VIDEO: How to make pan cakes

African Salad (Abacha & Ugba)

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My grandmother always told me that Abacha is not a meal. Though it can be as filling as any other main course meal, African Salad is usually eaten as an in-between meal.
How to Make Abacha with Ugba [Video]
I remember vividly how my grandma prepared Abacha as soon as she came back from the Eke or Afor market, garnished with a generous serving of garden eggs and the leaves, with some dry fish. Oh, I will never forget the long vacations spent at grandma's place.
Abacha is prepared with cassava. The cassava tubers are cooked till done then sliced with a special cutter. The sliced cassava is then soaked in cold water overnight, washed thoroughly and dried under the sun.
Your African Salad will not be complete without Ugba. Ugba, also known as Ukpaka, is made from oil bean seeds. These seeds are cooked for several hours then sliced, washed and fermented for a few days.

Ingredients for Abacha

The following are the complete ingredients you need to make a delicious African Salad. I will group the ingredients for ease. I did not use all these in the video because they are not available where I live.
For African Salad, the more ingredients you use, the tastier and more "complete" it will be. Some people may regard Ugba as optional but for me, it is a must :)

Minimum ingredients for making Abacha (African Salad)

• Abacha | 3 handfuls
• Ugba | 2 cups
• Palm Oil | 30 cl
• Powdered Potash (food tenderizer) | 2 tablespoons
• Fish | Mackerel/Dry Fish/Stockfish
• 1 large Onion
• Salt and dry pepper (to taste)
• Crayfish | 2 handfuls
• 2 Stock cubes (Maggi/Knorr)
• 1 teaspoon ground Ehu seeds (Calabash Nutmeg)

Other seasoning you can add to the Abacha

• 1 teaspoon Ogiri / Iru (traditional Nigerian seasoning that smells like you-know-what lol)

Other meat and vegetables for the Abacha

• 3 Fresh Utazi leaves (Gongronema latifolium)
• Pomo / Kanda (cow skin)
• Garden Eggs | As much as you can eat
• Garden Egg leaves | 1 medium bunch
• 1 medium Onion (for serving)

Before to Make Your African Salad

1. Prepare the ehu seeds by roasting, dehauling and grinding them with a dry mill. See this video for how to do that.
2. If you will use kanda (cow skin), cook till done and cut into small pieces.
3. Depending on your choice of fish (you can also use all of them), fry or roast the mackerel, soak the stockfish in water and debone the dry fish.
4. Wash and cut the vegetables into tiny pieces. Cut the big bulb of onion into tiny pieces and cut the medium one in circles. Wash the garden egges and set aside, no need to cut these.
5. Grind the crayfish and pepper
6. Soak the Abacha in cold water and rinse the Ugba with lukewarm water.
7. Once the Abacha has softened, put in a sieve to drain.
8. Put the powdered potash in a cup or bowl and pour about 1 cup of cold water. Stir well and you are ready to start making the African Salad.

Making the African Salad

The key to making a good African Salad is to make sure that all the ingredients are well incorporated. As you will see below, there's a lot of add this, stir, add that, stir. You may wonder why you can't just add everything and stir but if you do that, it will be very difficult for you to get a good blend of all the ingredients.

1. Pour the palm oil into a sizeable pot. Yes you need all that oil so that your Abacha will not have a dry feel in the mouth when done. Pour the water from the potash mixture, making sure not to pour the sediments.
2. Stir very well and you'll see the oil turn into a yellow paste.
3. Add the ground pepper, ground ehu, crushed stock cubes, crayfish, diced onions and ugba (ukpaka), then stir very well. Please not that we are doing everything off the stove.
4. Add the iru/ogiri and make sure it is mixed very well. Add the diced kanda/pomo and stir very well.
5. Now add the soaked and drained Abacha and stir till it is well-incorporated in the palm oil paste.
6. Add the sliced Utazi and salt to taste and stir well. You can also use dry Utazi if the fresh one is not available where you live. It is important that you add salt last because after adding all that seasoning, your Abacha may not even need salt anymore.
7. I like my Abacha warm. If you like yours that way too, transfer to a stove at this point and heat it up to your desired temperature at medium heat. When done, turn off the heat and add the sliced garden egg leaves, stir very well and serve.
8. If you like your Abacha cold, after step 6, add the sliced garden egg leaves, stir and serve with garden eggs, fish and onions.

You are done! Eat with chilled palm wine for the full effects :)
Watch the video below to see how I did mine. I used minimal ingredients but don't be shy about using all the possible ingredients if these are available to you.

How to make Coleslaw

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Coleslaw simply means cabbage salad. It is a blend of finely shredded cabbage, carrots and a few other crunchy vegetables. It is then generously dressed with mayonnaise and salad cream.
It is generally eaten as a side dish to such foods as Jollof Rice, Fried/Barbecued Chicken, Moi Moi and many other rice dishes.
Coleslaw is usually served chilled to allow the dressing settle into the vegetables.

Ingredients

• 1 small cabbage
• 1 small green bell pepper
• ½ tin of green peas
• 2 medium carrots
• 1 medium onion
• 5 tablespoons of salad cream (preferably Heinz Classic Salad Cream)
• 4 tablespoons of mayonnaise
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• A pinch of salt

Preparation

All the vegetables need to be washed.

1. Cut the cabbage, green bell pepper and onions into very tiny pieces.
2. Scrape and shred the carrots using a grater, then use a knife to cut across the shreds to make the pieces even smaller.
3. Put the cabbage, green pepper, green peas, onions and carrots into a large bowl and stir till you get a good mix.
4. In a separate, smaller bowl, mix the salad cream, mayonnaise, sugar and salt.
5. Pour the cream mix into the bowl of vegetables and stir very well.
6. Chill and serve.

Note: If you prefer the coleslaw creamier, you can increase the quantity of the salad cream. Feel free to add a pinch of ground pepper if you like it spicy.

Coleslaw can be eaten alone or as a side dish to Jollof Rice, Coconut Rice, Fried Rice and other Nigerian rice dishes.

How to Make Nigerian Chapman Drink

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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!

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 ;-)

• 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

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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. :)
5. 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.
6. 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.

Where to buy the tools and ingredients you will need to make a chapman:

• Angostura Bitters: Buy it in USA | in UK
• Grenadine Syrup: Buy it in USA | in UK
• Classic Dimple Mugs Buy it in USA | in UK
• Chopping board: Buy it in USA | in UK
• Knives: Buy it in USA | in UK

Before you make the Chapman

1. Make the ice cubes either with water or a mixture of the fanta and the sprite.
2. Make sure the Grenadine Syrup, Fanta and Sprite are chilling in the fridge.
3. 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

1. Put a few ice cubes in the mugs.
2. Add half a cup of the Grenadine Syrup, this should be about one third of the dimpled mug.
3. Add a few dashes of Angostura Bitters (to your taste).
4. Add a squeeze of orange and lemon each.
5. 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.
6. Add your sliced garnishings: cucumber, orange and lemons. This list goes on and on, some people even add bananas to theirs :)
7. Top off with Ribena blackcurrant if you have it.
8. 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.

How to make Bread Rolls

 

 

 

 

Ingredients for Bread Rolls

The following ingredients make 9 Bread Rolls.

• 500g (1.1 lbs) plain flour
• 2 teaspoons yeast
• 100g (3.5oz) butter (not margarine)
• 2 eggs
• 200ml warm whole milk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar

How to cook Fried Rice

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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.

Something quicky for busy mothers, Bachelors, and Spincers......

Monday- Baked Crab Sandwiches
Tuesday- Baked Chicken Breasts
Wednesday- Crunchy Pork chops
Thursday- Noodled Tuna Bake
Friday- Italian Sausage and Ravioli
Saturday- Stove top Ham Supper
Sunday- Sweet and Sour Pork Cutlets




Monday- Baked Crab Sandwiches

Butter
12 slices thin bread, crusts removed
16 ounces imitation crab meat
1 package shredded cheddar cheese
4 eggs, beaten
3 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon curry powder

1) Butter 6 slices bread and place butter side down in sprayed baking dish, spread crab meat over bread and top with remaining 6 slices, butter side up. Sprinkle with cheese. Mix eggs, milk and curry powder and pour carefully over bread. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 325. Bake for 45 minutes.

Tuesday- Baked Chicken Breasts

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts halves
2 (10 ounce) cans cream of chicken soup
1 cup shredded swiss cheese
2 cups herb-seasoned stuffing mix
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted

1) Preheat oven to 350. Arrange chicken breasts in sprayed baking dish.
2) Combine soup with 1/4 cup water in small bowl. Pour over chicken breasts and sprinkle with cheese and stuffing mix, Drizzle butter over top of casserole. Bake for 1 hour.

Wednesday- Crunchy Pork chops

1 cup crushed saltine crackers
1/4 cup bisquick mix
1 egg, beaten
boneless pork chops
oil

1) In shallow bowl, combine crushed crackers, bisquick mix and 3/4 teaspoon salt. In second bowl, combine beaten egg and 2 tablespoons water. Dip pork chops into egg mixture and dredge in cracker mixture. Heat a little oil in heavy skillet, cook pork chops for about 15 minutes and turn once.

Thursday- Noodled Tuna Bake

2 (6 ounce) cans tuna, well drained
1 (10 ounce) can cream of celery soup
1 egg, beaten
1 can Chinese fried noodles

1) Preheat oven to 350.
2) In bowl, combine tuna, soup, half can fried noodles and egg.
3) Bake for 25 minutes, top with remaining noodles and bake for additional 10 minutes

Friday- Italian Sausage and Ravioli

1 package sweet Italian pork sausage, casing removed
1 (28 ounce) jar chuncky mushroom and green pepper spaghetti sauce
1 package frozen cheese-filled ravioli, cooked and drained
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1) In large skillet over medium heat, brown sausage and stir until meat is no longer pink. Stir in spaghetti sauce and heat to boiling. Add ravioli and stir gently until it is hot. Pour into serving dish and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Saturday- Stove top Ham Supper

1 (12 ounce) package spiral pasta
3 tablespoons butter, sliced
2-3 cups cooked, cubed ham
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 (16 ounce) package broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots
1/2 cup sour cream
1 (ounce) package shredded cheddar cheese

1) Preheat oven to 375.
2) Cook pasta in large saucepan, according to package directions, drain and stir in butter while still hot. Add ham, garlic, and salt.
3) Cook vegetables in microwave according to directions and stir, with liquid, into pasta-ham mixture. Stir in sour cream and half of the cheese. Mix until well blended.
4) Spoon into sprayed 3-quart baking dish. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top and let stand until cheese melts.

Sunday- Sweet and Sour Pork Cutlets

3/4 cup flour
Pork Cutlets
2 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup dried cranberries (craisins)
1 tablespoon Dijon-style mustard
1 tablespoon brown sugar
Orange Juice

1) Place flour in shallow bowl and dredge cutlets in flour. Brown pork cutlets in heavy skillet with 1 tablespoon butter and turn once. Add orange juice, cranberries, mustard, brown sugar and remaining butter.
2) Cook on high until mixture bubbles. Reduce heat and simmer for about 5 minutes.

MY DEAR Oma'S Pot Pourri Readers

Dear viewers, here is an open offer from us, ask us about any meal you would like to prepare, and we would be glad to help you out with it.......

How to make Tuwo Shinkafa

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Tuwo Shinkafa is a northern Nigerian fufu recipe that is prepared with the soft rice variety. It is usually served with Northern Nigerian soups: Miyan Kuka, Miyan Taushe etc. It also goes well with other Nigerian soups.

The rice used for Tuwo Shinkafa should be the a soft rice variety that becomes sticky when cooked. This is so that the grains can be easily mashed to make a mass of fufu (tuwo).

Ingredients

• Short/Medium grain soft rice
• Water (enough quantity to cook the rice till very soft and sticky)

Before you make the Tuwo Shinkafa

• Rinse the rice in cold water and put in a sizeable pot.

Directions

1. Pour just enough water to cover the rice and start cooking at medium heat.
2. When the first dose of water dries up, check the rice by mashing it between your fingers. If the rice grains have even a tiny resistance when you press them, then it needs to be cooked some more.
3. Reduce the heat to low, add a little bit more water and continue cooking till the water dries.
4. Repeat the process till the rice is so soft that it melts when you press on it.
5. Once you're happy, mash the rice with a wooden spatula by moving the rice in small quantities from the far end of the pot to your side of the pot.
6. Fold the mound of tuwo and repeat till all the rice grains have turned into a mass of tuwo.
7. Cover and leave it to steam for about 2 minutes.
8. Mix thoroughly and dish serving quantities onto a thin plastic film and wrap them up. This wrapping prevents the tuwo from drying up.
9. You can also serve them in smaller balls as shown in the image above.

Serve Tuwo Shinkafa with any Nigerian soup. I love eating it with Okra Soup.

Gbegiri Soup: A Yoruba Delicacy

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Gbegiri soup is a Yoruba (Western Nigerian) soup prepared with beans. On its own, it looks like baby food but it comes alive when you add Ewedu Soup and meat from your Beef & Chicken Stew.

Gbegiri Soup (the yellow one in the image) takes a bit of getting used for those who are not used to eating soup cooked with beans. The combination of the Gbegiri Soup, Ewedu Soup and the stew will surely tease and challenge your tastebuds!

Ingredients for Gbegiri Soup

• 150g Black Eyed or Brown Beans
• 1 small smoked Mackerel/Titus
• 1 tablespoon ground crayfish
• 1 big stock cube
• 1 cooking spoon palm oil
• Pepper and salt (to taste)

Before you cook Gbegiri Soup

1. Ensure you have some Beef & Chicken Stew because the beef for the Gbegiri Soup comes from this stew.
2. Remove the beans coat and soak the beans for about 3 hours. This soaking makes the beans soft so that it cooks in less time. This way there will be no need to use potash to cook the beans. If you are using peeled and dried beans, you will need to soak it overnight.
3. Prepare other ingredients: pound/blitz the pepper and grind the crayfish.

Cooking Directions

1. Put the peeled and soaked beans into a sizeable pot. Pour water to cover the beans and start cooking at medium heat.
2. While the beans is cooking, prepare the Ewedu Soup which is used to eat the Gbegiri Soup.
3. Cook the beans till they become so soft that it practically melts when you mash it with your fingers. This takes about 1 hour. You will need to top up the water from time to time but make sure the water is always at the same level as the beans. This ensures that you have just the right amount of water in the soup when the beans is done.
4. Mash the very soft beans with a potato masher. You can also blend it with your kitchen blender for a very smooth consistency. I do not like pouring the hot beans into my blender then pouring it back into the pot after blending. And it is not practical to wait for the beans to cool down, blend it and then continue cooking!
5. When you are happy with the smoothness of the beans, add the smoked fish, salt, pepper, crayfish, stock cube and palm oil.
6. Cover the pot and cook at medium heat for about 5 minutes or till the oil blends with the rest of the ingredients. This is when the oil changes from red to yellow.
7. Stir from time to time so it does not burn.
8. That's it! The Gbegiri Soup is done.

Dish the soup with Ewedu Soup, get the meat from your Beef & Chicken Stew and eat with Amala or any other Nigerian fufu meal.