Shelly-Ann Thompson, Freelance Writer
Kevina Miller, a student at The Myrtle Ferguson Skills Training Centre, off Hagley Park Road in St. Andrew, shows off her chicken in naseberry sauce, potatoes in garlic butter and vegetables. - RUDOLPH BROWN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
TWENTY-YEAR-OLD KEVINA Miller loves to cook, but most of all she enjoys experimenting with chicken.
Miller explains that she is health conscious and is, therefore, picky about the food she eats. Chicken, she adds, is her primary meat. To add variety to her chicken dishes she prepares the meat using any fruit that is available.
So far Miller has made chicken flavoured with orange, apple,
naseberry and ginger.
Cooking, she says, gives her fulfilment as she enjoys preparing meals for relatives and others. Occasionally, Miller assists her grandmother, Phyllis Miller; her mother, Lorraine Granston; and her aunt, Barbara Miller, in preparing meals for church events like barbecues and fund-raisers.
Most Sundays she also does the cooking at home.
"I enjoy cooking because it's nutritious and you can give people different tastes that they wouldn't have known."
Her Sunday meals often consist of a flavoured chicken with garden salad, mashed potatoes or tossed salad.
A student at The Myrtle Ferguson Skills Training Centre, off Hagley Park Road in St. Andrew, Miller does catering and bakery production along with cosmetology and information technology.
Stephanie Richards, her catering teacher, says Miller is creative and extremely talented with food.
"She's an easy learner and catches on to things easily. Show her one time and that's it," says Richards, who adds that her student usually puts a twist to anything that she has to prepare for class.
"Sometimes, Kevina will come with an idea and we will work out a recipe and the next day she will come to school with the item made," says Richards. One such item is sweet and sour veggie mince balls, "and it never taste bad either," notes Richards.
Richards agrees that Miller has a knack for working with vegetables. "She thinks she's an ital girl so she grasps more towards health foods - creating natural products and meals."
For Food, Miller made smoked chicken in naseberry sauce, potatoes in garlic butter with vegetables (lettuce, carrots, string beans, cucumber, tomatoes and beetroot).
Kevina's Sweet and Sour Veggie Mince
8 oz. veggie mince
1 medium onion
1 stalk scallion
1 medium scotch bonnet pepper
1 egg
4 oz. bread crumbs
1/2 tsp. salt
11/2 cup oil
Sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
2 tbs. vinegar
1 tsp. corn starch
1 oz. pineapple juice
2 tbs. sugar (or add to taste)
METHOD
1. Chop pepper, onion, scallion and add salt and add to the veggie mince.
2. Whip egg lightly and add to breadcrumbs.
3. Combine everything and make into balls (by hand or with a spoon).
4. Deep-fry the mince balls until they are light brown and drain excess oil on paper towel.
TO MAKE THE SAUCE
Combine all ingredients, except cornstarch, in saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer on low heat for 10 minutes. Add cornstarch to thicken.
Serve mince balls with sauce.
