Shrimp Curry Sauce
I love me some curry especially the decadent coconut milk kind. It’s surprising how easy and quick it is to actually make curry sauce at home. Mind you, the protein options are endless. I have made both chicken and fish curry in the past. I chose shrimp for this recipe because it’s amazingly quick and doesn’t require much prep work. You can whip this up in less than 20 minutes. If you live in Nigeria, please try using fresh shrimps. It’s a million times better than frozen.
- 20-25 shrimps (peeled, devined and cleaned)
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 medium onion
- 1 tablespoon curry powder
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder (more as needed)
- 1 can (400ml) Coconut milk (Thai brand is my favorite)
- 1-2 maggi cubes
- Salt – to taste
- Place a skillet on medium high heat. Add in the oil. Stir in minced onion. Stir fry until the onion is wilted but not brown. Add in curry powder and turmeric. Stir fry for another minute.
- Add in coconut milk. Season with maggi and salt. Stir well.
- Simmer for 10 minutes.
- Add in shrimps. Simmer for another 2 minutes.
Coconut Jollof Rice
Coconut Jollof Rice
This is one of those recipes that I debated sharing for a long time; why you ask – well, my husband loves this stuff, there has never been a time when I cooked this and he ate just one bowl. He would typically go for a second or third serving. So my fear is that if I ever shared the recipe and he finds out how to make it, that might be the end of my power. Lol. I would no longer be able to bribe him with my famous coconut jollof rice, it’s silly right? Yes I know. Lol.
There are two things that set my coconut Jollof apart – One is in the use of my now famous roasted stew base which gives the rice a smoky flavor.The other is my two step crayfish process. The end result is rich, smoky, fragrant and ho so delicious.
As always, I will make use of Basmati rice, please feel free to use parboiled rice or even ofada rice (parboil for about 20 minutes prior ) if you prefer.
If you are looking for plain coconut rice recipe, here is my world famous one
Ingredients
- ¼ cup coconut oil
- 1 medium onion (thinly sliced)
- 1 can coconut milk (400ml)
- My brand of choice is by Thai Kitchen
- 2 knorr cubes
- Salt – to taste
- Ground pepper – to taste
- 4 heaped tablespoons crayfish (divided)
- 3 cooking spoons Nigerian stew base
- 3 cups rice – washed
Directions
- Place a pot with a tight fitting lead on medium heat, heat up the coconut oil. Add in sliced onions and fry until translucent and fragrant.
- Add in stew base, Knorr, salt, pepper, half crayfish, coconut milk and 1 cup of water. Cover and allow to simmer on low-medium heat for 15 minutes
- Uncover the pot and stir in rice. increase heat to medium. Leave to come to a boil (when you see bubbles on top of the rice). Reduce heat to low-medium and cover the pot tightly.
- Cook for 15 minutes (if using basmati) or for 25 minutes (if using parboiled rice)
- Fluff the cooked rice with a fork then add in the left over crayfish (This is the absolute best part, it is amazing!!)
- Serve with your choice of protein
Breakfast Yam Casserole – Video
This is a quick video recipe for our breakfast yam casserole recipe.
Basmati Jollof Recipe – Video Recipe
This is how I make my basmati jollof rice.
This 3 minute video shows you all you need to know.
Nigerian Puff Puff – Video Recipe
Here is our puff puff video recipe on how to make perfect and delicious round puff puff balls.
We also have a written puff puff recipe.
Oven Baked Jerk Chicken
Baked Jerk Chicken
Jerk seasoning is a favorite from our island brothers and sisters, the marinade was originally used for Pork but it has since spread to chicken, beef and goat. If you are unable to get ground allspice or allspice berries, feel free to substitute Uziza seeds. The recipe will no longer be jerk chicken but we can call it Jerk inspired chicken.
- 1 Tspn ground allspice
- 1 Tspn ground cinnamon
- 1 Tbspn ground thyme
- 1 Tspn ground nutmeg
- 2 scotch bonnet peppers (ata Rodo)
- Small Ginger – peeled
- 2-3 Clove garlic – Peeled
- 2 Tbspn vegetable oil
- 3 sprigs green onion
- Juice of one lime
- 1 Tbspn Vinegar
- Salt – To taste
- 2 cubes Maggi
- 10 chicken pieces
- Combine all ingredients except chicken in a blender, puree to a fine paste
- Place chicken in a bowl and pour in spice blend. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, but up to a day is preferable
- Preheat oven to 350F and line an oven tray with parchment or foil
- Arrange chicken on tray, place in heated oven and bake for 25-30 minutes (or until juice of pierced chicken runs clear)
Jerk Chicken / Fried plantain / Coconut Rice and Beans
MoiMoi with Unpeeled Beans
Moinmoin
Truth be told, the first time I tried moimoi with unpeeled beans I was still in primary school, my aunty had visited us and made some. I will say it was extremely obvious the beans wasn’t peeled as the texture of the moimoi was very coarse, however the resulting moimoi was extremely more filling than usual
Fast forward to two years ago when I made some moi moi using quinoa , I toyed with the idea of perfecting my aunty’s recipe but I did not. In 2014, I finally did try it but I wasn’t very thrilled with the end result. I made a critical mistake, I used black eyed beans which left dark spots in the moi moi. Although extremely delicious and very filling, I knew I could do better.
2014 attempt using Black eyed beans
This attempt was perfect. I took lessons from my aunty’s creation and leveraged my mistake from last year. I promise you, no one will know you did not peel the skin off the beans. You will also find this moimoi to be extremely filling, this is because we didn’t get rid of the fiber by taking off the skin.
Ingredients:
- Brown beans (oloyin or drum) – 2 cups
- Medium onion – 1/2 (chopped)
- Red bell pepper (Tatashe) – 2 (chopped)
- Scotch bonnet pepper (ata Rodo) – 1
- Eggs – 4 (boil, peel & slice 2)
- Ground crayfish – 1 Tablespoon
- Palm oil- 2-3 Tablespoons
- Bouillon cube (Maggi) – 1-2 cubes
- Salt (to taste)
Other : Aluminum loaf or muffin pan for steaming, aluminum foil
Directions
- Cover beans with generous amount of water and leave to soak overnight
- Combine beans, peppers, onion and 1.5 cups water in a blender, blend to a smooth batter. Leave batter to rest for about 5 minutes and blend again
- Pour batter into a large bowl, crack in raw eggs. Set aside
- Dissolve salt, palm oil, crayfish and maggi in 2 tablespoons of boiling water, set aside to cool. once cooled, add to batter
- With a turning pin (omo orogun) or electric mixer- Mix the batter thoroughly (this is to incorporate air into the batter and fluff the resulting moi moi). mix for about 5 -10 minutes . Taste and adjust for seasoning
- Add 4 cups water to a large pot, set on high heat and bring to a boil
- Oil the pan (cupcake pan in this case). portion moi moi batter into pan and top with slices of boiled eggs . Cover the loaf pan tightly with some aluminum foil
- Place the batter filled loaf pan in the pot of water ( it shouldn’t be covered in water), place a tight lid over the pot and reduce the heat to medium. Steam for 45-60 minutes (alternatively, steam for 45 minutes in an electric steamer)
Enjoy moi moi with a side of garri, pap, custard or bread
Recipe note:
- If you do not have time to soak beans overnight. Cover with very hot water for 20 minutes.
- When making moimoi, the batter consistency is critical to the density of the end result. Your batter should not be too thick, it should be very close to the batter pictured. If you find that your batter is thicker, add water and mix it some more.
- Make use of Red beans, Black eyed beans will leave black spots in the moi moi
- It is important that you rest the batter after the first blend, this enables the beans to absorb more water and fluff up during cooking
- I highly recommend that you soak the beans overnight
- feel free to play up the profile of the moi moi by adding in other spices. Ginger, thyme and chipotle pepper all work great in moi moi
- When steaming in a pot, the wider the better. you never want the steaming utensil covered in water. If the water starts to dry up during steaming, simply add in more water
- You can choose to wrap the moi moi in leaves (Ewe Eran) or banana leaves if you have some
I really love this
am quite surprised, are u saying that we can eat all this food and loose weight? puff puff? fried things? i want to start my weight loss program, but i dont know what kind of foods to eat, would like to see good results tho
I believe not all the recipes on this site are weight loss conducive. You can visit 9jafoodie.com/loseitnigerian for weight loss specific recipes.
Very well said
No, I am not saying you can eat “unhealthy” and lose weight. There is a section on this blog called health and diet where you will find strictly healthy recipes. you can also check out my cookbook Lose It Nigerian
Hi my name is Ngozi really love to know more on how to prepare a diet food table, please i really need ur help. thanks.
hi my name is toyosi i really love your blog nd am desprately inneed of a diet food table can u pls help me out
hello my name is laura, i wanted to say that i really love your blog ;it’s awesome.I wanted o know if you made the vids u posted. If so could i possibly post it on my blog? and of course mention that i got it from you. i j started up a blog.It’s meant 2 be African centered, and i would rlly love 2 have a lot of info on it. thank you very for ready. have a beautiful day.
Sincierly yours laura
I love the ogbono and the asaro(yam porridge) it’s been so long I tasted yam. Am craving for this meal seriouslyn
loving all Nigerians involved in cooking…together let’s showcase naija foods to the world!