A Nigerian table
The library holds more than three hundred Nigerian recipes, and the ones here were chosen because their ingredient lists carry real quantities and their methods explain the technique rather than assume it. They are grouped the way they are eaten: things fried for a crowd first, then the bean pudding that goes alongside, then the pots that make a meal. Scotch bonnets appear in nearly all of them, so the notes say how many.
Akara (Bean Balls)
1 of 8
Akara: black-eyed peas soaked, rubbed out of their skins, blended with onion and three or four scotch bonnets, then dropped by the spoon into hot oil for two to three minutes a side. Skinning the beans by hand is the slow part and the recipe explains exactly how. Breakfast with pap or bread.
Nigerian Puff Puff
2 of 8
Six ingredients: flour, sugar, nutmeg, instant yeast, salt and warm milk, mixed by hand into a thick dough that rises for forty-five minutes. The recipe's test for the oil is a pinch of dough that floats at once. Fry in small batches so the oil stays hot, or they come out greasy.
Nigerian Egg Roll
3 of 8
A whole hard-boiled egg wrapped in a sweet nutmeg dough and deep fried until golden. The dough rests ten minutes, then each of six pieces is flattened in the hand and sealed around an egg. The seam has to be pinched shut properly or oil gets in.
Moin Moin (Nigerian Bean Pudding)
4 of 8
The same skinned black-eyed peas as akara, blended with peppers and onion, but steamed instead of fried, in tins, foil pouches or leaves, for at least thirty minutes until set. Boiled egg, fish or beef can be folded in. The recipe gives an oven method too and admits it comes out denser.
Nigerian Jollof Rice
5 of 8
Five tomatoes, four bell peppers, four scotch bonnets and two onions blended into the base, fried down in groundnut oil with tomato puree, then stock, bay leaves, curry powder and thyme before the rice goes in. The meat is boiled first and fried separately to sit on top. Wash the rice until the water runs clear or it turns to porridge.
Ayamase Jollof Rice
6 of 8
The green one. Eight green bell peppers and twelve habaneros blended coarse, not smooth, and fried in bleached palm oil with iru and crayfish, then rice cooked in that sauce with the stock from assorted meat. Smoked mackerel goes in at the end. It is the hottest dish in this collection by a distance.
Nigerian Yam and Potato Porridge
7 of 8
Yam and sweet potato boiled until just soft, then a fried tomato and onion base stirred through and the roots half mashed in the pot. A separate pepper sauce of fifteen scotch bonnets and cow skin is served over the top, so the heat is on the side and you control it.
White Bean and Pumpkin Leaf Soup
8 of 8
Six cups of dried white beans, soaked and crushed before cooking so they break down faster, then simmered with ugwu leaves, two bell peppers, garlic, crayfish and red palm oil for up to an hour until thick. Cooked meat goes in only at the end as a garnish, so it works as a vegetable pot too.
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