Food means a lot to Nigerians and variety is of great importance to their palate.
2016 showed that Nigerians like to explore and try different things.
Here are the top 10 recipes explored by Nigerians in the year 2016, according to Google’s search trends.
Nigerian spaghetti recipe
Ingredients: 1 pack of Spaghetti (500gms)
2 Cups Chicken/Beef Stock
half cup cooking oil
3 red bell peppers
1 yellow and green bell peppers
3 medium tomatoes, 2 Scotch bonnet
1 whole medium onion, 1 medium onion chopped
3 stalks green/spring onion
half teaspoon minced ginger
2 bay leaves, half teaspoon curry powder
half teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 cubes of seasoning.
Preparation
If you’re using raw chicken or beef, chop into small chunks. Marinate the Chicken/Beef or Prawns with 1 Knorr Chicken cube, half teaspoon garlic powder, salt. Leave to marinate for about an hour. Slice the yellow, green and red bell peppers, spring and onions.
Get a saucepan, pour in water; enough quantity to cook the pasta, set on a hob on medium to high heat, when it comes to a rolling boil, add a dash of oil, add the pasta. Cook till tender.
When it’s tender, transfer into a sieve to drain; also notice how the pasta isn’t clumpy or stuck together, the added oil helps keep the pasta from sticking together. Oil also prevents the pasta from boiling over while cooking.
Blend the tomatoes, 2 red bell peppers, 1 onion and 2 scotch bonnet till smooth. Pour 1 cooking spoon into a saucepan, place on a hob on medium heat, when it’s hot, and add half of the chopped onions.
Blanch till translucent, and then add the blended pepper. Also add the curry powder, thyme, bay leaves, 2 Knorr chicken cubes and salt to taste. Fry till oil floats to the top.
While that’s frying, get yourself a big frying pan, place on a hob on medium heat, and add 3 tablespoons oil. When it’s hot, add half of the chopped onions, blanch till translucent.
Add the marinated chicken/beef, add the black pepper, fry till fully cooked, add the chopped peppers, carrots, spring onions, sauté for 5-6 minute.
Check on the pepper, when it’s done and oil floats to the top, add the chicken/ beef stock, if you haven’t got stock, just add water, and cook for 2-3 minutes.
Finally, add the cooked pasta, stir to the base of the pot. Add the fried veggies and meat/chicken, mix thoroughly; leave to for about 3 minutes, do not cover to enable the liquid will dry up more and pasta will firm up as well.
Nigeria chicken curry recipe
8- pieces of chicken leg and thigh (cut into chunks)
3 cubes Maggi
Salt to taste
4 tablespoons cooking oil
3 cups cubed
Sweet potatoes or yam
2 400ml cans coconut cream (milk)
2-3 cups vegetables of choice
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 scotch bonnet pepper.
Preparation
Season the cut chicken with salt and 1 cube maggi – Set aside
Heat a large skillet over high heat. Add in the oil. Add in the seasoned chicken and sear on all sides until brown. Add in all left over ingredients with the chicken. Stir to combine.
Simmer on medium heat until chicken is cooked through and yam is tender. Adjust with water for thickness. Serve with rice.
Spaghetti Bolognese recipe
Ingredients
2 medium onions (peeled and chopped)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 garlic clove (peeled and crushed)
500g lean minced beef
90g mushrooms (sliced)
1 teaspoon dried oregano or mixed herbs
400g can tomatoes or chopped tomatoes
300ml hot beef stock
1 tablespoon tomato ketchup or purée
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce,
Salt and ground black pepper
350g spaghetti and freshly grated parmesan.
Preparation
Put the onion and oil in a large pan and fry over a fairly high heat for 3-4 minutes. Add the garlic and mince and fry until they both brown. Add the mushrooms and herbs, and cook for another couple of minutes.
Stir in the tomatoes, beef stock, tomato ketchup or purée, Worcestershire sauce and seasoning. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti in a large pan of boiling, salted water, according to packet instructions. Drain well, run hot water through it, put it back in the pan and add a dash of olive oil, if you like, then stir in the meat sauce. Serve in hot bowls and hand round Parmesan cheese, for sprinkling on top.
Ofada stew recipe
Ingredients
1/4 cup palm oil
1 tablespoon locust beans
1 kg assorted meat (Shaki, ponmo, liver-already cooked)
600g cooked chicken1 cup chicken broth, 1 teaspoon salt,
1 cup chicken broth 1 teaspoon salt,
1 teaspoon salt
1 seasoning cube
Crayfish
1 medium onions
Green tomatoes
Green bell pepper
Green habanero pepper
Preparation
Blend green tomatoes, peppers and onion, place in a pot and boil for 15 minutes. Heat up a pot and add palm oil. Allow to blanch for 10 minutes; this means leaving it to heat up and smoke till it is almost similar to vegetable oil. After 10 minutes allow to cool a bit before adding chopped onions, sauté, then add the boiled tomato/pepper.
Add salt, locust beans, assorted meat and crayfish. Cover and allow to cook till oil floats to the top. Add chicken stock, taste and then add seasoning cube if necessary. Also add cooked chicken now.
Allow to cook for 5 more minutes and simmer.
Nigerian cupcakes recipe
Ingredients
6 cupcakes
45 grams butter or vegetable oil
One large egg
80 grams sugar
90 grams plain flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
40ml milk
1 teaspoon vanilla flavour.
Preparation
Heat the oven first; turning the oven on before you start mixing the batter gives your oven time to reach the temperature you need which is 180 degrees centigrade in 10 minutes.
Prepare your cupcake pan so it will be ready to go when the batter’s done. Use paper liners to help the cupcakes come out of the pan easily; apply a light coating of cooking spray or wipe cooking oil on the pan. This will keeps the tops of your cupcakes from sticking to the pan if they rise above their liners.
Sift the dry ingredients after which you combine the butter, egg and sugar until light, creamy and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula once or twice to make sure you’ve got every bit.
Add flavourings after beating in the eggs, you can add liquid flavourings such as vanilla extract8) Add the dry and liquid ingredients to the butter/sugar/egg mixture.
Fill the cupcake pans up to 2/3 the capacity and bake immediately. Check after 20-25 minutes to see if it is done.
Set the baking pan on a rack until the cupcakes are cool enough to handle, about 10 minutes. Then, gently remove the cupcakes from the pan and place them directly on the rack to cool completely before frosting and decorating.
Nigerian grilled chicken recipe
Ingredients
Chicken
Onions
Thyme
Seasoning and salt
Preparation
Cut up the whole chicken to desired pieces. Put the chicken pieces in a pot; add diced onions, thyme and seasoning.
Pour enough water to just cover the contents of the pot and start cooking.
When the chicken is done, add some salt, cover the pot and leave to simmer for about 2 minutes. Adding salt at the beginning will make your chicken cook in more time because salt toughens the chicken and some other food stuff.
Transfer the chicken to a sieve to drain. Then place them on your oven rack, place the rack as close to the grill (the top heater in your oven) as possible.
Set the temperature to 170°C or 338°F. Turn the pieces of chicken on the other side when the top side becomes brown. The chicken is well-grilled when both sides are brown.
Cake recipe with custard powder
Ingredients
500 ml milk
100 ml custard powder
125 ml butter at room temperature
200 ml caster sugar
5 ml vanilla essence
100 ml desiccated coconut, toasted to a golden brown in a dry pan.
Preparation
Dissolve the custard powder in 100 ml milk. Heat remaining 400 ml milk until boiling point, then add custard mixture and stir for a few minutes over lowered heat until it is smooth and thick. Take care not to let it burn. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
In a large mixing bowl, beat butter with sugar and vanilla for a few minutes until creamy.
Add cooled custard to butter mixture, and then beat on high speed for about 3 minutes until smooth. Spread custard on cake layers and on top, then top with toasted coconut.
Easy sausage stir fry recipe
Ingredients
Half Polish sausage
2 cups broccoli (chopped)
2 cups carrots, sliced
3 cups cooked rice
Preparation
Slice sausage, carrots and broccoli. Cook rice according to package, making enough for three cups.
Spray pan with cooking spray, add sausage and sauté until lightly browned.
Add vegetables, stir and cover to let simmer for five to seven minutes until vegetables are tender.
Serve with cooked rice.
Spring rolls recipe
Ingredients
300 grams minced chicken breast
250g cabbage
Fnely shredded/grated
4 medium sized carrots (peeled, grated)
100ml chicken stock
1 finely cut green bell pepper
Handful of green peas
1 small onion
Spices(stock cubes, curry, black pepper )
Vegetable oil for frying and spring roll wrappers.
Preparation
Place the grated cabbage into a pot; add the chicken stock and salt, boil until the cabbage is tender. Add the grated carrots and the green peas and simmer until the carrots are tender. Then pour into a sieve and drain out the liquid from the vegetables.
In a pan, heat up a cooking spoonful of vegetable oil, add the minced onions and garlic powder and fry a bit. Then add the minced chicken.
Stir fry the minced chicken until the colour changes from pink to white. Then add the stock cube(stock powder), curry powder, black pepper and mix thoroughly.
Add the strained vegetables and mix well into the chicken. Add the chopped green peppers and stir fry the mixture for just 2. Put off the heat and leave to cool completely.
In a small bowl, add a tablespoon of flour and a little water. Mix thoroughly and set aside. This would be used to bind the spring roll wrappers.
Spread out the spring roll wrappers and add the filling. Fold together and seal the edges with the binder.
Heat up the oil until very hot and fry the spring rolls until crusty and brown. Place a paper towel to drain out excess oil .You can also bake in preheated oven at 200°C, for 10-15mins , to do this, place the spring rolls on a baking tray, brush with a little oil and bake.
Velvet cake recipe
Ingredients 2 and a half cups self-rising flour
2 and a half cups self-rising flour
One and a half cups white sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
2 ounces red food colouring
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese (softened)
Half cup butter (softened)
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Half cup of chopped pecans.
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 8 inch round pans.
In a large bowl, mix together sugar, oil, and eggs. Add food colouring and vinegar to buttermilk. Add baking soda to flour. Add flour mixture and buttermilk mixtures alternately to the sugar mixture. Mix well. Stir 1 teaspoon vanilla into batter. Pour batter into prepared pans.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until done, remove from oven, and cool on wire racks.
Mix together cream cheese, butter or margarine, confectioners’ sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla and stir.