Provided by Nnenna Onwukeme, Icon summer intern

As you may know I am from Nigeria, and being from Nigeria in a different country there are a number of things that I miss and food is one of them. Here are some of my favorite Nigerian foods and snacks, most of these ingredients can be found at a whole foods store or an African store. Enjoy.
 

Nigerian Chin-Chin

Chin Chin is a Nigerian crunchy deep-fried snack. The Nigerian Chin Chin can last for weeks if stored in an airtight container.
Ingredients for Soft Chin Chin
• 1kg of Plain Flour
• 150ml of milk / 150g of powdered milk
• 275g of granulated sugar
• 250g of margarine
• 2 medium sized nutmegs | 2 teaspoonful of ground nutmeg
• Vegetable Oil (for frying)

If you want the Chin Chin really crunchy, use the following quantities of ingredients
• 1kg of Plain Flour
• 75ml of milk / 75g of powdered milk
• 200g of granulated sugar
• 125g of margarine
• 2 medium sized nutmegs | 2 teaspoonful of ground nutmeg
• Vegetable Oil

Directions
1. Mix the milk and sugar in a bowl and leave to soak.
Note: If you are using powdered milk, mix the milk and sugar. Then add 150ml of water for soft chin chin (75ml of water for crunchy chin chin), mix and leave to soak.
One way to get the sugar to dissolve fast is to grind it in a dry mill before mixing it with other ingredients.

2. In a separate bowl, mix the ground nutmeg and flour, then rub the margarine into the flour till it has mixed well with the flour, leaving no lumps.

3. Add the sugar/milk mixture to the margarine/flour mixture and mix by hand till a smooth dough is achieved.

4. Place the dough on a flat surface and start kneading gently with a dough roller.

5. When the dough is flat, cut into desired sizes.

6. Deep-fry in hot vegetable oil.

7. While frying, continuously stir the chin chin till you get a golden brown color.

8. Scoop the fried pieces onto a flat tray to dry and cool down quickly.

9. When the chin chin had cooled down completely, store in a dry, airtight container.

Puff Puff (Kpof Kpof)

Puff Puff is a spongy, deep-fried, spherical snack. It is eaten at any Nigerian occasion.
Serves: 5
Cook time: 2 hours

Ingredients
• 1 1/2 tbsp of Yeast
• A pinch of Salt
• 4 tbsp of Sugar
• 4 Cups of Flour
• 2 1/2 Cups Warm Water
• 1 Egg
• 1/4 tsp of Nutmeg, ground

Directions
• Mix the yeast and sugar in a bowl
• Add 1 cup of warm water
• Leave for 30 mins
• Sift the flour, nutmeg and salt
• Add the yeast mixture into the dry ingredients
• Add the egg and the rest of the water
• Mix well with your fingers

• Leave in a bowl and cover with a cloth to rise for about an hour. When it is ok to fry, the Puff Puff batter should have risen in quantity and will have some air bubbles

• Pour some oil in a deep pot and allow to heat up. It's not advisable to use a deep fryer for Puff Puff because of the netting but if you want to use it, set the temperature to 170°C.   

Note: The oil should be at least 3 inches deep. This is so that the puff puff will become spherical when scooped into the oil. You don't want to end up with flat Pancakes.

• Test that the oil is hot enough by putting a drop of batter into the oil. If it sizzles and comes up to the surface of the oil, then the oil is hot enough. If the oil is not hot enough, the batter will go down to the bottom of the oil and stay there.

• When the oil is hot enough, scoop some batter into the oil with your hand by pressing the batter to come out from between your thumb and index finger. You should see the video for this technique as this is what will make your Puff Puff have a near-perfect spherical shape.

• Put in more scoops of the batter, as much as the space in the frying pot will allow without overcrowding.

• Once the underside of the puff puff has turned golden brown, flip the ball so that the topside will be fried as well.

• When both sides are golden brown, take out the puff puff balls and place in a sieve. If you want to reduce the oil on your Puff Puff as much as possible, then line your sieve with paper towels. The paper towels help soak away the excess oil on the puff puff.

Fried Plantains (Dodo)

Fried Plantains are eaten in a lot of countries in Western Africa, it is fast and easy to make.

Ingredients
• 2 ripe plantains (plantains should be ripe and hard, it is not advised to use soft plantains)
• Vegetable oil for frying
• Salt to taste

Directions
• Make a shallow cut on the plantain and peel off the skin from that point

• Cut into any desired shape (preferably oval shape slices) in a bowl, sprinkle a little salt and toss the plantains to make sure the salt is evenly distributed

• Heat up the vegetable oil in a frying pan or if you are using a deep fryer preheat the oil to 170°C.. The oil should be very hot so that the plantain does not soak up much oil.

• When the oil is heated, add a considerable quantity of the plantain slices to the oil, leaving enough room for the slices to fry evenly.

• When the underside of the slices starts to turn golden, flip the slices on their other side.

• Fry till a desired browning is achieved.

• Remove and place in a sieve to drain out the oil.

• Fry the next batch of the plantain slices following steps 1 through 4.

• Serve with fried egg, tomato sauce, Custard, oat meal etc.

Suya (Meat on a stick)

Suya is meat on a stick, if you have ever had shish kebab it is pretty similar.
Suya is mostly made by “Mai Suya” which is man by the side of the road and everyone goes to him to buy some. But for us Nigerians in a different country who do not have the leisure of walking to the Mai Suya down the street have to make it at home.

Ingredients
• Beef: The best cut with as little fat as possible.
• Suya Spice: This can be bought in African food stores, you can also make yours.
• Groundnut or Peanut Oil (if not, then Vegetable Oil)
• Salt
Tools: Skewers or sticks

Directions:
• Soak the Suya sticks in cold water for at least 5 hours. This ensures that the sticks do not burn during the roasting of the Suya.

• Cut the beef into very thin fillets. You can ask the butchers where you live (they should have the perfect appliance for it). And if you don’t have a butcher, just try your best to cut them in thin strips. Usually, if you freeze the beef a little bit, it makes the cutting easier but Suya Mallams say that if you want to make the best Suya, do not refrigerate or freeze the beef.

• If the fillets are long and large, cut them into small pieces such that when you thread them on the sticks, they will not flap too much.

• Now thread the fillets of beef on the Suya sticks

• Put some groundnut (peanut) oil in a bowl, add a small quantity of salt and stir. Using a cooking brush, rub the groundnut (peanut) oil on the threaded fillets of beef. This is what helps the Suya spice stick to the meat so make sure you do not leave out any part of the meat.

• dab in suya spice

• In a wide dish, spread the Suya spice and dab the threaded fillets of beef in the spice so that the beef takes up as much of the spice as possible. All the beef will be covered with the Suya spice when you are done.

• Place all the now spiced beef in a flat plate, cover with a thin plastic film and leave to marinate for 1 hour. We usually put beef in the fridge to marinate but the Suya Gurus, the Mai Suyas, say beef to be used for Suya should not be put in the fridge so ...

• Once the beef has marinated for 1 hour, set your oven to grill at 150°C or about 300°F to preheat for 10 minutes.

• Place the beef flat on the oven rack and put in the oven to roast.

• After 15 - 20 minutes, flip the beef to roast the other side as well. The length of time you'll roast each side depends on how thick the fillets are. So total roasting time for both sides of the beef is 30 - 40 minutes.

• Rub some of the remaining groundnut oil or vegetable oil on both sides of the beef. Increase the oven temperature a bit and roast either side of the beef for 5 minutes each. And you are done!

Pepper Chicken

Ingredients
• 1 chicken (cut into serving pieces) or a bag of chicken thighs or wings
• 2 onions,
• sliced 8 tomatoes, blanched, peeled and sliced
• 2 hot chillies, chopped and blended into a paste
• 2 tbsp catsup
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme, crumbled
• groundnut oil or vegetable oil, for frying
• salt and freshly-ground white/black pepper, to taste

Directions
• Season the chicken pieces with salt and white/black pepper leave to marinate for about 30 mins.

• Heat a little oil in a pan and use to fry the chicken pieces until golden brown all over.

• Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towel.

• Pour 60ml of groundnut/vegetable oil into a heavy-based stewing pan.

• Add the onion and fry until shining then add the sliced tomatoes and hot chillies.

• Fry for a few minutes then stir in the catsup and thyme. Mix thoroughly to combine then add the chicken.

• Bring the mixture to a simmer, cover the pan with a tight-fitting lid and cook for about 40 minutes, or until the chicken pieces are completely tender. To be served with rice

Jollof Rice (Jellof Rice)

Jollof rice is a classic Nigerian food, it is served at parties, home, and any get together.

Ingredients
• 4 cups of long grain rice
• Beef/Chicken Stock
• 1 to 1.2 liter of Ground Fresh tomatoes
• Tatashe (red bell pepper)
• Habanero pepper (optional)
• Tomato paste
• Spices (Curry, Thyme, Delice, Nutmeg, you can spice to your taste and desire)
• 2 cubes of knorr of maggi
• red onion
• vegetable or groundnut oil
• Salt to taste.

Directions
• Blend the tomatoes, onions, tatashe (red bell pepper) and ata rodo (habanero pepper) to a smooth paste

• Heat in a pot till it reduces in volume and you can see small dots or bubbles in the pepper (this is very important process, as you will want to boil out all the water in the content)

• Pre-boil the rice first. To do this you pour the rice as is into a pot with a lot of water. Let the rice come to a boil till you see the creamy starch floating at the top of the water and the rice has the white color of boiled rice.

• Taste the rice to make sure it is cooked to be firm but not hard (you do not want to pre-boil it any further because any cooking will make it too soft and mushy)

• Once the rice is cooked to be firm but not hard, pour out all the water and then proceed to wash the rice with cold water, this stops the cooking process.

• While the rice is pre-cooking, fry the tomato sauce with 4-5 spoons of vegetable oil. This is to fry the pepper properly.

• To fry the tomato sauce, chop at least 1 red onion, and fry lightly. Once the onion is translucent add the pepper that you fried.

• To tell if it is fried, the oil will float to the top and the color will change from golden to deep orange. Then add the tomato paste and beef/chicken stock

• Let the tomato paste fry with the pepper till it thickens and small bubles form in the pepper which gives it a curdled look. Taste for salt and seasoning and add more as needed.

• Now add the pre-cooked rice to the pot and add more beef stock and stir (with preferably a wooden spoon to prevent clumping) Keep adding stock until it covers the rice.

• Let it cook for a couple of minutes, then check the rice and stir. If bits are burnt just try not to scrape the bottom of the pot while stirring. Taste the rice for softness, if it is too firm add water if not let the sauce dry up in the rice

• When the rice is completely soft and stir to make sure the rice combines with the sauce. And there you have it. This can be served with chicken or any kind of meat

Edikang Ikong (Vegetable) Soup

Edikangikong also known as vegetable soup is made out of pumpkin and water leaves. It can be served with a cassava meal called gari and usually eaten with your fingers.

Ingredients
• 1kg Pumpkin leaves
• 500g Water leaves
• 600g Beef, Dry fish, (Kanda, and shaki optional)
• Pepper, Salt and ground Crayfish: to taste
• 200ml Palm oil
• 1 cup Periwinkle (optional)
• 2 medium onions
• 2-3 Stock cubes (Knorr cubes)
• Alternate vegetables for those who cannot find/buy water leaves and pumkin leaves
   o 1kg Normal Frozen Spinach
   o 200g Ground Frozen Spinach
   o 250g Lamb's Lettuce (Canonigos in Spanish)

Directions
• Wash and cut the leaves/veggies into tiny pieces. Put them in separate sieves to drain out the water

• Cook the beef (or any meat of choice) and dry fish with the onions and 3 maggi/ knorr cubes with as little water as possible

• When the meat is done, add a generous amount of palm oil, the crayfish and pepper and leave to boil for about 10 minutes. The palm oil serves as water in the Edikaikong (vegetable) soup. You should try as much as possible to make it the only liquid in the soup.

• Add the periwinkle and water leaves and leave to cook for another 5 minutes. You may have to cook for less time at this stage so that the water leaves are not over-cooked.

• Now add the pumpkin leaves and salt to taste. Stir the contents of the pot very well and turn off the heat. Cover the pot and leave to stand for about 5 minutes.

• The Edikang Ikong soup is ready to be served with Garri (Eba), Semolina, or Pounded Yam.

Garri (Eba)
Eba is eaten with Vegetable soup

Ingredients
• Garri
• Water

Directions
• Boil water and transfer some of it into a bowl

• Pour cassava flour (garri) into boiling water little-by-little

• Fill the bowl gradually with cassava flour until very little water is left unabsorbed by the cassava flour

• Use a wooden spoon and stir until they mix

• Depending on the texture you prefer you can add more water to make it softer or more garri to make it more firm all to your preferred consistency.

• And the eba is done