Top 10 Nigerian Delicacies

Nigerian food comes in different tastes, dishes, snacks, meal or drinks, with different recipes used by different tribes or ethnic groups.

Most of the popular Nigerian foods we know today are not only consumed by the ethnic groups to which the food is peculiar to, they have even become an everyday food in Nigeria.

Even those that live abroad either in the West Africa or outside, are longing to have a taste once again.

The whole world craves this Nigerian foods and guess what? You can have a healthy Nigeria food time table for these delicious dishes.

In this article I’ve gathered the popular Nigerian food (p.s; not all cause there are over 200 different delicacies), how they’re are prepared and pictures to help you get a feel of what each looks like. From Nigerian soup to all other types of Nigerian Dishes.

Garri

This is uncontestably the king of all Nigerian dishes. Garri is a household name in almost all Nigerian homes. There is a popular joke in Nigeria that, though Garri does no advert, it sells more than food products that do adverts. It is prepared from cassava tubers that have been fermented, but the tubers must undergo peeling, washing and grating into a mash prior to being fermented. The product gotten from this is then roasted and pounded to form fine flour.

Let’s get real, this food is said to have been saving Nigeria from hunger or starvation since God knows when.

GARRI has been recommended over time with cold water, groundnut, sugar (optional) and milk (optional).

Soaked garri can be taken with anything from groundnut, Kuli Kuli to coconut and others. It is also used to make Eba or garri, whatever name you prefer, which you can eat with any soup of your choice. There is the white version and the yellow or red version.

Rice And Stew

Nigerians love rice. The stew here could range from basic tomato stew, Banga stew to any sauce. The most popular kind Nigerians use in accompanying the rice is the tomato and pepper stew which has a mix of other spices such as ginger, curry, garlic and more. Usually cooked with chicken, fish or beef for a unique taste.

Swallow

‘Swallow’ is a term used in Nigeria to describe the starchy foods that accompany soups. They are called so because they are not chewed but are swallowed in small balls after scooping some soup onto it with your fingers. Some popular swallows in Nigeria include eba, starch, fufu, pounded yam, tuwo shinkafa etc.

Abacha (African Salad)

Just as the name implies, it is a purely African Salad. Though most people still see it as a complete meal on its own, it is good to be taken as an in-between meal. Abacha is made from grated cassava. The meal often goes best with palm wine or any other cold drink available.

Efo Riro

This is a delicious vegetable stew made using vegetable and meat. it includes a mix of meats like chicken and offal. Efo Riro is a Yoruba delicacy originating from Western Nigeria. Vegetables like water leaves or pumpkin leaves are used in preparing the stew, spinach, can also be added to the ingredients.

Pepper soup

I really can’t say which tribe this popular Nigeria staple is peculiar to and I won’t even try. It can be taken at home, at joints or at ceremonies, it is that popular.

Pepper soup has its versions of chicken, beef, catfish, goat meat. Some add yam to it or plantain but the most important thing that is noticed about it, is that it is hot!.

You would want to take pepper soup with a chilled drink..(I’m sure you know that already).

Beans And Plantain

Beans is one legendary meal in Nigeria, I goes with a lot of combinations; beans and bread, rice and beans, beans and yam and lots more. Plantain is the young prince of Nigerian cuisine. A slice of fried plantain has the ability to transform the plainest of foods. When paired with beans cooked and spiced in palm oil, you would have a little glimpse of heaven.

Jollof Rice

Jollof Rice is the mother of all Nigerian dishes and a master meal for Nigerian occasions. Nigerians love Jollof rice so much that you would think the food originated in Nigeria. Tasting it might also lead you to believe that because it is yummy, spicy and rich in taste. It can be eaten plain or with coleslaw and plantains on the side.

Side note: you can get the best Jollof rice at Nigerian parties.

Afang Soup

Afang is a special kind of vegetable soup cooked with a leaf called “afang” or ukazi by the southern people of Nigeria. It is especially common in Akwa Ibom and Cross River states. The soup which is cooked with palm oil is rich and spicy with a slightly bitter taste that makes it all so beautiful. The soup is usually ‘blocked’ with periwinkles, dry fish, meats of various kinds. Yummy…

Edikang Ikong

This vegetable soup, peculiar to the people of Akwa-Ibom and Cross River especially the Efik-Ibibios, is packed with nutrient, and common ingredient you’ll find in this soup is Perewinkles.

Quite popular, Edikang Ikong soup is expensive and cooking it is special and Classy!

There are a lot other tasty dishes out there and trust me, you can’t get to know all of them. So the list are just covering a few.

Worthy of mention are;