30 Top Nigerian Foods You Must Try Before You Die was established in , Built by in .
1. Ofada Rice
Our list starts off with the delicious ofada rice. This local dish is native to the yorubas but has become a favorite of everyone around the country. The main attribute of this rice is the fact that it is homegrown and traditional. The common belief is that this dish is not very enticing without the stew (Ofada stew) that goes with it. This rice is still cooked like the normal rice, although its parboiling time is a little longer than the normal long-grained rice.
2. Palm Wine
Palm wine?is an?alcoholic beverage?created from the?sap?of various species of palm tree.?When palm wine is tapped, it is fresh and sweet but in 24 hours, it can become sharp and sour, and contain more alcohol than some of our alcoholic drinks. This is because the palm wine undergoes fermentation. Palm wine has benefits when consumed fresh or fermented, but the most benefits are gotten when it is consumed fresh.
Some elements in palm wine include: Sugar, Protein, Carbohydrate, Amino acid, Vitamin C, Yeast
3. Akara
These are deep fried bean cakes,popular known by the local name 'akara'. This light protein packed fritters are made using peeled brown beans, ground and blended with onions and spices. They are then deep fried in vegetable oil. The delicious balls are best eaten with the local Agege bread. However, you could still eat it with other things like fried plantain, yam or potato.
4. Egusi Soup
Known in some parts of the country as 'Obe Egusi', this mouth-watering soup consists of ground melon seed stew cooked in palm oil, with added leafy greens and??meat or seafood, seasoned with ground crayfish and iru (locust beans). With a finished appearance that is sure to twirl your taste buds, this soup stands as a general favorite.
It is best served with pounded yam, amala or eba. This dish will definitely give you an Oliver appetite!
5. Afang Soup
This leafy vegetable delicacy is cooked in pallm oil with stock fish, cuts of meat, seafood and the afang leaves. It is native to the Efik people. Periwinkle is also a very important ingredient of this soup along with vegetables like waterleaves. The afang leaf is obviously the main ingredient of this soup dish and when chopped finely creates a lovely texture and taste.
Afang is great with eba, pounded yam or usi(cassava starch).
6. Ogbono Soup
A soup made from ground ogbono (African mango) seeds, garnished with palm oil, stockfish, and spices, this delicacy has numerous cooking variations; cooked alone, cooked with okra, or even combined with egusi (melon seeds). One important fact about ogbono is that it's easy and super-quick to cook.
It is best enjoyed with eba, semo or amala.
7. Pounded Yam
This, as the name suggests is made from boiled white yam. You cook the yam, and pound the yam pieces when cooked with a mortar and pestle when done. Also fondly called 'Poundo yam', the dynamic fufu recipe can also be prepared by stirring yam flour in hot water, although anyone who has tasted the two variations will definitely prefer the 'mortar and pestle' version.
Pounded yam can be eaten with a wide variety of Nigerian soups. Some popular soup combos include; Pounded yam with egusi soup, Pounded yam with Ofe Nsala.
8. Banga? Soup
This palm-fruit populated soup is a favorite among the Niger Delta parts of the country. It is a delicious dish made up of shellfish, seafood, assorted meats, different spices and of course, the palmfruit. There are many variations of this soup across West Africa, although the palm-fruit content doesn't change.
It is best eaten with eba or 'starch'. Pounded yam would also serve up a great meal with it.
9. Dodo
Pronounced as "doh-doh", this general favorite is deep fried plantains cut in diagonal cubic or practically any shape u like and then deep fried. Salt is sprinkled before frying, but then, that is up to your personal taste. Dodo can pass as a snack, side dish, a main meal or even dessert!
One lovely thought is that its impossible to cook it badly and you dont need a recipe. Just peel, chop, fry and you're in business!
10. Ewa Agoyin
This dish is made up of smashed white or brown beans served with pepper and palm oil sauce. The name is gotten from two words; 'Ewa' which is beans in yoruba and 'Agoyin' which is a reference to the Beninoise people who originated the dish. The beans are normally cooked until very soft and even though some people don't mind having the beans whole, the special touch is gotten when it is mashed and served up with a likely specially dark, smoky sauce. It's the perfect hot street food.
11. Chin Chin
This snack is basically crunchy cube-like strips of sweet, deep fried pastry. It is made by frying butter and sugar and will keep your mouth crunching till its finished. If you're looking for a light snack or craving cookies, chin chin can definitely fill that gap.
12. Suya
Skewers of skillfully spiced cuts of meat, grilled to perfection over an open monitored flame, this northern recipe is a local favorite. Often served with raw chopped onions, cabbages and the special hausa spice mix (yaji), you just get hooked every time.
13. Moi Moi
This delicious recipe is made from brown beans which is ground together with onions, pepper, palm oil and spices. The fine mixture is then steamed in cup like plates or the local banana leaves till its ready. There are couple of other combinations that can be added to the mixture such as; flaked fish, slices of hard boiled eggs,ground beef and whatever you decide you want to experiment with.
It can be eaten with any rice dish or even soaked garri.
14. Pepper Soup
Pepper soup is one dish that practically allows you to use the whole animal in preparing it. Every single part of the meat can find a way into this soup and still add to a rich, nutritious end product. This thin 'drinking' soup is made up of chunks and chunks of meat or fish; while a large group of people will go to arms for catfish pepper soup, anothe r set of people say goat-meat peppersoup is to die for.? Whichever one you go for, you're definitely in for a good time. Other extras like boiled plantain or yam with a dose of palm oil is definitely welcome. Oh, and not forgetting the major dose of pepper you should expect. Wanna know why? Read the name of the soup again!
15. Ila Alasepo
Don't worry, this delicacy isn't as complicated as the name. It actually means mixed okro/okra soup. This dish is a unique dope-tasting one-pot edition of two separate dishes (okro and stew), coming together to create a lovely tasting delicacy bolstered with lots of assorted cuts of meat and/or seafood.
It is best eaten with staple foods like amala, eba, or pounded yam.
16. Jollof Rice
Consisting of an intricate mixture of rice, tomato, pepper, onions, Jollof rice has become an art that when mastered serves up a wonderful meal. Whether a quiet meal at home or a large party event, jollof rice is the number one dish for turning people up!
It can be enjoyed with a variety of add-ons; from fish, meat, dodo and moin moin, this dish is a real treat.
17. Ewedu
This soup is made from the leaves of the jute plant which is cooked and blended to produce an intricate dish which can be used to consume the starchy staples like amala and fufu. There are a number of ways to customize the soup to your taste which include blending it with tomato-and-pepper based stews.
It is best eaten with amala, eba, or poundo yam.
18. Efo Riro
Translated to mean "mixed greens", this fragrant vegetable stew is a fine blend of bell pepper, onions, locust beans. It is considered a classic Yoruba dish. The dish is known to cause an argument when it comes to which ingredients are more preferrable; from the efinrin (African Spinach), to the exclusion of tomatoes to prevent sogginess, and the preference of palm oil over vegetable oil.
Whatever you decide to go for, it's a very delicious meal.
19. Edikangikong
With a very interesting name comes a very appetizing soup from the Cross River region of Nigeria. A "dry" leafy vegetable soup made up of a mixture of ugwu (pumpkin leaf) and gbure (waterleaf), edikangikong is one of the major tests of the art of cooking. In the rich vegetable mix, extras like chunks of meat and fish -not forgetting periwinkles- are added in the preparation.
It's best eaten with pounded yam, fufu, or eba.
20. Oha Soup
Made with cocoyam, oha leaves,? ogiri, stockfish, smoked fish, uziza leaf (for extra flavor) and spices, this rich soup delicacy is one for the books. Native to the eastern tribes, Oha soup is a special soup that almost always requires intricate attention to the preparation process.
It goes well with any of the staple starch foods like eba, semo or fufu.
21. Ekpang nkukwo
This lovely delicacy is made from grated cocoyams wrapped in cocoyam leaves and cooked with periwinkles, greens and palm oil. Native to the Efik ethnic group, this dish has a preparation process that requires very intricate attention. However, when well prepared, it's a creamy, flavorsome and satisfying dish.
It is best enjoyed with the staple recipes.
22. Garri
Garri is made or processed from cassava and is a major food commodity in the country. Whether made or raw, it can be adapted to many forms of food. From making it to a solid form with hot water to be eaten with any soup recipe, to soaking it and drinking with different types of add-ons, garri is considered a major lifesaver.
23. Nkwobi
This dish is practically cow foot, spiced up and served in a thick palm oil coated sauce. It isn't a complicated delicacy, yet it is very tasty and suitable for evening night-outs. Most times, utazi leaves are used to give it a more enjoyable taste.
24. Zobo
Made from the Roselle plant which is a hibiscus plant native to Western Africa, Zobo is a refrshing drink made from the flowers of this plant. It has a customizable attribute, which means that you can add fruits of your choice. It is a very effective thirst quencher on a sunny day, which makes it an indispensable summer drink.
25. Puff Puff
These light sweet dough balls are made from plain flour, yeast, sugar, salt and vegetable oil (for frying).? The process of making it is quite straight-forward as long as you follow the right steps. The final product is a spongy, deep-fried spherical snack that just keeps easing your taste buds.
26. Nsala Soup
This eastern delicacy is tasty, fast and easy to prepare. It contains ingredients such cat-fish, dry utazi leaves, thickener(raw white yam or yam powder), and certain spices. When prepared well, this soup is a treat, even though it doesn't require long preparation.
It is best eaten with fufu or eba and can do the magic on a cold, rainy day.
27. Fufu
This is a staple food made with cassava and green plantain flour. It has a couple of different variations and is used to eat different or virtually all the soup recipes in the country. Some recipes include: corn meal, tuwo shinkafa, amala, semo. This recipe is tasteless on its own and makes sense when taken with a soup.
28. Grilled Fish
The grilled fish recipe is considered one of the most flexible recipes around. This is because it has a simple recipe and can be twisted to suit whatever ingredients you can lay your hands on. The fish doesn't have to be of a particular type. Whether tilapia, cat, croaker or even sea bream fish, the result will be a tasty treat.
29. Asun
This is grilled/barbecued goat meat with lots of pepper. It is a perfect evening night out delicacy. It is basically goatmeat chopped into small pieces and garnished with onions, atarodo (pepper), onion powder and spices.
30. Deep Fried Battered Yams
This delicacy is a killer combo of akara, boli (roasted plantain), and dundun (deep fried yams)! this triple threat dish is guaranteed to take your taste buds on? a journey! It is mainly served with chilli sauce or pepper stew and can be taken as either a snack or a main meal.
