Penne in minced beef with mozarella,olives and cherry tomatoes.

Penne us a common kind of shaped pasta especially at the coast where I'm from.
People however call all the long and stringy ones spaghetti and the shapes one are all called macaroni... Yes i know. 😄
However point is their taste and their interesting shapes makes them good for this dish. The hollow parts get to be filled with the delicious minced beef cheese and the spice thus getting a taste of everything in one bite. I added olives to my dish to give it a bit of tang. Below is the recipe try it out,it will be your new favourite dish!

Ingredients
- 500g Penne
- 250g minced beef
- 1cup mozzarella cheese
- 5 pitted olives
- 100ml fresh milk
- 4 cherry tomatoes (halved)
- 1 large white onion
- 100ml chilli soup pack (i used kevian)
- 1tbsp garlic powder
- 1tspn ginger powder
- 1tspn mixed spice
- 1tspn basil
- 1tspn mint leaves
- 1/2 tspn  black pepper
- 3tbspn vegetable oil
- salt to taste

Procedure
1. Boil the penne in some water and a pinch of salt till cooked and drain the water. Approximately 15 minutes. Set aside
2. Place the minced beef ,garlic powder,ginger ,mixed spice and black pepper in a sauce pan n let it cook till the beef browns and is dry.
3.Add the oil and fry the beef further. Add the onions and chilli soup. Cover and leave to simmer for two minutes.
4. Next add to the beef mixture the penne and milk..let the milk cook down. Approximately ten minutes
5 .Lastly add the basil ,mint and halved olives and the mozzarella .cook for a minute.
6 . Add the halved cherry tomatoes and serve garnished with coriander leaves.

Bon appetite !

AYIECHO

 I came across Ayiecho from a friend in high school who was so excited about being luo she was practically well versed in the culture and the foods despite being only half luo.
I on the other hand,fully fledged had no idea its name..so i asked my mother and she told me how it was made, traditionally its preparation would take not less that three days of boiling and adding of milk & covering till the milk is sour enough. She made it for me and its safe to say its been a personal favourite since then. Thank you Stacy Thank you Mum 
Fast forward with modern technology we already have the milk made sour in advance. So preparing this dish isn't a lengthy process.
Here's how to make it in forty minutes as opposed to four days .

Ingredients

I used just the normal bunches of these green vegetables as sold in the market. The number of leaves vary in different areas but ideally i took one bunch of each and two of mchicha (amaranth). So here goes

-1 bunch Managu/Osuga/Mnavu
- 2 bunches Mchicha
- 1 bunch kunde
-1 bunch mrenda
- 2 table spoons baking powder
- 1teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon royco beef mchuzi mix
- 500 ml sour milk/ mala
- 3tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 large onion
- 4 cloves garlic or garlic powder .

Method

1. Sort the vegetables some leave the stalks intact some discard the stalks and leave the leaves. Personally i like a little stalk so just a bit of it when sorting.
2. Wash thoroughly(at least four times) to get rid of the sand.
3. Chop them up roughly especially the osuga because it might have big leaves.
4. Place in a pot on a flame,add chopped onions, garlic,vegetable oil ,salt to taste, royco, black pepper and the baking powder.
(The baking powder is to soften the vegetables as they may be tough and require a long period of boiling,this makes it faster).
5. Cover and leave to boil till there is no liquid approximately 15 minutes.
6. Add the sour milk and cover for another ten minutes. Reduce heat.

*Serve with hot ugali and any animal protein available.
* Goes very well with fried beef or kienyeji chicken

.

SUGAR COOKIES

INGREDIENTS

-2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1\2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup powder, softened
- 1 1\2 cups white sugar
-1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

METHOD 
 1. Preheat oven at 190 degrees. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda and baking powder.Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and place onto ungreased aluminium foil lined baking sheet. I used cookie cutters so as to have hearts and stars.
3. bake 10-12 minutes in the oven until golden brown. leave them on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before transferring on wire racks to cool.
4. Garnish by dipping in melted chocolate.

* serve with black tea or milk

MANGO MOUSSE

Ingredients

- 2 large Mangoes (ripe)

- 1/2 cup thick cream

- 2 tbspn honey

- 1 tspn pinapple flavour 

- mint leaves and cherries for garnish.

Procedure

Blend all the ingredients till smooth.

Serve mango mousse in glasses.

Chill for twenty minutes.

Garnish with mint leaves and a cherrie.
Serve and enjoy.