Plantain Mosa (Plan-Cakes)

This version of Plantain Mosa is quite similar to Plantain Puffs because they are both prepared with overripe plantains and flour. But that's where the similarities end because this version looks like pancakes and it is not deep-fried. How to Make Plantain Mosa [Video] Plantain Mosa Ingredients The following ingredients give 6 medium Plan-cakes: 1 overripe plantain 1 egg 3 tablespoons plain flour (all purpose flour) Cool water ½ teaspoon salt Ground cayenne pepper (to taste) 2 tablespoons evaporated milk Vegetable oil (for frying) More information about the ingredients You need just enough vegetable oil to grease the frying pan before pouring the batter. You need enough water to give the mashed plantain a medium consistency so that it can pass through the sieve easily. Directions Break the egg into a bowl, beat and set aside. Peel the overripe plantain and mash with a fork till a good blend is achieved. Add cool water to the mashed plantain bit by bit and mix on each occasion till you get a medium consistency. Pass the medium consistency blend through a sieve into the egg. Mix very well. Sift the plain flour into the mixture from Step 4. Mix thoroughly. Add salt, cayenne pepper and evaporated milk and stir very well. It is ready to be fried. Set your frying pan over medium heat and pour a small quantity of vegetable oil; just enough to grease the frying pan. This should be about 1 tablespoon of oil. When hot, pour a small amount of batter into the pan to make a 5mm thick and 5 inch diameter plan-cake. Keep an eye on it and once you see the edge of the plan-cake caking, flip it to fry the other side too. It is ready when both sides are light brown. They should look like the Plantain Mosas in the image above. Fry the rest of the dough using steps 8 to 10. That's it! Serve with a chilled drink: Kunun Aya, Nigerian Chapman, Zobo and many others. For breakfast, serve with Custard, Ogi/Akamu or with Oatmeal. - See more at: http://www.allnigerianrecipes.com/plantain/plantain-mosa-2.html#sthash.Bj053QJm.dpuf
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How to Make Nigerian Zobo Drink aka Zoborodo

Zobo drink is a Nigerian beverage made from dried Roselle plant flowers. The drink is also known as Roselle drink and called Sorrel drink in the Carribean. How to make Nigerian Zobo Drink [Video] Zobo has a sour taste so it can clash with sugars. This why I prefer to keep my Zobo drink as natural as possible hence I use only natural ingredients when preparing the drink. You may add artificial flavours and sweeteners such as Nutri-C and sugar if you wish. Ingredients for Nigerian Zobo drink The following are what I used to make 5 litres of Zobo drink. You can get more with the same quantity of ingredients depending on the concentration you want. If you will be using artificial flavours, you need to add more water. dry zobo leaves 2 De Rica* cups of dry Zobo leaves 1 glove of garlic 1 big piece of ginger 1 big very ripe pineapple Enough water (watch the video below) * In Nigeria, when we use up the tomato paste in the 850g tin of any brand of tomato paste, we wash the tin and use it for measuring food items and ingredients. This measuring cup is fondly called De Rica cup because it is the most popular brand of tomato paste. :) To garnish: Fell free to add any sliced citrus fruits of your choice: orange, lemon, lime. Before you make the Zobo drink Wash the dry Zobo leaves repeatedly in cold water. Zobo leaves are usually very dusty so make sure you wash off all the dust. It will seem like all the flavours/colour of the zobo are being washed off but don't worry, you will see that the dry zobo leaves still have a lot of the colour intact when you start boiling it. Wash, peel and cut the pineapple into thin slices. Some people add the peel of the pineapple when making the zobo drink but I don't do this simple because I always think that dirt is stuck in the peels of pineapples :) Peel and cut the ginger and garlic into tiny pieces. Directions for making the Zobo drink Put the washed zobo leaves into a deep pot. Add the pineapples and pour enough water to cover the contents of the pot and then some. Start cooking at medium to high heat and let it boil for 5 minutes. Add the ginger and the garlic, add more water and keep boiling for at least 30 minutes. This is the time it will take for the zobo leaves to be completely soft and the pineapples tender. Turn off the heat and set aside to cool down completely. When cool, wringe out the juice from the pineapples and zobo leaves, leaving only the zobo juice in the pot. Pour the juice through a sieve to take out the remaining large particles then pour it through a chiffon cloth to remove the tiniest particles. Add any artificial flavours of your choice at this time and stir. Pour into bottles and refrigerate. Serve with ice and garnishing. Enjoy it on a hot sunny day with any Nigerian snack. - See more at: http://www.allnigerianrecipes.com/drinks/zobo-drink.html#sthash.Xy7EDbrN.dpuf
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How to Make Nigerian Chapman Drink

Sometime ago, on my Facebook fan page, a fan asked me for the Nigerian Chapman drink recipe. That question took me down memory lane, to the first time I had a chapman at a Chinese restaurant in the Coal City of Enugu. I remember I loved it so much. So I thought, hang on my lovely, we are going to make that chapman together! How to make Nigerian Chapman Drink [Video] So off I went to Google in search of the Nigerian Chapman drink recipe. I found a few websites on how to make Nigerian Chapman but the day I wanted to make mine, I dug deeper and found this website that is wholly dedicated to this special Nigerian drink. The recipe for Chapman on that website is so detailed that nobody will have any problems making the drink. So here, I'll show you how I made mine. I'll leave out a lot of the details because I think the recipe has been done enough justice on the website above. Ingredients for Nigerian Chapman drink The following are what I used for 2 classic dimpled mugs of chapman: 1 for me, one for hubby ;-) angostura bitters ½ cup Grenadine Syrup A few dashes of Angostura Aromatic Bitters™ 35 cl Fanta Orange 35 cl Sprite ½ an Orange ½ a lemon Ice cubes Optional Ingredient: Ribena™ Blackcurrant To garnish: Fell free to add any citrus and other fruits of your choice: cucumber, strawberry, orange, lemon, lime, even bananas. I used the following: ½ an orange ½ a lemon ½ a cucumber Notes on the Ingredients and alternatives Grenadine Syrup gives the drink its classic red colour. You can buy this at your local supermarket or on Amazon websites as listed below. If you can't find Grenadine Syrup, you can use red currant (extract the juice) or pomegranate but these don't give the drink the same taste. Ribena concentrated blackcurrant adds to the red colour and gives the drink a sweetened taste but it is optional. Concentrated Ribena blackcurrant is easily available in Nigeria and your local supermarkets anywhere in the world. You can make your ice cubes with a mixture of the Fanta and the Sprite. This is so that your drink does not go flat as is the case when the ice cubes are made with water. Even though the Nigerian chapman contains a very small quantity of alcohol, I know there are those who will like to make a version that does not contain any trace of alcohol. If you want to make that, you can skip the Angostura Bitters but I warn you, the Nigerian Chapman will not be the same without Angostura Bitters. :) Wondering other recipes you can use the remaining Angostura Bitters for? You can use it in cookies, cakes, ice cream, salads and other cocktail drinks. Or you can just keep it and use for Chapman, it does not expire in a hurry. You should be able to buy Angostura Bitters from all big food and beverages shops in Nigeria, in your local super markets and on Amazon websites. Before you make the Chapman Make the ice cubes either with water or a mixture of the fanta and the sprite. Make sure the Grenadine Syrup, Fanta and Sprite are chilling in the fridge. Cut the orange and the lemon into two equal parts each then cut one half of each into thin quarters. Reserve the other halves for squeezing into the drink. Directions for making the Chapman Put a few ice cubes in the mugs. Add half a cup of the Grenadine Syrup, this should be about one third of the dimpled mug. Add a few dashes of Angostura Bitters (to your taste). Add a squeeze of orange and lemon each. Share the Fanta equally between the two mugs, do the same for the Sprite. Remember to leave some space because the garnishings will take up their own volume. Add your sliced garnishings: cucumber, orange and lemons. This list goes on and on, some people even add bananas to theirs :) Top off with Ribena blackcurrant if you have it. Stir with the straws and it is ready for drinking! Enjoy it on a warm sunny day or on any special occassion with any Nigerian snack. - See more at: http://www.allnigerianrecipes.com/drinks/chapman-drink.html#sthash.1U8vbGNU.dpuf
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How to make Kunun Aya (Tiger Nuts Milk)

Tiger nuts are abundant in Nigeria and I used to eat lots of them in my younger years. I have not had them in years till my friend reminded me of these great nuts. How to make Tiger Nuts Milk [Video] Tiger nuts have a nutty milky taste. I can't even imagine anything that tastes like it. Not only do they taste nice, the nuts are jampacked with lots of health benefits. To eat it as a snack, just chew and suck on the chaff then spit out the chaff. Some people swallow the chaff but it is quite difficult for me to swallow. Eat with peanuts (groundnuts) and the chaff will be softer and easier to swallow, this great tip was from Oluwayemisi and it works! If you buy these nuts outside Nigeria, chances are that they will be dry. Soak them in plenty of cold water overnight before attempting to munch on them. Another way to enjoy these nuts is to soak, blend and strain them to get the very delicious and refreshing Tiger Nuts Milk, known as Kunun Aya in Hausa and Horchata de Chufas in Spanish. Ingredients for making Tiger Nuts Milk 600g soaked Tiger Nuts (475g dry Tiger Nuts) 1.5 litres cold water Other ingredients you can add to it Coconut Sugar Ginger Cinnamon To blend it, you'll need a kitchen blender. My blender has 600W power and it did a great job of blending the soaked nuts. To strain it you'll need a chiffon cloth or ladies stocking/tights (pantyhose without the panty). Other names for Tiger Nuts Aki Awusa in Igbo Aya in Hausa Isip Isong in Efik/Ibibio Ofio in Yoruba Hausa Groundnut in Pidgin Keegun in Okun Chufas in Spanish Check out this post on Facebook for more names of Tiger Nuts in other languages. Where to buy Tiger Nuts There are 2 varieties of tiger nuts: brown and black. Both are readily available in Nigeria but I think the brown ones are more common outside Nigeria. Both taste the same to me. In Nigeria, Tiger Nuts are sold by Hausa Mallams on the streets and in all major markets in Nigeria. In Spain, look for them in any Frutos Secos shop i.e. shops that sell dry fruits. Ask for chufas. In the UK you can buy them on Amazon UK website. In the US, it is sold by La Tienda. The vendor for tiger nuts on Amazon US website is La Tienda. Benefits of Tiger Nuts Tigernut oil is used in the cosmetic industry. As it is antidioxide (because of its high content in vitamin E) it helps slow down the ageing of the body cells. It favours the elasticity of the skin and reduces skin wrinkles. It supplies the body with enough quantity of Vitamin E, very essential for fertility in both men and women. See more health benefits of tiger nuts here. Directions for making Tiger Nut Milk I only discovered this way of enjoying Tiger Nuts from the comments in this post on my Facebook page. This website, which was kindly shared by Hannatu on Facebook gives a very detailed recipe for making Tiger Nuts Milk. You can also watch the video below to see how it is done. Soak the very dry nuts in a generous quantity of cold water for 2 days. Keep it in the fridge for the duration of the soaking so that the nuts do not ferment. Most tiger nuts sold in Nigeria are fresh and well hydrated so you'll only need to soak those ones for a few hours or overnight. After the soaking, wash the nuts very well and sort out the bad ones. Put them in your kitchen blender and pour just enough water to help the blades move. We need to make this milk as concentrated and tasty as possible, you can add more water later if you wish. At this time you can add other ingredients: coconut, sugar, ginger and other flavours of your choice and blend them together. I prefer anything I eat/drink as natural as possible so I do not add any other ingredient to this drink. The natural taste of Tiger Nut Milk is so great, you do not want to alter it at all. After blending, use a chiffon cloth or ladies stocking (pantyhose) to separate the chaff from the drink. Of course, the pantyhose should be brand new, thoroughly washed with dish washing liquid. Press the stocking to make sure you squeeze out all the milk from the chaff. Put the dry chaff back in the blender, add more water and blend again. Then strain with the chiffon cloth. Repeat the process till all the milk has been extracted. I found that the milk I got the third time was too watery. So 2 times should be enough and keep an eye on the quantity of water. As a guide, I got 1.5 litres of tiger nut milk from 600g of soaked tiger nuts. Yours may vary. Pour the extracted milk into bottles and store in the fridge for up to 3 days. It should last longer in the freezer. In my home, this milk usually disappears within 2 days of making it, so I can't tell you how long it can stay in the freezer without losing its taste! lol Serve Tiger Nuts Milk with any snack of your choice. - See more at: http://www.allnigerianrecipes.com/drinks/tiger-nuts-milk.html#sthash.eZnVGNEN.dpuf
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Pineapple Fried Rice

One of my very good friends is so in love with this dish and is always raving about it so I had to make some. Isn’t it funny where inspiration for dishes comes sometimes? I had been planning to do this dish for a while but I didn’t have any pretty plates to go with it. On my way back from school yesterday, I stopped at this pretty little shop I had never noticed in the Levis plaza here in San Francisco. The store is called Ellie Bauman & Company and they had the most cutesy wedding/baby shower gifts ever. I ended up picking a bowl and a flat plate from them which I used to plate this dish. I would be using these items more as I like them so much. If you are in the san francisco area or you want to order cutesy wedding/holiday/baby shower stuff, check out the Ellie Bauman website. Hope you enjoy this Pineapple Fried Rice I made. Ingredients 1.5 cups of Jasmine or Basmati rice A handful of chopped chicken breasts 1 cup chopped pineapple 2 eggs 2 handfuls of chopped onions 2 small pieces of garlic 1/2 teaspoon of chilli powder 3 tablespoons of oil 1 cup mixed vegetables (chopped carrots, corn, bell peppers, black beans or whatever else you like) 1 tablespoon soy sauce 1 teaspoon fish sauce (optional) 2 stock cubes A pinch of basil ( or scent leaves) A pinch of thyme Salt to Taste Method Boil the rice and set aside. If you can do this step a few hours before so the rice is slightly sticky, you should. If not boil the rice and when the water is dry pour in a bowl and heat in the microwave for 2 minutes. In a separate pot, pour in the chicken, thyme, a handful of chopped onions, 1 stock cube, pepper and a pinch of basil and bring to boil with 1.5 cups of water. Once the chicken is slightly cooked, strain the stock into a separate bowl and mix the stock with the rice in a bowl. Season the rice with the other stock cube and set aside. In a pot/pan/wok, heat up 1 tablespoon of oil, break your eggs, stir fry them and pour in a bowl. Heat up the other 2 tablespoons of oil and stir fry the chopped garlic and onions on medium heat for 1 minute. Add the chicken and chopped pineapple to the pan and stir fry those. Add your soy sauce and fish sauce at this point and stir in. Wait till the pineapple starts to caramelize and then add the mixed vegetables. Taste for salt and sprinkle some as need be. Increase the heat and stir in your seasoned rice and stir fry till properly mixed. Add your eggs, stir once again and serve hot.
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Stuffed Roasted Whole Chicken

Roasted Whole Chicken makes a nice treat any day and on every occasion but the fear of messing it up keeps a lot of people from preparing this yummy recipe.

How to Make Roasted Whole Chicken [Video]

The most important thing you need to do when roasting whole chicken is to make sure that the chicken is thoroughly seasoned. There are many types of seasonings and vegetables you can use for your roasted chicken and there a many ways to go about it but the method detailed on this page is how my Mum does it!

Ingredients

Main ingredient

• 1 whole chicken

Seasoning for the body of the chicken

• 1 big stock cube
• 1 teaspoon dry ground cayenne pepper (or ground black pepper)
• ½ teaspoon ground ehu seeds or Calabash Nutmeg (optional)

Stuffing

• 1 cigar cup or 180g long grain parboiled rice
• Vegetables
  • 1 Carrot
  • 1 handful green peas (or green beans)
• Seasoning
  • 1 medium onion
  • 1 big stock cube
  • 2 teaspoons curry powder (no chilli)
  • 1 teaspoon thyme
  • Salt to taste
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Side Dish: Roasted Potatoes

• 6 medium Irish potatoes
• Leftover seasoning from that of the chicken
• 1 teaspoon thyme.
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• Salt to taste

More information about the Roasted Whole Chicken ingredients

The chicken

I use rooster or cockerel which is the male chicken because it is softer and cooks quicker than hen, the female chicken. Even though hen is tastier, it will take much longer to get done if you use it for this recipe.

Seasoning for the body of the chicken

I only add ground ehu seeds to give the chicken a sort of barbacue/peppersoup flavour.

Feel free to use other seasonings you like.

Stuffing

You can experiment with other herbs, seasonings and vegetables. It is not advisable to use soft vegetables because they will be overcooked by the time the chicken is done.

Side dish

You can skip the potatoes and use only rice. Just parboil the quantity of rice that will be enough for the stuffing and side dish. Cover the rice with aluminum foil so that it will not be dry when done.

Before you roast the chicken

1. Prepare the blend of seasonings for the body of the chicken by mixing the dry ground pepper, stock cube (crushed) and ground ehu seeds.
2. Scrape and cut the carrots into small cubes and cut the onion into small pieces.
3. Peel and cut the potatoes into wedges. You can leave the skin on if you want.

Making the Roasted Whole Chicken: Step by Step

1. Prepare the stuffing.

Parboil the rice like you would parboil rice for Nigerian Jollof Rice. Rinse and put in a sieve to drain. If you will be using only rice as your side dish, you will need to parboil enough rice for this purpose.

Put it in a bowl, add the curry powder and mix well.

Add the diced carrots, green peas, diced onions, thyme, salt to taste and some vegetable oil. Stir well and set aside.

2. Stuff the Chicken

Wash the chicken and dry with a towel.

Stuff the inside with the seasoned rice and vegetables. Do not over fill it because remember that this rice is only parboiled and it will rise as it cooks.

When done, tie the legs of the chicken. This helps the chicken maintain a more presentable shape. You don't want it sagging and all over the place.

Set your oven to 180°C (350°F) to preheat.

Rub some vegetable oil on the chicken, sprinkle the blend of seasonings we prepared earlier and rub it all over the body of the chicken.

Make sure the chicken's wings are tucked away under the chicken or into the string you used to tie up the chicken.

3. Prepare the side dish

If you want to use only rice as your side dish, then you should have prepared enough in step 1.

If using potatoes, place the wedges in a bowl, add the remaining seasoing from the one you rubbed on the body of the chicken, add thyme, salt to taste and some vegetable oil.

Toss to evenly distribute the seasonings and set aside.

4. Arrange, then roast

Dish the remaining rice from the stuffing into an oven tray leaving some space at the centre for the chicken.

Place the chicken at the center.

Add the seasoned potatoes around the chicken and place in the preheated oven and bake for one and a half hours.

The chicken is done when it is golden, the rice inside the chicken is well done and a cut into the chicken thigh shows a white flesh with some succulent juice.

If the skin is pinkish or even red, the chicken is not done.

That's it! It's not that hard afterall, is it? Serve portions of the chicken with the rice and roasted potatoes.

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Valerie Kadiri: How to cook Nigerian Fried Rice

The Nigerian Fried Rice must be the best thing that happened to birthday parties, weddings, street parties, picnics, special events and occassions.

It is so easy to prepare that you can even cook it every weekend in your own home. Eat the Nigerian Fried Rice recipe with Moi Moi, Nigerian Salad or Coleslaw and you will feel like you are in paradise island. Are you ready to go on the Nigerian fried rice cooking spree?

Ingredients

• Rice - 3 cigar cups | 750g
• Vegetable Oil
• Chicken (whole chicken or chicken drumsticks)
• Cow Liver (100g)
• Plain Yellow Curry Powder – no chilli (1 tablespoon)
• Green Beans (a handful)
• 5 medium sized carrots
• Salt (to taste)
• Onions - 3 medium sized bulbs
• Seasoning – 3 Maggi/Knorr cubes & Thyme (1 teaspoon)

Tools I used

• Cooker: Buy it in USA | in UK
• Oven for grilling the chicken: Buy it in USA | in UK
• Deep Pot: Buy it in USA | in UK
• Spatula: Buy it in USA | in UK
• Frying pan: Buy it in USA | in UK
• Sieve
• Chopping board: Buy it in USA | in UK
• Knives: Buy it in USA | in UK

Note: I do not use woks because it is a lot of work taking care of them. If the carbon steel is not rusting, the bamboo handles are coming apart so I prefer my frying pans for fried rice :)

Before you cook the Fried Rice

Cut the vegetables

Wash all the vegetables to be used in cooking the fried rice. Scrape and cut the carrots into tiny cubes. Cut the green beans into small pieces of about 0.7cm long. Soak these 2 vegetables separately in hot water for about 5 minutes and drain. Cut 1 bulb of onion. Set all these aside.

Prepare the liver and chicken

1. Cook the cow liver till done and cut into tiny pieces. To save time and energy, you can cook the liver with the chicken as I did in the video below.
2. Cut the whole chicken into pieces and cook with the seasoning and 2 bulbs of onions (chopped). When done, grill in an oven or deepfry with vegetable oil. This gives it a golden look which is more presentable especially when you are entertaining guests. Read how to season and grill chicken for more details.

Cooking Directions

1. Parboil the rice using the method detailed in parboiling rice for cooking fried rice. Wash the parboiled rice and put in a sieve so all the water drains out.
2. Pour the chicken stock into a sieve to remove all traces of onions, thyme etc used in cooking the chicken. Pour the stock into a pot and set to boil. Once the water boils, add the parboiled rice. Also, add 1 tablespoon of plain yellow curry powder, then add salt to taste. The plain yellow curry powder is merely for colouring so should not contain chilli.
3. The water level should be slightly less than the level of the rice; at most it should be at the same level as the rice. This is to ensure that all the water dries up by the time the rice is cooked. Stir the contents; cover the pot and leave to cook on medium heat. This way the rice does not burn before the water dries up.
4. Once the water has dried up, check that the rice is cooked. Perfect fried rice is one that the grains are separated from one another, resistant to the bite but not hard.
5. Now, transfer the rice to a casserole dish or another pot to help cool it down quickly. This is essential to keep the grains from sticking to each other. If left in the original hot pot, the rice will continue to cook and eventually stick together.
   
   At this point, it is advisable to divide the vegetables into say 4, 5 or even 6 equal parts. The rice will be fried in batches so this number depends on the quantity of rice you can comfortably fry in the pan or pot. Also, divide the cooked rice and the diced cow liver into the same number of equal parts.
6. Now pour a small amount of vegetable oil into a frying pan. This quantity of oil should be such that it would be absorbed by 1 part of the cooked rice and 1 part each of the vegetables. When the oil is hot, add 1 part of diced onions and stir for 10 seconds, followed by 1 part of diced cow liver, one part each of the diced vegetables, then 1 part of cooked rice.
7. Add more salt if necessary. More curry powder may also be added at this stage if you need to touch up on the colour. Stir till all the ingredients have mixed well and transfer to a dry pot. Repeat this for the remaining batches of the ingredients.

The fried rice is ready. Serve with fried chicken. You can add coleslaw, Moi Moi or Nigerian salad.

VERY IMPORTANT:

Nigerian Fried Rice can go bad very quickly. You can avoid this by spreading it to cool it then refrigerate immediately. Otherwise, eat it once you finish preparing it. If you want to serve it at a party, please cook it very close to the serving time, if not, it will go bad! If refrigerated, it can last for 48 hours without loosing its taste.

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