Mains:1 package of pork and shrimp flavoured wonton, couple of carrots, zucchini, couple of bunches of bok choy,beef and chicken bouillon, few cloves of fresh garlic, a package of fresh noodles,3 cups of water.

Preparation: Wash and slice carrots very thinly, cut zucchini and bok choy into nice medium slices.

I use fresh crushed cloves of garlic to give it a garlicky flavour but you don’t need to it.

Empty noodles into a medium size pot with 2 cups of water in it.

Cooking: Heat the pot with noodles and hot water in it slowly on medium heat. Once water starts to come to a boil add the bullion mix to flavour the noodles and add the wonton balls to this.

Cook till the wonton is fully cooked which only takes few minutes and add the fresh vegetables and stir well. Cook for a couple of minutes and take off stove and serve.

I like my vegetables al dente so you can enjoy all the healthy nourishments that all the vegetables provide but it’s your choice if you want to cook it longer

Many people cook the noodles and drain, I don’t, since noodles are fresh I love it being flavoured while it’s cooking in the bullion.

Enjoy the taste of my version of an Orient creation mmm

This dish speaks for itself, hearty, full of exotic Asian flavours complimented by fresh vegetables in a nice chicken or beef broth.

I make this often during the fall months .It’s cold, rainy and damp outside and all I want is my tummy to feel is nice, warm and my soul to sing.

So I love this dish for giving me all the above .It’s easy to prepare, it’s healthy full of flavours and above all my Quissy loves it which is a bonus itself.

After a long day at work when Quissy is coming home from the cold and she knows what’s waiting for her on the kitchen table, me ,Sazzie :) Yes, but she is not thinking about that silly ,she is looking forward to the wonton soup mmm

Mains: 3 to 5 readymade cooked falafel balls, quarter of an baguette, mayonnaise, 4 thin slices of tomato and finely chopped lettuce.

Preparation: Cut baguette open, spread mayonnaise evenly on both sides, layer with lettuce and tomato and then place falafel on top.

Serving: Since this is such a simple lunch to make I serve the falafel on the sandwich warm, I usually heat them on a fry pan on medium to high heat and just place on top all the nice tomato and lettuce and then fold my sandwich and eat eat LOL

Today for lunch, I was craving something very flavourful, savoury and healthy. As it happens we had gone shopping the day before and had bought some nice fresh vegetables and baguettes with readymade falafel.

So I said to myself why not try a nice falafel sandwich :) I had all the fixings anyway and everything was looking so delicious and crying out to me “eat me eat me ”LOL

Really this is a very simple lunch yet with loads of healthy aspects to it and this new years I promised myself that I would eat healthier.

Mind is happy, I am happy, now going to make the tummy happy .Want some

Mains: 1 can of young jackfruit or fresh jackfruit, quarter of an onion, 4 cloves of garlic, 3 fresh chillies, 4 curry leaves, quarter of a teaspoon of turmeric powder, half a teaspoon of curry powder, salt to taste and 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil.

Preparation: If you are cooking the jackfruit out of the can just drain the excess brine which the jackfruit is usually soaked in and cut into very fine pieces.

For fresh peel the outer layer out. Cover your hands with vegetable oil then cut the jackfruit into very thin pieces, the thinner the better.

Chop the onions very finely and crush the chilli peppers and the cloves together making it into a paste .Add the curry leaves to this and put aside.

Cooking: Heat oil on medium to high heat on a fry pan. Once oil is hot add the onion, garlic and chilli paste and the bay leaves.

Sautee till it’s all nice and golden brown. Once its golden brown add the jack fruit and salt to taste and stir well till all the ingredients are thoroughly mixed together.

Lower the heat and cover the fry pan with a lid and cook for 10 minutes stirring occasionally. This dish requires slow cooking so don’t rush it or you will not be eating cooked jackfruit but raw LOL.

After 10 minutes take few small pieces of jackfruit out of the fry pan and check the texture and the taste of the spices.

I love spicy so I tend to add more chillies but it’s totally up to you. If at this stage you feel it’s cooked then just put the heat a little higher take the lid of and try and crisp it a little bit the jack fruit that is

Fresh jackfruit will take a bit longer to cook than canned ones. If you find after 10 minutes it’s not fully cooked just add a little water, it helps with the cooking process.

Enjoy the exotic curry jackfruit.

In the Fiji Islands, jack fruit grows very readily in people’s backyards and many people cultivate this delicious fruit for commercial sales and personal consumption.

There are many varieties of jackfruits and they usually grow on trees on a thick vine. It’s a very neat vegetable and the growing process is amazing. It starts of like a little ball and grows big as a watermelon in size and varying in weights. Some jackfruits have weighed more than 50 lbs.

Usually when it reaches that weight it is fully matured and ripened and it’s consumed in that state. Depending on the variety it may take a jackfruit to mature and ripen faster than others. It’s very tasty when it’s eaten ripe but like all fruits it’s and acquired taste.

Curries are usually made with younger jackfruits. It’s not an easy process cleaning the jackfruit.

Since the outside texture is spiny, one has to peel it before preparing the fruit to cook. Once the jackfruit outer layer is peeled you have to cover the palm of your hand with vegetable oil in order to cut and prepare it for cooking.

The inside of the young jackfruit is very sticky so the oil prevents it from sticking to your hands .Jackfruit needs to be cut into very thin pieces since the texture is very fibrous and cutting it thin helps with a faster cooking process You can also eat the seeds of the jack fruits as well too, they are very flavourful.

So come with me and visualise the nice blue skies, hot sun and the beautiful sounds of the waves crashing while eating this beautiful dish in the exotic island of Fiji.

Mains: Couple of 2lbs lobsters, a lb. of jumbo prawns with heads off, 2 fresh limes, 3 fresh chillies, salt and pepper to taste, quarter cup of wine, 3 gloves of garlic,3 medium yams, a dozen heads of brussel sprouts, and a cup of fresh snow peas.

Preparation: For lobsters: Cut the lobsters in half for easier grilling purposes. Wash thoroughly and clean for preparation on bbq. Once washed lay on paper towel to dry and then add salt and pepper to taste 

For prawns wash thoroughly and place on paper towel to dry and add salt and pepper to taste.

For yams wash and dry and put them in a foiled lined baking sheet. Take a fork and poke random holes all over the yams, this avoids the yams from busting during cooking. Now cover the yams with another sheet of foil like you are putting it to sleep.

Wash brussel sprouts and snow peas too.

Cooking: For yams: Heat oven to 350 degrees F and place the baking pan in the oven and cook for an hour .Take a skewer and poke it and see if it goes right through the yam , this will tell you if its cooked or not.

If it doesn’t go all the way through cook longer and check within 15 minute intervals. Usually medium size yams take about an hour to hour and half to fully cook.

For Brussel sprouts: I usually steam them for 5 minutes and then cut them in half for sautéing

For Snow peas: Since snow peas are very tender and very fast to cook I usually cook them together with the sprouts. I usually add them to the sprouts couple of minutes before taking them of the fry pan.

Cooking brussel sprouts and snow peas is simple just add some butter in a fry pan .Once butter starts melting, add the brussel sprouts and cook for couple of minutes on medium to high heat. Add the snow peas stir well now you can add the salt and pepper to taste, dish is done. I usually cook this side dish last as it’s so easy and fast to cook.

Cooking Lobsters and Prawns: I usually cook this on the bbq grill on medium to high temperature. I put the prawns on the skewers for easy handling   buts it’s your choice. For the prawns cooking takes couple of minutes and usually the outer shells give you a good indication if it’s cooked. The shells will turn a bright orange. Yes you know it’s ready for the belly LOL

With the lobsters I just place the meat side down on the grill first I love the grill marks on the tail and meat. Once the meat is cooked I just turn it over baste it with my fresh lime, chilli pepper and wine marinade and its ready to go.

Please use your discretion when cooking. Last thing you want is under cooked seafood a big no no.

With the above meal you could also serve homemade garlic bread. Simply cut some nice thick crust bread in thick slices slap some butter on it and garnish with fresh grated garlic and pop in the toaster oven for couple minutes.

Homemade garlic bread

Now plate everything and imagine  like you are sitting in a 5 star restaurant “Juuluumfood” LOL pour some bubbly , cherish the good memories , learn from the mistakes and look forward to the fun filled year ahead .Gives thanks to the guy upstairs for keeping you safe and cheers to 2012

This New Year’s Eve we decided to go with island style seafood grilled dinner with yummy trimmings.

New Year’s Eve was very special for us as the year 2011 was a significant year where we got married in front of our true friends and loyal family members and went to our favourite island Jamaica for our honeymoon.

As we look forward to 2012 we know that with special love, good friendships and family it will be a fun filled special year too

We decided to ring in the New Year with nice fresh lobsters and prawns on the grill for dinner .I decided to go with fresh chilli, lime and wine baste for the seafood.

We had fresh oven roasted yams, sautéed snow peas and brussel sprouts as sides mmm.

We thanked the good lord for keeping us safe and sound and all his special blessings and ask for the same for the New Year.

Happy 2012 to all

MAINS : A bundle of fresh taro leaves, a cup of pea flour (basen),cup of yellow split peas, salt to taste, cup of vegetable oil, 6 fresh chilli peppers, cup of water, salt to taste, fresh ground cumin,4 cloves of garlic and tamarind extract.

Preparation: Soak yellow split peas over night for best results. In a food blender put the drained soaked yellow split pea, garlic cloves, chillies, salt and ground cumin and blend on pulse mode.

Once you have finished this put in a medium mixing bowl and add the pea flour and tamarind extract to this mixture. The mixture must not be runny but a nice consistency similar to honey Put aside.

Wash taro leaves one at a time yes one at a time and pad dry. Then lay each one on a baking sheet and coat with the above mixture evenly on each leaf yumm.

Once coating is done on all the leaves the top part that is, layer it on top of each other or stack evenly on one another. Once you have done this roll the leaves into a nice sub sandwich look like. If the bundles of taro leaves are big make two or three separate rolls. Do not make one big thick roll LOL.

Make sure that the bundles of leaves are wrapped tight so they don’t loosen up .Moms trick was to tie a small string on it to keep it together. OH letting out the family secrets huh

Cooking: Now the fun part, tricky part. The taro leaf bundles have to be steamed so you have to have pan with water boiling and a boiler pan to steam the leaves.

This is the first step to the cooking process. Make sure that the bundles of taro leaves are fully steamed and cooked right through. Not fully cooked but close to.

Once you have done this, let it cool and cut into circles less than an inch thickness. Make sure be very careful that the bundles don’t open on you if it does pat it together gently.

Heat oil to medium to high heat and place the cut circles into the oil. All you doing at this point is just giving the taro leaves with all the beautiful filling a crispy taste and texture.

 Once you see a nice golden colour on the leaves take it out place on paper towel to drain excess oil.

 I am not going to tell you the rest I am sure you have figured it out by yourselves by now dip in favourite sauce and eat, just dip and eat .Enjoy

SEHNA – Taro leaves rolled up in spicy filling

Sehna is a delicacy made in Fiji during festive season such as Christmas, birthdays, weddings, anniversaries or when loved ones have come to visit you from away.

My mom was a master in making this dish and had perfected it from her mom who had perfected it from her mom lol I guess in a nutshell a lots of moms and grand moms

Since taro is one the islands main diets its leaves are used to prepare many favourite island dishes .It can be prepared with coconut milk, it can be used as many side dishes as well as this favourite dish called sehna

Sehna takes a lot of preparation to make and comprises of very tasty and savoury ingredients .There is a method to the madness to make sehna but it’s all worth it when the final product is served to you.This treat is mostly enjoyed while it comes off piping hot off the fry pan .Sehna can be enjoyed with many different dipping sauces such as tamarind sauce, hot sauce and yes ketchup too in case you are wondering.Our favourite sauce is tamarind because it’s nice and tangy and spicy at the same time a nice compliment to this treat.

So enjoy and savour this delicious island treat from yours truly Sazzie from fizzi LOL