28/05/2021
5 Nigerian Recipes Everyone Needs To Try
Consisting of delicious stews, starchy vegetables, and aromatic spices all around, Nigerian cuisine is home to some of the tastiest savory flavors in the world.
Whether you're looking to cook more or you are a food explorer like me, here are some of the highly rated Nigerian dishes you should try.
1. Jollof Rice
This recipe is made with mainly tomatoes, onions, scotch bonnets, and chili pepper though there are endless variations to this recipe.
Your party is not complete if there is no jollof rice. It is often served with moi moi, plantain or salad as sides. This is a signature regional dish, and the recipe with which many West African communities — and countries — like to stir up friendly rivalries.
2. Pounded yam
Another 5 star party favorite. Traditionally, pounded yam is made by peeling and cutting yam in bit sizes, then boiled till very soft. The boiled yam is then transferred to a cleaned mortar and pounded with pestle until a creamy, dough-like consistency is achieved. However, you can make them with a hand mixer, a blender, or yam flour but the natives will tell you that you are doing a disservice to the yam with those methods.
3. Pepper Soup
It's one of my favorites on a raining day. This liquid and spicy soup is traditionally made with goat meat, but often with fish or other meat, as well as aromatic herbs and spices. The key herb and spice are Uda, Ehuru, Alligator pepper seed and Uzizia seed and scent leaf. There are different variant to pepper soup making. In my opinion goat meat pepper soup is the king of all pepper soups.
4. Efo Riro
A rich green leafy vegetable stew usually made with efo shoko, scotch bonnets, red bell peppers, iru ( locust bean) and palm oil.
"Efo Riro," which roughly translates to "stirred fried vegetable," and it's a popular Yoruba delicacy.
5. Egusi Soup
Egusi Soup or melon seed as it's locally called is a rich and savory soup made with ground melon seeds and leafy vegetables. The vegetables can be substituted with one another, its all about preference. The commonly used vegetables are: bitterleaf, fluted pumpkin (Ugu), shoko, uziza leaf and water leave. There is a distinct taste in this dish due to the higher proportion of melon seeds and leafy vegetables sparingly used .
Different tribes have different cooking pattern. You can try out the different types of egusi dishes to choose the one you like best. I prefer the lumpy (eggy) pattern of cooking.