Nigerian cuisine with Iquo Ukoh

and her recipe for masa

What food did you grow up eating?
“The food I ate growing up was to a large extent detribalised, because my mother would cook dishes that weren’t specific to our tribe. One of the staples was rice and what we call Nigerian stew: a tomato-based sauce with scotch bonnet peppers, onion fried in oil and proteins/meats of your choice. So rice and stews were prominent in the diet, but also a lot of soups.

“The soups were different in terms of texture and taste than most European soups. In Europe, soups are often a starter, but in Nigeria they are a meal. Common ingredients are beef, smoked fish, fermented stockfish, crayfish, vegetables, palm oil, seasonings, and a lot of peppers. We eat soup with swallows, which is a Nigerian term for balls made out of powdered yam or cassava (which we call gari or fufu). These morsels are then swallowed whole.

“Not all soups are mains though. We have a very light pepper soup, like a minestrone. It’s packed with a lot of chilli peppers, with scotch bonnets and many spices. You’re tearing up, start sweating… but it’s delicious.”

Were your parents cooks as well?
“My mum was a nurse, but everything I learned about cooking I learned from her. Incidentally, she’s from Calabar, the part of Nigeria where they’re known for their culinary expertise and cooking skills. There’s a joke in Nigeria that if the husband goes to work in Calabar, the wife should just go with him – or else he might not come back home because the women there are such great cooks.

“So, that love for cooking came through my mum. I just love the creativity of it - the ability to take simple ingredients and make something really interesting out of them. And of course, the smile on peoples’ faces when they eat my food.”

I can relate to that! So what Nigerian ingredients do you hold dearest?
“There’s a variety of chilli pepper called Ose Nsukka. It’s yellow and very specific to Nigeria. It’s very hot but has a lot of fragrance. I really like my peppers.

“As for seasonal ingredients, we’re in mango season right now [March]. I’m always counting down towards mango season, but we also have the African star apple agbalumo right now [pictured above]. After that, we get the corn and African pears. I’m always looking forward to seasonal fruits; those are my exciting moments. They do come with challenges for me, however, because I eat too much of them!

“Some ingredients we have are incredibly local, like vegetables that you’ll find in one region but not in another, and only dried in African stores outside of Nigeria. Spices, on the other hand, often run from Nigeria or even Cameroon to Ghana, along the coast of West Africa. These days it’s much easier to find those spices outside of West Africa too.”

How does today’s situation in Nigeria compare to what we see on the news?
“Well, you see me; you’re talking to me. I’m pretty much relaxed, but we’re not comfortable in the sense of security. What you see on the news is not far from the truth. We continue to hope that things settle down and we can move freely again.”

Kehinde Temitope Odutayo / Shutterstock.com

Where will you go once that is possible?
“I’ve had travelling to the north on my bucket list for two years now. In my previous job I’ve had the opportunity to work with women from the north a lot, but I want to go back with the eye of a food blogger, as opposed to the eye of a marketing executive [for Nestlé Nigeria]. Unfortunately, with the security situation, I’m not comfortable doing that.”

Nigeria is a country of many tribes – is there something that unites the cuisines of all the people of Nigeria?
“I think there are about 250 tribes so there are many differences. The north is more arid, whereas the south is more tropical; there’s a lot of variety, but palm oil and chillies are common everywhere.

“In terms of the meals themselves, they are largely carbohydrate-based, but the carbs in the north are mostly cereals, whereas the south has more tubers like cassava and yam. The south - being close to the sea - uses fish a lot more, of course.”

Has Nigerian cuisine been influenced a lot by foreign cuisines?
“Absolutely. I think that social media has had a big influence in the last six or seven years. It’s become easy for people to know about the dishes in other countries. Many Nigerians know a lot more about Ghanaian food now, and the same goes for Ghanaians about Nigerian food. I know a lot more about dishes from Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal and other African countries.

“Many professional chefs use local ingredients to make non-traditional dishes. For instance, when they were trained in France and bring those techniques back to Nigeria. Also, in general, people travel way more than before. I’ve asked my 18-year-old niece what her and her friends’ favourite dishes are, and they lean way more towards rice, potato or yam fries, noodles. They’re not interested in cooking traditional things like soups anymore. There’s absolutely an evolution going on. I often ask myself: which Nigerian dishes will remain? We keep our fingers crossed.”

Before we talk about the dish – is there anything else you’d like to share?
“Wait for my book! I’ve barely scratched the surface when it comes to Nigerian food. But it’s a journey. I want the people of this world to see Nigeria!”