Nigeria is a lucrative, busy and flamboyant country located on the Western Coast of Africa. It has a diverse geography with an abundance in natural resources, notably large deposits of petroleum and natural gas. However, it can be said that it’s most diverse feature is its people. Hundreds of languages are spoken in the country, including Yoruba, Igbo, Fula, Hausa, Edo, Ibibio, Tiv, and English which transcends down to a variety of cuisines.
Nigeria – HOME OF THE TASTIEST SAVOURY FLAVOURS
With a population size of 195 million speaking over 500 languages throughout its 4 regions, Nigerian is a bustling city with a multitude of luxury hotels, restaurants and local chop bars and nightlife. Nigeria cuisine consists of delicious stews, starchy vegetables and aromatic spices all around making it home to the tastiest savory flavors. Like other West African cuisines, it uses spices, herbs in conjunction with palm oil or groundnut oil to create deeply-flavoured sauces and soups often made very hot with chilli peppers.
The Staples
BREAKFAST
The Nigerian breakfast pallet…
Typical local breakfast that is popular with working people,
- Funkaso, are a millet pancakes meal.
- Agege also known as Butter bread or bread buns are favourit in the morning.
- Mosa, fermented corn, which is ground into a thick paste, fried and then sprinkled with sugar. It is an acquired taste. For those with a sweet tooth, some parts make a very soft plantain version, mixed with dried black pepper, fried and then sprinkled with sugar.
- Moimoi is a steamed bean pudding made from a mixture of washed and peeled black-eyed beans and wrapped in a moimoi leaf (like a banana leaf).
- Akamu – A traditional Nigerian recipe for a classic porridge made from fermented maize starch that can be served thinly for breakfast or can be served very thick as an accompaniment to West African stews (soups).
SNACKS & SIDES
The Bakery
Flaky pastry pies and fried dough (the Nigerian equivalent to doughnuts) are on top of the list with an assortment of tastes, shapes, textures and fillings, eating as snacks.
Typical local snacks that is popular with local people,
- Crispy chins squares shaped tiny bites are a favourite snack all around.
- Plantain chips = thinly sliced and salted plantain commonly taken in between meals.
- Koose (Black-Eyed Bean Fritters) is a fritter, fluffy in texture and made from black-eyed beans.
Savory Pallet
There are many savory snacks in Nigerian cuisine, fried, barbecued, boiled, roasted, baked or steamed.
Some savory favorites that well known internationally
- Puffs – variants of savory fried dough and an international favorite
- Similar to Ghana, Meat Pies is a town favorite made from thick flaky pastry with plenty of meat filling often taken as a main meal.
- Kebabs are popular barbecues and can be made from beef, goat, pork, soy flour, sausages and guinea fowl.
- Fried yams served with extremely spicy fish paste.
- Dodo (Fried plantain) is a side dish of plantains fried in vegetable oil or palm oil.
Sweet tooth
Nigerian cuisine also has an assortment of sweets created from coconut, sugar, maize and cornmeal flour.
Most popular sweets for snacking and desserts.
MAIN MEALS
Nigerian traditional main dishes are made up of carbohydrate rich foods like yams, rice, cassava, Gari & fufu.
- Spicy Jolloff rice, rice cooked in red spicy stew that observes an orange colour.
- Iyan, called pounded yam in English, is similar to mashed potatoes but all mashed and completely smooth with no yam chunks left.
- Amala (or aririguzofranca) is a thick paste made from yam, which had been peeled, cleaned, dried and then blended similar to iyan but normally darker (brown) in colour.
- Cassava-based dinners are also plentiful and similar to other West African countries like Ghana. Including Eba, also called gari is, like amala, a very thick paste that is either rolled into balls or served like amala, and made from cassava (manioc).
- Fufu – A staple food of West and Central Africa. It is made by boiling starchy vegetables like cassava, yams or plantains and then pounding them into a dough-like consistency.
From the Nigerian bakery online or contact us on 0424 456 291 and orders@africanbites.com.au for any enquiries.
African Bites is a family owned and operated home-based bakery, online shop and catering company, operating a commercial kitchen, delivery services and a friendly customer service team. We are proud to serve you, fresh, to your home or office, the best bites that Africa has to offer.
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