Cooking made personal
Faith Kyoumukama @martkinel
I guess we are in tune with the fact that we need to channel our inner cooking skills while spending more time at home.
I came about a new concept, that is buzzing hot in the social halls, and I was quite impressed.
This is the creation of meal kits, which people are able to buy and cook at the comfort of their homes. Hungry Carrots, created by the Food Library Company is one of the kind.
The name is funky, and when I asked the director, Dil Patel what inspired the name he said they wanted a fun and quirky name to match the ethos of the brand created. “The concept is to get people back into their kitchens and make cooking an exciting and rewarding experience with their family members and friends,” he added.
I received my package at home on a Wednesday evening. It was a big box containing, a menu with two meal recipes, two brown bags with different ingredients specifically chosen for the meals to be prepared, and a cold box with meat.
Because I wanted to share my experience with our readers, I made sure to prepare the meals over the weekend.
The first meal to prepare was the Korean style pork with veggies and carrots served with jasmine rice. Grounded or minced pork is rare, in fact, I have only had it in Patti form served in a burger.
The pork was to be cooked in a simple way, with oil, garlic, and ginger. As instructed, I tossed the veggies in a bit of oil with salt and black paper, but the magic was in the sauces, which included onion pickle and a mix of sesame oil, soy sauce, sugar, and sriracha sauce (a type of hot sauce).
Let me make a foodie confession, this meal made me love zucchini, I struggled with eating it when I was younger and when I finally was all grown up, I made the choice to minus it from my meals.
A complete cut-off (My mum wouldn’t be so happy about that either). I also loved the pork and the distinct taste of garlic and ginger present, which I figured was because I chopped them instead of grinding the two, and also I cooked them up together with the minced pork unlike the usual step of frying ginger and garlic then adding the minced beef.
The other meal was the cheesy beef and black bean chilli. This is a spicy option, like most Indian cuisines, but you can control the level of spiciness to your preference.
The distinct spices were from chilli powder and the jalapeno used. The bay leaves added when the soup is cooking adds a subtle minty taste adding more character to the flavour.
You can have it with rice, chapati, or even mashed potatoes or like it is. Following the instructions provided, I topped the soup with a crema which is a mix of chipotle paste and sour cream with salt and black pepper.
A tip learned while cooking this meal was adding salt and pepper through the process helped infuse the flavour.
I have come across so many comments online stating that black beans are boring, but after discovering this combo, you might just want to take those words back.
The meatiness in this soup helps complement the black beans adding character into the flavour.
This new trend as I earlier stated, could have been inspired by staying home and self-isolation?
Patel says that even though as a company they had this idea from just before the pandemic, the current environment definitely works in their favour.
People are reluctant to go out to eat and many more are avoiding restaurant deliveries due to the risks presented. With Hungry Carrots you cook the meal yourself from scratch,” he added.
So in case you want to spice up your meals during the weekend, this might just be the plug.
All you have to do to order is go to their website, select the meals you would like with the exact recipes, make payment and the box gets delivered at your convenience.
The meals go for Sh490 per person for meals that are valued between Sh1,200 and Sh2,000 per person at a restaurant.
