VARO JOLLOF RICE REVIEW + GIVEAWAYS ! (CLOSED)

Nigerian food going mainstream? Yes, please! I am so excited to be reviewing this product, and even more excited to be giving some packs away to selected readers. Keep reading to find out more.

Varo is a recently established company founded by Omamo Binitie, a Nigerian-born entrepreneur based in London. Their first product launch in February 2013 was ready-to-eat moin moin, available in over 100 shops across Britain and Ireland, including one of the largest supermarket chains, Tesco. 

Their latest product launch is the incredibly moreish jollof rice in two variations - plain and with vegetables. As I've mentioned before, jollof rice is probably my all-time favourite dish and so the idea of it being available to a wider audience across the UK at such an affordable price (it will retail at £1.60) is a thrilling prospect! 

I was immediately impressed with the packaging - clean design, professional, colourful and attractive. There is no way you could walk past it on a supermarket shelf without taking a second glance. I have tried a few rice-based ready-meals in my time and nothing comes as close to how flavourful Varo's jollof rice is. But then again, come on, this is jollof rice we're talking about. It's only the greatest style of eating rice known to mankind, as any loyal West African will tell you :)

Two minutes in the microwave and I had a delicious portion of jollof rice in front of me. At that precise moment, it struck me just how revolutionary this product is. With over 1.5 million West Africans living in the UK, any one of them could be having a lazy day and in the mood for a familiar taste of home without the stress and effort of cooking from scratch. A quick visit to their local Tesco store for a pouch of Varo jollof rice and they'd be sorted! Beyond this core target audience, non-Nigerians will finally get to see why Nigerian cuisine is worth checking out. 

What makes all this even better is that Varo's products are free from artificial preservatives or colours, and are 100% natural. 

I can't rave enough about how fresh the rice tastes, and there's just enough spice to satisfy those who like a bit of heat, but not too much to make it inedible for those with more sensitive taste buds.

Not content with just trying it by myself though, I had it as a meal with one of my housemates, Elisabeth, who is now excited at the prospect of making it a regular addition to her weekly shop. Says it all really.

Would I eat this again? Absolutely. Varo was generous enough to send me a mouth-watering stash and I get to share some of it with you too. 

Before we get to that...

Show some love and check out Varo on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube!

GIVEAWAY

3 winners. Each will get a box containing six Varo Jollof Rice pouches.

The rules are simple:

1. Like the Vegan Nigerian facebook page 

2. Like, Share and Comment on the giveaway post (using the hashtags #varo #vegannigerian)

OR

1. Leave a comment down below

2. Share this blog post on a social media site of your choice (Facebook, Twitter..etc), tag @vegannigerian

Winners will be notified on Monday 14th July. If I don't hear back within 2 days, another winner will be selected.

Do get involved. This jollof rice is the bomb! :) 

                                            

SUYA SPICED VEGETABLE KEBABS

We had a bunch of vegetable skewers left over from a bbq we had over the weekend and so I decided to spice some up for dinner last night. 

Suya is a popular street food in Nigeria - a shish kebab usually prepared using strips of skewered beef coated with suya spice (a.k.a. 'yaji') and oil, and then grilled over charcoal. It is normally sold wrapped in old newspaper and is a firm favourite among consumers across the nation. Various spice mixes exist; this is my take on it. 

Here, I had a good mix of chunky vegetables to work with: red onion, mixed bell peppers, and mushrooms. Feel free to experiment with whatever veg you have available. Why not try cubes of parboiled potatoes or carrots...? The options are endless. The key thing is to get your spice right! And hopefully this post will help you achieve that.

Ingredients

(for 8-10 skewers)

- mushrooms

- mix of chunky vegetables such as mixed peppers and onions

- 3 tbsp sunflower oil

- 1 cup roasted peanuts (finely ground)

- 1 tbsp garlic powder 

- 1 tbsp onion powder

- 1 tsp ground cloves

- 1-2 tbsps red chilli powder or cayenne pepper

- 1 tbsp ground ginger

- 1/2 tsp salt

To make the the suya spice, place the roasted peanuts in a pestle and mortar and grind to a smooth powder. Alternatively, you can use a spice grinder. Combine the peanut powder with all the spices and salt.

Place the mix of chunky vegetables in a large bowl. Drizzle on the sunflower oil and add 3/4 of the suya spice, mixing well to coat all the vegetables.

Skewer the vegetables and line them up on a foil-lined baking tray. When you're ready to cook them, place in a preheated oven (gas mark 6) for 15 minutes until all the vegetables are cooked. Or place them on a barbecue/grill and grill as normal, turning frequently to prevent excessive charring. 

Sprinkle with the rest of the suya spice and serve hot.

Serving suggestion: with jollof rice

YAM CANAPES

Fiddly little things, but well worth the effort if you have the time. I made these for an end of term dinner party I hosted recently. My first proper fully vegan dinner party, now that I think about it. Not a drop of meat or dairy to appease my non-veggie guests ;) The last time I cooked for a significant number of people, I caved at the last minute and gingerly put a chicken dish together. I tend to have pretty good instincts when it comes to flavouring/seasoning, but with no way of tasting the thing myself, goodness knows what they had to endure. At least there was no gagging... which is always a good sign.

So yes, it was a blissful experience putting the food together this time around... maxing out on flavours and techniques using all my plant-based ingredients. There were about four other dishes on my selected menu including a spicy red vegetable curry, fried rice and a couple of intricate salads. A friend had agreed to handle dessert - a simple, healthy fruit salad to balance the heavy main course.

These yam canapés easily took the longest time to make and were an accidental addition to the menu. I was all set on making just the plantain canapés (which you can sorta make out in the background of the picture below) but realised that I had only one plantain left at home and no time to go out and buy some more. They looked a bit sad on the tray and so these mini yam taste explosions were born. The filling was also an experiment using the ingredients I had lying around. If you've ever had fried yam then you know just how amazing it tastes on its own. But with the creamy avocado-pepper-potato filling...? Pure magic. 

It is absolutely important that the yam is thinly sliced or else the canapés will go from bite-sized treats to full on bricks that are awkward to eat. Just to warn you.

Ingredients

- 10 slices of yam (thinly sliced!)

- sunflower oil

- 1/2 ripe avocado

- 1 medium potato (boiled or baked whole until soft)

- 1 clove garlic (finely chopped)

- 1/4 cup chopped bell peppers (I used red and yellow)

- chopped red pepper and spring onions (to garnish)

- salt and pepper (to taste)

Trim around each round slice of yam to form a roughly square shape. Then cut into four equal parts.

Have a tray ready and line it with some kitchen paper. Shallow fry the yam pieces in a little sunflower oil, turning them over until lightly brown and crispy on both sides. You'll need to do this in batches in order to have enough time to turn each one over. Place each piece on the lined tray to drain off any excess oil. 

To make the filling, sauté the chopped garlic and bell peppers in the little oil left from frying the yam for about a minute on low heat. Cut the boiled potato in half and scoop out the (hopefully) soft inside. Add to the pan, along with the avocado. Mix/mash well to combine all the ingredients. Season with salt and pepper. Take off the heat.

To assemble the canapé in such a way that the filling doesn't ooze out when you sandwich the pieces together, spread a tiny bit of the filling on one piece of yam then pierce another piece of yam with a cocktail stick (with the red pepper and spring onion garnish on top, if you wish) just far enough that you can place it on neatly and slightly pierce the bottom half without squashing the filling out. (I hope my poor description makes some sense...)

Lay them out on some snazzy tray to serve.

GARRI COOKIES 3 - DATES

It's like the food version of a Nollywood movie! All these part 1's and 2's and 3's... All that's missing is the obligatory booming voice and  thunder/lightning-strike sound effect ;) Well, this is the last one I've got up my sleeve for now. A chunkier, melt-in-the-mouth version loaded with chewy dates. Again, I followed the original recipe but took out the raisins and used dates instead. I also used a food processor to mix all the ingredients together, which perhaps accounts for its slightly smoother texture.

Check out Anemistyle's review of these date cookies and the double chocolate-chip version here.

GARRI COOKIES 2 - DOUBLE CHOCOLATE CHIP

I followed the original recipe, took out the raisins and added about 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder, a handful of dark chocolate chips and double the amount of chopped groundnut.

LUNCH WITH 'ANEMISTYLE'

One of the perks of blogging is connecting with other bloggers. A few of the blogs I love to stay up to date with include: Deserve Your Great Life, Berry Dakara, Vegan Miam, Arike, Labyrinths of Lara, Healthy. Happy. Life., Lohi's Creations, Good Naija Girl, Natural Nigerian, Interprétations Culinaires, Chef Afrik and of course, Anemistyle. Nemi's site is focused on fashion, lifestyle and nifty DIY projects. You should check out some of her brilliant creations, like this spring/summer chiffon top (I want to make one!).

When deciding what to cook up for our lunch meet-up, my mind may or may not have gone off in all kinds of spirally directions. What can I say - it was such an exciting prospect having someone from the blogging world try out my food! I rustled up two types of salad (kale/tomato/avocado/cucumber, and a couscous salad), a variation on my butter bean parcels (using honey beans this time around), banana-berry ice-cream for dessert, fresh mint tea and freshly made apple/peach/cucumber/celery/parsley juice. And, as promised, a batch (or two...I went a bit baking crazy) of the signature garri cookies (two new versions that I will post up soon), which she will be reviewing on her site!

To the other bloggers I follow: if I ever get a chance to cook for you, there will be no holding back! You've been warned :p

 

PLANTAIN DUMPLING SOUP

Love plantain and stew? Then you're sure to love this hearty soup. 

It's been quite the kitchen-y day. I have not sat down for a second since I crawled out of bed at *cough* 11 am *cough* this morning. When inspiration hits, you just have to get on, right?

This is another one of those things that made sense in my head. Thank goodness it wasn't a waste of time putting this together. It turned out fantastic and my taste-buds were grateful for it. When you really think about it, it's not like a lot could have gone wrong with this - it's pretty much a glorified bowl of boiled plantain in stew, only jazzed up with some bright vegetables and shaped into cute dumplings.

The flavours are perfectly balanced - a bit of heat from fiery green chillies, sweetness from the plantain, a delicate aroma from fresh lemon grass...Need I go on? Keep reading to discover a new way of eating the ever-versatile plantain. 

Ingredients

- 1 ripe plantain

- 1-2 cloves garlic

- 3 green chillies (or 1/2 scotch bonnet pepper)

- handful of fresh basil or partminger

- 1 stalk green onion (finely chopped)

- 1/2 green bell pepper (finely chopped)

- 1 red bell pepper (half of it finely chopped)

- 3/4 cup wholegrain flour or toasted breadcrumbs 

- 4 large tomatoes

- 1 stalk lemon grass

- 2 cups water

- 1 tbsp olive oil (optional)

- Salt to taste

Start by making the soup base. Blend half the red bell pepper with the tomatoes, lemon grass and a little water. Pour into a large pot, add the olive oil and season with salt. Let it simmer on a low heat as you get on with the rest.

To make the dumplings, blend the ripe plantain with the garlic, chillies (or scotch bonnet pepper) and fresh basil (or partminger) in a food processor to form a smooth mixture. Transfer the mixture into a large bowl and add the chopped green onion, red and green bell pepper, and the flour/breadcrumbs. Mix well to evenly distribute the chopped vegetables. With floured hands, take spoonfuls of the mixture and roll into round dumplings - it should yield about 10-12. Arrange them on a lightly floured surface as you go along. 

Place each dumpling carefully into the simmering pot of soup. Add 2 cups of water and bring to a boil for 5 minutes. Reduce the heat and simmer for another 5 minutes with the lid off (this will help thicken the soup slightly).

Serve hot with a generous garnish of chopped fresh herbs.

MINT ICE-CREAM

Three ingredients. 100% guilt-free. Delivers on taste and texture. This was so good that I made it my breakfast this morning. A welcome variation to this earlier recipe.

I went shopping over the weekend and picked up some fresh mint from an eye-catching fruit and veg store. I had no idea what I was going to do with it, but the nostalgic fragrance took me back to my short stay in Morocco back in 2012, and before I knew it, it was in my shopping basket. I have since made several mugs of refreshing mint tea, but this ice-cream right here is just... Well, you'll have to try it and see for yourself. 

Ingredients

(serves 2-4)

- 4 ripe bananas

- 2 handfuls of fresh mint leaves

- 1 lemon

Chop the bananas into small pieces and place in a plastic container. Squeeze on the juice of half a lemon (to stop the bananas from turning brown), cover and freeze for 2-3 hours.

Place the frozen banana pieces and the mint leaves in a food processor. Blitz until you have a smooth, creamy consistency.

Serve immediately; it melts fast!