" There really has to be more to make with garden-eggs aside garden egg stew 🤔." My exact thoughts racking my brain for some days now. I mean why are we only using this highly nutritious vegetable only in stews and soups? If it's not garden-egg stew then its chopped pieces of it lazing around in okro soup, light soup, palm-oil soup or groundnut soup. Eish! There's more to this vegetable than meets the eye. So to make things rather more interesting in my kitchen ( because I dont like one-way things) I created this rather unbelievably, earth-shattering recipe which exceeded my taste bud expectations! And trust me, I didn't know what to expect. 😅
I try to keep dinner light, easy and healthy. Late eating is definitely something I am against in our home as the effects of it can be quite dangerous (think of pot-bellies😖). Earlier today, I grabbed a pack of chicken thighs from Marina Mall and wondered what would be perfect with them chickens which hailed from Brazil. Imagine. Brazilian chicken thighs in Ghana. There was no local chicken in sight. I spiced it up with onions, chakalaka spice ( or any natural spice of your choosing), garlic and a bit of salt and placed it in the fridge to marinate till 6ish which gave it 4 hours of marinating time.
This recipe is super easy for you to make in a space of 30 minutes to finish if you have already meal prepped ahead of time. But if not then approximately 45mins minus the marinating of the chicken. Let's get right to the recipe shall we? *rubs hands gleefully*. 👏🏾
Ingredients
6 medium-sized garden-eggs
3 medium-sized tomatoes
1 medium-sized ripe plantain
1 chopped up spiced Chicken Thigh
A sprinkle of Oregano & Thyme
1 tsp milled dried Akweley waabi (Paprika)
Makes a meal for two.
The Easy Directions
1. Preheat oven to gas mark 4
2. Lightly coat the bottom of a glass baking dish with olive oil
3. Split garden eggs into halves and add to chopped tomatoes. Coat these with dry Thyme & Oregano.
4. Slice plantain into any shape you desire and add to the vegetables. Lightly sprinkle with salt.
5. Layer the plantain and veggies in the dish.
6. Next top up with the chicken pieces and sprinkle the paprika on everything.
7. Cover the baking dish with an aluminium foil to keep the moisture in for a more tender & juicy chicken.
8. Allow to bake for 25 minutes.
9. Use a fork to check if its done. If the fork goes in easy and the juices runs clear ( not bloody), you are good to go!
10. That's totally it!
Garden eggs are spongy in texture and it was a pleasing sight to see all the sponginess transformed into tantalising natural juices cooking with the chicken. What really made this dish noteworthy was the romancing balance between the sweet baked plantain and the slightly sour garden eggs! What perfection! Sweet mama! 😍 The garden eggs was well cooked that there was no need to separate the skin from the flesh. It all went down nicely. NEVER THROW OUT THE JUICES OHHH! The juices are very key here. You can always mop it up with a slice of brown bread or baguette like we did 😉.
The chicken which was spiced with the famous South African chakalaka flavouring gave the chicken a mellow sweetish spicy taste with hints of cumin. Too bad we didn't have a Chardonnay at hand. 😜
That's hubby's hand waiting to dig in. 😄
I would highly recommend this recipe if you are looking to make a quick but healthy early dinner. Garden eggs has been touted as a superfood for protection from blindness, preventing obesity, aiding digestion etc. I am back in love with it and never letting go again!
What else do you use Garden eggs for aside stew and in soups? I would love to know in the comments below.