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.

Jaw breaker plantain balls

 

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.

agege bread- or so the recipe said

 

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

Moi moi with Unpelled Beans

 

 

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

DSC05711

 

 

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.

funnel puff puff

Puff puff dessert

 

 

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

Moi moi with spicy sausage - Oversabi, over protein

 

 

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

slow cooker - Oyibo Chicken

 

 

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.

smoked turkey cocoyam pottage

 

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

The bitter yam chips

 

 

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.

The chinese fried rice that never was

 

 

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

The condensed milk dessert

 

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

Too much spice kills the fish

 

 

13) The Minced Turkey Pie

– Remember when I said I wasn’t a baker? well this confirmed it

Turkey Pie - Turkey mess

 

 

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 …

The individual eba serving

 

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