Nigerian Food Picture

Rice and Beans with Fried Plantains

Nigerian food can be described as “flavourfully Spicy”.  The typical Nigerian dish has a  flavor profile containing Salt, Chilli Pepper, Bouillon cube and other herbs and spices. Due to international influence in the Nigerian food culture, spice usage includes local and  foreign spices. Some common herbs and spices include Thyme, Curry, grains of paradise, Ginger, Allspice, African Blue Basil, Nutmeg, Cloves, Habanero pepper, Scotch Bonnet E.t.c .

Cooking and Time

Typical Nigerian dishes takes  time to cook, average cooking time will range from 1hr to 5hrs depending on the meal type and ingredient requirement.  There are a few tricks to save time, the most beneficial being prepping.  Prepping and freezing commonly used items like Meat, Pepper mixture and beans will cut cooking time in half.  Tasks like beans peeling for dishes like Moi-Moi, AKARA, Gbegiri will take an average of 4 hours. Peeling and freezing beans in advance using this helpful method will eliminate this process. The Nigerian pepper sauce mixture is also a time consumer, it’s the base for most soups and stews and can also be prepared in advance using this helpful tips. Meat and fish and also be prepared in advance and stored in the freezer for future use.

Common ingredients

Typical cooking ingredients includes MAGGI (Bouillon cubes), Chilli peppers, Crayfish, Palm Oil, herbs and spices. For those who live outside Nigeria, Ingredient sourcing creates the most impediments when it comes to authentic Nigerian food preparation. Most ingredients can be found in African grocery store and in most cases close substitutes are available in other ethnic grocery stores.

Most Popular Nigerian foods and Recipes