How To Prepare Pancakes

Pancakes are those delicious and soft snack we call diet in Nigeria. I use to love them when I was young, I still do.
They are really delicious and easy to make. You can enjoy them as snack with a glass of soft drink or serve with tea or pap.

It could serve as a perfect breakfast or as dessert. I think the name ‘diet’ suits it better because it is actually a blend of protein, carbohydrate, vitamins and fat and oil. It is more balanced than most simple Nigerian snacks.

Pancakes are served as snack with anyone of jam, honey, ketchup, butter or a blend of two in Europe and America, but here we enjoy it as it comes. I did however throw in a spoon of ketchup and it was super delicious.
Ingredients: Serving: 4
2 cup of plain flour
3 medium eggs
Half cup of evaporated milk
2 tablespoons of margarine
¼ teaspoon of salt
Teaspoon ground red dried pepper
1 cup of water
Vegetable oil
1 Spoon of thinly sliced onion (optional)
3 Tablespoons of sugar

I would suggest that you get evaporated milk; they are those in tins. like peak milk, three crown, choice, etc. You will need just about half a cup – 150mls.

You might wanna start by melting the margarine in a heated oven, use a ceramic plate, add two spoon of margarine and allow to melt under heat. You can also place the bowl in a bigger bowl of hot water to melt the margarine.

Break the two eggs into the melted margarine and mix together. Transfer to a bigger bowl and add your liquid milk, pepper, salt, sugar, half cup of water and stir all together.


Add the flour and mix well till there are minimal lumps, you can use a wooden turner for this, add more water, 100ml and observe, the batter should be watery enough to flow around the bowl. But not too watery. The image below would give you a hint.


You can blend to achieve a finer consistence if you like, I don’t do that. Add the thinly sliced one spoon of onions, stir all together and commence with the frying part.

Set your frying pan over medium heat, non-stick frying pan makes perfect pancakes; you might wanna look that up at http://allnigerianfoods.com/kitchen. Add a few drops of vegetable oil, about a tablespoon would do and make sure they are evenly spread to cover the surface of the pan.

Allow to heat for few seconds and pour some pancake batter into the frying pan. Make sure they are evenly spread too, you don’t want your pancake to be too thick or too thin.

Fry and flip the other side, one minute each for the sides, you will learn as you go. If it stuck to the frying pan, just try to shake the frying pan, a good frying spoon would also come in handy. Check to see that it is properly cooked the way you like it.

Repeat for the remaining batter and serve as snack… with your favorite soft drink or as breakfast with tea or coffee. This is how to make pancakes in Nigeria. There are slight variation in the Nigerian version and American version of pancake

Voila! Don’t forget to leave a comment via the form below. tell me about your favorite Nigerian food or snack.

How To Prepare Nigerian Vegetable Salad

The Nigerian vegetable salad is number one on the list of Nigerian healthy foods. I realized that most Nigerians shy away from these natural foods and chose to spend more money on processed foods
probably because they are often wrangled in extra sweetener and ready to be taken.

I made a decision at some point to have at least a plate of vegetable salad in place of one meal weekly. Vegetable salads will detoxify your body, improve your digestive capability, make you feel lighter and even make you think smarter.

I have noticed that vegetables, when eaten in large quantity sought of awaken my neural pathway.
I am talking about raw vegetables and also some less sugary fruits, like cucumbers and water melon.

There are basically two types of salads that are popularly eaten in Nigeria, Salads happens to be one of the healthiest sets of foods that I know, especially the vegetable salad, I also like the fruit salad but this is by no means in comparison with the former.

What you find below is a plate of vegie salad, it looks delicious right? You can serve it this way or serve with any one of the rice meals.

Below are the ingredients used in making Nigerian Vegetable salads, you can double or reduce it, depending on the number of people you are looking to serve.

Ingredients For Nigerian Salads
Medium size cabbage
4 medium size carrot
lettuce leaves
2 cups of chopped green beans
half cup peas (optional)
3 cooked eggs
one can of baked beans
2 big size of cucumber
salad cream (heinz, BAMA mayonnaise)

Just know that most vegetable salads are usually 50% cabbage, 30% carrot/green beans, 5-10% cucumber while the lettuce leaves, peas, eggs and cream make up the other 10%

Preparation: chop the carrot /green beans/cucumber and set aside in different bowls, I like to peel off the green back of cucumbers and also remove the center seeds, you will learn how this is done by watching how I made salad via the video below.

Slice the cabbage too in a different tray (we use tray often in our home), slice the lettuce leaves, boil the eggs and remove the shell (2-3 eggs).

You then need to soften the cabbage, green beans, carrot and peas, most of the times we boil carrot, green beans and peas together and soak the cabbage in hot water for a minute.

Here is how it is done, add the carrot, green beans and peas to boiling (small) water, and allow to simmer on low heat for 3-4 minutes (this is to soften them a little, this practice is elaborated in the video below) heat water to 100 degree celcious (boiling point) and pour into the sliced cabbage in a bowl, allow for a minute then drain.

Also drain the carrot/green beans, peas and set aside in a bowl, now you are ready for the mixing part.
Most people choose to mix salad in a large plate/bowl or a tray.

The mixing is simple: sprinkle a handful of cabbage on the tray, and then sprinkle the carrot/green beans/peas, also the lettuce leaves and keep repeating the process until they are all in one place.

Then slice the egg and drop on the top of the salad. (the egg is mostly for decoration) The final mixing is done as people dish out the salad; you add the salad cream and baked beans. It is good for these two to be separate to avoid getting soured over a long period of time.

Nigerian vegetable salad is served best with either fried rice or jollof rice; it is also very delicious when served alone.

How To Prepare Fried Eggs

Here is how to fry eggs, one of the top breakfast recipes in Nigeria. I like this recipe because it serves as an easy to make morning food, takes about 10 minutes to prepare; sounds easy right? I made this
(the image below) for myself this morning, it was a quick fix. I eat this kind of foods when I am in a hurry to meet up with an appointment.

Not so great health-wise though, it sits somewhere at the bottom of my menu. Fried foods are not to be consumed more than thrice in a week by grown ups.

There are hundreds of Nigerian breakfast recipes but here I just want to talk about my breakfast this morning. How I made this delicious looking morning food below.

This is actually my favorite Nigerian cuisine, a perfect meal for the morning.

Basically we don’t just fry eggs and eat in Nigeria; it is either eaten alongside bread and tea or eaten with fried yam.

Eggs are one of the easiest breakfast recipes in Nigeria.
I fry anything between 2 to 3 eggs at the same time depending on the number of interests and size of frying pan.

Ingredients includes (for 2 eggs) could serve about 1 or two persons

2 Fresh eggs
Vegetable/groundnut oil (5cl)
2 to 3 fresh tomatoes (chop)
1 bulb of onions (chop)
Fresh pepper (to taste)
Salt to taste
A pinch of maggi

I like to fry eggs with lots of onions since I learned about the health benefits of onions. It is also good to eat as much vegetables as you can take.

Heat your frying pan for a minute then add about 5cl of oil, allow to heat for 30 seconds before adding the sliced onions, then tomato/pepper as well.
Fry for 5 to 10 minutes before spraying a pinch of salt (to taste), then about a half cube of maggi or knorr (I prefer less)

Stir, and then make sure it is spread evenly on the frying pan and boiling in very little oil. Then pour in the (already broken and mixed eggs) to cover the onions, tomato combination.
Allow to fry for a minute before flipping.

Allow another 1 minutes.
Serve with bread and tea/pap

How To Cook Efe Riro Yoruba Soup

Efo Riro is a very popular Yoruba soup in Nigeria, it is one of my favorite Nigerian soups because of its health benefits. The name ‘efo’ means vegetables, hence it is a Yoruba rich vegetable soup/stew.
Believe me when I tell you that this happens to be one of the most delicious Yoruba soups that I have made.

If you scroll down a little, you will find a deliciously made plate of efo riro, as served with fufu – it was delicious
It is a little bit similar to the popular edikaikong soup, the difference is the use of tatashe, spinach and few other Yoruba local ingredients, although some people choose to use tomatoes for personal reason but I think tatashe does a perfect job.

Here are the ingredients for making efo riro, I think it would take a little over 30 mins for preparing the ingredients and then the actual cooking takes about 60 minutes. As usual, the ingredients below can serve just about 5-6 people, you can increase or decrease depending on your audience.

Ingredients Include: (for 5-6 People)

Sliced Spinach leaves (7-10 cups)
7-10 pieces stock fish ear
assorted meat (1KG)
1 cup of sliced tatashe
quater cup of sliced pepper
half cup of sliced onions
Half Cup of Ground Crayfish
2-3 spoons of iru (locust beans)
smoked fish (2-3 medium)
Palm oil (200ml)
3 knorr cubes

Here are some of the ingredients for making efo riro, top left is smoked fish, followed by sliced onion at top middle, then 3 spoons of iru in a plate. Below is sliced spinach and pepper/tashe at left and right respectively.

Preparation:

Use either tatashe or shobo, about 5-10, slice alongside the fresh red pepper and transfer in a bowl, this improves the look of the soup at the end of the day. Wash meat thoroughly with lots of water and salt to remove sand then be sure to also wash the smoked fish if you are making efo riro soup with fish.


How To Cook Efo Riro

If you follow the steps outlined below cautiously you will end up with a very delicious pot of obe efo riro, {obe} is the yoruba name for soup in case you are wondering.

Step 1
Place the washed meat in a pot, add a little of water, season with salt, sliced onions, 2 knorr cube and allow to boil for 10-15 minutes, add 1-2 cups of water and cook till tender and the water is almost dried.

Add the smoked fish, stock fish, add a cup of water and cook for another 10-15 minutes depending on the hardness of your stock fish, you need to know that people like them better when they are very soft. The water should be almost dried, don’t allow to burn.

Step 2
Remove the pot from heat, place another pot on heat and pour in some palm oil, 200ml. Allow to heat before adding the sliced onions, pepper/tatashe, stir and allow to fry for another ten minutes while stirring occassionally to avoid burning.

Step 3
Add the cooked meat/stock fish/smoked fish, stir and allow to simmer for 5 minutes, add the crayfish, iru, stir and allow another 3 minutes. Add a cube of maggi, salt to taste, stir and add the spinach leaves. Stir all together and allow to simmer for another 3-5 minutes and you just mad a delicious pot of efo riro

Step 4
This is how to make efo riro soup in Nigeria, please serve with Eba, Pounded yam, rice, beans, Semolina, Amala or any other similar Nigerian Food of choice, I like this soup and fufu the way it appears above.

You can see the video for preparing efo riro below! You can also go ahead and read up other articles about Yoruba foods. this soup is just one of them, you can also learn how to prepare gbegiri (the popular beans soup), we also have a Yoruba version of Bitter leaf Soup.

How To Cook Nigerian Jellof Rice

Jollof rice is one of the most simple and the easy to make Nigerian food, you’d want to start from here if you are new to Nigerian foods.

Are you married to a Nigerian person and probably looking for an easy to make African Food? Nigerian jollof rice is accepted all over the world and the ingredient used is found in all parts of the world. This was one of the first foods I learned to prepare as a little girl, my tactics only improved over the years.

There are different kinds of rice recipes in Nigeria and of course you will find all of them on this site, Let’s start with the jollof rice, then we talk about how to make Nigerian Fried rice, ofada rice and the local rice, I have a special liking for local rice with palm oil.

What you find below is the image of deliciously made jollof rice plus grilled chicken, I did add parboiled peas just to improve the appearance of the meal. Enjoy!

Ingredients for Making Nigerian Jollof Rice (for 6 persons)

4 cups of rice
2 kg of Chicken (I just like to use chicken but you can use any kind of meat that suits you)
1 cup of crayfish (optional, I don’t use it)
1 to 1.2 liter of Ground Fresh tomatoes (your blender is calibrated, 1000ml = 1 liter)
40 to 100 ml Ground Fresh peppers
Spices (Curry, Thyme, Delice, Nutmeg, you can spice to your taste and desire)
2 cubes of knorr of maggi
2 Bulbs of onions
20 to 30 cl vegetable or groundnut oil
salt to taste.

Parboil the chicken (or any meat of your choice) with the spices listed above. I like to use lots of them so as to end up with a very tasty fried chicken, and then prepare the main food with the meat extract (meat water) with very little or no extra spice. Add water so that more than half of the entire chicken (or meat of choice) is submerged, then add sliced 1 bulb of onions, 3 cubes of maggi or knorr, one tea spoon of salt and maybe a little of curry, thyme and (or) spice of choice.

The good thing about Nigerian Jollof rice is that you can spice to your taste, one person might choose to make with chicken spices while another might decide to use curry and thyme or even just a seed of nutmeg and they will all end up with a delicious plate of rice.

Parboil the rice the normal way, boil about three cups of water in a pot, add the four cups of rice and allow to cook for three to four minutes. Then pour out and wash thoroughly with clean water then set aside in a bowl or plastic sieve as you will always see in my videos
How to Make Nigerian jollof Rice.

You might want to pick out the parboiled tasty chicken and deep fry , this wouldn’t take more than 10 minutes.

Then remove some of the oil if it is above 150ml (half cup), just so you don’t end up with lots of oil at the bottom of your pot. I like to commence cooking jollof rice with the same oil I used in frying the chicken, Using a fresh oil is just the same as cooking without the chicken stock (meat water) which actually hold over 70 percent of the ingredient that is used in making most Nigerian foods, you will end up with a tasteless meal.



Add sliced onions to the hot oil and then the ground tomatoes/pepper after about a minute. Fry until the tomatoes looses its sour taste due to frying, this should take about 10-15 minutes. I like to divide the tomatoes after frying, then continue cooking with half and add the other half later.

This is s trick that helps reduce burning, most jollof rice end up getting burned at the bottom of the pot
So scoop some of the fried tomato into a plate and set aside; then commence cooking with the remaining one in the pot, add the meat stock (meat water), then about 1 or 2 cups of water, (you can add a little more water later), add a cube of maggi or knorr, a teaspoon of thyme, curry, ground nutmeg and salt to taste.

Stir and taste the whole solution.

Spice to your taste with your desired flavors and spices, then add the rice and cover to cook.

You can add the other half of the fried tomatoes after cooking for ten to fifteen minutes, also slice onions and spray on the top (I like to use lots of onions in Nigerian jollof rice), this has its health benefits.
Then just cook till the rice is soft for consumption, Remember that you can add water occasionally. Then you can drop the fried meat at the top and cover in the last five minutes.

This is just how to make jollof rice, you can serve with the fried meat and maybe a bottle of your favorite drink

How To Make Nigerian Fried Rice

Fried rice is one of the most widely eaten Nigerian food; it is accepted by almost every Nigerian both at home and in Diaspora. The process of making fried rice is a bit complicating but gets easier with
time.
Here is the complete ingredient for making this delicious Nigerian food although some of them could be omitted depending of personal preferences.

Ingredients for Nigeria fried rice. (6-8 persons)
4 cups of rice
5 cups of sliced Cabbage
2 cups of sliced Carrot
Green beans {2 cups}
Peas {half cup}(optional)
1 cup of sliced Green pepper
Liver {0.3kg}
Meat {2kg}(chicken, beef or goat meat)
Vegetable oil {150ml}
1 cup of sliced Onions
Curry powder (coloring spice) {2 Tablespoons}
Salt and pepper to taste

What you find above is a deliciously made fried rice with grilled chicken. I do have a Complete Resource Here for how to grill chicken, fish, how to make salads, plus recipes for the top ten Nigerian rice meals. Awesome!!!
Preparation

Most Nigerian foods start with you parboiling the meat to be used, Most Niaja foods including fried rice goes along with fried or cooked meat. The most popular meat in Nigerian is either chicken or beef.

Parboil the goat meat, chicken or any other you chose with all the necessary ingredient (teaspoon of salt, half cup of sliced onions, teaspoon of thyme spice, teaspoon of curry, 2 cubes of maggi or knorr). Allow the meat to cook for ten to fifteen minutes, taste for salt, then pick out and grill, deep fry or barbecue. Be sure to reserve the stock (meat water)

Chop the cabbage, green beans, carrot, liver and set aside in a wide tray as you can find in the video below or the image above. This process is easy, I normally use just a knife and chopping board or a tray.

Remove the white center seeds from the green pepper and also slice.

Parboil the 4 cups of rice also and cook with half of the meat stock (water from the meat) and two cups of water, cook until it is about 80% done. (You will learn more about this from the video below). You have to observe the rice closely. it doesnt need to be too soft or too hard, just almost done. You can add water as you observe.
Here is how to make Fried Rice In Nigeria

Set your cooking pot on heat, allow to dry, then pour in about 150ml of groundnut or vegetable oil (some folks also prefer cooking margarine) If you want to use cooking margarine 150g would be enough.

Note: It is better to continue with the same oil you used while frying the meat (that is only if you fried the meats), you can reduce it to 150ml.

Allow to heat then add the sliced onions stir for 1-2 minutes then add the chopped carrot and green beans, any of this two can actually go first. Add the cabbage also.

Stir for 1-2 minutes then add the curry powder (Curry is a yellowish spice that actually adds the yellowish color of fried rice, add and stir till you are satisfied with the color.) meat stock (water from the meat), add ground pepper (optional), add a teaspoon of salt and the chopped liver, add 1-2 cubes of maggi or knorr then stir and taste, you may add more salt.

You would have a yellowish mixture which would often taste overly spiced, don’t worry the rice would balance the taste. (If it doesn’t taste overly spiced it is advisable to add another cube of maggi and salt so it doesn’t become tasteless after you add the white rice {a trick}).



If you are satisfied with the taste then add the green pepper, stir, add the almost-done white rice, stir, cover your pot and cook for 5 to 10 minutes, you are done with fried rice.

Serve with the fried or grilled meat (chicken, beef etc.)

How To Cook Moi Moi Nigeria (Beans Pudding)

Moi moi (beans pudding) is one of such Nigerian food that is eaten by everybody. It is made of beans and some other ingredients. The process of making moin moin (as some people call it) is a little bit
complicating but I will try to be as detailed as possible since we are yet to produce a video for moi moi.

I am making videos for all the known Nigerian foods; I just want you to be able to make them easily.

Here are the Ingredients I used while making the plate of moi moi below, you are free to increase the quantity of ingredients or reduce them depending on the number of persons you are looking to feed.

These ingredients would serve six persons depending on stomach size and other factors
Fresh fish (optional)
7 Cooked Eggs (optional)
Half cup of vegetable oil
Maggi (seasoning, 2 to 3 cubes)
Salt to taste.
1 cup of sliced onions
Tatashe or shobo (about 5 to 10, it add the reddish color)
Crayfish (1 cup)
3 cups of beans


What you find above are the images some of the ingredients for making beans pudding as well of that or ground moin moin on the left and right respectively.

There is a special kind of beans (moi moi beans) used for making beans pudding in Nigerian but you can substitute with any other type of beans if you live outside Nigeria.

You can use the cooked eggs, corned beef, fish of any kind or a blend of both to make moi moi. Here I used fish and eggs, I simply parboiled the fish, removed the center bones and split into smaller pieces
Preparation:

Please add the beans into a bowl, sprinkle a handful of water and start squeezing with your hands. This is the easiest way to wash beans; you would be through in 20-30 minutes. You can add a little more water but don’t allow it to soak; continue squeezing until it starts shading off the outer coat, you’d probably be doing this for about ten minutes.

When it seems like a good amount of the beans have shaded off their outer-coat, add enough water to fill the bowl, the outer coat would rise to the top, sieve and continue squeezing. At some point there would be just very few that have not shaded off their outer coat, work on them and keep washing.

Wash the beans to remove the outer coat, keep squeezing, washing and sieving till you are left with the white beans then you can prepare for the grinding part.

There are people in Nigeria that render the service of grinding food stuff like moi moi or tomatoes in large quantity

Split the red tatashe or shobo into two halves to remove the seeds at the center, this practice is necessary because the seeds add a bitter unpleasant taste to moi moi. Wash and also pluck off the green stem at the top.

What I do at this point is to add all of them (beans, onions, crayfish and tatashe or shobo) in a small clean bucket and take to the commercial grinding mill. You can use a smart blender for this if you have one, I used my semi-smart blender and it didn’t do a perfect job but it was good enough.

Parboil the fresh /frozen fish, pick out from the water then pieces the fish with your fingers, not really squashing (leave in bits) Add this to the mixture. At this point you can also add corned beef in place of the fish or a blend of both.

Below is the image of my favorite moi moi (beans pudding)


While still in the bowl, add the oil just pour into the ground beans – about half cup, add 2 cubes of maggi seasoning, the fish water (fish stock) (which must not be over half cup or so) salt to taste. Taste the entire mixture.

The egg can be dropped on top after the moi-moi has been distributed in cooking plates, if you want to use eggs.

Distribute in as many plates as possible, some people use moi-moi wrappers for this purpose. After the distribution you can drop into the cooking pot.

If you are cooking with plates, you can drop the plates on top of each other but you must drop tiny logs of woods or pieces of clothes at the bottom of the pot to avoid burning (some people use the stem of the moi-moi-wrapper), you don’t really need them if you are careful.

Drop the plates in the pot and add water simultaneously making sure it doesn’t top the first plate. Then cover tightly and cook for about 40 to 60 minutes adding water at interval to avoid burning or too much water that would run into the plates.

This part is monitored closely because if you allow the pot to dry the plates would start melting especially if you are using plastic plates. Note that plastic plates can cook for hours without melting or getting burned, the exception is when the pot is completely dried.

You can bring out one of the plates after cooking for 40 minutes to check if it is done, check again after ten minutes, once it is done, allow to cool off for 30-60 minutes; then serve with pap (akamu), rice or custard

Nigerian moi moi (beans pudding) can also be served alone, I love it.

How To Cook Okra Soup

Okra soup is one of the most popular Nigerian soup, I like this soup because it is very easy to prepare and likely the cheapest soup in Nigeria, I remember making a pot of (Okra) Okro soup with just two hundred and fifty Naira, more like a one dollar soup.

I used frozen fish, Okra and some other ingredients to prepare the soup, then you could buy a good frozen fish with just forty or fifty Naira, I am talking about the “good old days.

Okra soup is one of the most common soups eaten by the people of Igbo, often it is combined with ogbono for best result, you can learn more here about making Nigerian Ogbolo(ogbono) soup.

There are several reasons why I like this soups above other Nigerian soups, the most outstanding reason being that kids love it, I learned that the best way to introduce eba or fufu to kids is to serve with Okra or ogbolo soup, this way it would be very easy for them to swallow, I have tried it and found that it works perfect.


Okra is also good for adults, as a matter of fact I just made a pot of okra soup before writing this, a very small quantity that would serve for this night, it is Sunday night here in Nigeria. I like this soup because the two major ingredients are very rich in vitamins (okra and fluted pumpkin)

So lets make a delicious pot of Nigerian Okra soup, The exact way an Igbo woman would like to make it, Did I tell you that Okra is one of the most popular soup in Igbo land especially from April to July, its exact harvest season

Below is the list of ingredients that was used in the process, you can always increase or reduce depending on the number of the person you are looking to feed and of course their stomach sizes.
Ingredients For Okra (Okro) soup
Okra (a medium size bowl full)
Fluted Pumpkin leaves (as desired) optional – I don’t use it.
Stock fish head (medium size)
1 kg of meat (beef, chicken, turkey, etc)
2 medium sizes of dry fishes (optional)
Or Roasted fish (optional)
2 to 3 cubes of Maggi or knorr (seasoning)
Salt and pepper to taste.
10 to 15cl Red oil
half cup of ground crayfish
Okra Soup Preparation In Nigeria

Slice the okra and set aside in a bowl, the trader in most Nigerian markets can assist you with slicing the okra, but you can also try using a kitchen knife, I like to slice Okra myself, although there is no harm in using the help of the market women.

If you want to make this soup with just frozen fish, the process is a little bit simpler than using cow meat. You will need to parboil the fish with all the necessary ingredients for five to ten minutes. Then pick out with a fork leaving the extract (water from fish after cooking) in the pot, add two cups of water also, then the hot-water-washed stock fish and dry fish.

But if you are making this soup with cow meat you would want to parboil the meat with all necessary ingredients, I like to parboil meat with lots of ingredients and then use very few ingredients while making the real soup, it is likely that the whole ingredient would be left in the meat extract (meat water) after parboiling. Parboil with only ingredients for about ten minutes then add about two cups of water and cook till the meat is tender.

Add the stock fish and dry fish, cook for about 15 to 20 minutes till they are soft for consumption. At this point you can add the parboiled or roasted fish if you are making okra soup with fish.

Cook for 5 minutes before adding palm oil, crayfish, 1 or 2 cubes maggi (seasoning), pepper and salt to taste. You will find a tasteful soupy combination. You can add the ground ogbolo at this point if you are making a combination of Okra and Ogbolo soup, it is a good combination even though I don’t do it often.

Add the okra five minutes after the ogbolo, stir, and cook for about 3 minutes before adding the leaves (optional), you can use fluted pumpkin or the normal pumpkin leaves. Cook for another 3 to five minutes and you can serve with eba, fufu or semo.

You just made a very delicious Nigerian okra soup

How to Cook Nsala Soup

Nsala soup is one of the most delicious of all Nigerian soups, this year alone I have made and eaten more of it than any other soup in Nigeria.

I enjoy lots of the foods in Nigeria but there are quite some of them that kinda tastes better and more delicious to me. IMHO.

Melon soup (ofe egusi) for instance is like the number one for me.

The reason is because… sometimes we like to eat a combination of two or more different soups in our home and egusi blends perfectly with most of the soups in Nigeria, sometimes I even blend with nsala soup (also called white soup).

It is the only soup in Nigeria that is made without palm oil… just like pepper soup and ewedu soup, the use of palm oil is not very necessary.

It is very popular in the south and eastern part of Nigeria, the efiks and igbos are the top makers and consumers of this delicious soup. So if you are dating or married to a man from the south or eastern part of Nigeria, you can try giving him a meal of pounded yam and ofe nsala (as the Igbos call it) tonight.

Below are the ingredients for making this delicious Nigerian soup, the ingredients below would serve about five persons for three consecutive times. Soups in Nigeria can be refrigerated for up to two weeks, most times it is better to make lots of soups and then refrigerate the remainder.
Ingredients For White Soup
Yam (six to eight slices…baby fist size)
Ground crayfish (1 cup)
knorr cubes (3 cubes)
Ground uziza seeds (2 Teaspoons)
Uziza Leaves
Dried fish (two medium sizes)
Snails (Optional)
Meat of choice {I prefer Goat Meat} (2KG)
Utazi leaves (optional)
Salt and Pepper to taste.
Red Ground Pepper to taste

It would take about sixty to eighty minutes to prepare a delicious pot of nsala soup; although, sometimes it goes a little above that… depending on your speed and proficiency.



You might wanna start by peeling and boiling the yam, this should be pounded with a mortar and pestle. Pounded yam serve as the thickener but can also be eaten with other Nigerian soups.

Grind the crayfish, uziza seeds, wash and slice the uziza seeds. You should also go ahead and wash the snail in case you are using them. Snails are quite expensive in Nigeria so if you can’t purchase them it is better you forget about them.

You can wash snails with alum to remove the slimy fluid, although, you would be amazed to learn that there are people in Nigeria that cooks snails with the slimy fluids, sometimes without even removing the shell.

Parboil the goat meat with all the necessary ingredients, I would use two cubes of knorr, a pinch of salt, half cup of onions and half sachet of kitchen glory (beef seasoning). I made this soup with afo anu (goat belle), it’s usually a combination of goat’s intestine, tripe, liver etc. I also added few slice of beef.

Parboil the meat for about twenty to forty minutes… until it is soft enough for consumption then you can go ahead and add the hot-water-washed dry fish. This could be added earlier if you are using a strong dry fish like mangala. Add about 3 cups of cold or boiled water.

The amount of water for nsala soup depends on the ingredients/thickener available and the number of people that you are trying to feed.

Boil the combination for another ten to twenty minutes until they are both soft for consumption then go ahead and add the ground crayfish, uziza seed and ground red pepper (pls taste before adding red pepper, the uziza seeds are also very pepperish).

Taste your soup at this time and add the remaining half of kitchen glory or a cube of knorr/salt to improve the taste if it doesn’t taste nice yet.

You can go ahead and add the pounded yam, you can add half and watch the soup for the next five minutes, if it is not thick enough you can add a little more; I just don’t like the soup to be very thick. I like a very light nsala soup, it tastes better that way.

You can now go ahead and add the sliced uziza and utazi leaves. The utazi should be used sparingly for white soup; the reason is just to add a faint bitter taste.

Allow for the next few minutes and you can go ahead and serve your delicious ofe nsala with pounded yam, fufu or eba.

How Good Foods and Love improve relationships

This article shows how good foods improve relationships. We have been discussing the correlation between a good cook and good relationship. The argument is whether a wife/fiancé who is a good cook is likely to be loved better than a kitchen newbie.

Now, a kitchen newbie is not a bad cook but someone that is about to become a great cook. I don’t believe in absolution, if you don’t know it today, you can be good at it tomorrow; it all depends on your drive and level of desire for delicious home made good foods.

If you are subscribed to my free weekly newsletter you probably read my email about how good foods improve love and relationship. This is just a child-birth of that email, the discussion continued here. The email was my own personal opinion with regards to my encounter and relationship with other women but what we have here is a collective idea.

More like a discussion, as a matter of fact you can also add your own comment via the comment form below.

So do you think there are benefits to being a good cook… as a wife/fiance? Well… my answer would be a somewhat “yes”, and I will tell you my reasons.

I am quite aware of the controversial nature of this topic but no matter how far we would like to drag the subject, it would never erase the fact that women run the kitchen in the African setting.

This may change as western civilization absorbs the African culture but at the moment it is a fact that can never be neglected. Other factor that may also influence this culture would be the economic empowerment of women, but in the season and time we live in, women run the kitchen.

One can never truly comprehend the reason behind the angst and chaos that builds up in a home that is run by a kitchen newbie, sometimes it get to a point that the relationship between a couple becomes very fragile.

Just to prove a point, I got this email from a member of the kitchen sometimes ago


Hello Chy, thanks for your wonderful recipes and emails. Can you believe I was almost driven out of my husbands house because of foods? My husband makes me do all the cooking and wouldn't eat out. At first I thought I couldn't do it and it resulted into quarrels and troubles for me and my husband. The truth is that your website actually made me believe that I can cook, I made a decent soup yesterday and hope to improve with time, all thanks to you for saving my marriage o. God bless the kitchen (Mrs Catherine Ehulu)

I also got lots of emails after I sent the newsletter on “how good foods improves love/relationship” like this one below


You are so right Chy. Am not yet married, but believe me, I have seen how this food issues can destroy beautiful relationships. I dnt wanna take chances and I love new things. So, am ready to journey wit u into d great world of FOOD. Haha.

Like I did state initially, this is more like a discussion and there would be collective ideas. I do believe that every woman want to run a peaceful home and I have also learned from experience that being a motivated good cook makes the whole process a lot easier.

For the African woman; either you are a good cook or you are wealthy enough to employ a cook. I said in the email that a man is willing to pay for food stuff but most men would never pay a cook, either the woman cooks the food or she pays the cook

However, there are exceptions; I have even seen families where men also love to cook; but that doesn’t happen often in our part of the world. In our part of the world there are just three options for the women.
Allow the angst and chaos to get to the boiling point.
Employ a cook.
Learn to cook.

If you are a kitchen newbie, you have absolutely nothing to worry about; you can fast-track the entire process in less than one month, there are hundreds of free recipes on this blog. The Latest edition of The Ultimate Nigerian Cookbook is also available (the best product in the world for making delicious Nigerian foods) was created just for you.

The Ultimate Nigerian Cookbook shows you how to make over 60 different Nigerian foods and drinks with easy to follow recipes, step by step images and so much more. You will learn to make Foods by different ethnic groups and cultures.

My desire is that we would be motivated enough to take control of our individual kitchen, why? Because I have learned from experience that wives/fiances that are also good cooks end up getting more love and respect.
Here is what Ijeoma has to say.

"I thank you so much for bringing honor to my marriage. I'm two month old in marriage. I already know a little how to cook some foods but not all. You have added more knowledge to the little I know on how to make different types of foods. .My husband after eating asks me how I learned to make his native food. The taste of my meals is now the order of the day by my sister/brother in laws staying with me. They keep saying and I quote you are a great cook, did you go to any catering school?" I keep smiling each time they make that comment. Thanks and keep your flag flying. Blessing Ijeoma, Nigeria"

This goes a long way to reiterate the fact that a good cook wife/fiance is more likely to be loved and respected then a fresher. All of what you have read so far is not just my opinions but also that of diverse women from diverse backgrounds

How to Cook Spaghetti

Here is a delicious spaghetti/macaroni recipe, A very popular Nigerian cuisine. If you really want to enjoy spaghetti, give this a shot today. I have tried several other recipes and this proves to be the best of them all.

Partly because of the use of carrots and green beans, ingredients that I consider to be highly nutritional. For some reasons, I tend to blend most of my foods these days with fruits and vegetables since I realized their health benefits.

I also like to use lots of onions while making this spaghetti recipe, same thing goes for Nigerian tomato stew and other tomato-made foods.

While I tend to focus more on Nigerian indigenous cuisines, I will also occasionally introduce you to other borrowed or recently invented Nigerian food recipes. The likes of spaghetti/macaroni and indomies (children’s most popular food) only came into the picture just some few years back.

Spaghetti is another Nigerian popular meal and here is a delicious recipe, I was never a good fan of pastas until I tasted this spaghetti recipe.

Below is the required ingredient, this could be reduced or doubled depending on the number of people you are looking to feed and of course stomach size. You can refrigerate the remainder for a day or two.

Ingredients for 4 to 6 serving.
Spaghetti (1 sachet)
1 small tin tomatoes.
2 cups of onions
Fresh tomatoes (see image below)
Fresh pepper (as much as you can take)
Ground Crayfish (3 spoons, optional)
3 cube of knorr or maggi
Salt to taste
1 cup of sliced carrot.
Green beans (1 cup)
1kg Meat/fish (chicken, turkey, beef.. etc)
Green pepper (optional).
Ground nut or vegetable oil about 10 to 15 cl
Corned beef (optional)
How To Prepare My Favorite Spaghetti Recipe

Cut/chop the carrot, green beans and green pepper to desirable sizes.

Below is the image of parboiled spaghetti in a bowl, carrot and green beans in a plate, sliced tomato, onions and pepper. I used a combination of fish and cow-kidney while making this spaghetti meal.



Parboil the meat and fish with all the necessary ingredients I like to use just 2 cubes of maggi, salt, onions and maybe a little of ground nutmeg, Parboiling the meat (either chicken, turkey or cow meat) alone is a good practice, you get the chance to extract the juice from the meat which is an integral part of Nigerian cooking.

I like to parboil the meat/fish while making any Nigerian food with a cup of water and all the necessary ingredients, this practice will enable you to end up with a very tasty meat and also provide the meat extract (meat water) that is used in making most Nigerian foods. You can learn more about this practice later.

Blend the crayfish and also slice the tomatoes/pepper together,

Break spaghetti to smaller lengths (serviceable lengths) and parboil for 5 to 8 minutes, wash and set aside. Pick out the Meat/fish when it is soft for consumption, you can choose to fry or not, fry with about 15 to 20cl of groundnut oil (you can reduce the oil after frying).

When you pick out the fish after frying (you can reduce the oil if it is above 10 to 15cl before adding the dissolved tin tomatoes, fry and stir till it is turning dark, then add the sliced tomatoes/peppers, fry till the water is dried, this should take about 10-15 minutes. (Remember to stir occasionally to avoid burning)

Add the meat-water alongside the meat, add water (about 1 cup or so), the crayfish, maggi, salt and pepper to taste (personally, I remove some of the tomatoes after frying to be added later. I like to do this for just this spaghetti recipe and Nigerian Jellof Rice, this would prevent the food from burning while cooking). Although there is no single method that prevents food burning completely, some of my methods merely reduce it to the minimal.

Even non stick pots don’t work the magic.

Then add all the ingredients I listed above (the ground crayfish, salt and pepper (in case u are using dried ground pepper) then allow to boil.

Add the spaghetti and cook for about 15-20 minutes till it is almost soft then add the onions, the other tomatoes you removed just into the cooking food, then the carrot, green beans and then drop the fried fish and chicken on top and cover for the next 4 to 5 minutes And you just made a delicious spaghetti meal, one of the most popular Nigerian foods

Here is a deliciously made spaghetti meal.


Stir and serve with your favorite drink

How to Cook Bitterleaf Soup

Bitterleaf soup – Ofe onugbu (as the Igbos like to call it) is very delicious and also comes third on my list of Nigerian popular soups. This soup is popular because it could be made in more than five
different ways and can also be refrigerated for a very long time (even though I recommend two weeks at most for most Naija soups)

I like to add a handful of uziza leaves as you would find in the image below.

Here is a guide to making the much talked about “ofe onugbu”. I stated in the download-able Nigerian foods Eguide that most Nigerian soups are named after the leaves or the thickener used in making them.

This soup can be made with either egusi (melon seeds), ede (cocoa yam), ofor, achi or even ogbono. Yes, we made the ogbono soup video with bitter leaves. But the most popular of them all is the cocoa yam and bitter leaves and that is what you will find in the video below.
how to prepare Bitterleaf Soup (Ofe Onugbu)

Bitter leaf soup, like most other Nigerian soups is named after the particular leaf which is used in preparing it. But of course you need to wash this leaf to remove at least ninety percent of the bitter taste, just so you don’t end up with a very bitter soup.
Ingredients For making Bitterleaf Soup

This would serve about ten person person or more depending on stomach size and all. You are free to increase the size of the ingredients if you want to serve a larger number of people. You can also refrigerate the remainder in case you have a smaller family.

Ingredients For Nigerian Bitter Leaf Soup
2kg Meat of choice (beef, chicken, pork, turkey)
Bitter leaf (wash to desire)
Half cup of ground Crayfish
Maggi or knorr seasoning (3 cubes
Ogiri (a product of castor seeds)(optional)
Dry fish (2 medium sizes)
Stock fish head (1 big size)
Palm oil (about 25cl)
Salt and pepper to taste.
Cocoa-yam (pounded)

The bitter leave soup takes almost the same process as the making of uha soup, as a matter of fact, one pot of soup could be cooked up to the point of adding the leaves then you divide it to add uha to one and bitter leaf to the other.

Below is the images for Ofe Onugbu (bitterleaf soup)



It is better and more hygienic to wash the leaves yourself, it is a bit of time consuming but the result is worth the effort. This is possible if you live in Nigeria and can find them in your garden. But you can also get the “already made” from any market in Nigeria.
Bitter Leaf Soup Preparation

To soften the leaves and further remove the bitter taste, it is advisable to boil alone in ordinary water for 10 to 15 minutes, most people like to add a little quantity of edible potash to hasten this process but I highly advise against it. My reason being that this catalyst (potash) tend to affect the entire soup in a slightly negative way.

If you still want to add potash, it will completely wash off the bitter taste and soften the leaves in less than 3 minutes of boiling (the reason most people like using it), but then you would want to boil again alone and wash thoroughly with just water to remove every trace of the potash.

Parboil meat with every necessary ingredients, add the (hot-water) washed dry fish, stock fish and cook until it is tender, add more water then add palm oil, ground crayfish, pepper, maggi seasoning, salt and pepper to taste. Stir and allow boiling.

At this point it should give a good soupy taste (even though it would be watery). Then add the pounded cocoa yam as you can find in the video below (at this point you can add the ground egusi if you choose to make bitter leaf soup with egusi), also add the ogiri now.

Cook till the cocoa yam dissolves, (this would likely take about ten minutes) then add the bitter leaves, stir, taste, add more salt if necessary then cook for three to two minutes and you are done with the making of Nigerian Bitter Leaf Soup (Ofe Onugbu)

Either of these five can go along with it – Eba, Fufu, Semo, Wheat or pounded yam

How to cook Uha Soup

Nigerian Oha soup is definitely going to make a list of Nigerian popular soups, You are probably here because you want to learn how to make uha soup the exact way an Igbo woman would prepare it, we
are still on foods eaten by different Nigerian ethnic group or maybe you got here via the page on Inicong, Welcome!

Ofe Ora (as the people of Igbo call it) is one of the most delicious soups that is popularly made and eaten by the people of Igbo (a very popular Nigerian tribe), made with the leaves of a tree called oha leaves. Ora soup is often prepared with cocoa-yam, egusi or ofor/achi as the thickener.

I remember those days in the village, we pluck the fresh uha leaves directly from the tree, this is the exact reason why I prefer foods from the village, almost every ingredient used were freshly harvested from the farm, a luxury we can’t afford here in our current state of residence or other countries of the world.


However, every ingredient used in making Nigerian foods can be bought in almost any Nigerian local or international market, you may not be lucky enough to purchase the very fresh ones but you will most likely find a processed or dried alternative.

The following ingredients are used in making oha soup in Nigeria, you can increase or decrease depending on the number of people you are looking to feed, this would serve 5×3 persons

This soup could be refrigerated for up to two weeks (two weeks is the recommended duration for most Nigerian soups)
The Ingredients For Oha Soup
Oha leaves (as required)

• Cocao yam (see the video below)(about 15 to 20 medium sizes)
• Meat of choice (chicken, assorted, beef, goat meat, turkey)
• Dry fish/mangala (as desired)
• Maggi (seasoning) 2 to 4 cubes
• Crayfish ( 2 cups)
• A handful of Uziza leaves (optional)
• 1 big Stock fish head
• Palm oil 15 to 20cl
• 0.2 cup of ofor or achi (as alternative thickener)
• Ogiri (local ingredients)
• salt and pepper to taste

Whenever I am making soups with cocoa yam, I chose to buy a small quantity of ofor or achi to supplement insufficiency (just in case) maybe about 1 or 2 tablespoons
How To Prepare Oha (ora) Nigerian Soup

Time: About seventy minutes

Wash the cocoa yam with just water and start cooking, cook until it is soft (you can check with your fingers), then peel off the outer back and pound with a mortar and pestle, the normal traditional way. Grind crayfish and fresh pepper (I like to use fresh pepper for most Nigerian foods)

Pluck off the Uha leaves from the stem and slice with a kitchen knife, I like to shred the leaves with my fingers the exact way I learned from my mother (You will find how this is done from the video below, this method will ensure that the leaves are not shredded to tiny bits).

In case you want to slice with a kitchen knife just to ease up the process be sure not to slice into very tiny bits. See the uha soup image above

Parboil meat with the necessary ingredients, allow to cook for ten to fifteen minutes before adding the hot-water-washed dry fish and, (we use hot water to soak and wash dry fish/stock fish just to make sure the accompanying sand is washed off). Add the stock fish and cook until it is tender,

Add more water then add red oil (palm oil), ground crayfish, maggi, salt and pepper to taste. Stir and allow boiling. At this point it should give a good soupy taste (even though it would be watery)

Then add the pounded cocoa yam as you can find in the video below (at this point you can add the ground egusi if you choose to make oha soup with egusi, which is also a very tasty recipe. Remember I told you that either egusi, achi or cocoa yam can serve as the thickener for this popular Igbo soup).

Also add the ogiri at this point.

Stir; allow to dissolve before adding the sliced uziza leaves then uha leave should follow after a minute. Stir and cook for another 3 to 5 minutes and you just made a very delicious oha soup (ofe ora).

Serve with eba, fufu or pounded yam.

How to Cook Edikaikong Soup

The Nigerian edikaikong soup has over the years topped the list of Nigerian popular soups because of its nutritional value and ease of preparation.This soup is native to the efiks, people from cross river state. The name edikaikong simply translates to “vegetable soup”


I make more of this soup than every other Nigerian soup simply because it is likely the best source of vitamins known to me.

The only downside to this soup is that it loses its nutritional value when refrigerated over a long period of time. It is advisable to make what would be enough for few days, one week at most. (but that is if you care about its nutritional value, some folks don’t remember that part)

Here are all the ingredients for making Nigerian edikaikong soup, you can reduce or increase depending on the number of people you are looking to feed.
Ingredients For Ten serving

Serving 6×2
Stock fish head (medium size)
500g Dried fish or roasted fish
1 cup of ground or pounded crayfish
Waterleaf (10-12 cups)
Fluted pumpkin (ugwu leaf) (6-7 cups)
1 cup of palm oil
Meat of choice (preferably assorted meat)
Salt and pepper to taste
Maggi or knorr cube (3-4)
1 cup of Periwinkles (optional)
2 spoons of ofor or achi
Half cup of onions

Below are the images of some of the ingredients used for edikaikong soup, I like to pound my pepper/crayfish whenever I am making this delicious soup.

You would find sliced water leaves in one bowl, sliced ugu leaves, 1.5kg of meat (goat meat and cow liver), pounded crafish/pepper and periwinkles.

Have you seen or eaten periwinkles before, I like them so much. You can purchase already-cleaned periwinkle from most Nigerian market, although it is entirely up to you to decide if you want them or not. You will learn more from the video below
The preparation

Parboil meat with necessary ingredients, 2 cubes of maggi, half cup of onions, salt and other spice of choice. (I like to also add kitchen glory (beef seasoning) while parboiling meats but I am not sure if this spice is available in other countries)

Cook for 10 minutes then add water and cook till meat is 70% softer for consumption, wash the dry fish and stock fish with hot water to remove sand and impurities then add to the cooking meat on fire. (You can add this at the beginning if you have very dry (strong) fish

Slice the ugwu leaves and Water leaves to bits (this is normally done by the traders in the market (in Nigeria) but you can slice at home with the help of a very sharp knife and a chopping board.
Pour the leaves separately in bowls and soak in water, wash to remove sand.

It is advisable to wash the leaves thoroughly before slicing or slice before washing, this is actually the major reason why I chose to slice my leaves myself. You can wash the fluted pumpkin before slicing but you will need to slice the water leaves before washing.

To the boiling meat on fire; 1 cup of Palm oil (250ml), it takes lots of oil to prepare this soup. I used about 300ml to make the soup in the video below.

Add salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 5-10 minutes, be sure the whole combination is boiling with very little trace of water

Stir, taste for salt and pepper before adding the water leaves, stir and allow for about 3 minutes then add the ugwu leaves (fluted pumpkin), stir, add the pounded crayfish/pepper, periwinkles, 1-2 cubes of maggi, stir, taste for salt, add one tablespoon of ground ofor or achi (optional), sprinkle a spoon or a little more, stir. cover half-way and allow to simmer for 3-5 minutes.

You just made delicious edikaiakong soup, you can serve with Nigerian fufu, semo, wheat, eba, or pounded yam. What you find below is a plate of edikaikong soup plus a combination of prepared wheat and semo.

How to Prepare Breakfast Pies

These gluten-free, dairy-free individual eggy pies are so easy the kids can make them for Mother’s Day breakfast or brunch.

Prep time:10 minsCook time:20 minsMakes:6

1 cooked potato, in 6 slices (optional)
9 slices shaved ham, halved lengthwise, or 6 rashers streaky bacon
8 eggs
½ cup peas or 9 cherry tomatoes, halved
2 tbsp chopped parsley leaves
salt and ground black pepper, to taste


Preheat oven to 180 ̊C fanbake and line base and sides of 6 large cupcake or Texan muffin pans with baking paper, extending paper above the tins.

Don’t worry if it doesn’t sit tidily – it will fall into place once fillings are added. Place a potato slice, if using, in the base of each pan. Arrange 3 ham halves or a rasher of bacon around the side of each pan. Break an egg into each.

Beat the two remaining eggs with the peas or tomatoes and parsley. Season to taste and divide between the pans. Bake until lightly golden and cooked through (about 20 minutes)

Baleadas with Black Beans and Scrambled Eggs

This breakfast treat hails from Honduras and is filled with black beans and whatever else you fancy.
Cook time:25 minsMakes:4

Ingrediants:

400g can black beans or kidney beans, undrained, or 1½ cups cooked beans mixed with ½ cup water
1 clove garlic, coarsely chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp lime or lemon juice
salt and ground black pepper, to taste
4 soft flour tortillas, warmed
1 large just-ripe avocado, cut into chunks
½ long red chilli, finely sliced, to serve
coriander sprigs, to serve

Silky Scrambled Eggs
6 eggs
2-3 tbsp water
salt and ground black pepper, to taste
1 tbsp butter or neutral oil

Place beans and their liquid in a food processor with garlic and cumin and whizz to a smooth purée. Transfer to a pot and cook until the mixture coats the sides of the pot like thick mud and is a spreadable consistency (8-10 minutes). Mix in citrus juice and season. Set aside.

To make Silky Scrambled Eggs, whisk eggs, water, salt and pepper. Heat butter or oil in a frypan over high heat and add eggs, turning in folds as they set. Remove from heat while still creamy and soft.

To serve, place tortillas on a board. Divide black beans and eggs between tortillas, top with avocado, sprinkle with chilli and coriander and fold in half to eat.

Shakshuka Eggs

Make this spicy tomato sauce the night before your brunch and just warm it through before adding the eggs
Cook time:45 minsServes:4

Ingrediants:
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, cut into thin wedges
1 large red pepper, cut into thin strips (optional)
3 cloves garlic, finely sliced
1 tsp sweet smoked paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
400g can chopped tomatoes
½ cup chopped parsley leaves
½ tsp salt
ground black pepper, to taste
4-6 eggs
50g feta, crumbled
2 tbsp chopped coriander or parsley leaves, to serve


Preheat oven to 200°C fanbake.

Heat oil in an ovenproof frypan and cook onion and pepper, if using, over a low heat, stirring now and then, until soft (15 minutes). Add garlic, paprika and cumin and cook another 1-2 minutes.

Add tomatoes and simmer gently for 10 minutes until reduced and lightly thickened. Mix in parsley, salt and pepper. The sauce can be made to this point in advance and chilled until needed. Reheat before adding the eggs.

Make 4-6 wells in the mixture to the base of the pan and crack an egg into each. Sprinkle with feta and bake until the eggs are just set (about 7 minutes). Scatter with coriander or parsley to serve.

Tip

To cook on the stovetop add an extra 2 tbsp water to the sauce before adding the eggs and feta, cover and simmer gently until the eggs are set. For a fancier presentation you can cook individual portions in ramekins or small frypans.

Three-Ingredient Cheese Scones

This is the easiest scone recipe you'll ever use – and you only need three ingredients! The result is light, fluffy and delicious.

Prep time:10 minsCook time:20 minsMakes:12

2½ cups self-raising flour
2½ cups grated tasty cheese
2 cups (600g) greek yoghurt


Preheat oven to 200 ̊C fanbake and line an oven tray with baking paper.

Combine flour and 2 cups cheese in a bowl, adding a little salt if you like. Add yoghurt and bring together with a knife to make a soft dough.

Drop 12 scoops onto prepared tray and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake until cooked through and golden (15-20 minutes).

Chia Nut Pudding

This bircher type breakfast will set you up for the day with bountiful goodness.

Cook time:10 mins + standingServes:4Makes:4 cups

Ingrediants:
½ cup raw cashews
¼ cup raw hazelnuts
3 cups milk or nut milk
¼ cup LSA (ground linseed, sunflower seed and almond mix)
3 tbsp honey
1½ tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cored apples, skin on, grated
¼ cup chia seeds

To serve
natural or coconut yoghurt
kiwifruit, peeled and sliced
oranges, peeled and sliced
cinnamon, to dust (optional)



Whizz the nuts in a blender to a fine powder. Combine with the rest of the ingredients in a large jar or bowl. Cover and chill overnight or up to 5 days until needed.

Serve topped with yoghurt, kiwifruit and oranges. Dust with cinnamon before serving, if desired.

Best-Ever Banana Cake

Sweet, ripe bananas are the key to making a great banana cake. If you'd like me to show you how to cook the perfectbanana cake check out my blog The Ultimate Banana Cake.Prep time:15 minsCook
time:1 hour (less for smaller cakes)Makes:1 large cake, 4 small cakes or 12 muffin-sized cakes

250g butter, at room temperature
1½ cups sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 very ripe bananas, peeled and mashed (about 2 cups)
2 tsp baking soda
½ cup hot milk
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder

Lemon Icing:
50g butter, at room temperature
3 cups icing sugar
3 tbsp lemon juice
½ tbsp hot water


Preheat oven to 170°C fanbake. Line a medium (23cm-diameter) cake tin with baking paper or prepare four 10cm-diameter tins (recycled 425g tuna cans are perfect – just make sure they don't have a plastic coating inside) or 12 muffin tins.

Beat butter and sugar until creamy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then vanilla and bananas.

Dissolve baking soda in hot milk, add to mixture and stir to combine.

Sift in flour and baking powder and fold gently into mixture using a big spoon and a large scooping action to keep the mixture light. Do not over mix.

Spoon mixture into prepared tin(s) and smooth top(s). Bake until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean and the top is springy to the touch. One large cake will take 50-60 minutes, allow 45-55 minutes for medium cakes and about 20 minutes for muffin-sized cakes. Allow to cool in tin(s) and then turn out. Ice when cool. Store in a sealed container in a cool place for 2-3 days or freeze.

To make the Lemon Icing, beat together butter, icing sugar, lemon juice and hot water until creamy. Spread over cake.

Easy Banana Cake

Equipment
1 saucepan

Ingredients
125 g butter
3/4 cup caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence
1 egg
2 banana mashed ripe
1 1/2 cup self-raising flour
1/4 cup milk

Method
STEP 1Melt the butter, sugar and vanilla in a medium sized saucepan.
STEP 2Remove from heat.
STEP 3Add mashed bananas and stir through until just blended.
STEP 4Add egg and mix in well. Stir in flour, add milk and mix lightly.
STEP 5Bake at 170C for approximately 40 minutes.

Notes

I adapted this from a recipe that calls for creaming butter and sugar together as I can't stand doing this. I recalled a recipe from years ago that melted these ingredients in a saucepan. It's so easy and takes so much less time.

Nigerian Indomie Noodle Recipes

Here are my Indomie recipes, kids love it as well as adults
Indomie noodles have been able to capture the appetite of most Nigerians with series of good products and of course their often captivating commercials.


They have succeeded in adding their range of products to the menu of most Nigerian homes, ours included. Like I said on the introductory page, I never thought indomies were also for adults until I made and tasted a particular recipe.

I would go further to list different ways to prepare indomie in Nigeria, the three different recipes that I know about and why kids have come to love and appreciate the noodles.

I am writing about this page because I wanted to make a list of all known Nigerian breakfast recipes, from complex breakfast recipes to easy ones.

I told you that a combination of tea and bread is the most popular breakfast recipe in Nigeria, this noodle will either fall in third or fourth place.

Here is how to make indomie noodles in Nigerian and all the extra ingredients that I like to add, the extra ingredients tend to spice up the color of the indomie.

Personally I have to say that I like to eat lots of onions and other vegetables because of their nutritional values.

This noodles is packed with all the necessary ingredients that is needed for preparing it but I just like to add either all or some of the ingredients listed below.

Fresh tomatoes

Onions

Fresh pepper

Fluted pumpkin leaves

Eggs

vegetable oil
I use them as I like.

Note: there are several other noodle makers in Nigeria that have similar products like indomies, while many of them have gone extinct some a still very much around.

Here is my first and most popular indomie recipe, the way it serves best for breakfast.

I make this recipe with two sachets of (small indomies), two eggs, 1 big bulb of onions, 3 balls of fresh tomatoes and fresh pepper to taste.

The process is very simple.

Pieces the indomie in a bowl and pour hot water to it, allow for about five minutes for the noodles to get soft.

Set your frying pan on fire, add sliced tomatoes, onions, fresh pepper and fry for about five minutes also.

Sieve the indomie noodles (remove water) then add the follow-come ingredients while still in the bowl, at this point the noodles will be both soft and hot. I like to use one for two just to minimize the sweetness (that is using the ingredient from one sachet to prepare two sachets).

Break the two eggs into the same bowl containing the noodles and stir together, then transfer to the frying pan and finish up with the rest of the preparation process.

The frying pan contains the fried tomatoes onions and peppers, cook and stir for about five minutes and you just made one of my favorite Nigerian breakfast recipes, serve with cold soft drinks.

Below is the video for this recipe.

Here is another noodle recipe, this particular one is very popular in Lagos state where I live, I like this best in the morning or afternoon.

You just make the noodles following the instruction on the pack, then serve with fried eggs.


I like to add onions and fresh pepper. There is no special trick here, just break the indomies to bits and start cooking with a about a cup of water, sliced onions and fresh peppers.

This is the latest indomie recipe from the Nigerian kitchen, I kinda love this so much because of the use of sweet corn, carrot green beans and a few other vegetable. We have a professional video for this recipe. I would like to see your comment below, tell me what you think.

Nigerian Beans Recipes

Like I said before, Ewa (beans) and bread is a very popular breakfast recipe in Lagos Nigeria and because I want to make this site as comprehensives as possible I don’t want to leave out any important food

The above image is not porridge beans, the recipe is completely different from other Nigerian beans recipes, you cook the beans separately and then make a special kind of stew. You will learn to make this stew the exact way it is made in Yoruba land where I live.


Here are the basic ingredients, although some other local herbs are used optionally in some cases.

Half cup of dry ground pepper
15cl of palm oil
A cube of maggi or knorr
1 bulb of onions
Ground ginger

Tomatoes are not used in making this special kind of stew, just ground dry pepper and red oil (palm oil), although some people eat the same food with the normal Nigerian Tomato Stew

Here is how to prepare stew for ewa (beans) in the Yoruba land.

Pour the palm oil into a pot and set on fire, allow to heat for about three minutes but don’t allow to bleach. Then add the ground dry peppers and fry for about ten minutes, just keep stirring occasionally for ten minutes.

Then add the onions, ground ginger, a cube of maggi, cook for another five minutes and you are done.
Serve with the beans,


Here is how to make yet another simple Nigerian food (Porridge beans), one of the different Nigerian beans recipes. Porridge beans in Nigeria are often cooked alongside yam or plantain. It could serve both as lunch and dinner.

This particular recipe is very popular in the south and eastern part of Nigeria, the Igbo tribe of Nigeria is very familiar with this recipe so if you want to make porridge beans the exact way an IGBO woman would like to make it, here is your best guide.

Ingredients (for 5 serving)
3 to 4 cups of beans
Red oil (10cl)
About 5 to 10 balls of tomatoes (cut to bits)
2 balls of onions
Vegetable (optional)
Potash (very small, about half baby spoon)(optional)(I don’t use it)
Crayfish (1 cup blend)
Knorr cube (2 cubes) or any spice of choice.
Salt and pepper to taste.

The last time I ate beans and yam was in my village, made by my mum, I think beans and ripe plantain is a better combination, partly because ripe plantain tend to add a natural sweetness and also because kids like it.

Here is how to prepare beans recipe in Nigeria:

Select the beans to remove impurities (sands) then parboil for about 5 to 10 minutes, wash and start cooking with just water.

At this point most people tend to add a little bit of potash to hasten the process but it is highly not advisable. I add about 2 balls of sliced onions at this point (after boiling for about 10 minutes alone.), this has shown to serve the same purpose as potash, although with a slightly slow impact.

Boil until it is soft for consumption or at least 95 percent done, you can check by taking some on your cooking spoon and pressing against the spoon, it takes about one hour or a little more to cook beans if you are doing it the natural way (without potash).

Add the blended crayfish, palm oil, knorr (2 cubes) salt and pepper.

Add a little water if necessary.

Sprinkle the sliced tomatoes/onions and vegetables on the top and cover to cook for 10 to 15 minutes and you have delicious bean porridge.

I like to add tomatoes and vegetable to porridge beans because they are both a good source of vitamins and also serves for decoration purposes.

There are so many other beans recipe in Nigeria,

If you have eaten bread and ewa before please use the comment box below to tell me about it.

Cat Fish Peppersoup

Catfish pepper soup is one of Nigerian’s most popular evening recipes. I have been putting this away for a very long time because of the complexity of the recipe. I had planned to make this recipe even before the launch of the “Easy guide to delicious Nigerian Foods”, one of the best products ever
made in the Nigerian Kitchen.

Catfish pepper soup (point and kill) is the most popular fish pepper soup in Nigeria. We also have cow tail peppersoup, goat meat pepper soup and several others Recipes in Nigeria.

I like Nigerian foods to the point that I find it difficult to cope in a foreign environments. Well, I think this is justifiable, I have been making Nigerian foods right from my eleventh birthday. I think the first food I ever made was vegetable soup with cow liver, my dad insisted and I had no option but to obey.

Below is the image of catfish pepper soup, the popular point and kill peppersoup that is served in major restaurants and bars in Nigeria. You will find the video for this recipe at the bottom of this page. I used most of the necessary ingredients, except a very popular ingredient that was hard to find at the time of making this delicious dessert – Utazi.

Utazi is a slightly bitter leaf that is used in making a few Nigerian foods. I used these ingredients while making Nkwobi, pepper soup and African salad. Have you seen my page on how to make African salad (Abacha), it is one of the most popular and the easiest to make Igbo recipe.

So here are the ingredients for making point and kill (cat fish) peppersoup, you will end up with a very delicious recipe if you use the ingredients as listed below and also learn to incorporate them the exact way it was done in the video below. I will try my best to explain how to make cat fish peppersoup in this article too.

I used just a medium sized catfish while making the video below, so this is the exact size of ingredients that I used. You can choose to increase or decrease depending on the number of persons you are looking to feed and the number/size of the cat fish you are preparing .

This would serve 4 to 5 people.

1 medium sized catfish – 1.2KG
One big bulb of onions
Scent leaves (a handful)
Utazi leaves (very little)
1 maggi cube (spices)
Lion peppersoup spices
Kitchen glory (beef seasoning) (a sachet)
Half cup of ground crayfish
fresh pepper
salt to taste.

It is better to use a smaller pot while making peppersoup so that all the ingredients would easily soak with the fish or meat, and it wouldn’t take lots of water to get the fish submerged in water. Watch the video for catfish pepper soup below to get a view of what I am talking about.
Here is How to make point and kill peppersoup in Nigeria.

We start by washing the fishes thoroughly, most people fail to do this properly. Normally, the fish is cut in the market by the seller to serve-able sizes so just transfer into a bowl and soak with hot water at 80 – 90 degree Celsius, very boiled water will end up peeling the skin of the fish.

Wash to remove the slimy outer layer completely.

Prepare all the necessary ingredients, I had to pound the fresh red pepper and half cup of crayfish together with a mortar and pestle. Also slice the utazi leaves, Uziza, onions and scent leaves and set aside in a bowl.

Transfer the washed cat fish into the cooking pot, like I advised above, it is better to use a small pot where the fish parts are very close to each other, this will allow the proper incorporation of the ingredients and help you make a very delicious point and kill peppersoup.

I think we are done with the hard part, fishes take about ten to fifteen minutes to cook, that is just the cat fish. Electric fish and a few other fish found in Nigeria take just about five minutes to prepare.

Once you have transferred into a pot, start cooking. Allow to boil before adding all the ingredients. Before that, make sure you add enough water at least until the fish parts are completely submerged in water. Then start with salt, followed by a cube of maggi, crayfish plus pepper, you can add the leaves now or later.

Make sure the ingredients are not suspended at the top.

Cook for three to five minutes then add the onions and all the leaves, I also added another favorite spice (kitchen glory) and the lion peppersoup spice, this spices are available in Nigeria and maybe a few other countries of the world.

There are basic ingredients for making cat fish (point and kill) peppersoup, however, you are free to spice up with flavors and spices of choice.