The yuletide season is here again! Yaaay! A time of merriment, celebration, and enjoyment. One of the things that make the festive season more fun and filled with glamour is food. Yes! Food is very important as we can’t do without it as humans. Generally, a lot of Nigerians believe that mainly rice should be prepared and served to guests. However, this festive season, I would want us to think beyond having rice with chicken served; pamper your taste buds with yummy meals.
In this article, we would be discussing how to prepare Dark sauce which can be taken with rice or noodles with Nigerian Chapman. It is high time people began to think outside the box, especially as regards the kind of meals to serve during festive seasons. It is time to take a break from foods like Jollof rice, Fried rice, Coconut rice, etc., and create more lasting and beautiful memories with other unique recipes like Dark sauce which can be taken with white rice or pasta; whichever way you’d love to have it.

The Nigerian Chapman is a very popular mocktail. It’s a very refreshing drink that is also easy to prepare. Also, a piece of good news worthy of mention is that you don’t need to break the bank to prepare this drink. Its ingredients are not many; yet, definitely worth trying out during the Yuletide season. The drink is believed to have originated from the prestigious Ikoyi club in Lagos, Nigeria.

Nigerian Chapman
Ingredients
25ml of bitters
A bottle of orange soda
30ml of blackcurrant
A dash of strawberry syrup
Ice cubes
Cucumber to garnish

Procedure
Pour half the bottle of orange soda and the measure of bitters into a glass of ice; add the strawberry syrup and Blackcurrant measurement. Stir the mixture and garnish with cucumber.

Shredded Beef in Dark Sauce with Rice
The Dark sauce originated from the Chinese. It is a Chinese dish in which dark-colored soy sauce is mainly used for adding color, richness, and flavor to the meal. Dark soy sauce is less thick and salty than the other types of soy sauce that exist.

How is Dark Sauce Made?
The dark sauce has to undergo the fermentation process. Both light and dark soy sauce consist of a fermented, ground-up paste that comprises soybeans, wheat, salt, and other ingredients.

Dark soy sauce is commonly used in braised/red-cooked dishes to achieve that dark amber color common in stir-fries like Beef & Broccoli or rice and noodles dishes.
Another reason why this meal should be used as the main dish during this year’s festive season is that it is very high in antioxidants which can help prevent damage to cells.

Ingredients
Shredded beef
Onions
Olive oil
Ginger and garlic paste
Beef stock
Corn flour
Oyster sauce
Dark soy sauce
Sesame oil
Salt to taste

Procedure
Marinate the beef with the necessary ingredients and cling film for at least 40 minutes.
Oil the pan on fire; add shredded beef, onion, and ginger &garlic paste. Sauté for 20 minutes.
To the already prepared shredded beef, add stock water, and thickener (corn flour) and cook for 7 minutes.
Add dark soy sauce, as well as the Oyster sauce
Finally, finish up with sesame oil, and then correct seasoning, if needed.
Serve with white rice, noodles Chinese rice, or Singaporean noodles as desired.

Dessert
Desserts are mainly made up of sweet dishes; usually consumed at the end of the meal. Some examples of desserts include cakes, cookies, biscuits, pastries, candies, custards, puddings, etc.

Homemade Croutons
In this article, we would be discussing Croutons and how they are made so you can try this at home and serve them during the festive season. Croutons are very easy to make with readily available ingredients; mainly bread, sugar, and water.

A crouton is a piece of bread, which is often cut into cubes and seasoned. They can either be eaten as snack foods or used to add texture and flavor to salads. This dish may have originated in France and its main ingredients are bread, oil or butter, and seasonings.

There are several ways by which you can enjoy your croutons:
As snacks
Can be added to casseroles
Can be used as toppings over a warm bowl of soup
With scrambled eggs
An advantage croutons have over bread is the fact that they have more fiber, vitamin B1, copper, iron, selenium, and folate. Crouton’s daily need coverage for Selenium is 28% higher.

Homemade croutons are one of the world’s easiest things to prepare and yet, far better than items bought at the store. Another exciting aspect is that you can decide to customize your croutons with whatever would suit your palate. You may decide to have your croutons soft or with that crispy taste, plain or seasoned, large or small. To make the dish more interesting, you may decide to add greens such as lettuce, cabbage, green peas, carrots, etc to yours; as you like it. (winks)

Recipe for Homemade Caramelized Croutons
Ingredients
1 loaf of bread
¼ cup olive or vegetable oil
Sugar
Water
Procedure
Cut the bread into cube sizes
Melt sugar and water on low heat
Coat the bread with the mixture
Finally, bake until crispy
I know a lot of people might be hearing this dessert for the first time; however, the procedure for making it is very simple and straightforward. Once you have your bread, sugar, and oil, you’re good to go.

Conclusion
You can have a very jolly and exciting Yuletide season without having to break the bank. The recipe discussed in this article are made up of readily available ingredients; both the main dish and dessert. In fact, for the dessert, you can use leftover bread; it doesn’t necessarily have to be freshly baked.
The main idea behind the writing of this article is to disabuse people’s minds from cooking the usual Jollof and Fried rice with chicken every year. You can make some changes as regards the menu option for the celebration and still be on point. As a plus, both the main dish and dessert are international dishes; and would delight your taste buds and give it that pampering it deserves.