THIS WEEKEND I WILL BE COOKING NIGERIAN FOOD.....

 NIGERIAN FRIED CHICKEN

20-25 pieces of ‘Nigerian’ chicken, cut in s/ m pieces (from your African grocer)
*Seasonings:
2 tbps Goya Adobo Seasoning
1 Bay leaf
3 tbsp curry powder
1 tbsp red pepper flakes
2 Knorr cubes
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp dried basil
2 tbps ground red pepper
*Garnish:
1/4 red onion
1/2 red bell pepper
1 garlic clove
ginger… same size as garlic clove
1. Prep chicken. Add into pot with seasonings. Let sweat for 10 minutes.
2. Add 3 cups of water. Cover, allow to boil for 45 minutes – 1 hr on medium heat.
3. Check to see if it’s soft enough. If it is, add Canola oil to a deep fryer. When hot, add chicken pieces.
4. Once a dark golden brown, remove and put on paper towels to absorb oil.
5. Saute sliced onions, bell pepper, garlic and ginger in 2 tsps canola oil until translucent. Once lightly cooked, arrange over fried chicken. Serve hot.

Enjoy…

 SPICY JELLOF RICE

Ingredients:

3 cups of white parboiled long- grain rice
2 bay leaves
3 Knorr cubes
1 large red bell pepper
2-3 scotch bonnet peppers
2 tbsps tomato paste
1 m onion
1 m tomato
1 clove garlic
Ginger (about the size of a clove of garlic)
*If you’re cooking more than 3 cups, double the pepper, tomatoes, ginger, garlic and add 1/2 an onion*
1. Halve the red bell pepper, onion and tomato and then cut into quarters. Blend mixture (add the tomato paste). Add 1-2 cups of water to mixture and blend further till liquefied (this will be a watery mix).
2. Heat pot on stove over medium heat. Add 1/2 cup oil of your choice (I used canola). Add blended peppers and seasonings, stir. Slice some onion into mixture (optional). Let boil for 15 minutes on low heat.
3. Add rice, continue to cook on low heat for 35 minutes. It should be be almost cooked at this point, if not let cook until rice is soft enough for you.
4. Heat oven to 325° F. Put pot in oven for another 15 minutes (this makes it fluffy).
5. Remove, let sit for 5 minutes before serving.
Before it goes in the oven, it might be somewhat mushy, but not to worry, as soon as it comes out of the oven, it’ll be nice and fluffy.
Also, don’t get flustered if the rice at the bottom of the pot burns, most if not all great tasting jollof rice burns at the bottom just a tad.
This is typically eaten with fried plantain or moi-moi (steamed bean cake) along with meat of your choice.

Enjoy…

UBER SPICY CHICKEN STEW

Ingredients:

1 Nigerian chicken cut into s/m pieces (from your local African grocer)
2 bay leaves
2-3 tsps curry powder
2 tsps ground red pepper
2 tsps Goya adobo seasoning (from your local African grocer)
3 Knorr cubes
1 s/m red onion
1 large red bell pepper
1 m tomato
4 scotch bonnet peppers or rodo
1 clove garlic
Ginger (about the size of a clove of garlic)
1. Turn your stove on medium heat. Put chicken into a medium sized pot. Add the seasonings and work into the chicken. Put pot on stove and let chicken sweat for about 20 minutes. Add 1/2 cup water and continue to boil for another 15 minutes.
2. Halve the bell pepper, tomato and onion and then cut into quarters. Put into blender. Add the scotch bonnet peppers, garlic and ginger. Add 1/2 cup of water (to make blending easier). Blend ingredients until liquefied (w/ some chunks… optional).
3. Pour blended mixture into boiling chicken. Boil for another 40 minutes on medium heat (cover w/ lid so there are no splatters).
4. Check to see if chicken is soft enough, if so, turn off heat and let it sit for about 5 minutes before serving.
Nigerian chicken is normally harder than the regular chicken you get from grocery stores as Jewel-Osco and the like. It takes a much longer time to get soft, you could add garlic and onions to speed this up a bit. I prefer the chicken to be really soft, so I tend to let it boil longer, but just check often and if it’s soft enough for you, you can take off the heat as long as the pepper is cooked through.
Also, if you don’t like it so hot, just add less of the scotch bonnet pepper… maybe 1 or 2.
This can be eaten with rice, plantain, beans etc.

Enjoy…