As the name states, this recipe is a basic yam and vegetable mix. The good thing is that this recipe lets you try a wide range of leafy vegetables which can go with the yam staple: green Amaranth, fluted pumpkin, water leaves etc.
Peel and cut the yam tuber into 2 inch cubes. Wash the yam cubes and place in a sizeable pot.
Wash and cut the leafy vegetables, cut the onions and okra into tiny pieces. Grind / Blend the chilli pepper. Put all these in a separate pot and set aside. The okra only helps the vegetables stick together so it is optional.
Cooking Directions
Pour enough water to cover the yam cubes and cook till the cubes are soft.
Now, pour out the water from the pot, leaving the yam cubes in the pot. Cover the pot to retain the heat.
Add a little water (about 1 cooking spoon) to the pot containing the vegetables. Cook till the vegetable is softened by the heat. Be careful not to overcook the vegetable.
Pour the cooked vegetables and other ingredients into the pot containing the yam cubes. Add the palm oil and salt to taste.
Stir with a wooden spoon till all the ingredients have mixed well.
The Yam Porridge can also be referred to as yam soup. It is mainly yam cooked with ingredients and the resulting dish contains some soupy liquid. It is usually not cooked with added vegetables but feel free to add a little if you so wish.
Ingredients
Yam – 500g
Red palm Oil – to color
Ground Crayfish – 2 tablespoons
Onions – 1 medium bulb
Chilli Pepper & Salt – to taste
Seasoning – 1 cube of Maggi / Knorr
Before you cook Yam Porridge
Peel and cut the yam tuber into 2 inch cubes. Wash the yam cubes and place in a sizeable pot.
Wash and cut the onions into tiny pieces. Grind / Blend the chilli pepper. Set these aside.
Cooking Directions
Pour enough water to cover the yam cubes and start cooking at high heat.
Note when the water starts to boil and leave to continue boiling for 10 more minutes.
Add the cut onions, ground crayfish, pepper and seasoning.
Cover the pot and continue cooking till the yam is done.
Add the red palm oil and salt to taste and continue cooking till all the oil has been absorbed into the porridge. You can reduce the heat to medium at this stage depending on the consistency of the porridge.
The yam porridge is ready to be served.
Yam porridge is usually eaten alone but you can serve with Fried Plantain
How to cook Nigerian Boiled Yam
Boiled Yam is an easy and fast yam recipe. If you can boil egg, then preparing this recipe is no big deal. It is prepared without any added ingredients thereby leaving you with a wide range of sauces and stews to eat it with.
Boiled yam can be eaten with Tomato Stew, Vegetable Sauce, Pepper Sauce, fried egg or egg omelette.
Ingredients
White Yam – As much as you can eat.
Salt to taste (Optional)
Cooking Directions
Cut the yam tuber into 1 inch slices.
Peel and cut the slices into half moons. You can leave it circular if you want. This does not make a difference to the recipe at all.
Wash the slices, place in a pot and pour water to cover the contents.
Boil till the yam is soft. This is when you can easily drive a fork into the slices without resistance.
Add salt and leave to cook for about 2 minutes. This is so that the salt will seep into the yam slices.
Fried yam recipe is a deep-fried yam recipe that can be eaten with a wide range of Nigerian stews and sauces. It is fried in such a way that the outside of the chips is crunchy while the inside is moist. It is mostly used as a breakfast meal with fried egg, egg omelette, Tomato Stew, Vegetable Sauce or oat meal.
Ingredients
White Yam – As much as you can eat.
Vegetable Oil
Salt to taste
Frying Directions
Peel and cut the yam tuber into 1 inch cylindrical discs. Make several cuts across the discs to get large chips. Wash the yam chips and place in a bowl.
Add a little salt and toss the contents to distribute the salt.
If you are using a deep fryer, pour enough vegetable oil into the fryer as per the instructions manual and preheat the oil to 170°C. You can also use a pot to fry the yam chips. It is preferable to use a pot rather than a frying pan for this fried yam recipe because pots provide more depth for the frying process.
When the oil is heated, add a few yam chips, leaving enough room for flipping the chips.
Stir the chips till they have turned golden.
Remove the chips and place in paper towels to absorb the oil.
Fry the rest of the chips following steps 4 through 6.
Black-Eyed or Brown beans are rich in high quality protein which provides a healthy alternative to meat and other animal protein. They are also rich in soluble fiber which helps lower blood cholesterol. This makes beans a must-have staple in Nigerian dishes. Still beans is not a very popular food item because it is associated with flatulence and indigestion. Allnigerianrecipes.com details some cooking methods that will help eliminate the discomfort associated with beans to ensure that this staple stays in your family menu.
How to cook Nigerian Beans Porridge
Beans are unpopular staple foods because it is associated with bloating, flatulence and indigestion. Most people have one reason or the other why they do not eat beans. Yet, it is advisable to to have beans in the family menu especially when you have young children in the family.
The cooking method detailed here will help eliminate the problems associated with beans. You can learn more about how you can prevent the problems associated with eating beans at: How to Reduce Beans Bloating.
Soak the beans in cold water for 5 hours. Boil the beans for 5 minutes and discard the water. Wash the beans in cold water and set aside. This soaking and pre-cooking process will help reduce the gas inducing elements.
Chop the onions, grind the crayfish and pepper.
If you will use yam/plantain/sweet potatoes, wash, peel and cut them into 1 inch cubes and set aside. If you will use baby corn, drain the preservation liquid, rinse and set aside.
Cooking Directions
Put the beans in a pot and pour water up to the level of the beans and start cooking.
Note: If you have a pressure cooker, beans is one of the staple foods you will want to use it for. It considerably reduces the cooking time.
Cook till tender, adding more water from time to time, if necessary. Always keep the water at the same level as the beans so that when the beans is done, you will not have too much water in the porridge.
When the beans porridge is soft, add the onions, crayfish, pepper and seasoning. Cover the pot and keep cooking for 5 minutes.
Note: To get the most out of beans, it is best to cook it with one of the following: sweet yam, ripe/unripe plantain, sweet potatoes or baby corn. If you will add any of these, this is when to do so. Then instead of cooking for 5 minutes, cook till the added yam / plantain / potatoes is done. The baby corn should be added when you turn off the heat in step 5.
Add the red palm oil, salt to taste and cook for more 5 minutes at medium heat.
Turn off the heat, add the baby corn (if you have chosen to use it), leave to stand for 5 minutes and turn the porridge with a wooden spoon.
The beans porridge is ready. If you cooked the beans porridge without any of the additions,
How to cook Nigerian Moi Moi
Moi Moi (also Moin Moin) is a great dish accessory in Nigeria. It is commonly seen accompanying Jollof Rice, Fried Rice, Fried Plantain, Custard, Akamu (Pap, Ogi) etc. It can even be eaten alone as a snack with a soft drink to wash it down. Nigerian Moi Moi Recipe [Video]
Due to its popularity, Moi Moi is often served in parties, dinners and other special occasions.
About three hours before cooking the moi moi, soak and wash the beans to remove the coat. When the entire coat has been removed, place the beans in a bowl and pour enough water to cover it. Leave to soak for three hours. This is so that the best consistency will be achieved when you blend the beans.
It is advisable to use one of eggs, bone marrow or corned beef, not the three at the same time. If you will use eggs, cook till hard boiled, cut into small pieces and set aside. If you prefer bone marrow, cook it with salt and Maggi / Knorr cubes. If it is corned beef you will go for, open the can and separate the beef into small lumps.
Now go ahead and prepare the moi moi containers.
Next ...
Wash the tatashe, onions, nutmeg, red pepper, crayfish and set aside. Ensure to remove the tatashe seeds as they have a tendency to give meals a bitter taste.
Now that the beans is soaked (the bean seed is tender when you pinch it), it is time to blend it. It is very important that you use a very good blender for this purpose. The taste and feel of your Moi Moi depends so much on the consistency of the blend. If in doubt, put a small quantity of bean seeds in your home blender and grind to the best of its ability using as small quantity of water as possible. Feel the resulting paste with your fingers and if you notice any tiny pieces at all, then the blender is not good for Moi Moi. At this time, you may consider using the commercial heavy duty mills at your local market if you are in Nigeria. Yes, you have your health and hygiene concerns but most of the mill operators actually keep their mills clean. And they let you bring your own water and containers. So there you go!
Cooking Directions
Blend the beans, tatashe, onions, crayfish, pepper and nutmeg together and put in a big enough bowl.
Prepare about half a litre of warm water. This will be used in mixing the moi moi. You do not want to use hot water for this purpose as it may cause the mix to be lumpy.
Slowly add the warm water and stir the mixture at the same time. When you have achieved medium consistency, add salt to taste, 3 cooking spoons of vegetable oil, bone marrow stock (if this is what you have chosen to add to your moi moi) and Maggi / Knorr cubes.
Stir the mixture very well and start putting the mix in your choice of containers by following the details at How to Use the Moi Moi Containers. Now is the time to add one egg piece per bowl/ aluminium foil/ uma wrap. The corned beef pieces should be added this way too if chosen.
Note: Moi Moi is one of the Nigerian food recipes that is prepared cold. All the mixing and adding of ingredients is done off the stove. That is to say, once you start cooking, there is no going back! You cannot decide to add more salt or seasoning or a new ingredient later. So getting it right at the mixing stage is very important.
Pad the base of a big pot and set the moi moi containers in the pot, add a small quantity of boiling water and start cooking.
Add as small quantity of water as possible at a time while cooking the Moi Moi as detailed in preparation and use of moi moi containers so that the moi moi will not become watery when done. This is the case especially when using aluminium foil or uma leaves.
The length of time you will cook your Moi Moi depends on the quantity and the Moi Moi container you used.
The Moi Moi that gets done quickest is the one wrapped in Uma or Banana leaves, followed by Moi Moi wrapped in aluminum foils then the one that takes the most time is Moi Moi cooked in aluminium or plastic plates.
But whatever Moi Moi container you use, it is advisable to cook your Moi Moi for at least 1 hour, before checking it. Confirm that it is done by putting a knife through it, if the knife is stained with Moi Moi paste, then the Moi Moi is not done, but if the knife just has a slight smear of Moi Moi, then it's done. Also, when you cut through the Moi Moi, the insides will be set and not watery.
If you are cooking a few wraps of Moi Moi in a small pot on high heat, then it will only take about 45 minutes to get done while when you are cooking a large pot of Moi Moi, it will definitely take more than one hour.
Serve with chilled fruit juice, or coconut juice.
How to cook Rice and Beans
If you do not like beans when it is cooked alone like in Beans Porridge, then you need to try the rice and beans recipe.
One way to reduce the flatulence or indigestion associated with beans is to cook it with another staple and the rice and beans recipe is one of such recipes.
Wash and soak the beans for about 5 hours. Discard the water and rinse the beans.
Put the beans in a pot, pour some water and set to boil.
Once the beans starts boiling, turn off the heat, throw away the water and wash again. These steps will help minimize the indigestion associated with beans for most people.
Fry the tinned tomato puree if you do not have already made tomato sauce.
Meanwhile, cook the chicken till tender using chopped onions, 1 teaspoon of thyme and 2 cubes of seasoning. If you will rather use fish, boil the fish for 5 minutes using the same amount of seasoning. Fry or grill the chicken or the fish and set aside.
Now, pour the chicken / fish stock into a pot big enough to accommodate the rice and beans, bearing in mind that the rice will rise some more.
Leave to boil, then add some tomato sauce, the parboiled rice and the cooked beans. Check that the water level is just less than the level of the rice and beans.
Add pepper and salt to taste.
Stir, cover the pot and cook with medium heat till the water is dry.
Serve with the fried chicken or fish and fried plantain.
