3 Mums Share Their All-time Christmas Recipes

By Folasade Opajobi

Christmas comes with lots of merry making synonymous with tasty and refreshing menus. Get ideas to introduce fresh menus this season as these mums share their all-time yuletide favourite.

Rice & Zimbabwean Green with Plantain & Rock Shandy

’Tidzo Ogunade (Clinical Administrator), mum to Jaden (10), Brianna (8) and Rylan (4)

Ours is a Nigerian/Zimbabwean family, so I decided to come up with a recipe that is a blend of both countries. My husband believes rice and plantain is suitable for Christmas and I added a blend of traditional Zimbabwe green and Rock Shandy drink.

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Our children are used to chicken, pizza, burger, and so on, and can have it all year round, so I thought of a traditional meal which infuses both cultures. I was initially worried about how they’d accept it but it turned out that they liked it and would always request for it. The ingredients are readily available and easy to make also.

Preparation

Boil the rice and store in a cooler. Fry the plantain and also store in a dish.

Zimbabwean greens.

Ingredients: 1 bunch collard greens, water, large chopped tomato, green onions & creamy peanut butter.

Preparation:  Shred the greens and place in a pot with water. Stir occasionally while cooking just for about 4 minutes. Drain the greens and store it’s stock in a bowl. Add tomatoes and onions to the greens and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Combine tablespoons of peanut butter with half of the green’s and add this mixture to the vegetables. Keep stirring constantly until the greens are creamy. Add more stock if the mixture seems too thick and finally, add salt to taste.

Rock Shandy

Ingredients:  Ice, 2 tablespoons lemon or lime juice, 3 dashes Angostura bitters (can be found in any supermarket) and cold soda (sparkling water).

Preparation: Half fill a glass with ice, add the lemon or lime juice and Angostura bitters. Fill the glass with sparkling water and serve.

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Fries, Turkey & Cake

 

Yewande Adedipe (Learning Support Assistant), mum to Adiva (5), Asher (19 months old)

Turkey is traditional for Christmas here in the UK, so I just added fries and cake to make it more like a holiday recipe.

Preparation: Fry the already sliced potato chips and keep aside.

Turkey

To make the stuffings, I combine breadcrumbs with onions in a large mixing bowl. I add a little boiling water and mix thoroughly. I work in sausage meat and egg and season with spices.

I pre heat the oven, stuff the turkey and apply a generous amount of butter on it. I place the turkey in the oven, on a pan laced with foil paper and roast. When the turkey is golden brown, I bring it out to add butter and more stuffing then wrap it in a foil paper and return into the oven. Continuous basting is necessary throughout. When the turkey is ready, it’s brought out to cool off and ready to eat.

Serve with the fries. For dessert, I offer cake & ice cream.

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White rice with vegetable sauce

*Oyeyemi Pitan (Banker), mum to ’Demilade (3), Iretomiwa (19 months)

We all love rice, so I had to look up another way of making a delicacy out of chicken to make it look more like a holiday recipe. It’s easy to prepare, healthy and yummy. My kids love it and don’t even mind having the vegetable sauce alone.

Ingredients:

Whole Chicken, Vegetable Oil, Spring Onions, Fresh Plum Tomatoes, Medium Size Carrots, Cabbage, Irish Potatoes, Red Bell Pepper (optional), Green Bell Pepper, Salt and some seasoning.

Preparation:

De-seed the plum tomatoes, wash and cut the vegetables. Peel the Irish potatoes and blend into a thick paste and set aside. Scrape and dice the carrots.

Season the already cut chicken and place in a pot to cook.  Once it is boiled, add the chopped tomatoes and vegetable oil and cover to cook for another 10 minutes. Add the already diced carrots and cook for 5 minutes. Add the potato paste (this will thicken the sauce), chopped bell peppers and cabbage. Stir and cover to cook for 5 minutes. Check if there’s need to add more salt and it’s ready to be served.

Hope these recipes give your family’s taste buds an exciting adventure this season.