Hello foodie fam, hope 2015 is treating you well. If you follow my work, you probably know that I love to experiment and innovate, I tell myself all the time that there can only be so many versions of Egusi soup with each version claiming to be the best. To remain creative, the art of cooking should always be open to interpretation, experimentation, success and failures.
Next time a cooking experiment doesn’t work the way you envisioned, please know that semi-pro and pro cooks all suffer from failures, some just don’t like to admit it. Be the queen of your kitchen, if a recipe doesn’t work out the way you intended; well at least you tried.
Here are 14 of my favorite kitchen fails from 2014 – Enjoy!!
1) The Jaw Breaker Plantain
– This was supposed to be a lightly sweet and crunchy shredded plantain balls. let’s just say I am happy I still have all my teeth.
2) The Agege Bread – At Least So The Recipe Said
– So I am not a baker, I find baking extremely restrictive which doesn’t agree with my creative side. Anyways, I found this praised agege bread recipe, slaved away and waited in anticipation. Nope, it wasn’t agege bread. it’s a Japanese milk break that I could have just bought from my local bakery.
3) The Unpeeled Beans MoiMoi
– this was actually a very successful recipe, the failure came from me overlooking a critical part of my ingredient. THE BLACK EYE IN BLACK EYED BEANS! as delicious as this was, the specks of black made it very unattractive.
2015 Update : I regrouped and retried the recipe with much success. View it here
4) The Boiled Plantain and Yam Something
– Light bulb went off – What if you combine boiled plantain, YAM and a few thing. form it into patties and griddle cook it. Humm…. BAD IDEA- that’s all.
2015 Update : I have modified this recipe and adopted it to something else. Recipe coming in the fall :D
5) The Funnel Puff Puff
– Another light bulb moment- puff puff funnels with milo drizzle. Great idea but epic fail. I am still holding on to this one though, I just need to reanalyze and try again.
2015 Update: I retried this with better success. Picture below.
6) The Moi Moi with Spicy Sausage
– This one na classic oversabi. Combination of egg and sausage in something already filled with protein was VERY unnecessary
7) The Slow Cooker Jerk
– Lets just say – oyibo chicken is already very soft, add a slow cooker to that and my Nigerian palate revolted
8) The Smoked Turkey Cocoyam Pottage
– Doesn’t that just sound so so delicious? Well it wasn’t and I am still very hurt. My biggest problem was with the texture contrast, it was just off on all levels.
9) The Bitter Yam Chips
– I still need to do this, it has to happen in the next few days. Not sure if it was the yam or the thinness of the cut, it was bitter sha. If anyone has any ideas PLEASE help a sister out
10) The Chinese Fried Rice That Never Was
– I found this recipe on one of the most popular Asian food blogs and I had the highest of hopes. Well I did everything they asked me to do oh (maybe I deviated just a little bit sha). Needless to say it tasted nothing like my trusted takeout.
11) The Condensed Milk Fruit Dessert
– It sounded like a great idea, infuse some fruits with condensed milk and a little cinnamon overnight. NO NO NO NO NO – That’s all
12) The Fish And Groundnut Salsa
– Blackened fish with a salsa of corn, boiled groundnut and avocado was the idea. Too much spice in the fish and everything else naturally fell apart
13) The Minced Turkey Pie
– Remember when I said I wasn’t a baker? well this confirmed it
14) The Individual Garri Plate
– This wasn’t a fail per se, more of a pointless endeavor. I thought these would be cute but then again, I can’t think of any situation that will call for individual servings of garri- else you think appetizer, but …
Share your Kitchen fails with us.
All being said, 2014 was a great year.
We shared some traditional recipe and created new ones.
My favorite recipes include : Puff puff sticks, Pan Fried Akara, Zobo Lemonade and Coconut Suya Prawns .
2015 is half gone and it has honestly been a great year for me creatively. We have loads of plans for the 9jafoodie Brand, I do hope you continue to be a part of the journey
I saw moi moi in a cup cake pan.
How did you do it?
Did you bake in a oven?
Wud love to try something new
I’d REALLY love the recipe for your jaw breaker plantain balls, and for everything on that plate. Looks awesome! And the “jaw-breaker plantain balls isn’t a bad idea for lovers of hard snack. Ever heard of “kwakwan biri” or “kambar”? Yeah…
Awesome blog!
Hahhaha.. okay, I will post it sometime. I haven’t heard of them, do you have recipes?
Your work, creativity and honesty just makes you simply-truly-awesome!
Thanks Mairo!
Where I come from (Okrika, Rivers State), we pound boiled overripe plantain with boiled yam, and mixed with Palm oil… It’s our native dish called Teimburu. Or Onunu as the Kalabaris of Rivers State call it. I’m a great fan of your blog but this is my first time commenting… Kudos..
Great read! I just love the lightheartedness. Ronke, your blog is amazing I’m so glad I stumbled across it. Vooking is a passion of mine and in addition to the top caliber recipes your way with worss aways brings a smile to my face :) As for the bitter yam chips I think it was probably the yam itself…oh and I find when I make Chinese style gried rice its best to use day old cold rice as it turns out less sticky. Take care hun and God bless
And by vooking I mean *cooking* lol typo
Half is blended and half is used whole
Thank you much! thanks for the suggestions as well, i really appreciate it.
please where can i get the recipe for the funnel puff puff
I haven’t posted it yet. I will notify you when i do
I don’t know why this is my first time seeing this post. I also keep a collection of my fails to share at the end of the year. Most of these looks yummy, even though you as the creator probably see what we don’t.
I think the individual eba servings are a brilliant idea for appetizers or tasters: they basically give the entire flavour without the mess of using hands or forks.
Thanks Funmi! cant wait to see your list.
Shakirat your “fails” look amazing! That bread may not taste like Agege bread but I feel like biting into them straight away. I give it to you, you are the food experiment Queen.
The garri bowl with soup is so cute and out of the box that it is stuck in my head! But wait oo … how are we supposed to eat it? Drink the soup and chew the eba? Or chew the 2 in one go? I keep trying to imagine someone eating it and it puts a big smile on my face.
Kudos to you sis! May more great food ideas come from where these came from. :)
aunty Flo!!!!! you see why I love you hen, you always make me feel like super woman. Hahaha… I thought 14 was small enough to just eat at one go, eba + soup. sort of like sushi style. lol. I will remake it because of you. Thanks for the encouragement, you are the real MVP.
Awesome is all I have to say plus Nna meeeen you nailed it…fails ooh successes ohh all join… You’re just awesome. My family will know I have been reinvented by YOU!????????
Awwwwww thanks Ebere
Your “fails” look better than some of my successes. You still rock Biko.
Hahahah… Thanks much
Wow, I never thought of documenting my failures…at least the 1st and 2nd attempt at my plantain veggie puff were dumped in the bin. This will make a good motivational collection for those of that give up easily.
You totally should! best way to learn improvement.
This I present to you my sister! Honest! Professional, Talented and Real!! I love this post. Lots of people will stop beating themselves up.. lol.. like me.. when my meat pie become rocks!!!
HAHAHAH.. Thanks love. Meatpie can be very tricky. Hooooo… always check that your baking powder isn’t expired!
Wow.
wow is right. lol.
I am not particularly into experimenting with food, but i thought i’d try…explore other options and especially cause i love cooking for my friends, maybe treat them sometimes…
Then i made couscous fried rice.
Loveliest looking rice.
nobody was excited about couscous tho. we ARE sticking to rice it seems.
hahhahha….. That’s strange oh, I thought all Nigerians liked couscous
Love this! not everyone would be this honest! and most of them actually still look good!! just goes to show looks can be deceiving! Keep up the awesome work!
Thanks Tola, honesty is definitely very important to my brand. There is no shame in failing at times.
I hail you 9jafoodie for being comfortable with sharing this! Sometimes I get upset when some things I make don’t work out and why I can’t get it as nice as the food bloggers do but you’ve shown that it’s not every time your idea would work out perfectly well. Thanks for sharing again!
You are most welcome. We all go through it.
All I see are recipes that needs a little bit of – and +. This is one of the reasons I adore you and your works though I have never mentioned it. Well done and from now on I’ll be documenting my kitchen fails too and talk about them in the future. That being said, I’ll be giving No1 a shot.
Thanks much!
you’re simply amazing
Thank you :)