Christmas recipes by top executive master chefs

What do people truly look forward to doing on Christmas day? Eating good food. It is the time to show up and show off your skills in the kitchen. Turn up the heat by trying out new recipes instead of playing it safe.

Three executive chefs from some of the top hotels and restaurants in Kenya shared some of their recipes with BDLife to help you make your Christmas meal stand out this year.

For the meat lovers

Lamb's ribs seem to be the chosen meat of the season, as two of the chefs suggested the meat as a great choice for Christmas.

Chef Renson Okwayo, the Executive Sous Chef at Serena Hotel, takes us through a step-by-step process of making lamb ribs like a pro.

“You will need to make a marinade first. Mix sunflower oil or corn oil with white pepper, thyme, rosemary, sage, oregano, garlic, ginger, leeks and celery. Try to get fresh herbs. Clean your rack of ribs and remove the excess fat. Then sprinkle and massage the marinade on your meat. Get a deep, heavy, non-stick pan, pour olive oil on it and let it become very hot. Then place your rack on it and let it turn brown for a few minutes to seal the marinade into the meat’s pores. Take it off the pan and let it rest for a minimum of 8 hours. This gives you time to prepare the side dishes such as mashed potatoes and stir fry vegetables. When you are about to serve, heat your oven to 200°C and place the meat there for about 7 minutes for it to be well done. Turn the grill on, and take fresh rosemary and a sufuria. Place the rosemary on the meat and cover the meat with the sufuria so that the meat gets the aroma of the herbs for a few minutes. Take it out and serve by neatly slicing along the ribs.”

Chef Mohammed Ali, Jiko’s Executive Chef, is known for his playful dishes that put a spin on the common Kenyan recipes. His version of lamb ribs is saucy and juicy, plated on a chapati which will be served at the restaurant as one of the Christmas specials. He explains that sometimes all you need to do is to be innovative in the kitchen. The cooking time for this dish is three hours.

“Brown the meat in a pot with salt and pepper. Then take it out. In the same pot, put spiced clarified butter. It is Ethiopian butter called Niter Kibbeh made with 12 different spices. You can make it with any type of spices you want such as coriander leaves, black pepper and turmeric. Put blended onions to cook for 40 minutes with 20-minute intervals at low heat as you keep adding the butter. Then add garlic ginger paste and berbere. Put the meat back into the pot and a bit of stock and let it simmer for an hour. The sweetness of the ribs comes from the butter with the berbere brings on the heat. Sprinkle some fresh natural cheese to mellow the spiciness of the meat.”

Chef Ashish Ugal, Group Executive Chef at the Tribe and Trademark Hotel, appeals to pork lovers with a recipe for crackling roast pork where he cooks the pork with the skin that most discard before cooking.

“You will need pork belly with skin, 40 grams of fennel powder, 40 grams of black pepper powder, 60 grams of sea salt and 50 ml of olive oil. First, dry the skin, preferably leaving it uncovered overnight in the fridge. Then, oil and season both the flesh and the skin and wrap the flesh sides with foil, leaving the skin exposed. Do not score meaning do not cut slits into the meat. Roast in a slow oven for 2 and a half hours at 140°C so the flesh becomes tender. Level the pork so the skin is as horizontal as possible by propping up the belly with balls of foil beneath. This makes the crackling cook evenly which leads to perfect crackling. Blast it finally at 240°C for 30 minutes to make the skin bubble and form the crackling.”

What to eat with the meat

Chef Mohammed, better known as Chef Moha, serves his lamb ribs with chapati. He says there is no new recipe for chapati but there are a few tips that will make it softer and more enjoyable.

“The secret is ghee and the resting period. Mix your flour with warm water, not cold water. After the kneading, let it rest for 20 minutes. When you start sectioning it and rolling it into balls, apply ghee to the dough. Then let it rest for 10 minutes before rolling then into circles for cooking. Once it is cooked, wrap it in foil.” Another side dish he recommends is mukimo.

To end the evening right, you can make a simple vanilla cake using this short recipe by Chef Stephen Mbugua, Movenpick’s pastry chef.

“You will need 250 grams of caster sugar, 250 grams of unsalted butter, 5 eggs, 10 millimetres of vanilla essence, 300 grams of flour and 5 grammes of baking powder. Cream the first 2 ingredients. Add the eggs one at a time. Add vanilla essence. Lastly, sieve the flour and baking powder and fold into the butter mixture. Pour the mixture into preferred baking tins. Bake at 160°C for 30 minutes.”

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