the first batch just after they cooled down a little.I swear i ate more croquettes than the people i prepared for.

Hash browns ooh sweet hash browns. When i think of this dish,my heart just melts,i start salivating and i’m pretty sure my pupils dilate a little.This brings me back a few years ago when we had just moved to Isiolo,We moved quite a bit because of my Dad’s work which was awesome.So me and my siblings are in this new town,my parents had gone out,and i decided to fry us some chips and sausages for lunch.I peeled my potatoes and my ancestors told me to check if i had enough oil. Surprise surprise there was barely anything in the can .Thank you my luhya ancestors 👻👻.Then i remembered watching some chef making hash browns and i was like well let’s make hash browns.They turned out so good 😋😋.I have been making terrific hash browns ever since👩‍🍳👩‍🍳.

At first i was planning to stick to the traditional Irish potato hash browns so i told my mum to bring me some when she goes into town.Guess what?she forgot💁🏿‍♀️.Then a small light bulb went on in my head, i will use sweet potatoes 🤡🤡I mean they are in the potato family right?Plus sweet potatoes are waaay more flavourful because they have a natural sweetness and they are packed with antioxidants and fibre.

• Ingredients;
• Sweet potatoes
• Oil
• Butter/margarine
• Seasoning;black pepper,chilli flakes and salt

• Wash your potatoes and peel them or you can leave the skin on.I prefer no skin.
• Grate them into a bowl of water.This ensures they dont oxidize while cooking and the starch is released
• Empty the bowl and then squeeze the shredded potatoes in a clean kitchen cloth until they are completely dry.
• Combine the oil,shredded potatoes and the seasoning.
• Add some oil and some butter onto the pan
• Put the mixture in the preheated pan and flatten it into a patty.cover the patties to allow the interior to cook and the exterior to be crispy.
• Cook on both sides until they are browned.

Serve with a sunny side up egg or some bacon.Enjoy the crispy exterior and the strachy moist interior. Maybe when you go sweet potato you never go back to the traditional Irish potato🤡🤡

Ssup my people📢📢it’s been a minute😀😀.what immediately comes to your mind when you think of comfort food ,movie food or the(lemme make a little snack)food?I immediately go to noodles!!I knooow weird right?everyone always goes the popcorn route or chips and dip affair.I like noodles because they are super easy to make aaand they take like 5 minutes.Yeah yeah popcorn takes less but i am sticking to my noodles okaay🤡🤡.One time,on a lazy Saturday i decided to watch my movie with some class ehehe , i gathered my tushillings and went to the supermarket to buy a packet of crisps,came back,wrapped myself in a warm blanket and started watching killing eve while eating my crisps.I couldn’t hear anything that sandra Oh was saying!!💁🏿‍♀️💁🏿‍♀️so i had a choice ,finish my crisps or finish that episode.Ofcourse i finished my crisps ,just sitting there eating crisps staring at a paused episode like the classy idiot i was.Back to my buttered noodles👏🏿👏🏿.This recipe is really really short so i will not take time out of your busy schedules,eheeheehe y’all got nothing going on so read on!!😂😂.

I used indomie instead of fettuccine or other fancy noodles.A stick of butter,carrots for some crunch and coriander leaves for some colour.

Bring water to a boil ,add in a pinch of salt,dump in your noodles,let them cook until they are al dente.Drain excess water then add in your butter and let it melt into the noodles.Add in some pepper and go nuts with the sauce that comes with the lovely indomie.Plate your little dish and chop some carrots and some coriander leaves and enjooy🍲🍲

We are going to china y’all🛩🛩.whenever i think about dumplings,i think about this show i used to like as a kid,kung fu panda.There was this character, Po the panda, he looooved dumplings.I mean he would protect his dumplings first then himself 😂😂.

This is not the first time i’m making dumplings.I made them a while ago,B.C(before corona),the whole thing totally backfired on me,even after watching a step by step video on YouTube.You know i’m thinking about that now and it probably backfired because the video was in Chinese!!😂😂with subtitles.Anyway never say never right?I’m giving it another go 🤡🤡.

Time for some intro;Dumpling 101 haha.Dumplings are a broad classification of dishes made of dough from different starchy sources wrapped around a filling or dough with no filling.Different cultures have different versions of dumplings.There is South African Dombolo,Ethiopian Tihlo and many more.They can be steamed,fried,boiled or baked.I’m gonna fry mine💃🏿💃🏿.Let’s hope the second time’s a charm🤞🏿🤞🏿.

Here is a short recipe;

Prep time ;30 minutes to 2 hrs😂😂it’s worth it i promise.Cook time is just 10-15 minutes. You will need;

• All purpose flour
• Water
• Coriander (finely chopped)
• Black pepper
• Chilli flakes
• Salt
• Filling of your choice (mine is sausage)

1. Add your flour into a bowl.Add in a pinch of salt or until your ancestors signal you to stop.
2. Slowly pour in water while stirring with a pair of chopsticks or a wooden spoon,for my kenyan folks(tumia mwiko)don’t suffer😂😂.
3. Dust your hands with flour and start kneading.Your dough should be a little tough.It should be easy to get it out of the bowl without sticking.Continue kneading until it isn’t sticky anymore.
4. Cover the bowl with a lid ,a dump cloth or cling and let it rest for 30 minutes.
5. Thoroughly wash your corriander and let them drain.
6. Chill for the 30 minutes,sip some wine 🥂.
7. After 30 minutes,knead the dough again then cover back up and let it rest.
8. Meanwhile start preparing your filling.I removed the skin off my sausages,mixed them up with a fork to get a fine texture.
9. Start adding your spices,a little bit of black pepper, some chilli flakes for some heat ,if you don’t like heat don’t die ,leave out the chilli flakes.Add the finely chopped coriander and mix.

Now the fun part🥳🥳.

Take out your rested dough,dust your surface and your hands.Roll your dough into a stick,then cut it into small pieces.

Take a piece and press it into a disc then roll it into a circle. Like you are making a small chapati.😎😎

Take teaspoonful of the filling and put it at the center of the circle.Fold it in any shape you want.

• 

Heat your oil.Then start frying your dumplings.Dont overcrowd the pan. Fry them at medium hit to allow the filling to cook through.

My luhya people know what i’m talking about💃💃(and some of the kenyan population haha).This dish has a special place in my heart.I grew up with this dish,whenever my mom came home with sweet potatoes, i knew what was going down that day,some good old fashioned soul food.
I think I was about seven years old when i got introduced to this dish.I remember one day coming home from school and back in the day there were no blenders or we couldn’t afford one so i am walking home from school and i could hear continuous pounding over and over again. My mind quickly went to my mum and i just ran into the house crying as loud as i can alerting the neighbors that someone broke into the house and is beating up my mum , imagine my confusion when i saw her seriously pounding roasted groundnuts using a mortar and pestle into a fine powder.I was amazed ,i just sat there and watched her.
Here is a short recipe ;
Groundnut sauce;
Ingredients;groundnuts
                     3 tomatoes
                      1 onion
                    salt and pepper
You need 2-3 cups of groundnuts.

Roast the groundnuts on medium heat for about 15 minutes to get a nice crunch.Leave them to cool down a bit and start pounding!just kidding 😂😂.
Using a blender,crush  the groundnuts into a fine powder.
This is the result
Now on to the cooking, FYI this dish doesn’t need all the bells and whistles to taste good.All you need is salt  tomatoes, onions and a little pepper.
In a pan,pour vegetable oil or any oil ,
Add finely shopped onions or shallots
Fry them until they are golden brown or transparent
Add the verry finely chopped onions and make sure they are well cooked until they become a paste.Lumps are no fun.
Add the salt and pepper
Add the groundnut powder ,then add some water and stir like porridge.
Let it simmer for about 10 minutes and you are done💁‍♀️
oh almost forgot about the potatoes
After peeling and chopping into bite sizes
Add some water for boiling and add a little salt and let it boil.
I boiled my potatoes using firewood instead of gas cause as my mum says,food cooked on firewood hits different and tastes better.
This will take 30 -40 minutes for them to be tender.
Serve !!Btw you only need 2-3 pieces of the sweet potatoes so you don’t have to worry about your calorie intake😁😁.

I have always been fascinated by pasta so i decided to make my own from scratch! like many 20 something year olds ,i turned to my most trusted source, Youtube for guidance.After searching for like two seconds i had 10 or so videos to pick from.After watching a few of them,i made a mental note to go look for the ingredients (semolina flour,eggs and salt)in my local supermarket.I had just one question,what the hell was semolina flour??Back to another trusted source of informantion,Google,i started researching about semolina flour and i found out quite a bit;semolina flour is freshly milled whole wheat that is ground into a fine texture ,it’s like fancy wheat flour haha.I went to the supermarket with my fingers crossed that i would find the famed semolina flour and surprise ,surprise there it was,on the shelves of our small local supermarket!semolina flour.I swear i heard angels singing’Aaaaaaah’.And it was affordable!i meaan it was a good day.I took my ingredients home and prepared to start making my own pasta.I even broke into song.After telling my family that dinner was on me, (i shouldn’t have told then anything)i decided to read the fine print on the back of the packet and chile let’s just say i missed the mark because that was not the same semolina flour used to make pasta,this was for porridge!I stopped singing and had to tell my family we were just going to have regular store bought pasta.
Fast forward to today,my mum found the unopened packet of semolina flour and threatened to throw it away because it was just sitting there,sad and alone.That’s how i decieded to make my family semolina porridge.
After hyping it up,i finally convinced my family to let me cook it.After cooking it,i called my greatest food critic,my ten year old brother to taste and i got a thumbs up😀😀.
Here is a short recipe for my semolina porridge
Ingredients;water,milk,sugar/honey and semolina flour.
You only need 10-15 minutes to prepare it.

Measure two 500ml cups of water and pour into a sufuria.Bring it to a boil.

Add 500ml of milk to the boiling water.
Then start pouring the flour (just use one cup)it gets pretty thick.
Stir continuously to avoid lumps until you have your desired thickness.Let it simmer for about 5 minutes.
Serve while hot!
You should add honey or sugar to make it taste better
You can also add fress fruits on top after serving.
Semolina porridge is best eaten in the morning but since none of us can tell time courtesy of the infamous  lockdown,you can even eat it for lunch, at 4 or dinner.Go crazy!

Hi guys!!

My name is pauline Damiana and welcome to my blog.

I have always felt a certain connection to food ever since i was young.I remember nagging my mum to let me make chapatis with her even though i couldn’t reach the kitchen countertop.As i grew older i would pay extra attention to how food is being prepared and how it made people feel.I view food as a language,a way to make people smile and come together.Being a medical student ,there is usually no time to cook what i want everyday so during the weekend i tend to whip up a storm and invite my friends to share in my joy.

I believe that every dish should have a story and you will see that in my writing.

In my blog, there will be all kinds of dishes from kenyan to international dishes.I looove Kenyan food so stay tuned for familiar recipes with a twist.😀😀

The idea of starting a blog came when i started reading other blogs such as Kaluhi’s kitchen which inspired me to start my own blog.Enjooy🥂🥂

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton