Nigerian cuisine

Location of Nigeria

A yam pottage/porridge dish

Varieties of suya

Nigerian cuisine consists of dishes or food items from the hundreds of ethnic groups that comprise Nigeria. Like other West African cuisines, it uses spices and herbs in conjunction with palm oil or groundnut oil to create deeply flavoured sauces and soups often made very hot with chili peppers. Nigerian feasts are colourful and lavish, while aromatic market and roadside snacks cooked on barbecues or fried in oil are plentiful and varied.^[1]

Entrees

Rice-Based

• Coconut rice is a rice dish made with coconut milk.
• Jollof rice
• Fried rice is a rice dish typically mixed with an assortment of eggs, vegetables and meat, poultry or prawns.
• Pate is made with ground dry corn, rice or acha. Mostly combined with vegetables (spinach), tomatoes, onions, peppers, garden eggs, locust beans, groundnuts, biscuit bones and minced meat. It is common within northwestern Nigeria, like Kano, Kaduna, Nassarawa and Plateau.
• Tuwo masara is a corn flour dish eaten in the northern part of Nigeria.
• Tuwo shinkafa is a thick rice pudding usually eaten with "miyan kuka" (a mucilaginous soup) and goat meat stew or miyan taushe, a pumpkin stew made with spinach, meat (usually goat or mutton) and smoked fish. It is primarily served in the northern part of the country.

Bean-based

• Akara
• Ewa Agoyin
• Gbegiri (a bean based stew from southwest Nigeria)
• Moin moin
• Ekuru
• Kiyaru Batonu in Kwara State

Meat

Meat is used in most Nigerian dishes.

• Suya, from the north of Nigeria, is grilled meat coated with ground chili pepper, peanut powder, and other local spices. It is prepared barbecue-style on a stick. This is one of the most famous Nigerian delicacies and can be found within easy reach all over the country.^[2]
• Tsire refers specifically to meat which has a generous coating of peanut/chili powder.^[3] The meat may or may not be on a skewer.
• Kilishi is made from meat that has been cut into very thin slices, which are then spread out to dry. A preparation of chili pepper, spices and local herbs is then prepared into a paste which is lightly brushed on both sides. This is then briefly grilled.
• Balangu refers to meat that has been grilled over wood/coal fire. Specifically, no seasoning is applied to bring out the natural flavor of the particular type of meat which may be goat, sheep or cow meat. Salt and spices can be added later according to taste. Most of these meaty delicacies are Hausa/Fulani.
• Nkwobi Cooked cow legs smothered in a thick, spicy sauce. A classic dish originating from the southeastern region of Nigeria.^[4]

Soups and stews

• Banga soup is made from palm nuts and is eaten primarily in the southern and mid-western part of Nigeria.
• Miyan kuka is very common among the Hausa people.
• Miyan yakuwa is a famous soup common among the Hausa people.
• Ayamase is a stew made by blending several green or red scotch bonnets/peppers.
• Ewedu
• Ewa Agoyin
• Edikaikong
• Gbegiri is a bean-based stew from southwest Nigeria.
• Pepper soup is a light soup made from a mix of meat and fish with a mix of herbs and spices. This is one of the few soups in Nigerian cuisine that can be drunk alone and not used as a sauce for a carbohydrate main dish such as fufu or pounded yam.^[2]
• Afang is a vegetable soup which originated with the Efik people in the southeast of Nigeria.
• Corn soup, also known locally as omi ukpoka, is made with ground dry corn and blended with smoked fish. It is a common foof of the Afemai, people especially from Agenebode in northern Edo state.
• Draw soup (or okoroenyeribe) is made from okra or ogbono seeds cooked until they thicken.^[2]
• Edikang Ikong – a vegetable soup
• Efo riro, a stew made from leafy vegetables, goes well with fish and is a common among the Yorubas.
• Egusi soup is thickened with ground melon seeds and contains leafy and other vegetables, seasonings, and meat.^[2] It is often eaten with dishes like amala, pounded yam (iyan), fufu, etc.

Maafe

• Maafe, a stew made with groundnuts (peanuts), tomatoes and onions as the base, can be infinitely varied with chicken, beef or fish and different leafy vegetables for subtle flavours. Groundnut stew is made with ground dry groundnuts and vegetables, fish, meat, local seasoning and palm oil by the Etsakor people in Edo state.
• Rice stew, similar to Maafe, is a stew made from goat, beef or chicken and cooked with a tomato, onion, pepper and groundnut sauce.
• Ogbono soup is made with ground ogbono seeds, with leafy greens, other vegetables, seasonings, and meat. Ogbono is also eaten with many dishes similar to pounded yam, amala, fufu, etc.
• White soup is made with utazi leaves. The soup is not necessarily white, hence its name.
• Peppersoup is made with nutmeg and chile pepper. It can be garnished with fish, beef, goat meat or chicken. Peppersoup is often an appetizer at official gatherings however, it is consumed also in the evening at pubs and social gatherings.
• Bitterleaf Soup (Ofe Onugbu)

Ofada rice served in traditional style with fried plantain and beef

• Ofada stew is a palm-oil-based stew popularly known in western Nigeria. It's made with palm oil, unripe pepper and tomatoes, beef and locust beans. It's a stew for local ofada rice. also referred to as brown rice. It's usually served in 'ewe'(leaves) which give it a distinct taste. To make the stew, bleach palm oil to make it thin and light, then add the locust beans followed by the blended pepper and tomatoes. Add the beef last then leave to cook for about 10–15 minutes.
• Groundnut soup (peanut soup)
• Ora (Oha) soup
• Edo Esan (Black soup)
• Ofe Owerri
• Achara soup mostly found in Abia State, Ndiwo, Itumbauzo.

Side dishes

Dodo (Fried plantain)

• Dodo (Fried Plantain) is a side dish of plantains fried in vegetable oil or palm oil. It is preferably ripe plantain.^[2]
• Funkaso, millet pancakes
• Mosa, fermented corn, which is ground into a thick paste, fried and then sprinkled with sugar. It is an acquired taste. There is also an alternative form made from very soft plantain which is mashed into a paste, mixed with dried black pepper, fried and then sprinkled with sugar, for those with a sweet tooth.

Puddings, pastes and porridges

• Moin moin is a savoury steamed bean pudding made from a mixture of peeled black-eyed beans and wrapped in a leaf (like a banana leaf).
• Plantain pudding commonly known as okpo ogede.
• Corn pudding locally known as okpo oka.^[2]

Yam-based

A Plate of Pounded Yam (Iyan) and Egusi Soup with Tomatoes Stew.

• Iyan, called pounded yam in English, is similar to mashed potatoes but all mashed and completely smooth with no yam chunks left.^[2]
• Amala (or aririguzofranca) is a thick paste made from yam, which has been peeled, cleaned, dried and then blended similar to iyan but normally darker (brown) in colour.
• Asaro, also known as yam porridge, is a popular Nigerian dish common in the western region. It is made by boiling and lightly mashing yam in rich tomato, chili and big red pepper sauce with palm oil or vegetable oil. It can be garnished with fish, meat or crayfish as desired.

Cassava-based

• Eba, also called garri, is a very thick paste that is either rolled into balls or served like amala, and made from cassava (manioc).^[2]
• Fufu, a staple dish in Nigeria and most of West Africa.
• Lafun is basically like amala but much lighter in colour, and made from cassava. It is not to be confused with iyan, but tastes and smells totally different from the yam-based "iyan".

Breakfast

• Masa originated from the north and is eaten both as lunch and breakfast. Rice is soaked and then ground. Yoghurt is added forming a thick paste and left to ferment or yeast and sugar is added to taste. Poured into clay forms and heated from below, a spatula is used to flip over and gouging the masa out of the form. It is traditionally served with miyan taushe or honey.
• Sinasir is a flat masa, simply made by pouring the prepared rice paste into a frying pan, thus avoiding the need to flip it over as will be necessary for normal masa.Its a predominantly Hausa people's food.
• Alkubus is Hausa-Fulani's steamed bread made from wheat flour yeast and water, put in moulds and steamed. it is served with Miyan taushe
• Yams with red stew or scrambled eggs with diced tomato and onion.
• Ogi/Akamu

Snacks

• Chin Chin are best described as fried cookies made from wheat flour, eggs and butter.
• Puff Puff, fried sweet dough balls
• Akara is a beignet from a dough based on black-eyed beans. It is sometimes served for breakfast.
• Alkaki, made from wheat and sugar paste
• Kuli-Kuli, made from ground peanuts.
• Kokoro is a fried dry snack made from corn and garri (cassava). There are two different kinds.
• Meat pie, beef and vegetables enclosed in a pastry case.
• Wara, soft cottage cheese made from fresh cow milk.
• Plantain chips
• Coconut candy
• Dun Dun, roasted or deep-fried slices of yam. It may be fried in palm oil or vegetable oil; water is added to soften the yam as it cooks. Dun Dun is usually eaten with a sauce made of groundnut or palm oil, tomatoes, chili peppers and seasoning.

Beverages

Zobo

• Kunu is a popular drink made of either millet, sorghum or maize.
• Fura da Nono is a popular drink especially across northern Nigeria, made of cooked then pounded millet or sorghum with some cow's milk.
• Palm wine, which may be distilled into ogogoro.
• Zobo is a drink made of roselle juice (the Yorubas call the white variety Isapa)
• Soya bean milk is a drink made from soaked, ground, and sieved soya bean seeds

See also

• West African cuisine
• List of African cuisines

References

1. H.O. Anthonio & M. Isoun: "Nigerian Cookbook." Macmillan, Lagos, 1982.
2. Hudgens, Jim (2004). Rough Guide to West Africa. City: Rough Guides Limited. p. 1007. ISBN 1-84353-118-6.
3. The Epicentre. "Tsire: Tsire spice powder".
4. Okafor, C. (2014, April 14). Popularising African Delicacies. Realnews Magazine.

External links