Nigerian cuisine

Nigerian cuisine consists of dishes or food items from the hundreds of ethnic groups that comprise Nigeria. Like other West African cuisines, it uses spices and herbs in conjunction with palm or groundnut oil to create deeply flavored sauces and soups often made very hot with chili peppers. Nigerian feasts are colorful and lavish, while aromatic market and roadside snacks cooked on barbecues or fried in oil are plentiful and varied.

Ingredients

Staple foods in the Nigerian diet include a variety of vegetables, grains, fruit and spices, along with proteins like beef, goat, fish, shrimp, and crayfish. Yam, Cassava, rice, and maize are also consumed. The spices and herbs used in Nigerian cuisine include African bird's eye chili, cayenne, basil, and thyme. Many dishes also include palm oil or groundnut oil.

Popular dishes

Some popular dishes include Jollof rice, Egusi soup, Suya, Pounded yam, Goat meat, Fufu, Akara, Moi moi, Pepper soup, Ewa Aganyin, Banga soup, and Okra soup.

Regional cuisine

Nigeria's regional cuisine is so diverse that it's often said that no two states have exactly the same main dishes. In the north, grains such as millet, maize, and sorghum are boiled into a porridge or dough and served with soups and stews. In the south, rice and yam dishes are more common.

See also

• African cuisine
• List of African cuisines
• List of Nigerian dishes