Ikokore (Water Yam Pottage)served with Carrot juice

Ingredients:

1 medium size water yam
1 medium size onion
2 medium size fresh pepper
2 cooking spoons of meat stock
2 cooking spoons of palm oil
2 knorr chicken cubes
Seasoning (curry, thyme and white pepper)
1 medium size smoked dry fish
1 teaspoon of locust beans
1 small tin of tomato puree
Salt

Method:

Grind the pepper and onion and set it aside. Peel the water yam, rinse it under running water and grate. Pour the grinded pepper and onions, add some salt, curry, thyme, white pepper, the 2 cubes of knorr chicken, the 2 cooking spoons of meat stock, the 2 cooking spoons of palm oil, the locust bean and empty the content of the small tin of tomato puree into a big pot. Pour some water into the pot containing the mixture and simmer for 45 minutes. Rinse the smoked dried fish in water to which some salt has been added, remove the intestine, the head and the bones and shred the fish then pour the shredded fish into the pot containing the other ingredients. Add some salt to the grated water yam and stir, then scoop the grated water yam into the soup and allow it to simmer for like 45 minutes to ensure that the water yam is thoroughly cooked, taste for salt and serve it hot. This serves 4 people.

Making of Carrot juice

4 kilograms of carrot

Thoroughly rinse the carrots to remove all the dirt from it and also add some salt to the water used in rinsing the carrots. Use a juice extractor to extract the juice. Carrot juice should be consumed as soon as it is extracted because it changes colour quickly, but if you have to preserve it add some lime juice to the carrot juice and refrigerate immediately.

Crammed Tilapia Fish in Stew

Ingredients:

2 medium sized Eggs
2 small size onions
Groundnut oil
1 Large Tilapia fish
Toothpicks
½ a cup of Green peas
2 medium sized carrots
Fresh peppers and tomatoes
4 slices of sliced bread
2 Knorr chicken cubes
Salt to taste
Curry
Thyme
White pepper

Method:

Clean the fish, cut it and season with a cube of knorr chicken, salt, thyme, white pepper and curry. Allow the fish to pickle. Break the eggs and pour the content into a small bowl, add some salt and a quarter of knorr chicken cube and whisk it. Wash the green peas and set aside, wash the carrots, dice it and set aside as well. Pour some groundnut oil into a clean frying pan, when the oil becomes hot, pour the bread into it and fry the bread until it becomes golden brown, then pour in the whisked egg, green peas and the diced carrots and continue to fry until it becomes cooked. Chop the onion and spread the egg mixture on the cut fish and then spread some of the chopped onion over it. Roll each over and try to secure it with a toothpick. Blend the fresh peppers, tomatoes and onions and set it aside. Heat some groundnut oil for a while and when it becomes hot, add the ground tomatoes, onions and peppers and continue to fry for about 15minutes and add some salt, curry, thyme and white pepper to taste. Remove from heat and serve with a plate of boiled rice, beans ,or boiled yam or as you wish.

Chicken Rice Stew

Ingredients:
500g of chicken breast
200g of liver
200g of kidney
3 medium size Peppers
2 cups of broccoli florets
3 cups of chicken broth
1 Teaspoon/1 tablespoon of fresh sage leaves
3 pieces of carrots
Salt to taste
1 medium size onions
5 cups of rice
1 teaspoon olive oil
Groundnut oil
2 cubes of knorr chicken
1 medium size cucumber
Recipe:
Remove the skin as well as the bone of the chicken breast and cut it into cubes, rinse it and pour into a sieve for the water to drain. Cut the liver as well as the kidney into cubes, rinse and pour also into a sieve for the water to drain. Deep-fry the chicken, liver and kidney in oil in a large saucepan until it becomes golden brown. Chop the onion and add it to the chicken, liver and kidney and cook until it becomes tender. Cut the carrots into thin slices and set aside. Chop the peppers too .Chop the broccoli florets as well as the sage leaves and set aside as well. Stir in the broth, olive oil, rice, and the chopped pepper and carrots. Heat to boiling; reduce the heat and simmer and add the two cubes of knorr chicken, cover the rice and cook the rice until it becomes tender. The rice should be ready in about 30 minutes. Then stir in the broccoli and the sage, simmer until the broccoli becomes tender, which should not be more than 3 minutes. Add salt to taste. Slice the cucumber and cut it into halves. After serving the rice, put some cucumber by the side of the rice.This recipe serves five people.

Yam Pottage

Ingredients:

1 medium size smoked fish
1 cup of fresh or dried shrimps
2 medium size tomatoes
2 medium size bell peppers
2 small peppers
1 bulb of onion
2 cooking spoons of palm oil
Seasoning ( 1 cube of knorr chicken, 2 table spoons each of curry and thyme)
Water, salt to taste
1 medium size yam tuber
A handful of basil leaves


Method

Rinse the smoked fish properly to remove dust, remove the intestine, shred the fish and set aside. Peel the yam tuber, wash thoroughly and cut it into cubes, pour the cut yam into a pot add some water and set aside. Remove the shell of the fresh shrimp, but if you are using dried shrimp there is no need to remove the shell, just rinse and pour it into the pot containing the yam, add one cube of knorr chicken, as well as the two spoons each of curry and thyme and put the pot on fire to boil its content. Slice some onions into the pot and add some salt and cover the pot. Blend the tomatoes, bell peppers, small peppers, onions and pour it into the pot after 5 minutes. When the yam is almost cooked, add the two cooking spoons of palm oil, mash the yam with a wooden spoon. Rinse the basil leaves with salt added to the water and shred. Add the shredded basil leaves to the yam, stir and taste for salt. Remove the pot from fire after 1 minute so as not to denature the basil leaves and serve. This serves 3 people.

Fried Shrimp and Peas

Ingredients:

150g raw shrimp, unshelled
1 medium size onion
150g of beef
½ cup of peas
Spring onions
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of salt
Pepper
Groundnut oil
Seasoning (1 knorr chicken cube, curry and thyme)
2 teaspoons of water
1 teaspoon cornstarch

Method:

Remove the shell and rinse the shrimp properly, cut into small pieces, season with half a cube of knorr chicken, salt, onion, curry and thyme and set aside for 20 minutes. Wash the beef, season and cook until it becomes soft and dice it. Dice the onion as well as the spring onion. Pour some oil into the frying pan, when it becomes hot stir fry the diced beef and peas for a while then, pour into a plate and set it aside. Shred the pepper, stir fry the pepper, shrimp and the onion as well and set aside. Break the eggs into a plate add some salt and beat with a fork and set aside. Heat the frying pan and add very little groundnut oil, when it becomes hot pour about half of the egg and cook for a while, when it is thoroughly cooked, turn it over so that both sides are cooked. Cook the other half of the egg the same way too and cut the egg into thin strips and set aside. Pour all the fried ingredients ( pepper, shrimp, onion, beef, peas, cornstarch, spring onions) together with the exception of the fried egg and mixed them together properly, then pour into a plate and garnish it with the fried egg.

Corn (maize)jollof with mixed vegetables

Ingredients:

1kg of meat
1 medium sized onion
1 tin of tomato puree
8 cups of fresh corn (maize)
1 teaspoon of fresh pepper (ground)
6 cooking spoons of vegetable oil
Salt to taste
3 fresh tomatoes
2 medium bunches of lettuce
2 medium size carrots
2 litres of water
Salt to taste
1 cup of green peas
Seasoning (1 teaspoon each of curry and thyme)
2 knorr chicken cubes

Method:

Rinse the lettuce, carrots, onions and tomatoes in clean water add some salt into the water to purify them of any germs on them. Chop the lettuce; grate the carrots, onion and tomatoes separately into four different plates and set aside. Cut the meat into sizes that can be served, wash it thoroughly, pour the meat into a pot, add some water, slice in some onions, add the 1 teaspoon of curry and thyme, 1 cube of knorr chicken, salt and boil the meat until it becomes soft, set the meat stock aside and pour some vegetable oil into the frying pan. When the oil becomes hot, fry the boiled meat in the hot oil until both sides of the meat becomes golden brown. Wash the corn (maize), pour the washed corn (maize) into the meat stock and boil it until it becomes very soft. Fry the tomato puree, slice some onions into the tomato puree add 1 teaspoon pepper, 1 cube of knorr chicken for about 7 minutes. Pour the fried tomato puree into the pot containing corn (maize), pour the green peas and allow it to simmer for 15 minutes, shake the pot from time to time, taste for salt. The corn (maize)jollof is now ready to be served which is garnished with the chopped lettuce, grated onions, carrots and tomatoes.

Ewedu (Jute plant) with pounded yam

Ewedu (jute) is the Yoruba name for the leaves of Jute plant. This vegetable is well eaten in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.They can be bought in the market. The leaves can be cooked fresh or dried and turned into powder, when the fresh leaves are cooked it gives a bright green colour but when the dried leaves are cooked, it has army colour and one can also use the dried leaves as a thickener for stews. Jute is a rich source of beta carotene.

Ingredients

500g of young ewedu (Jute)

leaves1 tea spoon of potash
2 tea spoons of locust bean ( I have talked about the preparation of locust bean from soy bean in a previous dish or you can buy an already prepared locust bean)

seasoning (2 cubes of knorr chicken, 2 tea spoons each of curry and thyme)

salt
Peppers
Tomatoes
2 cooking spoons of Groundnut oil
Onions
Half a kilogram of turkey (or any other meat of your choice)

Method:

The young ewedu (jute) leaves are stripped from the stem and washed. They are then shredded on a chopping board or one could use a blender. Pour some water of about 200ml into the pot, add the 1 tea spoon of potash and bring the water to boil. Add the shredded ewedu to the boiling water followed by the locust bean, seasoning and add some salt to taste. Do not cook for too long in other not to destroy the nutrients in the ewedu (jute), maximum cooking time of 5 minutes will do. Ewedu (jute)can be served with any meal of your choice other than pounded yam. Along side the ewedu (jute) leave soup you’ll also need to prepare pepper stew.

Cut the turkey into sizes that can be served, rinse it and pour into a pot, dice some onions, add 1 tea spoon of curry and thyme and a cube of knorr chicken add salt to taste and cook for 20 minutes, blend the peppers, tomatoes and onion and pour it into the pot containing the turkey, add the 2 spoons of groundnut oil and cook for another 30 minutes and taste for salt. It’s ready to be served.

Iyan (Pounded Yam)

Iyan is the Yoruba name for pounded yam. Pounded yam is well eaten in Africa and Africans relish it a lot. In South West Nigeria, you bet that would be the meal to be served on special days or occasions like Christmas day, weddings and the likes.

Ingredient:

1 tuber of yam

Traditionally pounded yam is prepared by boiling yam in a pot until it becomes soft, it is then poured into a mortar and a pestle is used in crushing the yam into a smooth dough, hot or cold water is added to the dough a little at a time until the dough becomes soft.
Now a days because of the stress involved in preparing pounded yam locally, yam powder also known as poundo yam is now widely available in the stores.

Ingredients:

350 grammes of pounded yam powder (poundo yam)half a litre of water

Method:

Pour some water into a pot and bring to boil, reduce the heat and sprinkle some of the yam powder into the boiling water, stir repeatedly with a spatula and continue to add the yam powder until you get your desired consistency. Add some water to your dough and cover it and let it simmer for 5 minutes, use the spatula to turn it and allow it to simmer for another 5 minutes. Remove from heat and use the spatula to knead it repeatedly until it becomes very smooth, afterwards you serve the pounded yam with the pepper stew and the ewedu (jute) soup.