Traditional Nigerian Food Recipes
Staple foods in the Nigerian diet
include: peanuts or ground-nuts, yams, cassava, fish, rice, okra,
bananas, guinea corn and millet, and palm nuts.
They are
usually starchy and Nigerians love to cook with a lot of pepper and
spices especially those from the southwest and southeast. This
recipe uses all local ingredients to create a tasty and nourishing
meal.
These recipes celebrate the traditional food of
Nigeria:
Egusi Soup
Ground Egusi seeds give this soup
a unique color and flavour. If you can't find Egusi seeds in your
store, you can substitute pumpkin seeds or Pepitas which you can find
in Latin American grocery stores. This soup is thickened with flour
ground from seeds of gourds, melons, pumpkins, and squashes, many of
which are native to Africa.
200 g Water Leaves
50 g
Egusi seeds
1 teaspoon Dry Ground Red Pepper
1 medium
Onion
100ml Palm Oil
10g Dry Ground Crayfish
120g Fresh
Tomatoes
100ml Water
Salt & Pepper to taste
Wash the
water leaves well in clean, fresh water.
Liquidise or pulverise
the onions, tomatoes and egusi seeds until smooth.
Add the dry
ground pepper and fry in palm oil for five minutes.
Add the water,
put the lid on and cook for five minutes.
Now add the water
leaves, replace lid and cook for a further five minutes.
Finally,
add the crayfish and seasoning, warming through well.
Serve
with pounded yam or cooked rice and a meat stew, to provide protein.
Alternatively, serve with eba, fufu or any suitable
carbohydrate.
Curried Okra
This traditional recipe for
Okra (or Okro, as it is called in some part of Nigeria) is one that
can be created anywhere in the world, as it uses ingredients that can
be found in any local store.
The word “okra” comes from
Africa and means "lady's fingers" in Igbo, one of the
languages spoken in Nigeria. Although Okra originated from Africa,
it is now available around the world. Some people consider Okra
alone is too gooey, but this tasty recipe makes good use of it's
properties.
When buying fresh okra, look for young pods free
of bruises, tender but not soft, and no more than 4 inches
long.
500g Okra
2 Onions
180g Oil
3 cloves
garlic
2 Tomatoes
2 teaspoons of curry powder
½ teaspoon of
turmeric
Pinch of black pepper
½ teaspoon of salt
Slice
one of the onions finely and fry gently in oil.
Liquidise the
remaining onion, tomatoes and garlic.
Add this puree to the frying
onions.
Add the spices.
Fry gently for five minutes.
Top and
tail the okra and cut into pieces about 1cm thick.
Add to the
spices and cook gently for 10-15 minutes.
Serve with cooked
rice and a meat stew, for protein.
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