This week I cooked food from Nigeria, another African nation. It’s just south of Niger, last week’s country, so there are some similarities. I found Nigerian recipes a bit easier to find though so I made more dishes this week.
Nigeria is located in West Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It is the most populous country in Africa and the sixth most populated in the world.
Starting as far back as the second millennium BC, Nigeria has been home to several different indigenous states and kingdoms. It is thought that the Nok civilization was the first to begin unifying the region into a country around 1500 BC. Their strong culture can still be seen today in the surviving sculptures from their time, typically made from clay terracotta.
Nigeria as it’s known today was formed when the British colonized the region during the 19th century. Nigeria became independent in 1960, and soon after experienced a civil war. This was followed by a mix of military dictatorships and democratically elected civilian governments before the country achieved a stable government after the 1999 presidential election. Despite this, there is still rampant corruption in Nigerian politics.
Nigeria today is home to many diverse ethnic groups, and it has the fourth-largest economy in Africa.
What Do People Eat in Nigeria?
Nigerian cuisine is very diverse; there are so many ethnic groups all with their own flavors and techniques. Some common elements include the use of spices, chili, crayfish, beans, palm oil, and rice. There are also a lot of native ingredients that sound completely foreign to me, such as certain vegetables and nuts.
Meat is common in Nigerian cooking, particularly beef, goat, mutton, and chicken. Bushmeat is also eaten, with brush-tailed porcupine and cane rats being the most popular.
Fish and seafood are used in some Nigerian dishes, but not as much as I would have expected given the country’s location. Most of the dishes I found that include fish aren’t based around the fish; they are just dishes that can be made with either meat or fish added. One thing that does seem popular is dried crayfish, which is ground up and used in small amounts as a seasoning.
What I Made
- Miyar Gyada (Peanut Soup)
- Jollof Rice
- Suya (Beef Skewers)
- Akara (Black-Eyed Pea Fritters)
- Egusi Soup (Melon Seed Soup)
- Egg Sauce with Fried Plantain
Scroll down to read about other popular Nigerian dishes I didn’t make!
Miyar Gyada (Peanut Soup)
This soup comes from the northern part of Nigeria but is now popular all over the country. I’ve also seen similar soups throughout other West African countries while doing this challenge; peanuts are evidently a popular ingredient!
I started by cooking chicken thighs and onion in palm oil, with a sprinkle of salt. Then, I added chicken stock and let the chicken simmer until cooked through. When it was done, I removed it from the pot and shredded the meat. The recipe called for goat meat, but chicken is also common and was easier for me.
I also took a shortcut when making this dish—the recipe calls for toasting and grinding peanuts, but I used natural peanut butter instead.
I added the peanut butter to the stock I braised the chicken in, along with habanero peppers. After a few minutes, I added palm oil, dried crayfish powder, and spinach. Once the spinach was wilted, I stirred in the chicken and the soup was ready to serve.
This would typically be served with rice or some kind of cassava mash, which is popular in many African countries. I had my first bowl by itself but the leftovers with rice, and I think this soup was definitely better that way. It has a strong flavor which lends itself well to plain carbohydrates.
I really liked this soup. This was my first time using dried crayfish, since although I’ve seen it called for before, I had dried shrimp at the time and used that instead. I was worried that the flavor would be overwhelming, and the crayfish itself was pretty smelly! But when part of the soup, I thought the flavor was very good. I’m glad because now I have a lot of leftover dried crayfish!
This recipe is from Yummy Medley.
Jollof Rice
Jollof rice is very popular in many West African countries and I’ve already made two versions of it for this challenge: for Liberia and for Gambia (where it’s also known as benachin). Nigerians seem particularly proud of their jollof rice so I decided to make it again this week.
To start, I blended tomato, onion, red bell pepper, and habanero with a little water. I added this to a pot with rice, tomato paste, tomato sauce, white pepper, curry powder, bay leaves, thyme, and beef Better Than Bouillon.
I let everything cook until the rice was done, and then the jollof rice was ready. This version doesn’t have any protein in it so I think it’s best as a side dish. I served it with suya (next recipe). However, I found this so delicious that I think I’d like to add some meat next time and make it a one-pot meal.
The recipe I used here is from Dash of Jazz.
Suya (Beef Skewers)
Many West African countries enjoy grilled meat cooked on skewers; suya is the version that is popular in Nigeria. Beef is common but other kinds of meat can also be used.
I started by coating cubes of sirloin steak in salt and oil and letting it marinate for a bit.
Next, I made my suya spice blend out of peanuts, smoked paprika, dried chilies, salt, onion powder, ginger powder, garlic powder, cloves, and nutmeg. I ground everything together in my spice grinder. This is a bit different from the method used in the recipe, which calls for combining boiling water and peanut butter, then spreading it on a baking sheet and cooking before combining with the remaining ingredients. I figured grinding up roasted peanuts would give a similar result.
I seasoned the steak with the suya spice mix, then threaded it onto skewers. Since these are usually grilled, I decided to try cooking them under the broiler rather than just using the regular oven as specified in the recipe. I thought this gave a great result; I got plenty of color while keeping the meat juicy on the inside.
I served this with jollof rice on the night I made it, which was fine, but I was thinking I would have preferred to have salad with it (which is more in line with what the recipe suggested as an accompaniment). So the next day, I ate the leftovers on a tortilla with onion, tomato, cucumber, and sour cream, and I liked it better that way. I really liked the flavor of the suya spice and I think I’ll end up making this again.
This recipe is from Chef Lola’s Kitchen. This is also the source of the suya spice recipe I loosely followed.
Akara (Black-Eyed Pea Fritters)
I’ve seen akara come up a few times during this challenge, and I decided this was the time to finally try making them. Akara are fritters made from black-eyed peas; they can be served on their own as a snack or they can be accompanied by bread, fried plantains, and/or some kind of sauce.
I started by removing the skin from the black-eyed peas. I underestimated how long this would take me; the recipe said I could put them in the blender with a little water and blend briefly, which would loosen the skins. But I was thinking, surely the beans would also get a bit broken up and then it might be hard to separate the skins from the beans. So I decided to do this the old-fashioned way, by adding some water and rubbing the beans to remove the skins. The skins came off pretty easily but there were still a lot of beans to peel, even though I was decreasing the recipe. Then, once the skins were off, it wasn’t super easy to get the remaining skins out of the bowl of beans and water. It mostly rose to the top but some was just kind of mixed in with the beans and I had to pick it out.
Once the beans were peeled, the rest was easy. I added onion, red bell pepper, habanero, and the peeled beans to the blender with a little water, just enough to make a smooth batter. I added some salt and started frying.
I think here I had a bit too much oil in the pan, because my fritters ended up more round than the flatter fritters in the recipe photos. Despite not looking as nice as the ones in the photos, these still tasted really good. Black-eyed peas are something I’ve never really enjoyed but evidently peeling, blending, and frying them gives great results!
I’m definitely not going to make these again using the traditional method of peeling the beans but I may give the blender technique a go as these were very good.
This recipe is from Nkechi Ajaeroh.
Egusi Soup (Melon Seed Soup)
Egusi soup is a very popular dish in Nigeria, made from melon seeds (known as ‘egusi’ in Nigeria). It usually contains some kind of meat and is typically served with pounded yam, cassava, or rice. I’d seen egusi seeds show up in recipes before but this was the first time I actually bought them. I was excited to try this recipe since it seemed so popular.
I started by blending onion, red bell pepper, fresno pepper, and an habanero together. I set this aside and separately blended egusi seeds, more onion, and dried crayfish.
I heated some palm oil and added some chopped onion. I was also meant to add locust beans here but I did not include them. After a few minutes, I added the blended pepper mixture and cooked it for around 15 minutes.
Next, I added water and chicken Better Than Bouillon, followed by the egusi mixture. I let it sit in the pot without stirring, covered, for around 20 minutes as the recipe said. At that point, it had kind of congealed together and so I stirred it in.
I added some chopped chicken, and when that was cooked through I stirred in some spinach. I adjusted the seasoning with more salt and pepper, and the soup was done.
This soup didn’t look too appealing, and it was really more like a stew—it looks that way in the recipe photos too. I still had high hopes for this dish, but upon tasting, I can’t really say I enjoyed it. I’m not sure what it was exactly, but I just didn’t like the flavor. The only changes I made to the recipe were to use chicken instead of beef, and to omit the locust beans, which could be responsible for a lack of a certain flavor, but that’s not what my problem was with this dish.
The recipe I used here is from Chef Lola’s Kitchen. I think this is probably a fine recipe; I apparently just don’t seem to like egusi soup!
Egg Sauce with Fried Plantain
Egg sauce is basically Nigerian scrambled eggs. It is often served for breakfast with bread, yam, potatoes, plantain, or rice, or even just on its own.
I started by sautéing some onions in oil. Once they were translucent, I added red bell pepper, tomato, and jalapeño because I’d run out of habaneros at this point. After a few more minutes, I stirred in garlic, curry powder, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper.
I cooked the sauce for a while, until the oil separated, then poured in beaten eggs. I cooked, stirring often, until they were just done and ready to serve.
I served my eggs with fried plantain, a popular combination in Nigeria. I don’t know whether the plantain is meant to be green or ripe, but since I don’t like ripe plantains I used a green plantain. I sliced it, fried it, and seasoned it with salt. Combined with the egg sauce, this made for a delicious meal that I would make again.
The recipe I used for the egg sauce is from Eat Well Abi.
Other Popular Nigerian Dishes
- Nkwobi – a spicy stew, typically made with cow foot.
- Ewa aganyin – a popular street food dish made from mashed beans served with a spicy sauce made from peppers and onions.
Final Thoughts
This was a pretty good week overall, though I was disappointed by the egusi soup. My favorite dish may have been the miyar gyada or the akara.
Next week, I will be cooking food from North Korea.