Small Chops

written by wovenblends

Hey Foodies!

So Easter cam late this year ;) If you’re Nigerian, you know that every celebration in our country calls for small chops. My friend had been craving spring rolls and samosas for the longest time, but I had been procrastinating as I was a bit scared on the outcome of what I might make. This week is spring break week and she took advantage of that. She asked me what ingredients I’ll need and I told her. She showed up determined at my apartment and I finally got the courage to proceed. Would you believe me if I saidI had embarked on when I told her yes?  I started cooking at 6:30 pm and didn’t finish till past midnight. YES!!! We were that determined lol. Her determination rubbed off on me. I got even more excited when everything began to look pretty. The stress I had gone through was not in vain.

First, I made the puff puff batter, as I had to leave that to rise a few hours. Next, I made the samosa and spring roll wraps, because I had to let it sit in the fridge for 2-3 hours. I then made the samosa and spring roll fillings and then the peppered chicken and plantain skewers and of course lastly, the chapman. Due to the amount of things I made, I will not be writing a recipe for all on this post. Instead, I will share pictures with you and share two recipes of my choice. If you would like to know how everything else was made, feel free to shoot me an email, comment on this post with your contact details or comment on my instagram post @wovenblends.

Ps: Samosas are not originally Nigerian, but adopted.

I couldn’t get step by step pictures as I usually do, because I was short on time and had a lot of things to make. So I just took pictures of things I thought were important. I totally forgot to take a pic of how I made the wraps and took one at the end of the left over dough. I also forgot to take a pic of the smear method I used for the wraps.

1) Samosa/Springroll wrap dough

2) Samosa Filling (Carrots/Potatoes/minced meat)

3) Springroll filling (Chicken/cabbage/carrots)

4) Springroll filling on wrap (Chicken/cabbage/carrots)

5) Wrapped samosa/springroll

6) Peppered chicken/plantain skewers

7) Fried springrolls (Finished product)

8)Puff Puff

9) Chapman

10) Finished product of chapman, puff puff, chicken/plantain skewers/samosa/springrolls

11) Inside view of the samosas.

In todays post, I will be sharing the puff puff and samosa recipes. This is because those are the two easiest and less time consuming things of the batch. Further, after my post on buns, a lot of people mixed the two up and some people asked for my puff puff recipe. So here you go :)

For puff puff, you will need;

2 cups warm water

1 sachet active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp)

3 1/2 cups of flour

1 cup of sugar

1/2 tbsp of salt

Oil for deep frying

In a clean bowl, combine salt, sugar and yeast with warm water. Set aside for 5 – 10 minutes. Then add in your flour and mix until you get rid of lumps. Cover mix with an airtight lid. Leave mixture to rise for a minimum of two hours. After two hours, in a deep frying pan, add in your oil (enough to deep fry). Too little oil will make your puff puff flat. Heat up the oil on high heat and then lower. Test to see if oil is hot enough, by dropping a ball of batter. If the puff puff does not sink and starts to form, then you are good to go. Repeat this step, until there is no more space for more batter. When the puff puff starts to cook, it will turn over by itself. Fry puff puff till golden brown. Use a large spoon to remove puff puff from oil and place on a paper towel lined plate. This will help soak up all the excess oil. You can serve the puff puff on its own hot, or roll in powdered sugar if you have a sweet tooth. Enjoy xx

For Chapman, you will need;

3 tbsp Angostura aromatic bitters (or alomo bitters)

1 cup Grenadine syrup

1 bottle Fanta orange (35cl)

1 bottle Sprite (35cl)

5-10 spoons of Orange/pineapple juice (optional)

1 medium sized orange

1 medium sized lemon

1 cucumber

Ice cubes

In a large bowl or jug, pour out all contents of fanta and sprite. Add in your cup of grenadine syrup. Add in 3 tbsp of angostura bitters or alomo. Alomo alters the taste of chapman, I strongly recommend using the angostura if possible (It can be found on amazon). If you are using orange or pineapple juice, add it in now and stir.

Cut your cucumber into circular shapes. Cut oranges and lemon in triangular shapes. Throw in your fruits and add some ice cubes. Chapman is now ready to be served. Distribute in smaller glasses and garnish further as seen above if you wish.

Hope you’ve enjoyed reading this. Feel free to ask for any other recipes that have caught your attention. Do let me know how it goes if you try out any recipe too.

Lots of love,

Wovenblends xoxo

Instagram @wovenblends   //  Website www.wovenblends.com