THREE TYPICAL DISHES FROM NIGERIA-by Catalina Pelaez

3 TYPICAL DISHES FROM NIGERIA

MAFFÉ

A very famous and popular West African dish is called Mafé. Particularty in countries such as Nigeria, Gambia, Mali and Senegal. This dish became important after the period of colonization, because of the abundance of peanuts. It is a meat stew with a sauce made of crushed peanuts. Its flavour is both sweet and salty. Mafé is known by many names, like groundnut stew, mafe, maffe, tigadèguèna and tigadene.

Ingredients

• Oil
• Stewing beef, cut into cubes
• Minced onion.
• Minced garlic.  
• Minced ginger.
• Tomato paste
• Peeled, seeded and chopped tomatoes.  
• Water.
• Natural peanut butter.  
• Salt and pepper.  

 How to cook maffé

1. In a large pot over medium-high flame, heat the oil. Then, add the beef and sauté and wait until it's lightly browned on all sides, for 5-6 minutes. Put it in a bowl and set aside.
2. Add to the oil in the pot the minced onion and sauté until it's translucent, for 4 minutes. Stir in the ginger and garlic, and sauté for another 1-2 minutes.
3. Put the beef back into the pot, stir in the tomato paste and cook it for 1 minute. Then, stir in the chopped tomatoes and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat of the oven to medium-low and simmer for about 9-10 minutes to reduce the volume of the tomatoes.
4. Add enough water to thin the sauce to a stew-like consistency, and after, simmer it for another 10 minutes.
5. After stirring in the peanut butter, salt and pepper, simmer for another 40 minutes, (or until the beef is tender and oil rises to the surface of the dish). Add the necessary water to keep the dish stew-like.
6. Adjust seasoning and serve with rice or couscous.

You can also cook maffé using goat or chicken pieces instead of beef, and stir in some vegetables (such as yams, potatoes, peppers or cabagge) when adding the water.

MOIN-MOIN

Moin-moin is a very popular dish also known as olele. The origin of moin-moin comes from the Yoruba tribe. It is made by peeling brown beans and milling with bean shells with onions, peppers and seasoning. Traditionally, the milled beans were held by broad leaves.

Ingredients:

• Nigerian brown beans.
• Red pepper, remove stalk and chop into chunks 
• Onion.  
• Egg.
• Fresh milk.
• Oil.
• Tomato paste.
• Boiled and removed-shell eggs.
• Fish or chicken stock with some seasoning cubes.
• Salt.

How to cook moin-moin

1. For about 30 minutes, soak beans in water. Rub together to peel the skin off the beans and reveal the white bean shells. Throw away the skin and rinse well.
2. Blend the beans with the pepper, the tomato paste and the onions. In order to aid the blending, add up to two cups of warm/hot (not boiling) water (a little at a time to make sure not to add too much).
3. Put the blend into a mixing bowl and mix for 3 minutes. After, add the milk and the chosen stock and mix well. If required, add salt.
4. Whisk the raw egg, then add to the moin-moin mix. Add 2-3 serving spoons of vegetable oil and stir in. Continue mixing for another 2-3 minutes.
5. Transfer the blend into the ramekins or soufflé cups. Add a boiled egg into each.  
6. Steam for 30 minutes, and serve either hot or cold.

Some moin-moin have to have “seven lives” in order to have a higher quality. Thus, items such as shrimps, corned beef, fish pieces, beef liver pieces, etc, can be added to the bean mix before it starts cooking.

NIGERIAN SUYA

Popularly known as Mai Suya, it’s one of the most typical Nigerian dishes. The dish is originally from the hausa tribe, in Nort Nigeria. The dish is originaly from North Nigeria, in the hausa tribe.

 

Ingredients

·         Beef. The best cut with as little fat as possible.

·         Suya spice, traditional from Nigeria.

·         Groundnut or peanut oil.

·         Salt.

How to cook Nigerian Suya

1.    Soak the Suya sticks in cold water for at least 5 hours.

2.    Cut the beef into very thin and small pieces.

3.    Now thread the fillets of beef on the Suya sticks.

4.    Put some groundnut oil in a bowl, and then, add a small quantity of salt and stir. Rub the groundnut oil on the fillets of the beef using a cooking brush.  

5.    Spread the Suya spice in a wide dish, and dip the threaded fillets of beef into the spice so that it absorbs as much spice as it can. When done, all the beef will be covered with the Suya spice.

6.    In a flat plate, place all the spiced beef. Cover with a thin plastic film, then leave to marinate for 1 hour. Set your oven to preheat for 10 minutes.

7.    Put the beef flat in the oven to roast, on the oven rack.

8.    After around 15-20 minutes, flip the beef so that the other side roasts as well.

9.    Rub the remaining groundnut oil on both sides of the beef. Slightly increase the temperature of the oven and roast each side of the beef for 5 minutes each.

Serve Suya with chunks of onions, cucumber, cabbage and tomatoes.