Recipes for Cornish hen, Jollof Rice, and Efo.
Me I no know about una but all that yeye Oyinbo food
wey dem dey chop no dey agree with me. For an average
Christmas feast the good ole Nigerian way, I will rather
have chicken instead of ham. I will rather have rice as
opposed to Sweet potato and I will good ole Efo instead
of Collard greens.
CORNISH HEN:
The recipe for the Cornish hen is simple.
With a guest list of about 8 people, you
will need 8 Cornish hens.
8 Cornish hens
4 Onions
6 Tomatoes
4 Habanero peppers (ata rodo)
Maggi (Preferably the powdered knorr)
Salt
(Bear in mind, I am not big on spices. I
am not a huge fan of curry, thyme and what not)
Heat up your oven to about 375 degrees.
Clean the chicken but to do not cut it
into pieces. Just leave them whole.
Julienne the tomatoes, dice up the onions
and dice the habanero peppers.
Add a little salt and maggi to the tomatoes,
onions and the peppers.
Stuff the yansh of the chicken with the
tomatoes, onions and peppers.
On the outer part of the chicken, season
it with some salt and maggi and drizzle it with some
oil.
Using the normal foil pan, arrange the
hens in the pan and cover it with some foil paper.
Let it cook for about 30 minutes, Turn
it over and do not cover it again.
Cook it till it is done.
Once it is cooked, the chicken stuffing
can be used as a garnish for each plate.
EFO:
This one is very simple. You can use smoked
turkey in it or just cook it plain.
1 small bottle Palm oil (do not get the
one with Zomi written on it)
3 bags of frozen Spinach from your local
grocery store
4 large Tomatoes
2 large Onions
4 Habanero peppers
2 Red bell pepper
I small tin of tomato paste
1 small bag of ground shrimp (you can get
this from your African store)
Salt
Maggi
In a pot, pour in some palm oil and let
is heat it.
Blend the tomatoes, onions, and peppers.
Pour it into the heated palm oil and add
your salt, maggi and tomato paste.
Add the ground shrimp and let it cook
for about 15 minutes.
If you are going to use smoked turkey,
have your local store cut them into little pieces and
add them to the sauce after it has cooked for 15 minutes.
Let it cook for another 7-10 minutes so
that the sauce can be infused into the turkey.
While the sauce is cooking with the turkey
in it, pour the frozen spinach into hot water so that
it can thaw out.
Once it has thawed out, use a colander
(with small holes in it) to totally drain the water
out. You can do this by pressing out the water out of
the spinach using your hands as a press. Once the water
is completely squeezed out of the spinach, add all of
it into the sauce. Let it cook for another 5-10 minutes
and voila your Efo riro is complete.
JOLLOF RICE:
A simple yet time consuming dish. I propose
the Jollof rice is the first dish cooked.
3 cups of Rice
4 large Tomatoes
2 large Onions
2 Habanero peppers
2 Red bell peppers
2 Cans Tomato paste
2 tablespoons of Curry
Salt
Maggi
Blend the tomatoes, onions, and peppers
together.
In a pot, add some vegetable oil and heat
it up. Put in your tomato paste right inside the hot
oil and stir it. Once the stuff is blended, add the
blended stuff into the oil.
Add the curry, salt and maggi and let
it cook for about 15 minutes.
While the sauce is cooking, rinse the
rice until all the starch in out.
Pour in the rice and stir in until the
rice is coated with the sauce.
Once the rice has sucked up all the sauce,
add some water to it and stir it again. Make sure the
lid of the pot is tightly covered because the rice needs
the steam for it to cook. Continue to add water to the
rice until it is tender.
Make sure the fire under the rice is low
so that the rice does not burn.
