SIGHTS AND SOUNDS - YOUTUBE

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Feel It Girl!!!

 

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One thing about me if I find something,  an item of clothing I like, it fits me and I can afford to I will buy it in all the colours it comes in that appeal to me. In retrospect this may actually be something I carried over from my childhood, I was raised in a bulk shopping household; we bought most items in bulk. So that being said I am also a fan of wholesale shopping not only do you get to buy in bulk but at a cheaper cost than retail as well. This works well for people who prefer to do their shopping once and forget about it until they need to stock up again, and also for small scale business people who may want to resell items they bought wholesale. Not only do I buy clothing items like regular undergarments wholesale but if find them I also purchase wholesale shapewear especially if it fits me well and I know that these are items that I will wear on a regular basis. I don’t want to be in a situation where I need to wear shape wear and the one and only piece I own is dirty or in the wash. No thank you! So I invest in them in bulk.

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Feelingirldress.com has an array of body shapers to choose from and you can find the best body shaper to suit your needs on their site. They have an array of products to choose from not just for the girls but for the guys as well. Items range from waist trainers, men active wear, sports bras, yoga leggings and one of my favourite products on the site seamless shaper waist trainer leggings among others. They offer very affordable deals on their website; I was amazed at the prices on display and they currently have an amazing US$5 off offer upon joining the site. Head on over to the website at Feelingirldress.com for more information on how to join, how to order, payment and shipping and customer service information today or click the links in bold to check out their amazing product line for all you gorgeous gorgeous girls and gents out there.

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Bhajias - East African Version!

 

Bhajias or Bhajis/Pakoras came to East Africa (specifically Kenya and Tanzania for this post) from India thanks to colonialisation, trade and migration.  We adapted them and made them our own. Here are some variations of bhajias that I like to make. All vegetarian friendly but deep fried so you may want to burn off the calories the next day.

Potato Bhajias

Sometimes referred to as Maru bhajias (Kenya). These are thinly round sliced potatoes coated in seasoned gram flour (chickpea flour) batter; I like to season mine with salt, cumin seeds, coriander leaves, cayenne pepper and sometimes turmeric. You simply coat the potatoes in the batter and deep fry. This recipe also works well for sturdy vegetables like aubergines, cauliflowers, courgettes, onions, sweet peppers etc. Simply slice the vegetable if it needs slicing or coat it whole if it doesn’t require slicing in seasoned gram flour and fry.

Here’s a link (Kenyan Maru Bhajia) and link (Indian aloo bhajii) to a recipe you can follow. Served with a chutney or salsa of your choice

Potato Bhajias

Courgette/Zucchini Bhajias

Bhajia za Kunde (Cow pea/Black eyed pea fritters)

These are exactly as the name suggests. Somewhere in the Indian sub continent these are called Lobia Vada/Alasanda Vada. If you are West African these are like rough ground Akara because the recipe is similar; soak cow peas/black eyed peas overnight or for at least 10 hours or more if you have the time. Grind them; add spices of your choice and fry major difference is these are ground to a rough finish not smooth like Akara. You may or may not choose to remove the skins it really doesn’t make much of a difference to me. For these ones I added chopped red onions, ginger paste, coriander leaves, red chillies and salt.  Traditionally these were ground using a good old mortar and pestle which I still use if I am making a small quantity and need an arm workout, otherwise you can just use an electric grinder. I say grinder as opposed to blender because with a blender you would need to add water which you will have to strain because otherwise the mixture will be runny, I prefer to use a grinder much easier.  Just drain all the water before grinding. To the western world these are similar to Middle Eastern Falafel. The major difference is that Falafel is made with chickpeas in the Middle East.  I also suspect that in addition to India, Middle Eastern traders who plied the trade route between the Middle East and the East coast of Africa and ended up settling in East Africa may also have contributed to the adaptation of this dish in East Africa. If you make them bigger, they make for a great sandwich filling.  Here’s a link (East African) and link (Indian) to a recipe you can follow.

With skins peeled

With unpeeled skins

Bhajia za Dengu (Chickpea fritters)

These are made using gram flour (which is basically chickpea flour). In the regional name varieties found in India these would be called Pakoras/Pakodas but in East Africa we call them all bhajias and specify which variety it is. In Trinidad and Guyana these would be similar to Pholourie. A batter is made using gram flour, water and whatever else you want to put in them and then deep fried. I added chopped red onions, coriander leaves, cumin seeds, paprika. dried chillies and salt to these ones. Most times I also like to add mashed/chopped pre boiled potatoes to the mix and then fry. You can add baking powder or yeast to help them rise if you want puffy ones. These also make for a great sandwich filling. Here’s a link (East African) and another link (Indian) to a recipe you can follow.

These come out in all types of shapes and textures depending on the ingredients

And a bonus video with several bhajia recipes;

 

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Homemade Paprika!

 

I was inspired to make my own paprika thanks to the video below. I already dry my own fresh herbs so this was a no brainer; the goal is to grow my own herbs as soon as I get ample growing space. A dehydrator is also in my future just putting it out there.

Step 1: Wash sweet peppers you can use a mix of sweet peppers and red bell peppers.

Step 2: Deseed and chop into tiny pieces – I ended up chopping them into thinner strips about three days into the drying process which is what I ought to have done in the first place.

Step 3: dry the peppers. You can sun-dry them in a dust free environment, you can use a dehydrator to dry them or use an oven as shown in the video below. These were sun dried and heat dried when I decided to smoke them as well.

Step 4: Grind them in a grinder/coffee grinder. One of the best investments I made in kitchen appliances was to buy a blender set that came with two grinding jugs as well. Best decision ever I grind whatever needs grinding in them.

I overdid it with the smoking hence the darker hue

The video that inspired it all!

 

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