Special pepper blend

The time has come to show you my easy peasy pepper blend I talked about in the spaghetti and meatballs post. This is what I use now for stews, sauces and most especially jollof rice. I'm actually late to the party because it appears almost everyone knows of this method already. 🤷🏼‍♀️

I saw it first on Chef Emeka's Instagram story and with so much excitement, I shared my new found discovery with a friend of mine who loves to cook. Little did I know that she was already in on it! 😁 She knew of it from a friend who I'm sure learned it from another friend! In fact I seemed to be the newbie but I have now added a few elements to mine to give it a kick!

A TIP I'd like to share for making stews or sauces is this; the first thing I do is put a sprig or 2 of fresh rosemary and some dried thyme into my oil! I allow that sizzle for a minute or 2 and then continue with the rest of my cooking which would be to add my freshly chopped onions and then my pepper blend. Ooh I tell you the flavour in that stew or sauce is going to be epic! 😎

For those of us (me 🙋🏽‍♀️) who still eat bread and stew, this is the stew for such! When I'm cooking for guests, i put some blended tomatoes and tomato paste and make my stew. But when I'm just cooking for the house, i don't add tomatoes because we love hot and spicy!! 🌶🌶

Anyway, making this is very easy. You would need your oven for this though. Just sit back and allow your oven do the work.

Without further ado,

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Ingredients

Onions

Atarodo pepper (harbanero)

Tatashe (red bell peppers)

Garlic

Salt

Vegetable oil

Ginger

**NOTE: I didn't put any measurements because I think this is totally dependent on how much you want. However the pictures show the amount I used and how much I got after blending. Also note that there are no tomatoes! You can add blended tomatoes when cooking though.

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Directions

1. Peel and chop onions in quarters. Spread it on a sheet pan (or baking tray). I used 5 large onions.

2. Deseed tatashe. Spread it with the atarodo peppers on the same sheet pan as the onions.

3. Drizzle a little oil and sprinkle some salt on it. I used about 1 tablespoon of salt. Again this is as a result of the quantity of my vegetables.

4. Pop in the oven and grill for 10 to 15 minutes on medium high. I usually grill mine till I start to see a few black spots on the peppers.

5. When you take it out of the oven, let it cool for 10 minutes, put in your blender, add the fresh garlic cloves and ginger and blend it all together. I usually use a lot of garlic. Like a whole bulb 🙈... Ok maybe 6 to 7 cloves.

6. Shikena! 🤗 Pour into your plastics for storage in the freezer or use immediately.

I tell you the smell from roasting and blending those peppers ehn, amazing!

God bless you, xoxo! 😍