Nigerian Recipes

Nigerian cuisine is a tradition that brings together the culinary heritage of the three main ethnic groups of West Africa's largest country of 200 million people, the Hausa north, the Yoruba southwest, and the Igbo southeast, a base of palm oil, chili, yam, and cassava, and traces of British colonial influence (such as Jollof rice). Tatonia features a range of Nigerian recipes; the highlights include Jollof rice (a subject of West African national rivalry), egusi soup (a meat stew in a melon-seed sauce), pounded yam (iyan, mashed yam, a staple food), suya (spiced beef skewers), akara (black-eyed pea fritters), and moin moin (steamed bean pudding). Jollof rice (of Senegalese origin, but the subject of a cultural rivalry over 'who makes it better' among Nigeria, Ghana, and Sierra Leone, the 'Jollof Wars'); the classic Nigerian version is long-grain rice, tomato, onion, pepper, scotch bonnet chili, and lamb or beef stock, slow-cooked for 30 to 40 minutes, with a crust at the bottom known as 'party rice.' Suya (of Hausa origin) has a classic formula: thinly sliced beef sirloin, suya spice (ground peanut, chili, ginger, garlic powder, onion powder, salt), threaded onto skewers, and charcoal-grilled; a street food of northern Nigeria. Egusi soup (egusi meaning melon seed) has a classic recipe: melon-seed flour, palm oil, meat or fish, leafy greens (ugu leaf is classic), scotch bonnet, a bouillon cube, and 25 to 30 minutes of simmering; served with iyan or fufu. Pounded yam (iyan) is a Yoruba classic; boiled yam is pounded in a wooden mortar until it becomes an elastic dough. This page covers a Nigerian repertoire, from the national rivalry of Jollof rice to classic meat stews like egusi and okra soup, and on to street foods like suya and akara.