Naijawack

Author: Naijawack

  • Delta Banga Soup Recipe

    Delta Banga Soup Recipe

    10,000 naira

    Banga soup is a delight for every Urhobo man, when paired with piping hot starch, a wife can ask for anything and her husband will gladly obliged. Banga soup is now a favorite to many tribes across the country with some variations along the way.

    Here is an authentic way to make Delta banga soup guaranteed to win you the heart of any deltan, or simply fill your stomach and delight your tongue.

    Banga Soup 1

    Ready in 150 minutes

    Serves 8 people

    2280 calories 

    Ingredients

    • Cow meat (3000 naira)
    • Tomato basin of Palm nuts (1500 naira)
    • Ground cayenne pepper (300 naira)
    • Seasoning cubes
    • Fresh mackerel fish (2000 naira) you can also use catfish.
    • Sachet of Banga Spice which is a blended mixture of Irugeje and ataiko (400 naira) 
    • Obeletientien leaves or Dried bitter leaves (100 naira)
    • 1 Oburunbebe stick also known as banga stick (150 naira)
    • Dried Fish (1500 naira)
    • 1 cup of deshelled periwinkle (600 naira)
    • 1 tbsp ground crayfish
    • Salt to taste

    Preparation

    • Parboil the banga nuts. Start by washing the palm nuts and place in a big pot and allow to cook till soft.
    Banga Soup 2
    • When the nuts are soft, Transfer them into a mortar and pound gently, making sure you don’t break the nuts.
    Banga Soup 3
    • Pour some hot water over the pounded nuts, squeeze and use a sieve to strain out the extract – Repeat this a couple of times until you get all the extract from the nut. 
    Banga Soup 4
    Banga Soup 5
    • Place the palm nut extract or banga water as we like to call it into a cooking pot and place on the stovetop. Once it starts to boil add the banga spices. 
    Banga Soup 6
    • Hot Take! I like to add my raw meat directly to the banga extract and allow everything cook together but some people may prefer to cook the meat separately before adding to the soup. To each his own! But i find parboiling the meat separately a waste of time, as you do not use any special seasoning to parboil meat meant for banga soup. But if you prefer to parboil your meat separately, place the meat in a pot and add Cameroon pepper, seasoning powder, and salt. Stir and leave to cook till the meat becomes tender and set aside.
    • Allow the palm nut extract to cook for about 30 minutes or until it starts to thicken slightly. Then add your ground pepper, fresh and dried fish alongside your seasoning cubes. 
    Banga Soup 7
    • Allow the soup to thicken some more before introducing the deshelled periwinkle and crayfish powder.
    Banga Soup 8
    • Add some salt to taste and your authentic delta banga soup is ready to be devoured. 

    Tips

    Banga soup can be eaten with eba, fufu or semo. But it’s typically eaten with starch. This is a type of swallow made with cassava starch. Its very stretchy and smooth.  Here’s how to make starch swallow

  • Rice and Beans With Fish Sauce

    Rice and Beans With Fish Sauce

    5000naira 

    Nigerian Meals Under 5k

    Rice and beans is a sunday classic dish in every Nigerian household. As the name implies, it’s rice cooked together with beans. It’s an exciting twist to the rather usual white rice, and goes with just about any meal.

    Nigerian Rice and Beans can be made jollof or paired with any type of stews like Ata din-din, Chicken stew, fish stew, you can also add some vegetables and fried plantains for a sweet and savory combination.

    Today we’ll be looking at how to prepare my favorite Nigerian rice and beans with fish sauce with less than 5000 naira.

    Rice and Beans with Fish Sauce 1

    Ready in 60 minutes 

    Serves 4 people

    980 calories 

    Ingredients

    • 1 cup of beans (400 naira)
    • 2 cups of rice (1000 naira)
    • Salt to taste

    For the Sauce

    • Tomatoes and pepper (500 naira)
    • Fresh fish (700 naira)
    • Dry fish (500 naira)
    • Ground crayfish (100 naira)
    • Maggi cubes
    • Ginger and garlic paste (150 naira)
    • Onions (100 naira)

    Preparation

    • Precook the beans. Start by carefully separating the beans seed from any dirt or stones that might be present. You can opt for organic or preselected beans to save yourself of this stress.
    Rice and Beans with Fish Sauce 2
    • Next wash the beans and place in a pot with some water. Allow to cook for a few minutes before pouring into a sieve and rinsing thoroughly. 
    Rice and Beans with Fish Sauce 3
    • Now place your rice in a pot and add your precooked beans. We’ll be parboiling the rice alongside the beans, this takes about 10 to 20 minutes depending on the quantity you are making. After about 20 minutes, rinse and place the rice and beans back in the pot with salt to taste for the final cooking.
    Rice and Beans with Fish Sauce 4
    • Nowadays you can opt for parboiled rice, with such rice you can skip the parboiling process but they are usually more expensive than the regular rice. 
    • Time to prepare the sauce. Sauté your chopped onions in a pan, add your ground crayfish, ginger and garlic paste, curry and thyme. This not only makes your home smell of delicious goodness but also adds a lot of flavor to the oil.
    Rice and Beans with Fish Sauce 5
    • Next, add your dry fish and allow to fry for a few more minutes before adding your blended tomatoes and pepper. 
    Rice and Beans with Fish Sauce 6
    • Here’s a picture of my blended tomatoes and pepper, i like to rough chop it using my manual blender
    Rice and Beans with Fish Sauce 7
    • Allow the sauce to fry. With the blended pepper mix in the pan, stir occasionally and allow to fry for 10 to 15 minutes on medium to low heat. You can add some boiled eggs for a lil razzle dazzle or just enjoy the dry fish.
    Rice and Beans with Fish Sauce 8
    • This sauce pairs deliciously with the rice and beans combo as well as yam or just plain white rice or beans.

    Tips

    Remember that when trying to save cost or cook Nigerian meals under 5k, having ingredients like oil, onions, rice and seasoning helps to bring the overall cost of subsequent meals down. Its highly recommend to shop for foodstuffs in bulk especially if you are cooking for a family. Here’s another budget friendly rice recipe.

  • Nigerian Indomie Noodles Recipe

    Nigerian Indomie Noodles Recipe

    Nigerian Meals Under 5k

    The recipes on how to make Nigerian indomie noodles is as numerous as the amount of local government areas in the country. In fact, almost every Nigerian as their special way of preparing noodles, you can prepare Nigerian indomie noodles with egg or with chicken. 

    Ready in 20 minutes

    Serves 2 people

    280 calories 

    Ingredients

    • Indomie noodles 
    • Fresh pepper and onions
    • Eggs
    • Vegetable oil 

    Preparation

    1. Parboil the noodles. I’ll be using superpack indomie noodles, I usually cook two packs for myself. So start by boiling some water in a pot, when the water comes to a roaring boil, add the noodles and allow to cook for about five minutes. This is the recommended cooking time on the noodles packaging. 
    2. When the noodles are cooked to al dente, strain and place back into the pot. 
    3. Fry your egg sauce. In another pot or frying pan, add some vegetable oil and fry your onions and chopped fresh pepper. You can add in some fresh tomatoes and even other vegetables like carrots, green beans and green pepper if you are feeling a bit fancy. But i like to keep it simple and quick. 
    4. Fry the onions and pepper until they become fragrant, i like to add a pinch of seasoning cube, garlic and ginger powder, alongside curry and thyme just for a lil razzle dazzle of flavor. Allow everything to incorporate into each other before introducing the eggs.
    5. Add your beaten raw eggs with a pinch of salt. For the two packs of superpack indomie noodles i fry two eggs. You can make do with one or increase the number of eggs according to your taste and wallet. 
    6. Once the eggs are fully cooked and well mixed in with the pepper sauce, add it to your cooked noodles and mix thoroughly. Place your delicious looking Nigerian noodles on the stovetop and allow to cook for about two minutes so that everything can mix properly and your noodles are ready to be served.

    Tips

    You can make your sauce before cooking the noodles, so that they are nice and fresh when being incorporated into the sauce mixture 

    You can use any type of noodles and they’ll work just fine

    You can fry an extra egg and lay on top of your noodles before serving so it really looks like the noodles sold at those maisha spots. If you are Nigerian, you’ll understand what I’m saying. 

  • Nigerian Fish Stew

    Nigerian Fish Stew

    5000naira

    Nigerian meals under 5k

    This stew serves two for a couple of days and can be made with five thousand naira or less depending on your location. You can adjust the cost by adding or removing some ingredients and protein sources listed. But here’s what you’ll need to create a delicious Nigerian fish stew for less than 5k.

    Please note that to create Nigerian meals under 5k or other budgeted meals successfully, having certain ingredients like oil, onions and crayfish stocked at home helps to reduce cost drastically. But without much talk lets make our delicious Nigerian fish stew.

    Nigerian Fish Stew 1

    Ready in 30 minutes

    Serves 5 people

    1150 calories

    Ingredients

    • tomatoes and pepper (1000 naira)
    • Fresh fish ( Hake or Mackerel) (1800 naira)
    • Onions (200 naira)
    • Vegetable oil (500 naira)
    • Garlic and ginger (150 naira)
    • Ground Crayfish (100 naira)
    • Tomato paste (200 naira)
    • Eggs (500 naira)
    • Iru (50 naira)
    • Kpomo (500 naira)

    Preparation

    • Start by blending your tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic and ginger. I like to use fresh garlic and ginger because I find them more potent than the powdered or paste versions
    • After blending the mix till smooth, pour into a pot and boil till the water is completely dried and the tomato mix is reduced to a thick paste. 
    Nigerian Fish Stew 2
    • If you are planning on using the stew to eat rice, which you most likely would, you should get your rice cooking alongside your tomato mix. I like to cook my eggs in my rice in order to save gas and time. So while parboiling your rice, just drop your eggs inside and take them out when you wash the rice.
    Nigerian Fish Stew 3
    • With your pepper and tomato mix ready and your rice underway, the next step is to fry your fish. Please note that frying of fish isn’t for the faint hearted, so you can opt for smoked fish if you are not used to working with splashing hot oil. You’ll still end up with a delicious Nigerian fish stew regardless of the kind of fish used.Have your fish all toasty and brown like this
    Nigerian Fish Stew 4
    • I also like to add some dry fish especially when frying my onions as it gives the oil a ton of flavor
    Nigerian Fish Stew 5
    • Now its time to cook the stew. Place a pan on medium heat, add vegetable oil and heat until hot. Add chopped onions, ground crayfish, dry fish and iru, then allow the onions to fry until translucent, stirring occasionally. 
    Nigerian Fish Stew 6
    • Next, add your boiled pepper and tomatoes mixture. Do this carefully to avoid splashing of the oil and bring to boil for about 10 minutes.
    Nigerian Fish Stew 7
    • Time for your proteins, add your fried fish, boiled eggs and kpomo. Also add your tomato paste at this junction. Season the stew with salt and bouillon powder to taste, you can decide to add garlic and ginger powder to reinforce their taste and fragrance in the stew.
    Nigerian Fish Stew 8
    • Stir to combine and continue to cook for another 10 minutes or until you can see the oil floating on top of the stew.
    • Take the stew off the heat and its ready to serve immediately.
    • You can serve Nigerian fish stew with rice, yam, beans and even plain okro soup. 

    Tips

    You add spices like curry and thyme when frying the onions, as it not only adds flavor to the oil but makes your entire home smell amazing. 

  • Egusi Soup

    Egusi Soup

    Easy Egusi Soup Recipe 

    12,000naira

    Egusi soup is the unspoken national soup of Nigeria, it has different variations of preparation but you end up with the same finger licking result.

    Egusi soup ingredients includes ground melon seed, pepper mix, spinach, beef, crayfish, iru and other condiments. Egusi soup and fufu are commonly paired together but it can also be eaten with other swallows like Fresh garri (Eba), Amala, Semovita, Pounded yam, and the likes. Some people like my husband even serve Egusi soup over Rice.

    Egusi Soup 1

    Ready in 120 minutes

    Serves 8 people

    2280 calories 

    Ingredients

    • 2 Cups Egusi melon (1200 naira)
    • 1 Cup Palm Oil (400 naira)
    • Crayfish (100 naira)
    • locust beans/ Iru (100 naira)
    • Vegetables ( Ugwu, bitterleaves, Uziza leaves) (200 naira)
    • Fresh pepper and tomatoes (500 naira)
    • 2 Onions (100 naira)
    •  Stock Cube (100 naira)
    • Kilo of Chicken  (6000 naira)
    • Dry Fish (1000 naira)
    • Fresh fish (3000 naira)
    •  Salt To Taste

    Preparation

    • Blend the tomato and pepper. Try using as little water as possible to reduce the cooking time.
    Egusi Soup 2
    Egusi Soup 2
    • You can opt for ground egusi or buy egusi seeds that you blend yourself. I like to buy ground egusi as I find it easier to work with but many people prefer the egusi seeds because depending on where you buy from, ground egusi might have some dirt particles inside. But if you have a clean and reliable vendor, ground egusi is the way to go. I mix the ground egusi with some water to form a paste.
    Egusi Soup 3
    Egusi Soup 3
    • Time to cook the chicken. I bought live chicken which was the same price as a kilo of frozen chicken. I prefer the toughness of the live chicken compared to the softness of the frozen chicken. This is especially best for soups. I parboiled the chicken with salt, bullion cubes, ground crayfish and pepper. Cooking hard chicken takes some time so make sure to check on the chicken from time to time.
    Egusi Soup 4
    Egusi Soup 4
    • Heat the palm oil in a pot. Once the chicken is cooked to your desired softness, place a pot on the store and pour in your oil. Allow  it to melt over medium heat but don’t bleach the oil.
    Egusi Soup 5
    Egusi Soup 5
    • Throw in your diced onion, dry fish, iru and the remaining ground crayfish. Allow everything fry for about 3 minutes on medium heat.
    Egusi Soup 6
    Egusi Soup 6
    • Add the blended tomato and pepper mix. Once the onions is translucent, add the blended mix of tomato and pepper and allow to cook till the water is reduced. This should take about 15 minutes on medium heat, stir frequently about every 5 minutes to prevent burning.
    Egusi Soup 7
    Egusi Soup 7
    • Add the Egusi and cooked chicken. When the stew base is ready, add the remaining iru/locust bean, cooked chicken with its stock, then gently introduce the blended egusi into the mix but don’t stir it at this point.
    Egusi Soup 8
    Egusi soup 8
    • Cover it and allow to cook for about 20 to 30 minutes, before finally introducing the fresh fish. I like to add the fish last as it only takes a few minutes to cook so it doesn’t scatter in the soup.  Keep an eye on the soup, stirring occasionally so it doesn’t burn.
    • Finally add the vegetables. I like to use ugwu/ pumpkin leaves and washed bitterleaves but you can also use uziza leaves and/or spinach and leave to simmer for about 5 minutes. 
    Egusi Soup 9
    Egusi Soup 9
    • Taste the soup for seasoning and make adjustments if necessary. You can add some water if the soup is too thick.
    • Serve while still hot. Your soup is ready to be eaten with Eba, fufu, semovita or rice. Enjoy!!

    Tips

    Reduce the quantity of palm oil to cut down the calorie content of the soup.i

    If you intend to keep the soup for later use or have some leftovers, keep it in an airtight container and store it in the freezer for up to 3 months. You can also store egusi soup in the fridge for up to 4 days If you plan to consume it within a short time.

    When you are ready to serve, pop the soup on the stovetop under low heat or place it in a microwave using a microwave-safe container.