Food Friday!!: Nigerian-Inspired Dishes (in Collaboration With VegansOfNigeria)

Picture got from UnleashInternet

Food Friday is here again!!

This week, I have collaborated with Wandoo Ityavyar of VegansOfNigeria to bring two Nigerian-inspired dishes to you (well....their recipes).

My inspiration for deciding to have this theme for this week's Food Friday was that, unfortunately, I am not particularly in touch with my Nigerian culture, especially as I do not live in Nigeria. I am not much of a fan of Nigerian foods, to be honest, but I am a fan of foods inspired by Nigerian dishes. Maybe it's because I don't like the taste of meats (or that I am just a picky eater ;) ).

Wandoo and I both do not eat meats and we both happen to be Nigerian so, we are bringing to you our take on vegan versions of Jollof Rice and Groundnut/Peanut Soup, respectively.

Let us know if you try our recipes and don't forget to check out Wandoo @VegansOfNigeria on Instagram!

Bon Appétit!

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Wild Rice Meets Jollof Rice


Ingredients

Cajun Sauce

• Few cloves of garlic 
• Fresh ginger
• Lots of red onions 
• Red peppers 
• Haberno 
• Tomatoes
• Bay leaves 
• Vegetable bouillon cubes
• Curry
• Thyme

Tomato/Pepper Sauce

• Some freshly cut up tomatoes
• Fresh basil
• Chopped red onions
• Haberno (if you can stand the heat)
• Italian herbs
• Sea salt
• Onion powder
• Organic extra virgin olive oil or water (for frying)

Rice

• 2 cups wild rice
• 2 cups long grain rice

Method

Cajun Sauce

• Boil just the vegetables and the bay leaves for about an hour. Then let set them aside to cool.
• After the vegetables have cooled off blend them up. (In Wandoo's words, "Don't blend the bay leaves oh. Mogbe"). 
• Add the spices and let simmer for a few minutes. 
• Set aside. 

Tomato/Pepper Sauce

• Add some oil to a wok. Followed by the onions and then the tomatoes and habanero (if using). 
• Add the basil and fry the sauce till the tomatoes wilt. 
• Add spices.
• Set aside.

Rice

• Cook wild rice and long grain rice separately according to their package instructions. 

Wild Rice Jollof (Rice)

• Mix all the rice and sauces together in a lasagna type dish/Pyrex dish. 
• Cover with foil paper and bake in the oven at 400 degrees fahrenheit (about 200 degrees celsius) for 30 minutes. 
• Serve (In Wandoo's words, "Then go and be great. You are welcome" :) )

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Groundnut Soup

Ingredients

• 3 cups vegetable bouillon/stock 
• 1/2 a red/purple onion, chopped
• 0.5cm finely chopped fresh ginger
• 3 finely chopped garlic cloves
• 2.5 handfuls of spring greens cut into strips
• 2-3 heaped tablespoons of unsalted smooth peanut butter
• 1 heaped teaspoon of tomato purée
• 1 tomato, chopped
• Dried mushrooms (equivalent of 4 whole closed-cup mushrooms)
• Ground African yellow pepper
• Black pepper
• Thyme
• Rosemary
• Sea salt

Method

• Using a bit of water in place of oil, cook the onions, garlic, ginger and tomato in a saucepan/pot.
• Pour the vegetable bouillon into the saucepan and let it boil stirring to ensure that the tomato-onion mixture do not stick to the bottom of the saucepan.
• Add the peanut butter to the contents of the sauce pan and stir continuously until the sauce start to thicken up a bit.
• Add in the dried mushrooms and spring greens (no need to remove the stems) and let the saucepan sit on a medium heat till the spring greens have softened up.
• Next, add the spices according to taste and let the soup/sauce heat up for a minute or two longer.
• Serve over rice (with some plantain on the side) or, if you want to go all-out Nigerian, serve with pounded yam, eba, amala, fufu....(I don't know what the other ones are :) ).

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