The Recipes of Nigeria

Of the West African cuisines, the cookery of Nigeria is perhaps the most well known outside its native region, as benefits Africa's most populous traditions. However, the westernized versions of Nigerian cuisines that you sometimes encounter are quite different from native Nigerian cookery.
In the main, Nigerian foods are heavily based around the use of grains with millet, sorghum, barley and cassava flours being staples. The southern part of the country tend to have fish and seafood-based stews as a large part of the diet whilst pork, veal and chicken are more common in the North of the country.
Like many West African countries hot chillies are a critical component of all Nigerian stews and they provide the majority of the vitamin C in the country's traditional diet. Tomato-based stews are also common, as are snacks based on plantains and peanuts.
Below are two classic Nigerian recipes for you to enjoy and to try at home:
Obe Eja Dindin (Fried Fish Stew)
Ingredients:
1 large white fish, cleaned and gutted
450g fresh tomatoes
225g fresh chillies (preferably scotch bonnet)
3 tbsp tomato purée(1 large onion
2 lemons
190ml groundnut oil
pinch of thyme
pinch of curry powder
salt to taste
Method:
Cut the fish into medium-sized pieces and use the lemons to wash the fish thoroughly. Place in a bowl and season with the salt, thyme and curry. Leave to marinate for 20 minutes then heat some oil in a frying pan and fry the fish.
Grind the tomatoes, onions and peppers in a pestle and mortar or food processor. Heat oil in a pot, add the ground ingredients and fry for 20 minutes, or until most of the water has evaporated. Add the tomato purée and the fried fish. Season and gently simmer for 10 minutes. Served immediately with boiled rice, boiled yam or plantain.
Kokoro (Maize Flour Pastries)
Ingredients:
500g maize (corn) flour
200g gari (dried and fermented cassava) flour (or yam flour)
300g sugar
Oil for deep frying
Salt, to taste
Method:
Boil about 1l of water. Add the maize flour to a bowl and mix-in the hot water a little at a time until you have a fairly stiff paste. Season with salt then allow to cool a little them add the gari and sugar and mix-in with your hands until you have a stiff and smooth dough. Tip onto a floured board and roll until 1cm thick. Cut into diamond shapes about 2cm per side. Meanwhile add oil to a wok until it's about 3cm deep. Heat until smoking and deep fry the pastry diamonds until golden brown.
Remove with a slotted spoon and dry on kitchen paper. Serve either hot or cold with a hot pepper dipping sauce.


Source: ezinearticles

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