What to eat?!

It was getting dark outside and I was not sure what I would have for supper. I was so hungry so coffee and mandazi was not an option. It was one of those days when I want something different. I also  wanted a meal I could whip up fast.

Light bulb moment. Why not try something with pasta.  So I went out to buy some onions and passed a smokie joint. There are so many in Juja. You pass one after every 10 steps or so. They probably out number M-Pesa agents!  I bought two smokies. By the time I got back to the house it was already 7:00 pm.

Here is how my experiment went down,

Ingredients.

·         A cup of pasta

·         Two smokies

·         One small onion

·         One medium sized green bell pepper (also capsicum or hoho)

·         A clove of garlic

·         One pepper

·         2 tsp tomato paste

·         A pinch of ginger, coriander, curry powder and beef masala each

·         Salt to taste

7:22 PM:      Put two cups of water to boil.

Chopped the onion, garlic and green bell pepper (hoho). I also sliced the pepper into half. Chopping it would cause the flavor to overwhelm me. For lovers of hot food however, chopping is the way to go.

Added pasta to salted boiling water.

Chop chop!

7:28 PM:    Sliced smokies into approximately ½ cm slices. Popped a few slices into my mouth. (Note to self - sharpen knife.)

                       

                  Strained the pasta. I did not let them get too soft since I would cook them further in the sauce.

What remained of the smokies.

7:36 PM:    Heated oil in a pan and added the ground spices. I was not quite sure how the spices would blend together. Got a good sniff and their aroma was great. The aroma of spices just seems to explode when heated. So do their flavors.

                      

                  Added the chopped onions, garlic and pepper and let them cook until the onions turned pale then added the hoho. I wanted the hoho to retain its crispness. I let them cook for around two minutes then added the smokies. Stirred the tomato paste in about half a cup of water and added this to the concoction (just wanted to use that word. He he).

                       

                   Added the pasta and let cook until tender.

7:48 PM:    Done! I added salt last after tasting so as not to over salt it.

                        

                  Ran quickly with a sample to my neighbor’s to get feedback. From the expression on his face, success!

Presto!

There! A quick and simple meal for ordinary me. I will definitely file this recipe for the next time I am not feeling up to cooking. I hope you try it and enjoy it as much as I did.

Improvised black background to capture the steam. Ha Ha!

Ciao!