NIGERIAN EGUSI SOUP

Ingredients

Egusi (Melon) seeds - 3 cigar cups | 600g
Red Palm Oil – 2 cooking spoons
Beef – Best cut and Shaki (cow tripe)
Fish – Dry Fish and Stock Fish
Crayfish
Pepper and Salt to taste
Vegetable – Pumpkin leaves or Bitter leaf
Seasoning – 3 Knorr cubes
Traditional Seasoning – 1 Okpei (optional)

Important tool

Spice grinder for grinding egusi (melon) seeds

Before you cook Egusi Soup

1. Before preparing the soup, soak the dry fish for about half an hour. If you are using the very tough stockfish, boil it for 20 minutes and leave in the pot with the hot water to soak for about an hour. If using the softer stockfish, you can just soak them in cool water till you can break them apart with your hands.

2. When the fish and stockfish are soft, debone and break them into sizeable chunks.

3. Much closer to your cooking time, grind the egusi with a dry mill. Grind the crayfish and the dry pepper separately and set aside. Wash the vegetable to be used. Cut into tiny pieces.

4. Boil the shaki, stock fish and dry fish in 1 litre of water with the 3 Knorr cubes till they are well done. First sign of a done shaki is that the cuts will start curling on itself.

5. Wash the beef to be used for the soup, add it to the pot and cook on medium heat till done.

Cooking Directions

There are two main methods of cooking egusi soup. These we will call oil before egusi and egusi before oil. Confusing?

Oil Before Egusi

1. Put 2 cooking spoons of red palm oil into a dry pot and set on the stove to heat. As soon as the oil is clearer, add the ground egusi and start frying. This should be done on low heat to avoid burning. Keep frying till you see the egusi getting drier. One sign of this is that it will start sticking to the bottom of the pot.

2. Now, start adding the shaki/fish stock little by little while still stirring the egusi. When the stock is exhausted and you feel that the soup is still too thick, you can add more water. If your choice of vegetable is bitterleaf, it should be added now as well.

3. Cover the pot and cook for 30 minutes. The egusi is done when you notice that the oil has risen to the surface of the mix and separated from the mix. If this is the case, add the fish, shaki and meat you boiled earlier. Also add pepper and salt to taste. If pumpkin leaves (or any other soft vegetable) is your choice, please add it now.

4. Cover the pot and once it gets a good boil, it is done!

The egusi soup is ready to be served with amala, Eba (garri), pounded yam or cassava fufu.

Egusi Before Oil

This method produces a healthier egusi soup. This is because there is no frying involved.

1. In this method, as soon as the shaki, fish and meat are done, remove them from the stock (water used in cooking the meat and fish) and place in a different pot or plate.

2. Add the ground egusi to the stock and stir. If the stock from cooking your meat and fish is not enough to give you a medium consistency, add some water to the same level as the egusi.

3. Cover and cook till the egusi cakes. Stir and add a little bit more water. watch it closely so that it does not burn.

4. Repeat step 3, adding only a small quantity of water at a time. After about 25 minutes, you will notice the clear egusi oil coming to the surface of the soup.

5. Add 2 cooking spoons of red palm oil and bitter leaves (if it is your choice of vegetable), pepper and salt to taste and cook for about 7 minutes.

6. Add the the meat and fish. If using pumpkin leaves or any other soft vegetable, add it at this time, stir the soup and leave to simmer for 2 minutes maximum.

7. Turn off the heat. Leave to stand for 2 minutes before serving.

EFO RIRO: A YORUBA DELICACY

Ingredients for Efo Riro

Assorted meat and fish. For my Efo Riro, I used:

Beef
Shaki (cow tripe)
Smoked fish
Dry fish
Stock fish

Palm Oil: 20 cl
Frozen Spinach: 1 kg
Crayfish: a handful
Onions: 1 medium bulb
3 big stock cubes (spinach needs more seasoning)
Salt & Habanero / Scotch Bonnet peppers: to taste

Other meats you can add to Efo Riro:

The more the variety of meats and fish you can add to Efo Riro, the better so feel free to add: snails and other offals, kanda etc.

Before you cook Efo Riro

1. Soak the stockfish and dry fish for a few hours. The length of time depends on how hard the stock fish is. Mine soaks in under 1 hour. When soft, clean the fish, remove the bones and separate them into small pieces.

2. Cut the frozen spinach and wring out the excess water when fully defrosted.

3. Prepare other ingredients: pound/blitz the pepper, cut the onions and grind the crayfish.

Cooking Directions

1. Start cooking the shaki first with as little water as possible (see video below) as it is the toughest meat in the bunch. This soup should have as little water as possible so add small amounts of water at a time and top it up as you cook.

2. When the shaki starts to curl, add the dry fish and stockfish.

3. When the shaki is almost done, add beef, stock cubes and onions and cook till all the meat and fish are well done.

4. Top up the water to about half the contents of the pot. Add the crayfish, smoked fish, pepper and palm oil.

5. Cover the pot and cook at high heat till the oil has changed from red to yellow.

6. Add the spinach or any other soft vegetable: pumpkin, water leaves etc.

7. Cover and cook still it gets a good boil, taking care not to overcook the vegetables. Add salt to taste and leave to simmer for 2 more minutes.

GOAT MEAT PEPPER SOUP

Ingredients for Goat Meat Pepper Soup

700g Goat Meat (with skin)
4 seeds Ehu or Ariwo or Calabash Nutmeg
Habanero Pepper (to taste)
A few scent leaves or 2 table spoons dry uziza
2 medium onions
Salt (to taste)
2 big stock cubes

For the Agidi:

120g corn flour. You can also use Akamu/Ogi/Pap

Before you cook the Nigerian Pepper Soup

1. If you will eat the Goat meat peppersoup with Agidi, prepare some and set aside to cool down and set.

2. Peel and grind the 'secret' ingredient (ehu seeds) with a dry mill. You can also roast it with an old frying pan before grinding them. Roasting is known to improve the flavour.

3. Cut the onions into big chunks. If you want pieces of onions in yours, cut into tny pieces.

4. Pick and wash the scent leaves. If using dry uziza, rub with your fingers to break them into tiny pieces.

Cooking Directions

1. Wash the goat meat and put in a sizeable pot. Pour water to cover the meat and then some. I love lots of water in my pepper soups.

Goat meat is tough so use a pressure cooker to cook it if you have one.

2. Add the stock cubes, ground ehu seeds and the chunks of onion and start cooking.

3. When the meat is done, remove the chunks of onion.

4. Add pepper, scent leaves or uziza leaves.

5. Cover the pot and leave to simmer for 5 minutes and the pepper soup is ready.

6. Serve piping hot with the agidi.

NIGERIAN PEPPER SOUP

Ingredients for Pepper Soup

Chicken | Cow Foot | Assorted Beef - 1 kg
Ehu or Ariwo or Calabash Nutmeg - 4 seeds
Chilli Pepper (to taste)
Dry Uziza - 2 teaspoons (optional)
Onions - 2 medium bulbs
Salt - to taste
Seasoning - 3 Maggi / Knorr cubes & 1 teaspoon of Thyme (for chicken pepper soup)

Tools I used

Cooker
Pot
Spice grinder for grinding Ehu seeds
Spatula
Chopping board
Knives

Before you cook the Nigerian Pepper Soup

1. If preparing Chicken pepper Soup, it is preferable to use whole chicken instead of drumsticks. The different parts of the chicken will bring variety to the pepper soup. So wash and cut up the whole chicken and set aside.

2. If you want to prepare Assorted Beef Pepper Soup then you should buy different parts of beef - best cut, offal (shaki, round-about, liver and kidney). Wash the offal thoroughly especially the round-about which should be turned inside out during the washing. Cut these into medium pieces, just big enough to be chewed in one go.

3. For Cow Foot Pepper Soup, just wash and cut the cow foot into medium pieces. In this case also, make the pieces just big enough that it can be chewed in one go.

4. Now it is time to prepare the 'secret' ingredient. Using an old frying pan, roast the Ehu seeds (stirring constantly) till you can smell it. Don't worry you will know when it is OK to take it off because it has a distinctive aroma. Another way to know that it is OK is to take one of the seeds and try to remove the outer membrane. If the membrane comes off easily, then the Ehu is done.

5. Peel off the membrane from all the Ehu seeds and grind with a dry mill.

6. Cut the onions into tiny pieces.

7. Rub the dry uziza with your fingers to break them into tiny pieces.

Cooking Directions

1. This cooking direction describes Chicken Pepper Soup. To prepare Goat Meat Pepper Soup, Cow Foot Pepper Soup or Assorted Beef Pepper Soup just substitute chicken with cow foot or beef and offal respectively.

2. Place the pieces of chicken in a pot and pour enough water to cover the contents of the pot. Add the stock cubes, thyme and onions and cook till done.

Note: When cooking Assorted Beef Pepper Soup, you should cook the shaki for sometime before adding the other beef parts. Shaki is tough and will take longer to cook than the other beef parts.

Cow foot is a tough part of meat so when cooking Cow Foot Pepper Soup, you should use a pressure cooker if you have one. This will save you some gas or electricity.

3. By now, you will notice that some of the water has dried. Add more water to bring it to the level of the contents of the pot.

4. Add the ground Ehu, dry uziza, chilli pepper and salt to taste. Ehu has some spicy taste so you should add chilli pepper with care. Even though it is called pepper soup, you still want to be able to taste and enjoy the recipe itself. Too much chilli pepper will ruin it for you.

5. Cover the pot and leave to boil for 5 minutes and the pepper soup is ready.

COCONUT RICE

Ingredients

Rice - 3 cigar cups | 750g
Tomato Stew 500 mls
Coconut Milk 600 mls
Chicken (whole chicken or drumsticks)
Pepper - to taste
Salt (to taste)
Onions - 2 medium sized bulbs
Seasoning – 3 Maggi/Knorr cubes & Thyme (1 teaspoon)

Before you cook Coconut Rice

1. Prepare the tomato stew if you don't have some in the freezer. Visit the Tomato Stew page for details on how to do that. It is advisable to prepare tomato stew before hand and keep in the freezer. This is so that whenever you want to cook any jollof rice related dish, it is just a matter of adding it to your cooking.

2. If you will use whole chicken, wash and cut the whole chicken into pieces. Place the pieces in a pot; add water till it just covers the pieces of chicken, add the chopped onions, stock cubes and thyme and start cooking. The cooking time depends on the type of chicken. The rooster or cockerel cooks much faster than the hen but the hen is tastier.
Cooking till done and add salt to taste. Put the pieces of chicken in a sieve to drain, then fry with vegetable oil. You can also grill it in an oven. This is to give it a golden look which is more presentable especially if you have guests for dinner. Read how to season and grill chicken for more one this.

3. Now is the time to extract the coconut milk. This is quite an easy task if you follow the procedure detailed in How to Extract Coconut Milk. Set the coconut milk aside.

4. Parboil the rice using the method detailed in parboiling rice for cooking coconut rice. Wash the parboiled rice and put in a sieve to drain.

Cooking Directions

1. Now we need a pot big enough to accommodate the rice till it is done. Bear in mind that the rice will normally rise by at least one quarter of its quantity from the parboiled state to the done state.

2. Pour the chicken stock, coconut milk and the tomato stew into the selected pot. Set on the stove to boil. Add the drained parboiled rice, salt and pepper to taste. If necessary, top up with water to bring the water level to the same level as the rice. This is to ensure that all the water dries up by the time the rice is cooked.

3. Cover the pot and leave to cook on medium heat. This way the rice does not burn before the water dries up.

If you parboiled the rice as described at parboiling rice for cooking coconut rice, the rice should be done by the time the water is dry. Confirm that the rice is done by tasting it. That’s the way coconut rice is cooked.

MIXED VEGETABLES JOLLOF RICE

Ingredients

Rice - 3 cigar cups | 750g
Tomato Stew 500 mls
Carrots – 5 medium sized
Green Pepper (Bell pepper) – 1 piece
Chicken (whole chicken, drumsticks or chicken breast)
Pepper - to taste
Salt (to taste)
Onions - 2 medium sized bulbs
Seasoning – 3 Maggi/Knorr cubes & Thyme (1 teaspoon)

Before you prepare Mixed Vegetables Jollof Rice

What to do before preparing the mixed vegetables recipe is basically the same as what needs to be done for the basic Jollof Rice. The only additional thing you need to do is to wash, scrape and cut the carrots into small cubes. Also wash and cut the green pepper into small pieces.

Preparation

The preparation is also the same for Jollof Rice. Remember the point during the preparation of Jollof Rice, when you have added all the ingredients and you are waiting for the water to dry? This is where the mixed vegetable part comes in.

1. When the water is almost dry, add the diced carrots, cover the pot and continue cooking.

2. When the water is completely dry, turn off the stove. Add the diced green pepper and turn the rice with a wooden spoon.

Why can't we add the green pepper when we added the carrots? This is because green pepper is a soft vegetable so even the slightest heat is enough to get it done. If added at the same time as the carrots (which are harder) they will turn very dark by the time the water has completely dried. So to keep the green pepper green and fresh-looking, we need to add them when we have turned off the cooker.

OFADA STEW AKA AYAMASE

Ingredients for Ofada Stew

40 pcs unripe habanero peppers
2 green tatashe peppers or green bell peppers
1 locust bean seasoning (Iru, ogiri okpei or dawadawa)
20cl red palm oil (at least)
1 big onion
1 handful crayfish
850g assorted meat and fish. I used:

Beef
Shaki (cow tripe)
Dry fish
Stock fish

Before you cook Ofada Stew

1. Wash and blend the peppers and the onion. Remember to remove the seeds from the green tatashe or the green bell peppers.

2. Grind the crayfish and the locust bean seasoning with a dry mill.

Cooking Directions

1. Cook all the meat and fish with the stock cube till well done.

2. Pour the pepper blend into a separate pot and cook on high heat till all the water dries up.

3. Pour the red palm oil into a clean dry pot and bleach till it turns clear. It should look like vegetable oil when done. It took me 12 minutes on low to medium heat to bleach the one in the video below. Your own time may vary depending on the type of heater you have and the quantity of oil.

4. Leave the oil to cool down a bit then add the boiled pepper puree. Fry till all the water has dried from the pepper.

5. Add the crayfish and locust bean seasoning, the orisirisi meat and fish and stir well.

6. Add salt to taste, leave to simmer and it is ready to be served.

Serve with Ofada Rice. To get the full effects, line the plate with uma leaves. You can also use banana leaves.

Tips for bleaching red palm oil

1. Bleach the palm oil with a clean dry stainless steel pot. Aluminium pots work well too. Never use non-stick pots or enamel pots when bleaching red palm oil.

2. If possible, use a free flowing pure red palm oil. The congealed almost yellow ones contain some water.

3. Use low heat when bleaching the oil. This ensures that the oil is not very dark when done.

4. Do so in a well ventilated area. Turn on your kitchen extractor to remove the smoke as much as possible. Turn off your smoke alarm if any, you don't want everyone to know that you are cooking Ofada Stew. ;-)

5. Do not leave the pot unattended because the oil will catch fire if overheated. Check it constantly and turn off the heat once the bleaching is complete.

6. Do allow the oil to cool down a bit before adding the ingredients. This will prevent hot splashes of oil and will keep your food from burning due to the high temperatures.

NIGERIAN FRIED RICE

Ingredients

3 cigar cups long grain parboiled rice | 750g
Vegetable Oil
Chicken (whole chicken or chicken drumsticks)
Cow Liver (100g)
Plain Yellow Curry Powder – no chilli (1 tablespoon)
Green Beans (a handful)
5 medium sized carrots
Salt (to taste)
3 medium onions
3 Knorr cubes
1 teaspoon thyme

Note: I do not use woks because it is a lot of work taking care of them. If the carbon steel is not rusting, the bamboo handles are coming apart so I prefer my frying pans for fried rice :)

Before you cook the Fried Rice

Cut the vegetables

Wash all the vegetables to be used in cooking the fried rice. Scrape and cut the carrots into tiny cubes. Cut the green beans into small pieces of about 0.7cm long. Soak these 2 vegetables separately in hot water for about 5 minutes and drain. Cut 1 bulb of onion. Set all these aside.

Prepare the liver and chicken

1. Cook the cow liver till done and cut into tiny pieces. To save time and energy, you can cook the liver with the chicken as I did in the video below.

2. Cut the whole chicken into pieces and cook with the Knorr cubes, thyme and 2 bulbs of onions (chopped). When done, grill in an oven or deepfry with vegetable oil. This gives it a golden look which is more presentable especially when you are entertaining guests. Read how to season and grill chicken for more details.

Cooking Directions

1. Parboil the rice using the method detailed in parboiling rice for cooking fried rice. Wash the parboiled rice and put in a sieve so all the water drains out.

2. Pour the chicken stock into a sieve to remove all traces of onions, thyme etc used in cooking the chicken. Pour the stock into a pot and set to boil. Once the water boils, add the parboiled rice. Also, add 1 tablespoon of plain yellow curry powder, then add salt to taste. The plain yellow curry powder is merely for colouring so should not contain chilli.

3. The water level should be slightly less than the level of the rice; at most it should be at the same level as the rice. This is to ensure that all the water dries up by the time the rice is cooked. Stir the contents; cover the pot and leave to cook on medium heat. This way the rice does not burn before the water dries up.

4. Once the water has dried up, check that the rice is cooked. Perfect fried rice is one that the grains are separated from one another, resistant to the bite but not hard.

5. Now, transfer the rice to a casserole dish or another pot to help cool it down quickly. This is essential to keep the grains from sticking to each other. If left in the original hot pot, the rice will continue to cook and eventually stick together.

At this point, it is advisable to divide the vegetables into say 4, 5 or even 6 equal parts. The rice will be fried in batches so this number depends on the quantity of rice you can comfortably fry in the pan or pot. Also, divide the cooked rice and the diced cow liver into the same number of equal parts.

6. Now pour a small amount of vegetable oil into a frying pan. This quantity of oil should be such that it would be absorbed by 1 part of the cooked rice and 1 part each of the vegetables. When the oil is hot, add 1 part of diced onions and stir for 10 seconds, followed by 1 part of diced cow liver, one part each of the diced vegetables, then 1 part of cooked rice.

7. Add more salt if necessary. More curry powder may also be added at this stage if you need to touch up on the colour. Stir till all the ingredients have mixed well and transfer to a dry pot. Repeat this for the remaining batches of the ingredients.

The fried rice is ready. Serve with fried chicken. You can add coleslaw, Moi Moi or Nigerian salad.

VERY IMPORTANT:

Nigerian Fried Rice can go bad very quickly. You can avoid this by spreading it to cool it then refrigerate immediately. Otherwise, eat it once you finish preparing it. If you want to serve it at a party, please cook it very close to the serving time, if not, it will go bad! If refrigerated, it can last for 48 hours without loosing its taste.

NIGERIAN JOLLOF RICE

Ingredients

2 cigar cups | 500g (1.1 lbs) long grain white rice
Tomato Stew 500 mls
Chicken (whole chicken, drumsticks or chicken breast)
Pepper and salt (to taste)
2 medium onions
3 Knorr cubes
2 teaspoons thyme

Before you cook Jollof Rice

1. Prepare the tomato stew. Visit the Tomato Stew page for details on how to do that. It is advisable to prepare tomato stew before hand and keep in the freezer. This is so that whenever you want to cook any jollof rice related dish, it is just a matter of adding it to your cooking.

2. If you will use whole chicken then wash and cut it into pieces. Cook with the thyme, Knorr cubes and 2 bulbs of onions (chopped). The cooking time depends on the type of chicken. The rooster or cockerel cooks much faster than the hen but the hen is definitely tastier. When done, grill it in an oven. You may also fry it. This is to give it a golden look which is more presentable especially if you have guests for dinner.

3. Parboil the rice using the method detailed in parboiling rice for cooking jollof rice. Wash the parboiled rice and put in a sieve to drain.

Cooking Directions

1. Pour the chicken stock and the tomato stew into a sizeable pot and leave to boil.

2. Add the drained parboiled rice, salt and pepper to taste. The water level should be the same level of the rice. This is to ensure that all the water dries up by the time the rice is cooked.

3. Cover the pot and leave to cook on low to medium heat. This way the rice does not burn before the water dries up.

If you parboiled the rice as described at parboiling rice for cooking jollof rice, the rice should be done by the time the water is dry. Taste to confirm. If not, you will need to add more water and reduce the heat to prevent burning. Keep cooking till done.

COLESLAW

Coleslaw simply means cabbage salad. It is a blend of finely shredded cabbage, carrots and a few other crunchy vegetables. It is then generously dressed with mayonnaise and salad cream.

It is generally eaten as a side dish to such foods as Jollof Rice, Fried/Barbecued Chicken, Moi Moi and many other rice dishes.

Coleslaw is usually served chilled to allow the dressing settle into the vegetables.

Ingredients

1 small cabbage
1 small green bell pepper
½ tin of green peas
2 medium carrots
1 medium onion
5 tablespoons of salad cream (preferably Heinz Classic Salad Cream)
4 tablespoons of mayonnaise
½ teaspoon sugar
A pinch of salt

Preparation

All the vegetables need to be washed.

1. Cut the cabbage, green bell pepper and onions into very tiny pieces.

2. Scrape and shred the carrots using a grater, then use a knife to cut across the shreds to make the pieces even smaller.

3. Put the cabbage, green pepper, green peas, onions and carrots into a large bowl and stir till you get a good mix.

4. In a separate, smaller bowl, mix the salad cream, mayonnaise, sugar and salt.

5. Pour the cream mix into the bowl of vegetables and stir very well.

6. Chill and serve.

Note: If you prefer the coleslaw creamier, you can increase the quantity of the salad cream. Feel free to add a pinch of ground pepper if you like it spicy.

NIGERIAN SALAD

Ingredients

1 medium bunch of Lettuce
5 medium sized Carrots
4 small pcs of Irish Potatoes
2 medium pcs of Cucumber
3 medium Eggs
1 415g tin of Baked Beans in tomato sauce
200g of Sweet Corn
5 pcs of Plum Tomatoes (Jos Tomatoes)
Salad Dressing – the classic Heinz Salad Cream works best with the Nigerian Salad recipe. A close substitute is the Heinz Caesar Salad Cream. You can use mayonnaise too.

Tools I used

Glass Bowl
Chopping board
Knives

Before you prepare the Nigerian Salad

Wash and cook the Irish Potatoes till done. The eggs should be hard boiled. To save time, these two can be cooked in the same pot as they need almost equal amount of time to get done.

All the vegetables need to be washed.

1. Cut the lettuce into thin shreds.

2. Scrape and shred the carrots using a grater.

3. Peel and cut the boiled potatoes into sizeable cubes.

4. Peel, remove the seeds and cut the cucumber as shown. If you want more green color in your salad, you may peel the cucumber in stripes.

5. Remove the seeds from the plum tomatoes and cut into small pieces.

6. Place all the cut vegetables in separate containers.

Open the sweet corn and drain the preservation water. Rinse the seeds and set aside. Also open the baked beans tin and set aside.

Remove the shells of the hard boiled eggs, slice thinly and set aside. An egg slicer is perfect for this job.

Preparation

1. With the exception of the egg, start putting the ingredients in small batches into a big salad bowl till all are exhausted.

2. Now, place the sliced eggs on the salad, covering the top.

3. Cover the bowl and place in the fridge for at least one hour. This is to allow all the ingredients to mix well.

4. Serve with a salad dressing of your choice but the Heinz Salad Cream works best with this recipe, seconded by a caeser salad dressing.

Notes and Tips

If you prefer your Nigerian Salad crunchy, substitute the lettuce with cabbage. You can also use the two as the lettuce adds a green color to the salad.

The above are the minimum ingredients for making a Nigerian salad. More ingredients such as boiled macaroni, corned beef, green bell pepper, green peas etc can be added for varied flavour.

The Nigerian Salad is best consumed within 24 hours of preparation if no salad dressing is added to it.

If you are lucky to buy a baby cucumber, it may not be necessary to remove the seeds.

NIGERIAN COCONUT CANDY

Ingredients

1 head fresh coconut with the juice
200g icing sugar (powdered sugar)
Water

Before you make the Nigerian Coconut Candy

Break the coconut, making sure to collect the coconut juice from it.

Remove the meat from the shells and grate the meat into small pieces. I use the smaller openings on this grater for this task. Make sure to grate along the meat of the coconut rather than across it. This is so that you'll have long thin coconut pieces rather than a mass of grated coconut.

Directions

1. Pour the coconut juice into the pot.

2. Add the icing sugar (powdered sugar). Stir.

3. Add the tiny coconut pieces and stir.

4. Add water to the same level as the coconut pieces.

5. Cover the pot and set to boil at high heat.

6. Once the contents start boiling, stir continuously till all the water is just about evaporated.

7. Reduce to low heat and continue stirring.

8. At a time, you will notice that the contents have started sticking together. That is the sugar caramelising.

9. Keep stirring till the coconut pieces start turning slightly brown.

10. Turn off the heat and scoop the very hot coconut candy onto a flat plate and leave to cool down.

11. Once cold, you can serve as dessert or eat it as a snack.

Notes:

1. The coconut candy should be sticky when cold. It should not be dry.

2. You can store it in the freezer for up to a month.

3. This is supposed to be a very sweet snack that is why all that sugar is used in the preparation but feel free to reduce the quantity of sugar.

4. The caramel from the sugar can be tough to wash off the pot when it has cooled down. The best way to wash this off very hot water as soon as you are done with making the snack.

ITALIAN PIZZA

Ingredients

For a 12-inch diameter Pizza, you will need:

For the Pizza dough

The following quantities of ingredients make a thick pizza crust. If you want a thin pizza crust but still 12 inches diameter, use half the quantities of ingredients.

330g plain flour (all purpose flour)
5g or 2 teaspoons yeast
4 tablespoons olive oil
170mls warm water
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
Margarine (for the oven tray)

Toppings

These are my favourite Pizza toppings.

300g mozzarella cheese
5 tablespoons Tomato Stew
3 mushrooms
1 tbsp minced/ground meat
Pepperoni
Green bell pepper
Red bell pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil

Utensils and Equipment

Pizza cutter
Kitchen towels, plastic film
Oven, Brush, Bowls, Sieve etc

Notes on the Ingredients

1. All these ingredients can be purchased from supermarkets all over the world. If you are in Nigeria, look for them in big department stores like Shoprite.

2. Like I mentioned earlier, feel free to use a combination of fruits, vegetables and meat that catches your fancy. Mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce are the only standard cheese toppings.

3. Feel free to add more cheese if you wish.

4. The minced meat should be fried in vegetable oil before adding it on the Pizza.

Before you make the Pizza

1. Ensure that all the utensils and equipment you will use are clean and dry.

2. Heat up some water. This is the warm water you will use to mix the Pizza dough.

Directions for making Pizza

Mix the Pizza dough

1. Sift the plain flour into a clean dry bowl. The bowl should be big enough for mixing the flour and other ingredients. Sifting airs the flour and breaks up any lumps making it easier to mix.

2. Add the yeast to the dry flour and mix. This is important so the salt (added next) does not touch the yeast.

3. Add the sugar and salt and mix very well.

4. Then add the olive oil and mix very well.

5. Start adding the warm water and mix with a spatula at the same time till all the water has been absorbed. Then continue by hand till a smooth soft dough is achieved. Fold the dough and place it in the bowl.

6. Cover the bowl with a thin plastic film or a warm towel and place in a warm place for the dough to rise for 1 hour. I usually put this in the oven (turned OFF).

Prepare the oven tray

Traditionally, Pizza is laid on a pizza stone and baked in a clay oven but unless you live in a beautiful Italian countryside, what most of us have is a standard kitchen oven. And you most probably do not have a pizza stone. So, we will place this Pizza in an oven tray and bake it in a standard kitchen oven.

1. Rub some margarine in your oven tray, making sure that every part of the tray is covered with a thin layer of margarine. You can also use soft butter for this.

2. Sprinkle some flour on it making sure the flour covers all the margarine. When done, pour out the excess flour.

Continue with the Pizza dough

1. After 1 hour, bring out the Pizza dough from the warm place. You'll notice that the pizza dough is puffy.

2. Knead it for a bit and transfer to the oven tray.

3. Start spreading the dough in a circular motion like this till it's about 12 inches in diameter. The dough may resist as you do this but keep going till you can get the dough to spread as wide as possible.

4. When done, cover the dough and place in a warm place to rise again for 45 minutes.

Prepare the Pizza toppings

1. While waiting for the Pizza dough to rise a second time, wash and slice the vegetables for the pizza topping.

2. Fry the minced beef in a small amount of vegetable oil. It is OK when the beef turns pale.

3. Prepare the tomato sauce for the pizza by adding stock cube, onion powder and salt to some Tomato Stew (fresh tomato puree fried in vegetable oil). You can also add other dry herbs you love.

Back to the Pizza dough

1. After 45 minutes, bring out the pizza dough from the warm place and you will notice that the dough has puffed up again. It is also easier to manipulate so spread it out more.

2. Rub some olive oil on the dough.

3. Spread the tomato sauce.

4. Then sprinkle the cheese on top.

Bake and enjoy!

1. Put the pizza in a preheated oven (180°C or 360F) and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or till the pizza crust is light brown and the cheese is liquefied by the heat.

2. Bring the pizza out from the oven and place the rest of the toppings on top.

3. Put it back in the oven and bake for 2 minutes maximum, you do not want the vegetables to become dull.

PEPPER SAUCE

Ingredients

With the following ingredients, you can make enough pepper sauce for 3 roasted plantains :)

2 habanero peppers or any fresh chilli peppers.
1 medium onions
Red palm Oil: add till you get the consistency you like
Salt to taste

Preparation

1. Wash and chop the onions and pepper into very tiny pieces. If you have mortar and pestle, then no need to cut the pepper, just pound it with the chopped onions.

2. When the pepper and onions have medium smoothness, transfer to a bowl. Then add some palm oil till you get the consistency you want.

Note: If the oil is congealed, place the container in a bowl of hot water for some time to melt it. You can also melt it in the microwave. You can increase the quantity of peppers if you prefer your pepper sauce very hot.

3. Add salt to taste and your pepper sauce is ready.

4. You can heat the pepper sauce up a bit before use. Dip pieces of Boiled Yam, Roasted Plantain or Boiled Plantain to eat.

NIGERIAN EGG STEW

Egg stew is often mistaken for Tomato Omelette. Both are not quite the same. Yes, they are both prepared with the same ingredients, just not in the same quantities. While Tomato Omelette consists mainly of eggs, Egg Stew has more of tomatoes. Also, Egg stew is not "set" like Tomato Omelette.

How to Make Nigerian Egg Stew [Video]

Egg Stew is very easy to prepare and it spices up some Nigerian staple foods.

Ingredients

2 Eggs
4 medium plum tomatoes (Tomato Jos)
1 medium onion
Salt & Dry Pepper (to taste)
1 stock cube
2 cooking spoons of vegetable oil

Before you Cook the Egg Stew

Remove the seeds from the tomatoes and cut into big slices (see video).
Also cut the onion into big slices (see video).
Beat the two eggs, add a pinch of salt and set aside.

Cooking the Nigerian Egg Stew

Heat the vegetable oil in a pot, when hot, lower the heat to medium.
Add the onions and stir for about 2 minutes.
Add the tomatoes, stir for a bit and cover the pot. This is so that the tomatoes and onions do not dry up too quickly. Stir from time to time though.
After about 5 minutes, add the ground pepper, salt and seasoning.
Keep stirring till the tomato is completely soft and separated from the oil.
Slowing pour the egg in a circular motion. Do NOT stir. Cover the pot and reduce the heat to low to allow the egg to "cake". You want the egg to form lumps in the stew rather than look mushy.

Egg stew is the best thing that ever happened to Boiled Yam and Boiled Potatoes. You can also serve it with White Rice, Fried Yam, Fried Plantain or Potatoes. And it does many things to plain sliced bread.

NIGERIAN TOMATO STEW

By Tomato Stew, I mean stew used to prepare the Nigerian Jollof Rice recipes: Jollof Rice, Coconut Rice, Rice & Beans, etc. This tomato stew also forms the base for the Nigerian Beef & Chicken Stew. I always prepare a large quantity of the tomato stew and store in my freezer. This makes cooking my Nigerian Jollof Rice recipes or the Spaghetti Surprise recipe so easy.

Watch How to Make Nigerian Tomato Stew [Video]

Please note that this tomato stew does not have any seasoning and other ingredients because it is just a base. If you watch my Nigerian Jollof Rice, Nigerian Coconut Rice and my Nigerian Spaghetti Surprise videos, this is the tomato stew that I added while cooking those recipes.

I get a good number of questions about what I mean by tomato stew and how I make it, that's why I made this page and the video below.

Add beef/chicken or both, thyme, curry, Knorr, salt and pepper to Tomato Stew to get the Beef & Chicken Stew used to eat boiled white rice. For the recipe on how to prepare that, visit this page: How to Cook Nigerian Beef & Chicken Stew

Ingredients for Nigerian Tomato Stew

Fresh Plum Tomatoes (referred to as Jos Tomatoes in Nigeria, tomate pera in Spanish and pomodoro pera in Italian) – 1.5kg
Tinned tomato paste: 600g (or watery tinned Tomato Puree: 1.2kg)
Vegetable Oil: a generous quantity (see the video below)
Onions 1 to 2 medium bulbs

Important notes on the ingredients

1. Tomatoes: Plum tomatoes are the best for the Nigerian Tomato Stew (and other Nigerian recipes) because all the other types of tomatoes either have a very strong taste, have lots of seeds or contain lots of water.

2. Vegetable Oil: There's always a debate about this one. But I will insist that you need more than enough oil when frying the tomatoes. This is so that the tomatoes will not burn till all the sour taste is gone and the water has dried from the tomatoes. You will pour out the excess oil when the tomatoes are well fried as I did in this video. Just think about this as "sort of" deep frying the tomatoes. Not that you'll need that much oil but you get the gist.
If you don't use enough oil, your stew will have a sour taste and it will burn even if you stand there stirring frantically :( Cooking should be fun, not tedious. And why worry when you'll pour out the excess oil when you are done? In my opinion, anybody worried about his/her health should stay away from this stew because it is fried.
This oil you pour out is red hence it is perfect for cooking Egusi Soup, Okra Soup and Ogbono Soup for those who cannot buy or do not want to use palm oil. Once it has cooled down, put it in the fridge or freezer because it will go bad if left on the kitchen counter.

3. Tinned tomato paste/puree: The tinned tomato paste sold in Nigeria is usually very thick and concentrated. If you try to fry this tomato paste as is, it will burn straight away. What I normally do is to add some water to it to bring it to the softer consistency as I did in the video below. There are other types of tomato purees sold in Europe and the rest of the world and these are usually watery. If that is the only type you can buy, then you need to cook it with the fresh tomato puree (as explained below) to get it to dry up a bit and get rid of the sour taste before frying.

One more thing; the tinned tomato paste/puree is optional. Its job is to improve the redness of the tomato stew, making it look richer and more appetizing. If you don't want to use it, replace with fresh plum tomatoes. In Nigeria, it is common to use tatashe (Nigerian big red peppers) to improve the redness of the tomato stew. Please note that tatashe is not the same as bell peppers.

Before you cook Tomato Stew

1. Wash and blend the fresh plum tomatoes. Remember to remove the seeds unless you are sure your blender can grind them very well.

2. If using the thick tinned tomato paste that is common in Nigeria, mix it with cold water to get a softer consistency. See the video below for how I did this.

3. If you are using the watery tinned tomato puree that is common in Europe and other parts of the world, open the tins or packets and set these aside, you'll need them soon.

4. Cut the onions into small pieces.

Cooking Directions

1. Pour the fresh tomato blend into a pot and cook at high heat till almost all the water has dried. If you have the watery tinned/boxed tomato puree, add these to the pot and reduce the heat to low. Cook till the water in the tomato puree have dried as much as possible.

2. Add the vegetable oil, the chopped onions and the thick tomato puree that you mixed in step 2 above (if it's the puree you are using). Stir very well.

3. Fry at very low heat and stir at short intervals till the oil has completely separated from the tomato puree. A well fried tomato puree will also have streaks of oil, unlike when you first added the oil and it was a smooth mix of the tomato puree and oil. Taste the fried tomato puree to make sure that the raw tomato taste is gone. With time and experience, you can even tell that the tomato puree is well fried from the aroma alone.

4. If you are happy with the taste and you are sure that all the water has dried as much as possible, pour out the excess vegetable oil like I did in this video, then use it in your cooking.

5. If you are not using it immediately, leave to cool down, dish in containers and store in the freezer.

VEGETABLE SAUCE

Ingredients

Whole Chicken
Vegetable Oil (2 cooking spoons)
5 Spring Onions
8 Fresh Plum Tomatoes (Jos Tomatoes)
8 medium Carrots
Cabbage (1 small bulb)
Potatoes (3 medium sized)
1 Red Bell Pepper (optional)
1 Green Bell Pepper
Salt - to taste
Seasoning – 3 big stock cubes, thyme

Before you cook the Vegetable Sauce

1. Wash and cut the vegetables: plum tomatoes (remember to remove the seeds), carrots, cabbage and bell pepper as shown. Remember to scrape the carrots before cutting. Set these aside.

2. Peel the Irish potatoes, wash and cut into small pieces. Blend into a thick paste and set aside. This will be used as thickener for the Vegetable Sauce.

Cooking Directions

1. Wash and cut the whole chicken into pieces. Place in a pot, add chopped spring onions, stock cubes and thyme. Add water to cover the contents of the pot and start cooking.

2. When done, add salt to taste and top up the water to the same level as the contents if necessary.

3. Once it boils, add the chopped tomatoes and the vegetable oil. Cover and cook for 15 minutes.

4. Add the carrots and cook for 5 minutes.

5. Now, add the potato puree, chopped bell peppers and cabbage. Stir, cover and allow to cook for 5 minutes on high heat. Add salt to taste and the sauce is ready to be served.

Note: Feel free to experiment by varying the thickness of the vegetable sauce. This you can achieve by increasing or decreasing the amount of potato puree added till you get a consistency that appeals to you.

Tip: The smoothest puree usually settles at the bottom so you may want to use only that (if it is sufficient) and discard the frothy part at the top.

NIGERIAN YAM PORRIDGE OR ASARO

It is usually not cooked with added vegetables but I always add a little to add some green colour to the meal (see video).

How to make Nigerian Yam Porridge [Video]

Ingredients

1 kg (2.2 lbs) white yam
Red palm Oil (to colour)
1 smoked fish (titus/mackerel) OR dry fish
1 tablespoon ground crayfish
1 medium onion
Fresh green vegetable (eg pumpkin, parsley, scent leaf or green amaranth)
Habanero or Chilli Pepper & Salt – to taste
2 big stock cubes (Maggi/Knorr)

Before you cook Yam Porridge

1. Peel and cut the yam tuber into medium sizes. Wash the yam cubes and place in a sizeable pot.

2. Wash and cut the onions into tiny pieces. Grind / Blend the chilli pepper. Set these aside.

3. If using dry fish, soak and pick the bones.

Cooking Directions

1. Pour enough water to cover the yam cubes and start cooking at medium to high heat. If you are using dry fish, add it now.

2. When the yams have got a good boil, add the onions, ground crayfish, pepper, stock cubes, palm oil and the smoked fish.

3. Cover the pot and continue cooking till the yam is done.

4. Add salt to taste and stir very well. Cook at high heat for about 5 minutes.

5. Add the green vegetable, stir and leave to stand for about 5 minutes then serve.

NIGERIAN YAM & VEGETABLE WITH UKPAKA (UGBA)

Ingredients

Yam 1kg
Leafy Vegetable - Spinach/Fluted pumpkin/Green Amaranth/Water Leaves
Red palm Oil – to colour
Okra – 4 fingers (optional)
Ukpaka or Ugba: a handful (optional)
Onions – 2 medium bulbs
Chilli Pepper & Salt – to taste
Seasoning: – 2 cubes of Maggi / Knorr

Before you cook Yam & Vegetable

Peel and cut the yam tuber into 2 inch cubes. Wash the yam cubes and place in a sizeable pot.

Wash and cut the leafy vegetables, I used frozen spinach. Just leave to defrost a little bit and cut into small pieces. Then when fully defrosted, wring out the excess water.

rinse the ukpaka and cut the onions and okra into tiny pieces. Grind / Blend the chilli pepper. Put all these in a separate pot and set aside. The okra only helps the vegetables stick together so it is optional and with the ukpaka, you can go the extra mile with this recipe :)

Cooking Directions

1. Pour enough water to cover the yam cubes and cook till the cubes are soft and the water is a bit like porridge.

2. Now, pour out the water from the pot, leaving the yam cubes in the pot. Cover the pot to retain the heat.

3. Add some water from the yam (about 1 cooking spoon) to the pot containing the vegetables. Cook till the vegetable is softened by the heat. Be careful not to overcook the vegetable.

4. Pour the cooked vegetables and other ingredients into the pot containing the yam cubes. Add the palm oil and salt to taste.

5. Stir with a wooden spoon till all the ingredients have mixed well.

6. The yam and vegetable is ready to be served.

YAM AND VEGETABLE SAUCE (JI ABUBO)

Ingredients

1kg (2.2 lbs) white puna yam
200g Nigerian pumpkin leaves
Palm oil
200g ukpaka (shredded oil bean seeds)
Ogiri Igbo (castor bean paste)
1 Habanero/Scotch Bonnet pepper pepper or to taste
Salt (to taste)

Notes about the ingredients

1. Puna yam is sweet and starchy and is the yam we use for most Nigerian yam recipes.

2. The pumpkin leaves stated above are not halloween pumpkin leaves. They are Nigerian pumpkin leaves: Telfairia occidentalis. If you do not have those, use spinach. That's what I used in the video below with great results.

3. Add palm oil till you get the consistency you like. For the authentic taste palm oil is very important to this recipe, vegetable oil or any other oil cannot be used as alternative.

4. Ogiri Igbo gives the sauce the very traditional taste. If you do not have it, use stock cubes.

Before you prepare the Ji Abubo

1. Wash the yam thoroughly with plenty of water and a sponge. Do not peel the yam.

2. Slice into desired shapes and sizes for example the half-moon slices.

3. Rinse the ukpaka and place in a foil bag or plastic bag. My grandma uses leaves to wrap the ukpaka.

4. Wash the vegetables and tie them up with strings.

Directions

Boil the yam, vegetable and ukpaka

1. Put the yam pieces in a pot and pour water to cover the yams.

2. Place the tied vegetables and wrapped ukpaka on top and cook till the ukpaka and vegetables are soft.

3. Continue cooking the yam if not done.

Make the vegetable sauce

1. Pound the habanero pepper in a mortar till smooth.

2. When the ukpaka and pumpkin leaves are soft (from step 2 above), pound them in the same mortar one after the other till they are as smooth as possible.

3. Add palm oil to the blend till you get a consistency you like and mix very well.

4. Add salt and ogiri Igbo to your taste and mix with the pestle till everything is well incorporated.

5. Dish in a serving bowl and set aside.

Check the yam

1. Once the yam is well done, decant the water and place the yams in a serving plate or tray.

NIGERIAN BEEF & CHICKEN STEW

It is common to prepare this stew in large quantities and store in the freezer for up to a month. This is because most Nigerian staple foods can be cooked / boiled / fried and eaten with this stew:

· Rice: Nigerian Beef & Chicken Stew is the single most popular sauce when eating boiled white rice.

· Plantain: It is not unusual for Nigerian Beef & Chicken to accompany Fried Plantain or Boiled Plantain.

· Beans: Beans can be cooked plain and eaten with this Nigerian stew.

· Yam: You can bring out the best in the yam staple by eating it with the beef and chicken stew. Boiled Yam and Fried Yam go really well with this stew.

Nigerian Beef & Chicken Stew is usually a tricky Nigerian recipe to prepare. If it is not sour or tasteless, it is burnt or too oily. Not to worry, just follow the steps below and you will learn how to make the best Nigerian Beef & Chicken Stew.

Ingredients for Nigerian Beef & Chicken Stew

Tomato Stew
Whole Chicken (hen)
Beef
Onions
Habanero Pepper & Salt (to taste)
Stock cubes & Thyme

You should try and match the quantities of ingredients above to the quantity of the tomato stew you want to prepare. As a guide, here are the quantities of ingredients I used for the Beef & Chicken Stew in the video below:

Fresh Plum Tomatoes (referred to as Jos Tomatoes in Nigeria) – 1.5kg
Tinned tomato paste: 600g (or watery tinned Tomato Puree: 1.2kg)
Vegetable Oil: a generous amount (see this video)
Whole Chicken (hen) – 1.2kg
Beef: 15 pieces of medium cuts
Onions: 2-3 medium bulbs
Habanero Pepper & Salt (to taste)
Seasoning: 3 large stock cubes & Thyme (2 teaspoons)

Important notes on the ingredients

1. Chicken: Hen (female chicken) is tastier than the cockerel or rooster so it is my preferred chicken when cooking all my Nigerian recipes. And I prefer whole chicken because each of the different parts of the chicken (wings, drumsticks, hips etc) has its own unique taste and all these together makes the stew (and infact all your cooking) taste better than if you use only one part of a chicken eg all drumsticks.

2. Tomato Stew is fresh puree tomato and the tinned tomato paste that has been boiled and fried to remove all traces of water and the sour taste of tomatoes. It is the base for the Nigerian Beef & Chicken Stew.

Tools I used

Cooker
Oven for grilling the chicken and beef
Deep Pot:
Spatula
Sieve
Chopping board
Blender
Knives

Before you cook Nigerian Beef & Chicken Stew

1. Grind / Blend the chilli pepper and cut the onions into small pieces.

2. Start preparing the tomato stew by following the steps at: How to Prepare Tomato Stew

3. Cut up the chicken and cook with half of the chopped onions, stock cubes and thyme. When the chicken is almost done, add the beef and cook till well done. Then add salt, allow to simmer for about 5 minutes, transfer to a sieve to drain. Grill or fry the chicken and beef. This is optional but it gives them a rich golden look.

Notes about cooking the chicken:

Add water up to the level of the contents of the pot when cooking the chicken.

When cooking chicken, I do not add salt to the raw chicken. This is because salt closes the pores of the chicken (and infact anything you are cooking), this prevents the natural flavour of the chicken from coming out into the surrounding water and prevents the seasoning from entering the chicken to improve the taste. The result is that your chicken stock will not have a rich natural taste. It will only have an artifical taste of seasoning.
Salt also hardens the chicken hence it takes longer to cook.
I only add salt when the chicken is done. A lot of people think that adding salt early makes the chicken taste better but there's a big difference between a salty taste and a rich taste. I believe that what gives food a rich taste is not salt but the natural flavour of the food so allow this natural flavour to come out into your stock by NOT adding salt too early. And remember, stock cubes already contain salt so you really don't need more salt.

I do not use curry powder to season my chicken (or beef) simply because in my opinion, curry powder overtakes the taste of any food it is cooked with (except Fried Rice) and makes the food taste so artificial. But if you don't mind it, feel free to use it as seasoning for your beef or chicken.

Cooking Directions

1. When you are happy that the tomatoes in your tomato stew are well-fried, pour out the excess oil as I did in the video below.

2. Place the pot of tomato stew back on the stove and add the chicken stock (water from cooking the chicken). There may be tiny pieces of bones at the bottom so be careful not to add those.

3. Add the chilli pepper and the grilled chicken and beef. Stir very well and add salt if necessary. You can also add some water at this point if the stew is too thick.

4. Cover the pot and cook at medium heat till the contents of the pot is well steamed. Stir again and you are done.

5. That's how to prepare the best Nigerian Beef & Chicken stew.

GARDEN EGG SAUCE/STEW

Garden Egg Sauce is the perfect match for:

Boiled White Puna Yam (best combo)
Boiled Plantains
Agidi/Eko
Boiled White Rice (when cooked with vegetable oil)
Boiled Potatoes (when cooked with vegetable oil)

Ingredients for Garden Egg Sauce

8 big garden eggs
1 cup palm oil
1 onion
Habanero Pepper & Salt (to taste)
1 small ogiri okpei (iru)
2 small smoked mackerel

Important notes on the ingredients + alternatives

1. Always buy baby garden eggs. These are garden eggs that are harvested as soon as they mature. If they over-mature or are even beginning to ripe, the seeds will be very tough and hard for the blender to grind. Even worse if you are using a mortar and pestle.

2. I prefer the white or off-white variety of garden eggs for this recipe. You can also use the green variety.

3. You can use eggplant or aubergine as alternative for garden eggs. In that case, use about 3 for the stated quantities of ingredients.

4. Fry with palm oil if you will use the garden egg sauce for boiled white yam or boiled plantains. Fry with a tasteless and odourless vegetable oil if you will use it to eat boiled white rice or boiled potatoes. In my opinion, this sauce should only be prepared with palm oil because it is more delicious. Palm oil gives the sauce a unique delicious flavour.

5. The palm oil adds colour to this sauce. This means that when you fry with vegetable oil, it does not look as appetizing.

6. Ogiri okpei (iru) is a traditional seasoning made from locust beans. If you do not have it, use stock cubes. Also, when preparing this recipe with vegetable oil, use stock cubes.

7. You should add enough palm oil to fry the garden egg puree. Palm oil is good for you! If you are in Nigeria use a milk cup to measure the palm oil.

8. You can use boiled mackerel if you do not have smoked mackerel but smoked is the way to go.

Kitchen tools and equipment

Blender
If you don't have a blender: mortar and pestle

Before you cook Garden Egg Sauce

1. Rinse the garden eggs very well and remove the stalk.

2. Blend the garden eggs. There are 3 ways to turn the garden eggs into a smooth puree:

With a blender:

Cut the garden eggs into small pieces.
Put in a blender and pour just enough water to help the blades of your blender move.
Blend till smooth.

With a mortar and pestle:

Boil some water in a pot.
Add the garden eggs and continue to cook till the are soft.
Peel the water-proof skin of the garden eggs.
Pound in a mortar till a smooth puree is achieved.

With a sieve:

Cut the garden eggs into small pieces.
Put the garden egg pieces in a pot and pour some water to the same level as the contents of the pot.
Cook till the pieces are very soft, soft enough to melt when you press with a fork.
Keep cooking till almost all the water has dried.
Pour into a sieve with a wire mesh or any other rough sieve and mash it up.

Cut the onion into small pieces.
Pound the pepper and ogiri okpei in a mortar till smooth.
Prepare the smoked fish if you don't have some and separate them into small pieces.
Start cooking the yam or the staple food you will serve with the garden egg sauce.

Cooking Directions

1. Pour the tomato blend into a clean pot and cook till all or almost all the water dries up. Set it aside. Skip this step if you prepared the garden egg puree using step b above.

2. Pour the palm oil into a clean dry pot and heat it up. Do not bleach it, you only need to heat till a piece of onion sizzles when added to the hot oil.

3. When the oil is hot enough, add the onions and fry for about 2 minutes.

4. Add the garden egg puree and stir for a bit. Cover the pot and cook-fry for some time and stir again.

5. Repeat step 4 till the small amount of water in the puree dried up. the paol oil will also be separated from the puree.

6. Add the ogiri okpei and habanero pepper blend then add salt to your taste.

7. Add the smoked fish, stir, cover and leave to simmer and it's done!

ITALIAN PIZZA WITH GOOEY CHEESE

Ingredients

For a 12-inch diameter Pizza, you will need:

For the Pizza dough

The following quantities of ingredients make a thick pizza crust. If you want a thin pizza crust but still 12 inches diameter, use half the quantities of ingredients.

330g plain flour (all purpose flour)
5g or 2 teaspoons yeast
4 tablespoons olive oil
170mls warm water
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
Margarine (for the oven tray)

Toppings

These are my favourite Pizza toppings.

400g mozzarella cheese
5 tablespoons Tomato Stew
3 mushrooms
1 tbsp minced/ground meat
Pepperoni
Green bell pepper
Red bell pepper
Olive oil

Utensils and Equipment

Pizza cutter
Kitchen towels, plastic film
Oven, Brush, Bowls, Sieve etc

Notes on the Ingredients

1. All these ingredients can be purchased from supermarkets all over the world. If you are in Nigeria, look for them in big department stores like Shoprite, Spar etc.

2. Feel free to use a combination of fruits, vegetables and meat that catches your fancy for the toppings. Mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce are the only standard cheese toppings.

3. Feel free to add more cheese if you wish.

4. The minced meat should be fried in vegetable oil before adding it on the Pizza.

Before you make the Pizza

1. Ensure that all the utensils and equipment you will use are clean and dry.

2. Heat up some water. This is the warm water you will use to mix the Pizza dough.

Directions for making Pizza

Mix the Pizza dough

1. Sift the plain flour into a clean dry bowl. The bowl should be big enough for mixing the flour and other ingredients. Sifting airs the flour and breaks up any lumps making it easier to mix.

2. Add the yeast to the dry flour and mix. This is important so the salt (added next) does not touch the yeast.

3. Add the sugar and salt and mix very well.

4. Then add the olive oil and mix very well.

6. Cover the bowl with a thin plastic film or a warm towel and place in a warm place for the dough to rise for 1 hour. I usually put this in the oven (turned OFF).

Prepare the oven tray

1. Rub some margarine in your oven tray, making sure that every part of the tray is covered with a thin layer of margarine. You can also use soft butter for this.

2. Sprinkle some flour on it making sure the flour covers all the margarine. When done, pour out the excess flour.

Continue with the Pizza dough

1. After 1 hour, bring out the Pizza dough from the warm place. You'll notice that the pizza dough is puffy.

2. Knead it for a bit and transfer to the oven tray.

4. When done, cover the dough and place in a warm place to rise again for 45 minutes.

Prepare the Pizza toppings

1. While waiting for the Pizza dough to rise a second time, wash and slice the vegetables for the pizza topping.

2. Fry the minced beef in a small amount of vegetable oil. It is OK when the beef turns pale.

3. Prepare the tomato sauce for the pizza by adding stock cube, onion powder and salt to some Tomato Stew (fresh tomato puree fried in vegetable oil). You can also add other dry herbs you love.

Bake and enjoy!

1. After 45 minutes, bring out the pizza dough from the warm place and you will notice that the dough has puffed up again. It is also easier to manipulate so spread it out more.

2. Rub some olive oil all over the dough.

3. Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C (360F) for 20 minutes or till the pizza crust starts to brown.

4. Bring it out from the oven, rub more olive oil all over it.

5. Spread the tomato sauce on the pizza crust. Then the grated cheese, making sure the cheese covers all the tomato sauce.

6. Put it back in the oven for 10 minutes or till the cheese has been liquefied by heat.

7. Bring it out again and add the rest of the toppings.

8. Put it back in the oven for a maximum of 5 minutes so that the vegetables will not become dull.

9. Slice it up and enjoy!

CLUB SANDWICH, NAIJA STYLE

Ingredients you need for Club Sandwiches

The following are the quantities of ingredients you need to make a Club Sandwich for one person. Feel free to multiply the ingredients.

4 slices of bread (minimum)
1 egg (hardboiled)
1 fresh plum tomato (tomato Jos)
1 medium carrot
¼ small cabbage
2 pieces of Sardine
1 tablespoon of margarine/butter
2 tablespoons of Mayonnaise

Preparation of Club Sandwich

1. Wash all the vegetables very well.

2. Scrape the carrot and remove the seeds from the tomato.

3. Grate the carrot and cabbage using the small holes of a grater (see video below).

4. Cut the tomato into very tiny pieces.

5. Cut the hardboiled egg into tiny pieces.

6. Add the mayonnaise to the carrot, tomato, egg and cabbage. Mix well and set aside.

7. In a separate plate, mash the sardine with a fork and mix with the margarine. Don't worry if you don't like the smell of sardines, the margarine helps reduce the strong smell.

8. Using a bread knife, cut off the crusty ends from the slices of bread.

9. Take one slice of bread, spread the margarine and sardine mix on one side of it and cover with the second slice of bread.

10.

Repeat the above step with the remaining two slices. By now you should have two separate slices of bread that are stuck together by the margarine and sardine mix, like this:

11. Now, take the first 2 slices, rub the carrot, cabbage, tomato, egg and mayonnaise mix on one side of it and cover with the other two slices.

12.

By now, all the slices of bread should be stuck together with 2 fillings of the sardine and margarine mix and 1 filling of the mayonnaise mix in the middle like this:
Cut the sandwich into desired shapes and sizes.

TOMATO OMELETTE

Ingredients you will need to make Tomato Omelette

I usually go with the ratio of 1 egg to 1 plum tomato but you can use 2 eggs to 1 tomato if you want. If you decide to go with the latter please note that you may not be able to fry it in one go as I did in the video below.

1 egg
1 medium plum tomato (Tomato Jos)
1 small onion
A small cut of butter (for frying)
Salt (to taste)
Dry Pepper (optional)

Notes and tips about the ingredients

You can also use vegetable oil instead of butter when frying the tomato omelette.
A bit of ground pepper helps curb nausea that some people get when eating fried egg.

Tool you will need to make Tomato Omelette

Non-stick frying pan

Before you make the Tomato Omelette

1. Cut the tomato into small pieces. I prefer to remove the seeds.

2. Cut the onion into small pieces. The onions should be the same quantity as the tomato (after cutting them).

3. Beat the egg, add a pinch of salt and the ground dry pepper if you are using this, stir well and set aside.

Preparation

1. Set your frying pan to heat up.

2. Melt half of the piece of butter and add the onions. Fry for a few seconds and add the tomato.

3. Fry till they are well heated up, this should take a maximum of 5 minutes on medium heat.

4. Pour this into the egg. Mix well and add more salt if necessary.

5. Set the frying pan back on the stove and melt the other half of the butter.

6. Once the butter melts, slowly pour the egg and tomato mix making sure that it is evenly distributed in the frying pan.

7. Turn the heat down to low. On a scale of 1 to 10, the heat should be at 4.

8. Then wait.

9. Wait till you see the tomato omelette caking. Once the heat is low, it will not burn so you need not worry. Also, using a non-stick frying pan helps ensure that your tomato omelette will not burn.

10. Once it has caked considerably, shake the frying pan and the omelette moves on its own. If it doesn't then it is either the heat is too much or the inside of your frying pan is too rough or both.

11. Gently transfer the omelette to a very flat wide plate. This step is best shown than described so watch the video below to see how I did that.

12. Cover the omelette in the plate with the frying pan and flip is such that the top side is now at the bottom of the frying pan. Again, see the video for how I did that.

13. Set the frying pan back on the stove and fry till the bottom side is well fried.

14. Once it cakes, it's ready!

ORA (OHA) SOUP

Ingredients for Ora (Oha) Soup

Vegetable - Ora leaves
Cocoyam – 8 small corms
Red Palm Oil – 3 cooking spoons
Assorted Beef – Includes best cut, shaki (cow tripe)
Assorted Fish – Dry Fish and Stock Fish
Chilli Pepper, Salt and Crayfish (to taste)
2 Stock cubes
1 teaspoon Ogiri Igbo (for the traditional taste but optional)

Before you cook the Nigerian Ora Soup

1. Grind the crayfish and pepper and set aside.

Wash and boil the cocoyam corms till soft. Remove the peels and use a mortar and pestle to pound the corms to a smooth paste.

3. Using your fingers, cut the Ora (Oha) leaves into tiny pieces. This technique is to prevent the vegetable from becoming darker in colour. This happens when you cut the ora leaves with a knife.

Cooking Directions

1. Boil the shaki (cow tripe), stock fish and dry fish in 1 litre of water till they are well done. First sign of a done shaki is that the cuts will start curling on itself.

2. Wash the beef and add to the pot of shaki etc. and continue cooking. When the meat is done, add 2 stock cubes and cook for 5 minutes.

3. Add the pepper, ogiri Igbo and ground crayfish and cook for 10 minutes. Add the cocoyam paste in small lumps and then the palm oil.

4. Cover the pot and leave to cook on high heat till all the cocoyam lumps have dissolved. You can add more water if you feel that the soup is too thick.

5. Add the ora (oha) leaves and leave to cook for about 5 minutes.

6. Add salt to taste and the soup is ready to be served with Eba, Cassava Fufu, Semolina, Amala or Pounded Yam.

SWEET POTATO

Ingredients for Meaty Sweet Potato

50g (1.8 oz) beef
1 small onion
¼ apple
¼ medium carrot
¼ sweet potato
A handful green peas
1 teaspoon plain flour (for thickening)
2 tablespoons olive oil
A pinch of salt or stock cube (from 12 months)

Kids Noodles

Ingredients

1 pack of Noodles
1 very small Green Pepper
1 very small Carrot
Small chunks of beef or chicken
3 table spoons of Olive / Vegetable Oil

Preparation

1. Wash and cut the green pepper and carrot into small pieces.

2. Wash and cook the chunks of beef or chicken till done.

3. Before opening the pack of noodles, break up the noodles in pieces.

4. Put the noodle pieces in the pot containing the cooked beef and add the spice that comes with the noodle.

5. Pour water to the same level as the contents of the pot.

6. Cover the pot and set to cook at medium heat.

7. When the contents start boiling, add the diced carrots and green pepper.

8. Add the Olive / vegetable oil.

9. Cover and leave to continue cooking till the water is almost dry. Do not allow all the water to dry up because this causes the noodle to become too dry when it has cooled down.

UNRIPE PLANTAIN PORRIDGE

Ingredients

Unripe Plantain: 3 pieces
Pumpkin Leaves: a big bunch (or Frozen Spinach: 10 cubes)
Fish (Titus): 1 medium size
Ground Crayfish: 1-2 teaspoons
Onions: 2 medium sized bulbs
Red palm Oil: enough to colour the meal
Pepper and Salt: to taste
Seasoning: 2 big stock cubes

Before you cook Unripe Plantain Porridge

Wash, peel and cut up the plantain as shown. Wash and cut the pumpkin leaves into small pieces. If you will be using frozen spinach, allow to thaw just enough to let you cut them into tiny pieces. Leave to thaw completely and squeeze out the extra water using a sieve.

Wash, cut and remove the fish intestines. Cut up the onions into tiny pieces. Grind the crayfish and pepper. Now you are ready to cook the unripe plantain porridge.

Cooking Directions

1. Put the cut plantain in a pot. Add the chopped onions, stock cubes, fish, ground crayfish and pepper.

2. Add water to the same level as the contents of the pot.

3. Cook till the contents start to boil. Add the red palm oil and salt to taste. Cover the pot and keep cooking till done. This is when the plantain is tender to touch.

4. Add the vegetables, cover the pot and leave to simmer.

5. Once it has heated up, stir, turn off the heat and leave to stand for at least five minutes before serving.

PLANTAIN PIES (WITH OVER-RIPE PLANTAINS)

Plantain Pie Ingredients

For 12 Plantain Pies, you'll need:

For the dough

1 over-ripe plantain
300g/10.5oz. plain flour (all purpose flour)
125g/4.4oz. butter (NOT margarine)
1 teaspoon baking powder (optional)
½ teaspoon salt

For the filling

Any food item that goes well with plantains (especially fried plantains) will make a great filling for Plantain Pies. That is why I called them Plantain Pies and not Yam Pies. So feel free to use beans porridge, egg omelette etc as your filling.

200g/7oz. white puna yam
2 eggs
1 onion
A small piece of red pepper
Salt (to taste)

Tools you'll need to bake Plantain Pies

3.75-inch (9.5cm) cookie cutter
3-inch (7.5cm) cookie cutter
Muffin tray with 12 cups
Oven, sieve, spatula, brush, rolling pin etc

More information about the ingredients

1. Baking powder is optional because I made this pie with and without baking powder, I did not notice any difference in the taste and texture.

2. Set some butter aside for greasing the muffin tray cups.

Before you prepare Plantain Pie

1. Peel and cook the yam till well done then set aside to cool down completely.

2. Cut the onions and red pepper into small pieces.

3. When the yam has cooled down, cut into small cubes.

Directions

The dough

1. Peel the over ripe plantain and mash with a fork. Set aside.

2. Sift half of the flour, the salt and the baking powder into a clean dry bowl.

3. Cut the butter into small pieces. Add them to the flour and mix till the butter is incorporated into the flour.

4. Add the mashed plantain. Mix with a spatula till as smooth as possible. You will notice that it is quite sticky.

5. Start adding the second half of the flour in small quantities, mix with the plantain and flour dough, add more, mix ... till you get a non-sticky but soft ball of dough. If you do not achieve this with the quantity of flour I stated, add more flour till you get that. Ideally the quantity of flour you'll need depends on how overripe your plantain is.

6. When you are happy, cover the ball of dough with aluminium foil and leave to rest for about 10 minutes.

The Filling

1. Break the eggs and beat very well.

2. Add salt and stir.

3. Add the pieces of boiled yam, red pepper and onions. Stir very well and set aside. It should look like this.

Roll, Cut, Fill and Bake

1. Grease the insides of the muffin tray cups with butter.

2. When the dough has rested for about 10 minutes, knead it a few more times.

3. Roll it out on a flat surface to a 3mm thickness.

4. Cut the rolled out dough with the 3.75-inch cookie cutter and use the cut out dough to line the cups in the muffin tray. You can make several cuts at a time.

5. Repeat the process till you have lined the 12 cups of the muffin tray.

6. Scoop the filling into each of the cups. Leave some egg in the bowl; you'll need it for glazing the pies.

7. Roll out the remaining dough and cut with the 3-inch cookie cutter. Use these to cover each of the filled cups.

8. Using a brush, rub the top of the pies with the leftover egg from the filling. This gives the pie a golden brown look when done.

9. Bake in a preheated oven for 30 minutes.
Oven temperatures:

Normal oven: 200C (400F)
Fan Oven: 180C (350F)
Gas mark number: 6

PLANTAIN MOI MOI (UKPO OGEDE)

Ingredients

2 pcs of overripe plantain (Even if the skin is now black, as long as the inside is not decomposed)
100g plantain flour
1-2 cooking spoons palm oil
1 teaspoon ground crayfish
1 onion
Pepper and Salt (to taste)
1 Knorr cube
Cool water

Containers

Uma leaves (Thaumatococcus Daniellii)
Aluminium foil bags
Bowls

Before you cook Plantain Moi Moi

· Prepare the uma leaves for the Plantain Moi Moi using the method detailed at: How to prepare uma leaves for Moi Moi.

· Put the plantain flour in a bowl, add a small quantity of water and mix till you get a medium consistency.

· Wash, peel and cut the overripe plantain into small pieces.

· Grind the crayfish, cut the onions and pepper into small pieces.

Cooking Directions

1. Blend the overripe plantain pieces, plantain flour batter, onions, crayfish, pepper and stock cube with just enough water to allow the blades of the blender move.

2. Pour the smooth blend into a sizeable bowl.

3. Add salt and palm oil. Mix thoroughly till well combined.

4. Set a small quantity of water in a pot to boil. When the water boils, place a base for the Plantain Moi Moi wraps into the pot. This can be scrap pieces of aluminium foil, a stainless steel stand or leaf stalks from the uma leaves.

5. Scoop the mix into folded uma leaves, just as you would with beans Moi Moi.

6. Gently place the wraps in the pot of boiling water and cook for 20-25 minutes. Add water along the way if necessary.

7. Leave to cool down completely and set before serving.

GROUNDNUT SOUP (PEANUT SOUP)

Ingredients for Groundnut Soup

500g raw peeled groundnuts (peanuts)
Assorted meat and fish. I use:

Beef
Shaki (cow tripe)
Dry fish
Stock fish

Palm Oil
A small bunch of Nigerian Pumpkin leaves or 6 cubes Frozen Spinach or Bitterleaf
2 tablespoons ground crayfish
2 big stock cubes
Salt & ground dry cayenne pepper: to taste

Notes about the ingredients

1. Palm oil mainly adds colour and sometimes taste to Nigerian soups so add enough quantity to colour the soup to your liking.

2. Bitter leaves help tone down the sweetness of this soup so if you do NOT have a sweet tooth, then you should use bitterleaves in preparing this soup. Let's put it this way: if you prefer bitter leaves for your Egusi Soup, then you should use them for Groundnut Soup too.

3. You can also use fresh habanero peppers in place of dry cayenne peppers.

Tool

Grinder for grinding groundnuts

Before you cook Groundnut Soup

1. Soak the stockfish and dry fish for a few hours. The length of time depends on how hard the stock fish is. Some even need to be boiled a bit. Mine soaks in under 1 hour. When soft, clean the fish, remove the bones and separate them into small pieces.

2. Roast the raw groundnuts in a pan, stirring constantly till they look like this. Set aside to cool down completely then grind into powder with a dry mill.

3. Wash and cut the Nigerian pumpkin leaves into tiny pieces. If using frozen spinach, cut into small pieces and wring out the excess water when fully defrosted.

4. Prepare other ingredients: grind the pepper and grind the crayfish.

Cooking Directions

1. Start cooking the shaki first as it is the toughest meat in the bunch. Always keep water to the same level as the contents of the pot and top it up as you cook.

2. When the shaki starts to curl, add the dry fish and stockfish.

3. When the shaki is almost done, add beef and stock cubes and cook till all the meat and fish are well done.

4. Add the crayfish, salt and pepper, cover and cook till it boils.

5. Transfer the meat and fish to another pot/container leaving the stock in the pot.

6. Add the ground groundnuts and stir very well till there are no lumps. Reduce the heat to very low and start cooking.

7. Stir every 5 minutes and top up the water if necessary. This mixture burns easily so watch it closely and stir as often as necessay.

8. Cook till a thin film of clear oil appears on the surface. This should take about 15 minutes. Add palm oil and stir very well.

9. Add the beef and fish, stir and cook on low heat till it boils. For those who prefer their groundnut soup without vegetables, the soup is ready at this time. If you prefer it with vegetables then go to step 10.

10. Add the vegetables, stir and leave to simmer. Stir again and it is done.

NIGERIAN FRIED BEANS

All you have to do is make sure that every single bean seed is well coated with palm oil. So add enough Palm OYEL to the meal. Palm oil is good for you! :)

Ingredients

350g brown or black-eyed beans
2 Onions
3 cooking spoons palm oil or more
1 big stock cube
Salt & Habanero pepper (to taste)
Water

Side Dish: Fried Plantains

Before you cook Fried Beans

1. I usually soak beans in cool water overnight. This greatly reduces beans bloating and upset stomach associated with eating beans.

2. The next day, chop 1 onion into thin slices, cut the other one into 4 big chunks then pound/grind the pepper.

3. Rinse the beans and put in a sizeable pot. I rinse it twice.

4. Pre-cook the sliced onions with a few drops of water to soften them a bit.

Cooking Directions

1. Set the pot of beans on the stove. Add the stock cube (crushed) and the chunks of onion. Add enough water to cover the beans and start cooking. Cook the beans till very soft, adding water when necessary. Always keep water to the same level as the beans so that by the time the beans is done, there will not be too much water in the pot.

Note: If you have a pressure cooker, use it to cook the beans till soft. I normally use my pressure cooker for beans but for this recipe, I prefer a normal pot so that I can have more control, especially towards the end.

2. When the beans is done, add salt, leave to dry up all the water and transfer the beans to another container.

3. Now, set a dry clean pot on the stove, pour the palm oil and heat it up till the oil melts (if congealed). Note that you should only heat it up, not bleach the oil. You will know it is hot enough when a piece of onion dropped into the oil sizzles.

4. Add the precooked onions and stir for a bit.

5. Add the ground Habanero pepper and stir till everything is heated up very well, at most 2 minutes.

6. Add the beans and stir for about 2 minutes. Add salt if necessary.

7. Cover and leave to simmer for about 2 minutes and it's done.

OKPA DI OKU:
Oji River Okpa and 9th Mile Okpa –

Ingredients for Okpa

For 12 medium wraps of Okpa, you will need:

3 cigar cups | 450g | 1lb Okpa flour
15 tablespoons red palm oil
4 small stock/bouillon cubes (Maggi, Knorr etc)
Salt (to taste)
Habanero pepper (to taste)
1.2 litres lukewarm/tepid water

Okpa wrappers

In addition to the wrappers below, you will also need a strong food safe string/twine for tying the wrappers. I use the strings from the big Nigerian rice bag, you know, the 50kg bags of rice.

I advice that you use bowls as a last resort because Okpa needs to be completely immersed in hot boiling water for an even texture when done. This cannot be achieved with bowls.

Dry banana/plantain leaves
Tough transparent plastic bags that can withstand high heat
Aluminium foil bags
Bowls (use as a last resort)

Notes about the ingredients

1. Okpa beans is known as Bambara groundnut or simply Bambara nut. There are different species of Okpa. It comes in small pods which you crack open to release the seeds. The seeds are very hard and only special heavy duty grinders found in Nigeria can easily turn these seeds into powder. So, this one is not a job for your kitchen dry mill.
If you live outside Nigeria, you can buy Okpa flour on Amazon. You can also ask family or friends to send you Okpa flour from Nigeria. The customs of most countries will allow it because it is dry powder.

2. You need enough oil to give the okpa a popping yellow colour and to improve the taste.

3. Okpa does not need much seasoning so the ingredients listed above are all you need. Onions and crayfish ruin the natural delicious flavour of okpa.

4. The Okpa mix may seem watery but 1.2 litres of water is the quantity of water you need for the perfect Okpa texture. If you add much less water, you will end up with rocky Okpa.

Before you cook Okpa

1. Prepare the banana leaves by washing them in plenty of salt water. If you have a banana/plantain tree in your backyard, you need to wilt the leaves by passing them over a low flame, then leave them to dry up before using them. You cannot wrap Okpa with fresh banana leaves.

2. Crush the stock/bouillon cubes.

3. Slice the habanero pepper into small pieces.

4. Prepare 1.2 litres of lukewarm water.

Cooking Directions

1. Sift the Okpa flour into a big enough bowl. Add salt and the crushed stock cubes. Mix very well.

2. Add the palm oil. Mix the palm oil and flour very well till the palm oil is well incorporated into the flour. You will have a nice even yellow colour when done.

3. Pour a generous quantity of water in a big pot and set on the stove to boil.

4. Start adding the lukewarm water to the Okpa flour and mix till there are no lumps. Watch the video below to see how I crush the lumps without stress by passing the mix through a sieve with a wire mesh. You can also use a blender to get the smoothest mix. But that's a lot of washing up to do later. :)

5. Add the sliced habanero pepper. Check for salt and add more if necessary and it's ready to be scooped into the wrappers!

6. Now the water in the pot should be boiling. If not, wait for it to boil and add some spare wrappers or plastic bags before moving on to the next step. These wrappers and plastic bags act as a base for the Okpa wraps.

7. Now to a major step: wrapping the Okpa! In the video and images below, I showed 3 ways to wrap Okpa: 2 with the banana leaves and 1 with plastic bags. Hopefully the images and explanations make sense but if you really want to master wrapping the Okpa, watching the video is so worth it. Go to a cyber cafe if you can't watch it on your phone/gadget. Some things just can't be adequately explained in writing.

8. After tying one end of the banana leaves as shown in the video and image links below, stir the okpa mix very well and scoop into the leaf/plastic bag. Tie the other end with a string and place the wrapped okpa in the pot of boiling water. It is important that the Okpa is completely immersed in the hot water.

9. Repeat the above step for the rest of the mix. Make sure you stir the mix, scoop into the wrapper, tie with the string and put in the pot of boiling water before wrapping another one.

10. When done, cover the wraps with more leaves or plastic bags. Cover the pot and start cooking medium to high heat.

11. Cook for at least 1 hour before checking it. The Okpa is done when it is solid all over.

Wrapping Okpa

Click on the links to view images.

How to wrap Okpa with banana leaves (Method common in Enugu State, Nigeria)

Place 2 sheets of banana leaves on a flat surface.
Fold one end to meet the other (vertically).
Roll up the open end like a mat till you have enough fold to prevent a leakage.
Gather one end together and tie it up securely with the string.
Stir and pour the mix into the bag.
Tie up the other end and it is ready to go into the pot of boiling water.

How to wrap Okpa with banana leaves (method common in Anambra State, Nigeria)

Place 2 sheets of banana leaves on a flat surface.
Fold it into 2 (horizontally).
Roll up one the open end like a mat till you have enough fold to prevent a leakage.
Pick it up and place the pointed end in the cup of your palm.
Stir and pour the mix into the bag.
Fold the other end like a mat and gather the only open end together and tie it up securely with the string.
And it is ready to go into the pot of boiling water.

How to wrap Okpa with plastic bags (if you do not have banana leaves)
You can simply scoop the okpa mix into plastic bags, tie it up and place in the pot of boiling water but this is how to get the classic Okpa shape when using plastic bags.

Double the plastic bags and tie the end with a string.
Stir and scoop the mix into the bag.
Tie it about half way up the bag.
Stir and scoop the mix into the second half of the bag.
Tie again and it is ready to go into the pot of boiling water.

For breakfast, serve with cocoa drink (Milo, Ovaltine drink), Akamu or Ogi, custard meal or oatmeal. For lunch or dinner, serve with soaked Garri (asoki). You can also eat it as a snack with a chilled drink.

UKWA (AFRICAN BREADFRUIT PORRIDGE)

African breadfruit is in a food class of its own. I was not sure where to put it but finally settled for beans section because breadfruit seeds are most similar to beans. It is known as Ukwa in Igbo and the scientific name is Treculia africana.

How to Prepare Breadfruit Porridge [Video]

Ukwa is such a versatile food with a natural delicious flavour. It can be cooked plain without any ingredient, not even salt and it will taste great especially when prepared with fresh Ukwa. It can be roasted and eaten with coconut or palm kernel. It can also be prepared as a porridge which is what this page is about.

Ingredients

700g African Breadfruit
2 medium dry fish
2 small stock cubes
7g edible potash
Palm oil (enough to colour)
5-6 fresh bitter leaves
Pepper & Salt (to taste)

Common additions to Breadfruit Porridge:

White Puna yam
Corn/Maize, you can also use sweet corn

Notes about the ingredients

1. Freshly peeled ukwa or dried ukwa can be used for this recipe.

2. You can use stock fish instead of dry fish or both.

3. By fresh bitter leaves I mean bitter leaves that have NOT been washed and squeezed.

4. Always add enough palm oil to make your Nigerian meals look appetizing.

5. Edible potash acts as food tenderizer. Only a very small quantity should be used. If you are lucky to buy freshly dehusked ukwa seeds from the same tree, you will not need to use the food tenderiser. I do not know any alternative to edible potash.

Before you cook the Ukwa

1. If using dry ukwa, soak it overnight in plenty of cold water. If using fresh ukwa, skip this step.

2. The next day, soak, debone and wash the dry fish or stock fish and break into pieces.

3. Wash the ukwa thoroughly in cold water. Stones and sand usually settle at the bottom so watch out for those.

4. Pound the pepper.

5. Rinse the bitter leaves and set aside.

Cooking Directions

1. Put the thoroughly washed ukwa in a sizeable pot. I used a pressure pot in the video below because it cooks the ukwa much faster.

2. Pour enough water to cover the ukwa. The level of water should be about 1 inch above the level of the ukwa.

3. Add the edible potash. Add the dry fish or stock fish, cover the pot and cook till well done. The ukwa is done when the seeds melt when pressed. You may need to top up the water while cooking so watch it closely. If using a pressure pot, top ups will not be necessary.

4. Add enough palm oil to the well done ukwa, add pepper, stock cubes and salt to taste.

5. Stir. Cover and cook on medium heat till the palm oil changes colour from red to yellow. This should take about 5 minutes.

6. Stir and add the bitter leaves.

7. Cover and leave to simmer or till the leaves wilt but still green and the ukwa is ready to be served.

Cooking Ukwa with a Pressure Pot

If you have a pressure pot, ukwa is one of the Nigerian recipes that you should use it for because it cuts the cooking time by a lot.

1. For pressure pots, follow the directions above up till Step 2.

2. Then for step 3, add edible potash, dry fish or stock fish, pepper, salt to taste, stock cubes and palm oil.

3. Cover, pressurize and cook for 30 minutes. I set the pressure on my pot to 1 and my cooker to heat 7 (my burner's heat settings range from 1-9).

4. After 30 minutes with the above settings, the ukwa should be well done. Depressurize the pot under running water and add the bitter leaves.

5. Cover and cook till the vegetables wilt but are still green. There is no need to pressurize the pot during this step.

6. Stir and it's done!

Note: Breadfruit Porridge gets thicker as it cools down so ensure you have enough porridge in the meal when done.

Serve with chilled palm wine, palmy. Awww!

NIGERIAN MOI MOI

Due to its popularity, Moi Moi is often served in parties, dinners and other special occasions.

Ingredients

I usually cook Moi Moi in a large quantity and store in my freezer so the following quantities of ingredients make 12 aluminium bags of Moi Moi. Each bag weighs 420g.

3 cigar cups or 750g Beans (Brown/Black eyed)
5 tablespoons ground crayfish
4 big stock cubes
1 habanero pepper
2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
3 tatashe peppers or 800g watery tomato puree (sold outside Nigeria)
2 big onions
20cl vegetable oil
2 litres of cool or warm water
Salt (to taste)

Moi Moi Accessories

Add any of the following to the Moi Moi

Hard boiled eggs: Cut the eggs into small pieces.
Bone Marrow: Cook the bone marrow with spices and herbs till done then add to the Moi Moi at the mixing stage.
Corned beef: separate into small chunks and add to the moi moi during mixing. You can also add to the moi moi after dishing then into cooking bowls or foil bags.

Containers

Aluminium foil or
Plastic Bowls or
Uma Leaves (Thaumatococcus Daniellii)

Tools I used

Cooker
Deep Pot
Spatula
Chopping board
Blender
Knives

Notes about the ingredients

1. The tomato puree gives the Moi Moi its classic peachy colour. If you are in Nigeria, the best ingredient to use is tatashe pepper. I do not like the taste of red bell peppers in my Moi Moi hence I do not recommend it but you can try it and see if you like it.

2. Nutmeg gives the Moi Moi its classic taste. If you've ever eaten Nigerian Moi Moi at a party and wondered why it tastes better than the ones you make, it is probably because you do not add nutmeg to your Moi Moi.

3. 2 litres of water is the exact quantity of water that gives me the perfect texture of Moi Moi that I and my family love. Please note that this qauntity includes the water used in blending the beans. If using bone marrow, the quantity of stock should be part of the 2 litres of liquid you will use in mixing the Moi Moi. If after using this quantity and you are not happy with the texture, adjust the quantity of water accordingly.

4. It is best to use cool or warm water when mixing Moi Moi. You do not want to use hot water for this purpose as it may cause the mix to be lumpy.

5. Using the right amount of oil in your Moi Moi ensures that it has a good texture and rolls off the tongue when you eat it but feel free to use any amount of oil you want. And it is advisable to use tastless and odourless oils in your Moi Moi so that rules out olive oil.

Before you cook Moi Moi

1. About three hours before cooking the moi moi, soak and wash the beans to remove the coat. When the entire coat has been removed, place the beans in a bowl and pour enough water to cover it. Leave to soak for three hours. This is so that the best consistency will be achieved when you blend the beans.

2. It is advisable to use one of eggs, bone marrow or corned beef, not the three at the same time. If you will use eggs, cook till hard boiled, cut into small pieces and set aside. If you prefer bone marrow, cook it with salt and Maggi / Knorr cubes and set aside the stock. If it is corned beef you will go for, open the can and separate the beef into small lumps.

3. Now go ahead and prepare the moi moi containers.

Next ...

1. Wash the tatashe pepper (if using it). Ensure you remove the tatashe seeds as they have a tendency to give meals a bitter taste.

2. Cut the onions into pieces, grind the crayfish with a dry mill. If using the heavy duty grinder in Nigerian markets, these won't be necessary.

3. Crush the stock cubes and set aside. Wash the habanero/scotch bonnet peppers and set aside.

4. Now that the beans is soaked (the bean seed is tender when you pinch it), it is time to blend it. It is very important that you use a very good blender for this purpose. The taste and feel of your Moi Moi depends so much on the consistency of the blend. If in doubt, put a small quantity of bean seeds in your home blender and grind to the best of its ability using as small quantity of water as possible. Feel the resulting paste with your fingers and if you notice any tiny pieces at all, then the blender is not good for Moi Moi. At this time, you may consider using the commercial heavy duty mills at your local market if you are in Nigeria. Yes, you have your health and hygiene concerns but most of the mill operators actually keep their mills clean. And they let you bring your own water and containers. So there you go!

Cooking Directions

1. Blend the beans, tatashe or tomato puree, onions, crayfish, habanero pepper and ground nutmeg together with some of the water and pour the mix into a big enough bowl.

2. Add the vegetable oil and the bone marrow stock (if this is what you have chosen to add to your moi moi).

3. Slowly add the remaining water and stir the mixture at the same time till you get a good mix of all the ingredients.

4. Add salt to taste and stir very well.

Note: Moi Moi is one of the Nigerian food recipes that is prepared cold. All the mixing and adding of ingredients is done off the stove. That is to say, once you start cooking, there is no going back! You cannot decide to add more salt or seasoning or a new ingredient later. So getting it right at the mixing stage is very important.

5. Pad the base of a big pot, pour some water and set on the stove. The depth of the water should be at most 1 inch.

6. Dish the Moi moi mix into containers of your choice, add egg/bone marrow/corned beef to each container, seal/cover and set them in the pot.

7. Add as small quantity of water as possible at a time while cooking the Moi Moi as detailed in preparation and use of moi moi containers so that the moi moi will not become watery when done. This is the case especially when using aluminium foil or uma leaves.

8. The length of time you will cook your Moi Moi depends on the quantity and the Moi Moi container you used.

The Moi Moi that gets done quickest is the one wrapped in Uma or Banana leaves, followed by Moi Moi wrapped in aluminum foils then the one that takes the most time is Moi Moi cooked in aluminium or plastic plates.

But whatever Moi Moi container you use, it is advisable to cook your Moi Moi for at least 1 hour, before checking it. Confirm that it is done by putting a knife through it, if the knife is stained with Moi Moi paste, then the Moi Moi is not done, but if the knife just has a slight smear of Moi Moi, then it's done. Also, when you cut through the Moi Moi, the insides will be set and not watery.

If you are cooking a few wraps of Moi Moi in a small pot on high heat, then it will only take about 45 minutes to get done while when you are cooking a large pot of Moi Moi, it will definitely take more than one hour.

PEELED BEANS PORRIDGE

If you don't like the traditional beans porridge, Peeled Beans Porridge is one way to keep beans in your family menu. It is great for kids and they love it.

Peeled Beans Porridge

This recipe tastes so much like breadfruit porridge so if you are craving breadfruit and you can't buy it where you live, go for Peeled Beans Porridge. All you need to do is add dry fish to the recipe and you are good to go. What more, this recipe will not make you feel bloated because the beans coat is removed.

Ingredients for Peeled Beans Porridge (baby food version)

Beans (Brown/Black Eyed): 2 cigar cups | approx. 500g
Red Palm Oil: 2 cooking spoons
1 tablespoon ground crayfish
Onions – 1 medium sized bulb
Pepper & Salt to taste
Seasoning – 1 big stock cube
Chicken breast: 100g

If you want your Peeled Beans Porridge to taste like Breadfruit Porridge (Ukwa) please use the following ingredients:

Beans (Brown/Black Eyed): 2 cigar cups | approx. 500g
Red Palm Oil: 2 cooking spoons
1 tablespoon ground crayfish
Onions – 1 medium sized bulb
Pepper & Salt to taste
Seasoning – 1 big stock cube
Dry Fish

Notes on the ingredients:

1. If you want to prepare this recipe for a baby that is less than 1 year old, please do not add salt.

2. If you don't feel comfortable adding pepper to your baby's food, please skip this ingredient.

Before you cook Peeled Beans Porridge

1. Remove the beans coat.

2. Chop the onions, grind the crayfish and pepper.

3. Cut the chicken breast into small pieces.

4. If you are cooking the breadfruit-taste-alike version, soak the dry fish and separate into small pieces.

Cooking Directions

1. Put the peeled beans in a pot, pour water up to the same level as the beans and start cooking. If using the dry fish, add it at this time.

2. Cook till tender adding more water from time to time, if necessary. Always keep the water at the same level as the beans so that when the beans is done, you will not have too much water in the porridge.

3. When the beans is soft, add the onions, crayfish, pepper and seasoning, stir well.

4. Add palm oil and cook till the oil changes to deep yellow.

5. Stir very well, add salt to taste and it is ready to be served. Bear in mind that the porridge may look watery at this time but it gets thicker when it has cooled down.

If you prepared it for your baby, place single feed portions in a flat plate, wrap with a plastic film and freeze.

Once frozen, remove the now solidified portions and place in a ziploc bag or container and put back in the freezer. So when you want to feed your baby, all you need to do is bring one portion out and warm it up in the microwave.

NIGERIAN EWA AGOYIN

This is the perfect way for those who do not like beans to enjoy it. I can tell you that yours truly does not like beans yet, I can never get enough of Ewa Agoyin. I don't know what it is about it that makes it taste so good. Maybe it is the caramelized onions. All I know is that I enjoy eating it.

Ingredients

Beans (Brown/Black eyed): 2 cigar cups | approx. 500g
Red Palm Oil: about 5 cooking spoons
Plum Tomatoes: 5 big ones
Crayfish (a handful)
Onions – 1 big bulb
Pepper & Salt to taste
Seasoning – 2 Maggi/Knorr cubes

Before you cook Ewa Agoyin

1. Soak the beans in cold water for 5 hours. Boil the beans for 5 minutes and discard the water. Rinse the beans in cold water and set aside. This soaking and pre-cooking process will help reduce the gas inducing elements. For more on that visit: How to Reduce Beans Bloating.

2. Chop the onions, grind the crayfish and pound the pepper.

3. Blend the tomatoes and boil the tomato puree till all the water has dried from it.

4. Pre-cook the diced onions without any added water. The aim is to get it to caramelize a bit so that it will take less time to fully caramelize during frying.

Cooking Directions

1. Cook the beans till done. For Ewa Agoyin, the beans needs to be very soft.

Note: If you have a pressure cooker, beans is one of the staple foods you will want to use it for. It considerably reduces the cooking time.

2. When the beans is done, add salt, leave to dry up all the water and set aside.

3. To cook the Agoyin, pour the palm oil into a separate dry pot. Allow to heat up till the oil starts smoking and the red colour changes to clear. It is better to do this at medium heat so that the oil does not get too hot too quickly. Remember to turn off your smoke alarm before doing this. :)
To keep the smoke to a minimum and still have the traditional taste of Ewa Agoyin, I use vegetable oil and when it is very hot, I add a small amount of palm oil. Watch the video below to see how I do that.

4. Now add the precooked onions and stir continuously till the onions is fully caramelized. It should be very dark in colour.

5. Add the parboiled tomato puree and stir continuously till you cannot tell the difference between the tomatoes and onions.

6. Add the pepper, crayfish, stock cubes and salt to taste. You can also add a little water at this point if your want.

7. Stir very well and bring to the boil. The Ewa Agoyin is ready!

How to Remove Beans Coat

For all the methods of removing beans coat, you need to first of all soak the dry beans seeds in water for 20 to 30 minutes. This length of time will depend on the type of beans. But as soon as you can easily remove the beans coat by rubbing a few of them together in your hand, then the beans is ready to go "coatless".

The first method of the beans coat removal is by rubbing the soaked beans between your palms till all the coat has come off of the beans seeds. This method is quite tedious and can take hours on end.

The second method is by using a food blender set to very low speed so that the beans will not be blended with the beans coat. The problem with this method is that it is not every blender that has the capability of this very low speed setting that will not blend the beans. So this method is not advisable at all.

The third method is the safest method with minimum risks (as shown in the video below) so you should use it whenever you want to remove the coat of beans seeds.

Procedure for Removing the Beans Coat

1. Soak the beans in cold water for 20 to 30 minutes or till you can easily get the beans coat off by rubbing the seeds with your fingers. You will notice that the coat is saggy and separated from the beans seed. If you leave it for too long in the water, it will become more difficult to remove the coat from the beans.

2. Once you have confirmed that the seeds are ready for the beans coat removal, drain the water from the beans else the seeds will continue to soak up more water.

3. Then scoop a small quantity of the seeds into a mortar that has some friction. Use a pistle to rub the beans seeds against the insides of the mortar and watch as the coats come off the seeds. The very smooth mortars will not work here because you need the friction to get the coat off the beans.

4. Repeat this process for all the beans seeds and put the removed ones in a large bowl when done.

5. Pour a generous quantity of water into the bowl such that the beans coat are separated from the seeds and they float on the water.

6. Decant the floating beans coat, pour more water and decant. Repeat the process till all the free beans coats have been removed. You may have some stubborn beans coats that did not come off the beans seeds. Hand-pick these, place in a mortar and rub off the coats with a pistle. Wash as before till you have clean completely coatless seeds.

7. Soak the beans for about 3 hours, blend and use it to cook your Nigerian Moi Moi or prepare your Akara recipe.

NIGERIAN BEANS PORRIDGE

The cooking method detailed here will help eliminate the problems associated with beans. You can learn more about how you can prevent the problems associated with eating beans at: How to Reduce Beans Bloating.

Ingredients

Beans (Brown/Black eyed) - 3 cigar cups | approx. 750g
Red Palm Oil: to colour
Onion: 1 medium bulb
Pepper & Salt to taste
Seasoning – 1 big stock cube
500g Yam/Plantain/Sweet Potatoes/Baby Corn (Optional)

You can also add crayfish if you want but I prefer not to add it because it makes the beans taste over-seasoned.

Before you cook Beans Porridge

Soak the beans in cold water for 5 hours. Boil the beans for 5 minutes and discard the water. Wash the beans in cold water and set aside. This soaking and pre-cooking process will help reduce the gas inducing elements.

Chop the onions, grind the crayfish and pepper.

If you will use yam/plantain/sweet potatoes, wash, peel and cut them into 1 inch cubes and set aside. If you will use baby corn, drain the preservation liquid, rinse and set aside.

Cooking Directions

1. Put the beans in a pot and pour water up to the level of the beans and start cooking.

Note: If you have a pressure cooker, beans is one of the staple foods you will want to use it for. It considerably reduces the cooking time.

2. Cook till tender, adding more water from time to time, if necessary. Always keep the water at the same level as the beans so that when the beans is done, you will not have too much water in the porridge.

3. When the beans porridge is soft, add the onions, crayfish, pepper and seasoning. Cover the pot and keep cooking for 5 minutes.

Note: To get the most out of beans, it is best to cook it with one of the following: sweet yam, ripe/unripe plantain, sweet potatoes or baby corn. If you will add any of these, this is when to do so. Then instead of cooking for 5 minutes, cook till the added yam / plantain / potatoes is done. The baby corn should be added when you turn off the heat in step 5.

4. Add the red palm oil, salt to taste and cook for more 5 minutes at medium heat.

5. Turn off the heat, add the baby corn (if you have chosen to use it), leave to stand for 5 minutes and turn the porridge with a wooden spoon.

RICE AND BEANS

Ingredients

Rice - 2 cigar cups | 500g
Beans - 1 cigar cup | 250g
Tomato Stew 500 mls
Chicken or Fish
Pepper and salt - to taste
Onions - 2 medium sized bulbs
Seasoning – 2 Maggi/Knorr cubes & Thyme (1 teaspoon)

Before you cook Rice and Beans

1. Wash and soak the beans for about 5 hours. Discard the water and rinse the beans.

2. Put the beans in a pot, pour some water and set to boil.

3. Once the beans starts boiling, turn off the heat, throw away the water and wash again. These steps will help minimize the indigestion associated with beans for most people.

4. Prepare the tomato stew. Visit the Tomato Stew page for details on how to do that.

5. Parboil the rice using the method detailed in Parboiling Rice for Cooking Rice and Beans.

6. Meanwhile, cook the chicken till tender with the chopped onions, thyme and stock cubes. If you will rather use fish, boil the fish for 5 minutes using the same amount of seasoning. Fry or grill the chicken or the fish and set aside.

Cooking Directions

1. Cook the beans till tender and set aside.

2. Pour the chicken/fish stock into a pot big enough to accommodate the rice and beans, bearing in mind that the rice will rise some more.

3. Add the tomato stew, the parboiled rice and the cooked beans. Check that the water level is just less than the level of the rice and beans.

4. Add pepper and salt to taste.

5. Stir, cover the pot and cook at low to medium heat till the water is dry.

ROASTED WHOLE CHICKEN

Ingredients

Main ingredient

1 whole chicken

Seasoning for the body of the chicken

1 big stock cube
1 teaspoon dry ground cayenne pepper (or ground black pepper)
½ teaspoon ground ehu seeds or Calabash Nutmeg (optional)

Stuffing

1 cigar cup or 180g long grain parboiled rice
Vegetables

1 Carrot
1 handful green peas (or green beans)

Seasoning

1 medium onion
1 big stock cube
2 teaspoons curry powder (no chilli)
1 teaspoon thyme
Salt to taste

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Side Dish: Roasted Potatoes

6 medium Irish potatoes
Leftover seasoning from that of the chicken
1 teaspoon thyme.
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Salt to taste

More information about the Roasted Whole Chicken ingredients

The chicken

I use rooster or cockerel which is the male chicken because it is softer and cooks quicker than hen, the female chicken. Even though hen is tastier, it will take much longer to get done if you use it for this recipe.

Seasoning for the body of the chicken

I only add ground ehu seeds to give the chicken a sort of barbacue/peppersoup flavour.

Feel free to use other seasonings you like.

Stuffing

You can experiment with other herbs, seasonings and vegetables. It is not advisable to use soft vegetables because they will be overcooked by the time the chicken is done.

Side dish

You can skip the potatoes and use only rice. Just parboil the quantity of rice that will be enough for the stuffing and side dish. Cover the rice with aluminum foil so that it will not be dry when done.

Before you roast the chicken

1. Prepare the blend of seasonings for the body of the chicken by mixing the dry ground pepper, stock cube (crushed) and ground ehu seeds.

2. Scrape and cut the carrots into small cubes and cut the onion into small pieces.

3. Peel and cut the potatoes into wedges. You can leave the skin on if you want.

Making the Roasted Whole Chicken: Step by Step

1. Prepare the stuffing.

Parboil the rice like you would parboil rice for Nigerian Jollof Rice. Rinse and put in a sieve to drain. If you will be using only rice as your side dish, you will need to parboil enough rice for this purpose.

Put it in a bowl, add the curry powder and mix well.

Add the diced carrots, green peas, diced onions, thyme, salt to taste and some vegetable oil. Stir well and set aside.

2. Stuff the Chicken

Wash the chicken and dry with a towel.

Stuff the inside with the seasoned rice and vegetables. Do not over fill it because remember that this rice is only parboiled and it will rise as it cooks.

When done, tie the legs of the chicken. This helps the chicken maintain a more presentable shape. You don't want it sagging and all over the place.

Set your oven to 180°C (350°F) to preheat.

Rub some vegetable oil on the chicken, sprinkle the blend of seasonings we prepared earlier and rub it all over the body of the chicken.

Make sure the chicken's wings are tucked away under the chicken or into the string you used to tie up the chicken.

3. Prepare the side dish

If you want to use only rice as your side dish, then you should have prepared enough in step 1.

If using potatoes, place the wedges in a bowl, add the remaining seasoing from the one you rubbed on the body of the chicken, add thyme, salt to taste and some vegetable oil.

Toss to evenly distribute the seasonings and set aside.

4. Arrange, then roast

Dish the remaining rice from the stuffing into an oven tray leaving some space at the centre for the chicken.

Place the chicken at the center.

Add the seasoned potatoes around the chicken and place in the preheated oven and bake for one and a half hours.

The chicken is done when it is golden, the rice inside the chicken is well done and a cut into the chicken thigh shows a white flesh with some succulent juice.

If the skin is pinkish or even red, the chicken is not done

Season and Grill Chicken

· Chicken - Hen (female chicken) is tougher and tastier than cockerel (male chicken) so when you go to buy chicken, ask your grocer or meat seller for the hen. This is called Gallina in Spanish. You should also buy a whole chicken and cut it up in pieces. Not only is it cheaper but you get the different parts of the chicken which adds to the flavour rather than just one part.

· Onions - White, yellow or red onions. Onions are very important when seasoning chicken.

· Thyme - This is very essential due to the aroma it adds to the chicken.

· Stock cubes - Maggi or Knorr are the brands that bring out the best taste in Nigerian recipes.

· Salt - Use salt sparingly when seasoning your chicken. Salt should be added when the chicken is done. Never add salt to raw chicken, see notes below for more information on what adding salt too early does to your chicken or beef.

You should also grill your chicken after cooking it rather than deep-fry it. If you have an oven, please grill your chicken because it is healthier. Grilling also makes the chicken taste better.

Tools I used

Cooker
Oven for grilling the chicken
Pot
Spatula
Sieve
Chopping board
Knives

Directions for Seasoning and Grilling Chicken

1. Cut up the whole chicken to desired pieces. Most grocers or meat sellers will do this for you and save you the job.

2. Put the chicken pieces in a pot; add diced onions, thyme and stock cubes.

3. Pour enough water to just cover the contents of the pot and start cooking.

4. Since the hen is tough, it takes quite some time to get it well cooked. It usually takes me one hour 15 minutes on medium heat with a normal cooking pot to get it done to the way I like it. Depending on the heating capacity of your cooker, this may take less. Also if you use a pressure cooker, it will take even much less time so keep an eye on it so that it does not get too soft.

5. When the chicken is done, add some salt, cover the pot and leave to simmer for about 2 minutes. Adding salt at the beginning will make your chicken cook in more time because salt toughens the chicken and some other food stuff.

6. Transfer the chicken to a sieve to drain.

7. Then place them on your oven rack, place the rack as close to the grill (the top heater in your oven) as possible.

8. Switch your oven to "Grill" and set the temperature to 170°C or 338°F.

9. When the top side becomes brown, turn the pieces of chicken on the other side.

10. The chicken is well-grilled when both sides are brown.

Serve with all the Nigerian Rice recipes, Nigerian Moi Moi and Nigerian Salad. Feel free to snack on it with a chilled drink. You guests will love you if you serve them grilled chicken.

Notes about cooking the chicken:

1. Add water up to the level of the contents of the pot when cooking the chicken.

2. When cooking chicken, I do not add salt to the raw chicken. This is because salt closes the pores of the chicken (and infact anything you are cooking), this prevents the natural flavour of the chicken from coming out into the surrounding water and prevents the seasoning from entering the chicken to improve the taste. The result is that your chicken stock will not have a rich natural taste. It will only have an artifical taste of seasoning.
Salt also hardens the chicken hence it takes longer to cook.
I only add salt when the chicken is done. A lot of people think that adding salt early makes the chicken taste better but there's a big difference between a salty taste and a rich taste. I believe that what gives food a rich taste is not salt but the natural flavour of the food so allow this natural flavour to come out into your stock by NOT adding salt too early. And remember, stock cubes already contain salt so you really don't need more salt.

3. I do not use curry powder to season my chicken (or beef) simply because in my opinion, curry powder overtakes the taste of any food it is cooked with (except Fried Rice) and makes the food taste so artificial. But if you don't mind it, feel free to use it as seasoning for your beef or chicken.

BITTERLEAF SOUP (OFE ONUGBU)

Ingredients

Washed and squeezed bitterleaf - A handful
Cocoyam – 10 small corms
Red Palm Oil – 2 cooking spoons (You may need a bit more)
Assorted Beef – Includes best cut, shaki (cow tripe)
Assorted Fish – Dry Fish and Stock Fish
Pepper, Salt and Ground Crayfish (to taste)
Seasoning – 3 Maggi or Knorr cubes
Traditional Seasoning: Iru or Ogiri - 1 teaspoon

Before you cook Bitterleaf Soup

1. Make sure that the bitter leaves are well washed, such that there is no trace of bitterness left. If not, wash and squeeze it more. If the bitterness cannot be completely washed off (which is usually the case with most washed bitter leaves sold in the market), boil it for about 15 minutes and wash in cold water.

Wash and cook the cocoyam till soft. Remove the peels and use a mortar and pestle to pound the corms to a smooth paste (as shown).

Cooking Directions

1. Boil the shaki (cow tripe), stock fish and dry fish in 1 litre of water till they are well done. First sign of a done shaki is that the cuts will start curling on itself.

2. Wash the beef and add to the pot of shaki etc. and continue cooking. When the meat is done, add 3 cubes of Maggi/Knorr and cook for 5 minutes.

3. Add pepper, ground crayfish, bitter leaves (if they have not been parboiled) and cook for 10 minutes. Then add the cocoyam paste (in small lumps) and the palm oil then go to step 5.

Note: If the bitter leaves were parboiled to remove the bitterness, then for step 3; add pepper, ground crayfish, the cocoyam paste (in small lumps), the bitter leaves and the palm oil. In other words, add all the ingredients at this stage.

4. Cover the pot and leave to cook on high heat till all the cocoyam lumps have dissolved. You can add more water if you feel that the soup is too thick.

5. Add salt to taste and the soup is ready

NIGERIAN ZOBO DRINK AKA ZOBORODO

You may add artificial flavours and sweeteners such as Nutri-C and sugar if you wish.

Ingredients for Nigerian Zobo drink

The following are what I used to make 5 litres of Zobo drink. You can get more with the same quantity of ingredients depending on the concentration you want. If you will be using artificial flavours, you need to add more water.

* In Nigeria, when we use up the tomato paste in the 850g tin of any brand of tomato paste, we wash the tin and use it for measuring food items and ingredients. This measuring cup is fondly called De Rica cup because it is the most popular brand of tomato paste. :)

To garnish:

Fell free to add any sliced citrus fruits of your choice: orange, lemon, lime.

Before you make the Zobo drink

Wash the dry Zobo leaves repeatedly in cold water. Zobo leaves are usually very dusty so make sure you wash off all the dust. It will seem like all the flavours/colour of the zobo are being washed off but don't worry, you will see that the dry zobo leaves still have a lot of the colour intact when you start boiling it.

Wash, peel and cut the pineapple into thin slices. Some people add the peel of the pineapple when making the zobo drink but I don't do this simple because I always think that dirt is stuck in the peels of pineapples :)

Peel and cut the ginger and garlic into tiny pieces.

Directions for making the Zobo drink

Put the washed zobo leaves into a deep pot.

Add the pineapples and pour enough water to cover the contents of the pot and then some.

Start cooking at medium to high heat and let it boil for 5 minutes.

Add the ginger and the garlic, add more water and keep boiling for at least 30 minutes. This is the time it will take for the zobo leaves to be completely soft and the pineapples tender.

Turn off the heat and set aside to cool down completely.

When cool, wringe out the juice from the pineapples and zobo leaves, leaving only the zobo juice in the pot.

Pour the juice through a sieve to take out the remaining large particles then pour it through a chiffon cloth to remove the tiniest particles.

Add any artificial flavours of your choice at this time and stir.

Pour into bottles and refrigerate.

NIGERIAN CONCOCTION RICE

Ingredients

2 cigar cups | 500g (1.1 lbs) long grain parboiled white rice
2 cooking spoons red palm oil
1 big piece of stockfish
1 medium smoked Mackerel/Titus
1 big onion
3 tablespoons ground crayfish (1 handful unground crayfish)
2 big stock cubes
1 small ogiri okpei/iru/dawa-dawa
Pepper and salt (to taste)
Vegetable: choice of Scent leaves (nchanwu), curry leaves or parsley

Before you cook Concoction Rice

1. Soak the dry fish and stock fish in cold or hot water and when soft, clean and separate them into small pieces.

2. Parboil the rice using the method detailed in parboiling rice for cooking jollof rice. Cool the parboiled rice with cold water and put in a sieve to drain.

3. Grind the crayfish (if not ground) with the iru using a dry mill.

4. Cut the onion into tiny pieces.

5. Pound/grind the pepper.

6. Pick and wash the vegetables. No need to slice it but you can do so if you wish.

7. Separate the smoked Mackerel into big chunks.

Cooking Directions

1. Put the pieces of stockfish and dry fish in a big enough pot, add the diced onions and the stock cubes. Add some water to cover the ingredients and cook till the stockfish is very soft.

2. Add the pepper, ground crayfish and palm oil.

3. Top up the water to the same level as the contents of the pot if necessary. Cover and cook at medium to high heat for about 7 minutes. This is the time the palm oil needs to fully integrate with the rest of the ingredients.

4. Add the drained parboiled rice, stir very well and check that the liquid is at the same level as the rice. If less, top it up with more water.

5. Place the smoked fish and the vegetables on top of the rice.

6. Cover the pot and leave to cook on low to medium heat. This way the rice does not burn before the water dries up.

7. If the rice is parboiled correctly, the Concoction Rice should be done by the time the water dries up. Taste to confirm. If not, you will need to add more water and reduce the heat to prevent burning. Keep cooking till done.

8. Once you confirm that the rice is done, turn off the heat. Add the scent leaves or parsley on top of the rice, cover and leave to stand for 5 minutes. Then stir and it is ready to be served!

Thursday, 4 February 2016

Cooking Recipes - source unknown

Ingredients

Important tool

Before you cook Egusi Soup

Cooking Directions

Oil Before Egusi

Egusi Before Oil

Ingredients for Efo Riro

Before you cook Efo Riro

Cooking Directions

Ingredients for Goat Meat Pepper Soup

For the Agidi:

Before you cook the Nigerian Pepper Soup

Cooking Directions

Ingredients for Pepper Soup

Tools I used

Before you cook the Nigerian Pepper Soup

Cooking Directions

COCONUT RICE

Ingredients

Before you cook Coconut Rice

Cooking Directions

Ingredients

Before you prepare Mixed Vegetables Jollof Rice

Preparation

Ingredients for Ofada Stew

Before you cook Ofada Stew

Cooking Directions

Tips for bleaching red palm oil

Ingredients

Before you cook the Fried Rice

Cut the vegetables

Prepare the liver and chicken

Cooking Directions

Ingredients

Before you cook Jollof Rice

Cooking Directions

COLESLAW

Ingredients

Preparation

NIGERIAN SALAD

Ingredients

Tools I used

Before you prepare the Nigerian Salad

Preparation

Ingredients

Before you make the Nigerian Coconut Candy

Directions

Ingredients

For the Pizza dough

Toppings

Utensils and Equipment

Notes on the Ingredients

Before you make the Pizza

Directions for making Pizza

Mix the Pizza dough

Prepare the oven tray

Continue with the Pizza dough

Prepare the Pizza toppings

Back to the Pizza dough

Bake and enjoy!

PEPPER SAUCE

Ingredients

Preparation

Ingredients

Before you Cook the Egg Stew

Cooking the Nigerian Egg Stew

Ingredients for Nigerian Tomato Stew

Important notes on the ingredients

Before you cook Tomato Stew

Cooking Directions

Ingredients

Before you cook the Vegetable Sauce

Cooking Directions

NIGERIAN YAM PORRIDGE OR ASARO

Ingredients

Before you cook Yam Porridge

Cooking Directions

Ingredients