- So as a warning, you give this to your date,
you might get married, letting you know.
Hey guys, my name is Tayo.
And if you're a single like me, we all know dating
has been a bit of a challenge during this time.
Why? Because restaurants are closed.
We physically can't be near each other.
And there's a lot of safety protocols that's in place.
So when my friends at Tasty
asked me what would be my ideal date night,
I had to get a tad bit creative with this one.
So today I'm gonna show you how
to make my ultimate home cooked tropical date night recipes,
whether you cook them with somebody
in person, or if you cook them with somebody virtually.
We're gonna begin by making a fried plantain salad.
So I love to travel.
You know, the Caribbean islands is one
of my favorite places to visit
and a lot of the recipes and the dishes and the flavors
they really connect back to my Nigerian roots.
I want somebody to be able to connect back
to my upbringings, taste the flavors of who I am
and also you want to make a good first impression.
So first step let's go ahead and slice up this plantain.
The reason why I love plantains it's because is growing
up in Nigeria, we grew up on plantains.
It's like one of my favorite to this day.
The thing about plantains is you always want to go
with the ones that are like, riped nicely.
Those plantains have the best flavor.
All right, so we're gonna go ahead
and get this oil nice and hot before
we put our plantains on.
So the temperature you want to have this baby
at is medium high.
So while I'm waiting
for my oil to heat up, let's talk about virtual dating.
And so I've been on a virtual day before.
It's fun.
It's also a great way to stay connected with somebody.
So I encourage you guys to give it a try as well too.
There's nothing wrong with a little bit of Snapchat.
The oil is ready to go.
So let's go ahead and put the plantains
in for two to three minutes on both sides
until it's nice and golden.
So cooking together, whether you're in person or virtual
it's a great icebreaker.
It's also a great way
for you guys to be able to bond and spend time together.
So let's go ahead and get these baby turned over
As you can see here,
this color texture is exactly what you want.
If my date doesn't like plantations,
we can't date honestly.
So our plantains are ready.
So we're just gonna go ahead
and get this onto a paper towel.
This is a love language right here, ladies and gentlemen.
So if you really want to make somebody happy
you want to make them smile.
Your plantains have to look like this.
So I'm gonna go ahead and find my onions
and pepper for three to four minutes until it's soft.
And after that, go ahead and make the dressing.
We're gonna start off by adding apple cider vinegar.
And in some honey, some Dijon mustard
some salt gently whisk this all together.
Gently.
Want to add in some oil.
You really don't want to dump the whole oil in there.
It's like being on a first date,
you want to take it nice and slow.
You don't want to go in too fast.
So the dressing is complete.
Now let's bring it all together.
Plating it, I'm a arugula, adding your peppers
and onions, and then the plantains.
And you can plate this whatever way you feel.
But this is where you can show off your creativity.
Take some avocados, take some green onions
add a little bit of pistachio for some crunch.
Now you're gonna add in some cilantro
and last but not least your dressing.
Here is my fried plantain salad.
I promise you when your date taste this
it's gonna put a big smile on your face
and it's a great way to kick off the evening together.
So if you think this looks good
wait till you see what the entree is.
The main dish, the dish that's gonna win them over,
coconut curry shrimp.
Back home in Nigeria,
we cook with a lot of flavor and a lot of tastes.
And this dish speaks to that exactly.
We goin' back to the islands.
So we're gonna start things off with butter.
So you want your butter to melt completely over medium heat.
Once that is done, we're gonna add in our onions.
So I love onions.
So we're just gonna let this cook
until it's nice and soft.
My advice for somebody that's going
on a first date is just be yourself.
Have fun.
Just live in a moment.
So the onions are nice and soft.
Now let's add in another butter in there.
Gently stir this together.
So I'm going to go ahead and add in my green and red peppers
and cook this for three to four minutes until it's soft.
Cooking is a great time for you to get to know somebody.
You know, sometimes you laugh when things go
right, sometimes you laugh when things go wrong.
So if you're not a good cook, it's totally fine.
Cooking is a team activity.
It's a great time
for you two to bond together and get to know each other.
So our pepper and onions are ready.
Now let's build the main core of this dish.
So I'm adding in unsweetened coconut milk
some fish sauce, some lemon juice, black pepper,
some salt, some sugar.
We cook this back in Nigeria and one of my favorite recipes
in dish, some jollof rice.
Then we gonna add some curry in this.
This baby right here.
Some chicken bouillon, but in Nigeria we call this maggi.
We literally cook this with everything.
Now we're just gonna stir it all up together.
And you see the thing
about cooking too, is have fun with it.
If you ever had like good food, like great delicious food
it's made by someone that's just genuinely just happy.
I remember going
to Columbia, went out for breakfast one morning.
I heard like this lady singing in the back.
I don't know, somebody's mom, somebody's auntie,
somebody's grandma and when the dish came out,
when I said that had to be one
of the best meals I've ever had
I was like, girl, I love you.
And as you can see here
our curry coconut sauce, it's coming together nicely.
So I'm gonna bring the sauce to a boil.
And then we're just gonna reduce the heat
and let this simmer for 10 minutes.
So while we wait for our sauce to be complete
on a first date, things might get awkward, but it's okay.
Don't panic. It happens.
It's a great time for you to ask personal questions
to get to know the person.
Ooh, sauce is ready, smells delicious.
So now we're just gonna add in the shrimp.
So the shrimp's in the sauce,
we're just gonna let this cook
for three to four minutes until it's pink and ready to go.
It's like when you're on your first date,
you want to look nice.
You want to present yourself nicely.
So I'm gonna show you a trick on how to elevate this dish.
So your food looks just as good as you do.
♪ Da do doop boo ♪
You want a nice little small bowl, right?
So you take your brown rice, put your brown rice in a bowl.
You don't have a small bowl at home.
You can use a small cup.
And what you do is you press down on it, nice and firm.
So what you do is you take your plate.
Here's the magic, flip slowly.
No I don't like it, let's do that over.
Slowly.
Boom.
And now let's add in the curry coconut shrimp.
And you want to add
in the sauce, pour it around the edges real quick.
This is looking delicious.
So I'm gonna garnish this with some fresh cilantros,
add in some pop of color, and to answer complete this dish.
This is, this is it.
This dish right here.
This is the one dish, this is gonna win your date over.
All right, we're not done yet.
So what's a good meal without a good drink.
So our choice to drink tonight is
a mango, guava, ombre cocktail.
So this cocktail is easy to make, it's refreshing.
So we're just gonna go ahead and add
in our mangoes, into the blender, add in some water.
So all we're doing right now is just making a puree.
Boom.
Throw some ice into the cup.
So I'm adding in my guava nectar.
Splash of lime.
Slowly pouring your grenadine.
Now you're gonna spoon in your mango puree.
Two cherries at the top.
And some mints.
Here you go, ladies and gentlemen,
your super simple mango guava ombre mocktail.
So this is great, but if you want to take it
to that next level, adding your choice of liquor.
For me, I'm gonna go with a shot of tequila.
Now it's time to bring it all together.
So ladies and gentlemen, here's the final spread.
We have here
our fried plantain salad, curry coconut shrimp
served with brown rice and the mango guava ombre mocktail.
So these recipes are short enough to impress your date
in person, and they're super easy to make
if you're far apart on a virtual date.
So we're just gonna do a little taste test.
Eenie meenie, miney, mo.
Curry coconut shrimp here.
See when you're speechless, this food's delicious.
So as a warning, you give this
to you date, you might get married, letting you know.
Just make sure you send me an invite too.
All right, guys, let me know what you think
by leaving a comment below, make sure you follow me
on Instagram at Tayoscreation and until the next time.
Peace.
By the way, we're on a date right now, so,
what are you thinking about?
Have you tried this mocktail yet?
Amazing.
(upbeat music)