Cuisine of Nigeria like West African cuisine in general is popular for its variety and richness. In the cuisines of Nigeria, many different spices, herbs and flavorings are used in combination with palm oil or groundnut oil. It is done to create deeply-flavored sauces and soups. These are often also made very hot with chili peppers.
The Nigerian feasts are colorful and lavish. There are many aromatic market and roadside snacks cooked on barbecues or fried in oil available. Here are some popular cuisines or dishes of Nigeria.
Afang is a popular style vegetable soup which has its origin from the Efiks in the southeast of Nigeria.
Iyan is similar to mashed potatoes and is made from pounded yam. It is all mashed without any yam chunks left.
Amala is a thick paste or porridge that is made from yam skin. The yam is peeled, cleaned, dried and then blended similar to iyan to prepare this cuisine. It is normally darker (brown) in color. The Lafun is a basically amala but much lighter in color and should not to be confused with iyan, tastes totally different.
The groundnut stew is very much liked by the localites and is a must try if you come to Nigeria because it is considered as the jewel in the crown of Nigerian cooking. It is prepared with groundnuts, tomato and onion as the base. It can also be infinitely varied with chicken, beef or fish and various leaf vegetables for subtle flavors.
The popular Draw soup is also a favorite and is made from okra or melon seeds. They are cooked until they 'thicken.' The Eba, also called garri is like amala. It is a very thick paste and is rolled into balls and made from cassava. The Egusi soup is thickened with ground melon seeds and contains leaf vegetables. It also contains other vegetables, seasonings, and meat.
Another very popular cuisine of Nigeria is the Fried plantain or 'dodo'. It is generally used as a side dish of plantains fried in vegetable oil or palm oil. The Fufu is a thick and very smooth paste made from yams or cocoyam. In fact any starchy staple can be used such as cassava, potato, plantains, maize.
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