Efo Riro – The African Stewed Spinach also popularly known as Efo riro is a one-pot stew with layers of flavor. It requires quite a number of ingredients but little work from the cook putting it all together (as long as you already have all your ingredients prepped).
Egusi pepper soup is a popular Nigerian Pepper Soup dish. It’s particularly common among the people of Niger-Delta. It is basically an Egusi (melon seeds) infused pepper soup dish.
Egusi Pepper soup is mostly prepared with fresh fish though different fish types can be incorporated. It pretty much seems like there are no hard and fast rules with regards to the choice of proteins used for this dish, although like I said earlier, fresh fish, especially Catfish is used in most cases.
Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Ground Egusi (Melon Seeds)
Assorted Meats (I’m using Goat meat, Ponmo, Cow leg)
1 Medium Fresh Fish ( I’m using Tilapia)
2-3 Medium Pieces Stock fish or Dried/Smoked Fish
Handful Dry or Fresh Efinrin/ Basil leaves
2-3 Tablespoon Ground Pepper ( Ata gungun)
1-2 Scotch Bonnet (Ata Rodo)
1 Small Onion Chopped
2 Uda Pod
3 Ehuru/ Calabash Nutmeg Seeds
1 Levelled Tablespoon Uziza Seeds
If you haven’t got Uda, Uziza and Ehuru, just two tablespoons pepper soup spice will suffice
1 Tablespoon Ground Crayfish
2 Knorr Chicken Cubes or your preferred bouillon cubes
1 Teaspoon Your Preferred Beef/Chicken Seasoning ( I use Aromat)
Egusi Soup is thickened with ground melon seeds and contains leafy and other vegetables, seasonings, and meat. It is often eaten with dishes like amala, pounded yam (iyan), fufu, Eba etc.
Ewedu soup is known among the western part of Nigeria (the yorubas) and its equally enjoyed by the other parts of Nigeria. Ewedu soup is served with the famous amala and stew.
Ingredients
250g ewedu leaf
pinch of salt
Half teaspoonful of potash
seasoning cube
prepared fresh tomatoes stew
Steps
1Properly pick the ewedu leaves and wash thoroughly to remove any trace of sand or dirt
2Boil the ewedu leafs for about 16 minutes
3Add potash to help soften it ( this is optional) add the pinch of salt and seasoning cubes.
4When its soft you can blend with your blender, but the yorubas prefer using their local broom to whisk it.
Fisherman soup is like throwing all catch in a fisherman’s net in a pot. Its a soup where all the delicious names in the sea comes to party. Based on your preference of seafood, you can add or remove any of the given sea food
Ingredients
Ngolo
Fresh fish
Crabs
Perewinkles
Shrimps
Big dried prawns
Cocoyam powder
Utazi seeds
leaves Utazi
Palm oil
Salt
Seasoning
Fresh scoth bonnet pepper
Steps
Add water in a pot and boil the crabs with little salt half way.
Add the ngolo and continue cooking
Then add the fish and big dried prawns and some seasoning to taste
When the fish is half way cooked, remove from the stock and set aside to prevent it from scattering
Then add little more water and add perewinkles and grinded pepper and some palm oil and cover to cook
When the oil is cooked and well incorporated, add the cocoyam flour mixed in little water and stir in until slightly thickened
Then put back the precooked fish, shrimps, uziza leaves and cover to cook
Let it cook for 5-6 minutes more and turn off heat
Fried rice is one meal my sibling loves. It’s said to be the companion of Jollof lol at every party or event .Well for me fried rice is just the perfect meal anyday
Ingredients
5serving
400 g long grainrice
600 ml turkey
3 large carrot
1 handful peas and runner beans
2 large green pepper
2 onion bulb
3 tabspoonful curry powder
1 teaspoon ginger powder
3 glove of garlic
2/3 spoonful black pepper
3 cooking spoonful vegetable oil
3 stock cube (know chicken)
to taste salt
500 g Chicken/Turkey thighs or drumsticks(cooking the chicken)
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon curry
1 medium onion
1 glove garlic
1 small yellow pepper
1/2 ginger powder
2 stock cube (knowr)
Steps
Add a little water and cook the chicken for 10 minutes. Then add more water and cook until done. The liquid left after cooking the chicken,is your stock. Pour the stock into a Strainer to remove tiny chicken bones and any other particles in it; then set the stock aside for later use.. Wash and place the cow liver in a pot, add seasoning cube and salt to taste; Cook the liver for 10minutes, then when cooled,cut into cubes and set aside. Liver can also be fried, before cutting into cu
Wash all the vegetables. Dice the onion & set aside ; Peel the carrots & cut into small cubes. Remove the seeds of the green bell peppers & cut into small cubes. Place the carrots & green peas in boiling water for 5 minutes, strain out and place in a bowl of cold water, leave to cool in the water, then pour into a sieve and set aside.
This method is called blanching. It helps to par-boil the vegetables without cooking it through, thereby cutting down the stir-frying process. It also helps to preserve the vibrant color of the vegetables.. Place the reserved chicken stock into a large pot and bring to a boil. The stock should be at almost the same level as the rice, so that it dries up completely when the rice is done. You can add some water if the stock won’t be enough to cook the Rice.
As the stock begins to boil, add the parboiled rice, seasoning cubes(stock cubes), curry powder, garlic powder, onions and salt to taste. Leave to cook on medium heat until it’s done. TIP; The cooked rice should not be soggy or too tender and the grains shouldn’t stick together either. You can Pour out the cooked rice into a wider pot and set aside.
Heat up the vegetable oil; add the carrots, peas, green bell pepper and diced liver/meat; then add a little white/black pepper, a garlic, curry &seasoning cube to taste.. stir fry for 1 min
The Rice is going to be fried in small batches, so you’ll have to divide the stir-fried vegetables into equal portions. The size of your frying pan/wok will determine how many portions you will have. 7. Pour a portion of the stir-fried mix into the frying pan; add the cooked rice and stir-fry for about 2 minutes. Do not overcrowd the pan,make sure there is a little space in the pan so that you can move the rice around the pan for even distribution of heat.
Repeat this process for the remaining rice and veggie mix. Now your Nigerian Fried Rice is Ready to be serve
For the uninitiated, moimoi is a Nigerian breakfast staple made from pureed beans. It’s perfectly savory and often served as accompaniment to breakfast porridge. Traditional moimoi is wrapped in Banana leaves or Ewe Eran (Thaumatococcus daniellii).
Ofada rice is a popular Nigerian rice variety. It is also called Unpolished rice as it is rice in it’s natural state and without genetic modification. It is very healthy and much more healthier than white rice and is identified as Brown rice.