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Acknowledgements The trouble with naming people when saying thank you is the danger of missing out some. Many friends and family have been instrumental in making this book happen and I thank you all. I am forever in your debt for your ideas, support, belief and encouragement; and just as importantly, for acting as my guinea pigs! To my children, best crictics, food tasters and sous chefs, Ishbel and Tegan, mummy is very grateful for all your help and support. I love you both very much.
2 Essential Ingredients
Market Day. Food Hunt.
About the Author
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Nky Iweka is...
Nky Iweka
The Way We Are...
With an estimated population of 160 million people, Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and the seventh most populous in the world. Comprising around 250 ethnic groups or tribes, each with its own language, customs and cuisine, a definitive guide to Nigerian food would be a huge tome. I have written recipes for some of the most popular and common dishes such as the ubiquitous jollof rice; some less well-known delicacies from various tribes and drawn on our British colonial past to rekindle long-forgotten dishes. In addition, my Anglo-Nigerian upbringing, my love of all things culinary and years of eating in various restaurants in London (where I live) and cities around the world have enabled me to create some unique dishes of my own and these are also featured in the book. Most Nigerian meals feature a carbohydrate (such as yam, rice and cassava) as the main focus accompanied by a stew or a casserole containing meat, fish, and vegetables (sometimes all three together). Beef, chicken, turkey, guinea fowl and game (aka ‘bush meat’) are commonly eaten; pork to a lesser extent. Amongst the riverine people, fish and seafood such as crabs, periwinkles, prawns and mussels form the basis for many delicious dishes. Chillies features heavily, although this can be adjusted to one’s personal preference or indeed left out altogether. Palm oil adds colour and a distinct taste to many dishes; however, groundnut, coconut, corn and other vegetable oils are also used. Desserts and sweet foods are not traditionally common but the influence of outside cuisines has led to the development of uniquely Nigerian snacks such as puff-puff (similar to doughnuts) and chin-chin. Dairy products such as fresh milk, yogurt and cheese are not part of the traditional diet apart from amongst the Fulani cattle herders in the North of the country. These days, though, ice creams, cream cakes and other dairy-based foods are widely enjoyed across the country. Traditionally, food is eaten by hand: fufu such as pounded yam or cassava is expertly moulded with one hand into small balls and used to scoop up the accompanying soup or stew. Eating rice by hand requires a tad more dexterity and experience! These days with the growing influence of Western culture, forks and spoons are more common, even in the remotest villages. However, many people (myself included) believe that fufu and soup is best enjoyed without cutlery. Some traditions persist, nevertheless, and it is considered rude to eat with one’s left hand whether using one’s hand or cutlery. Food plays an important role in the social rituals of all ethnic groups and no ceremony (such as weddings, funerals or naming ceremonies) is complete without offering copious amounts of food and drink to the guests. At home, it is considered rude not to offer food to welcome visitors, unexpected or not. Indeed, when eating in front of anyone, it is customary to invite him or her to join you even if that person is a complete stranger!
Staples & Essential Ingredients
Despite the myriad of ethnic groups in Nigeria, staples such as beans, cassava, rice, plantains and yams are common to most of the groups, albeit sometimes prepared and eaten in different ways. These are supplemented with various vegetables and animal proteins. Palm oil forms the basis of many soups, stews and casseroles, although other vegetable or animal oils are also used. Bread is also very popular for breakfast or as a snack. One of my favourite things, as a teenager in Nigeria, was to buy hot akara (bean fritters) from a roadside vendor and squash it in between slices of soft white Nigerian bread. If there was some spicy tomato sauce ready, even better. Nigerian bread is denser and sweeter than Western bread, a cross between the Jewish cholla and the West Indian hard-dough bread. Although it is perfectly possible to make Nigerian food with ingredients from your local grocery store, there are some ingredients peculiar to Nigerian cuisine. The most regularly and commonly used are listed here. Others are listed in chapters where they are more relevant. Most, if not all, of these are readily available in African food stores.
PREVIEW Traditional Mortar & Pestle
Peeling (Skinning) Beans
Beans
Some recipes such as those for moi-moi and akara call for the use of peeled beans to help make a lighter dish, although at the expense of the loss of some fibre.
The ‘Nigerian brown bean’ (also known as ‘Honey Beans’ or ‘Brown Beans’, Vigna unguiculate) is a brown variety of blackeyed peas. Its distinctive sweet taste forms the basis of many dishes: akara, moi-moi, adalu and gbegiri. Simply known as ‘beans’, black- eyed peas are an acceptable substitute.
It is possible to buy ready-peeled beans and this definitely makes life easier! Rehydrate them by soaking in cold water for several hours until they double in size. Rinse them in several changes of cold water, discarding any bean skins that float to the top.
Soaking dry beans for at least 6 hours or overnight reduces the cooking time AND helps reduce the flatulence often associated with legumes. The Chinese add ginger to legumes to reduce this unfortunate side-effect.
If you are unable to buy them, soak the beans for 10 - 15 minutes in cold water. Test a couple of beans by rubbing between your fingers to see if the skin comes off easily. Please note that the longer you leave the beans to soak, the harder it is to skin them.
Salt slows down the cooking process and so should be added when the beans are ready. Some people use kaun to speed up the cooking process. Interestingly, an Indian friend told me that they add bicarbonate of soda to legumes such as chick peas to eliminate flatulence.
Honey Beans and Black-eyed Peas
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To skin the beans, rub handfuls of beans between your hands. Drain using a colander to remove the debris. Refill the bowl with cold water and repeat the process until the beans are peeled. It is not necessary to remove every single skin, but the more of the skins are removed, the lighter your dishes will be. Bean powder is also commercially available and may be used to make moi-moi and/or akara. To get the best results add the powder to the rest of the ingredients and blitz using a liquidiser to incorporate as much air as possible.
Ready-peeled beans before and after soaking for several hours.
Leave the mixture to soak for at least 2 hours. This helps rehydrate the powder and results in much lighter akara and moi-moi.
Eat Light Starters, Small Chops, Snacks & Light Meals
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