Savour The Flavour. Afrolems is an African food blog with a specialization in Nigerian Food. Afrolems is also a catering service that is located in the Greater Toronto Area and caters to events and has food for the week orders for students, bachelors and ladies who do not like to cook. Stock up on home cooked meals by Afrolems by filling the Contact form. For Prices, Check the Prices and Packages Page. You can fill out the form on the Prices and Packages page or email your order to afrolems@gmail.com . Afrolems only accepts orders 2 days in advance including parties and the funds must be sent at this time. Savour the flavour of Afrolems!!!!
Have you ever thought about precolonial love? If we had never been exposed to pasta Alfredo or even Jollof rice what would we consider “romantic food”. Well in my opinion, nothing says ‘I love you’ more than Vegetable soup in this case Afang soup with an assortment of meat, snails, tripe and fish. For that traditional lover, give your significant other a meal that would make their heart sing. Enjoy XoXo
Wash the beef, tripe, cow skin and place in a pot. Season with 1 tablespoon of salt, scotch bonnet pepper, onion and 2 maggi cubes. Bring to boil till meat is tender. You may need to take out beef if it cooks before the cow skin and the tripe.
Chop Okro fingers and set aside.
In a separate pot, heat up 2 cooking spoons of palm oil on low heat and and pour in the grounded ogbono and melt in the pot on low heat. Continually stir until completely melted.
In the pot of meat still cooking, ensure there is enough water, pour in your fish, crayfish and the rest of your seasoning.
Pour in the rest of your palm oil, your bitter leaves and the chopped okro.
Do not cover the pot at this point as that would break the resilience of the okro and make it less drawy.
Add the melted ogbono slowly into the pot of meat so it doesn’t splash on you and stir in.
Allow to simmer for 2-3 minutes on low heat without covering the pot.
Serve with Eba(Garri), Pounded yam or semovita or any carbohydrate of your choice.
Efo riro is a traditional yoruba dish that is served in many homes that are not necessarily from the Yoruba culture. Efo riro is sometimes served at parties, weddings and other gatherings in Nigeria. What makes efo-riro interesting for me is the ability to eat it as a stand alone meal if you are on a diet or eat it with other carbohydrate accompaniments. People eat efo-riro with white rice, boiled plantain, fried plantain(dodo), yam etc. Depending on the leaves you use for efo-riro, the meal is very high in essential nutrients. I have chosen to use spinach for my efo-riro as spinach is high in vitamin A, C, E and K. It is also a great source of Iron which is especially important for women to help re-build our red blood cells. Hope you enjoy the Afrolems version of Efo-riro as I have chosen to add different types of protein in mine. Remember this is entirely optional and dependent on how you want to recreate this dish. I have chosen to serve mine with Pounded Yam.
Ingredients
3 Bunches of Spinach (2 packs of Frozen spinach) – Shokoyokoto (Short for Shoko)
2 Pounds Beef
1 pound Beef Tripe
1 pound Goat Meat
1 pound Cow leg
5 Medium Tomatoes
3 Scotch bonnet Peppers
1 medium onion
1 tablespoon locust beans (iru)
1.5 cooking spoons of palm oil
4 cubes of Maggi
2 tablespoon of Salt
1 tablespoon of dry pepper
1 tablespoon of crayfish powder
3 cooking spoons of groundnut oil for frying
Method
* Wash, season and bring all meats to boil. Season with 1 tablespoon of salt, 2 cubes of maggi, 1 tablespoon of dry pepper and boil till meat is tender.
*Blend tomatoes and scotch bonnet peppers and boil till water dries.
*If using raw spinach, wash and blanch your spinach to get rid of excess water and shred.
*Separate meats and stock into different bowls. Heat up groundnut oil and fry meats till brown.
*Heat up palm oil and pour in chopped onions and fry.
*Pour in blended tomatoes and pepper and fry
*Add stock, salt, maggi, crayfish powder, locust beans and leave to simmer for 5 minutes.
*Add fried meats and stir in.
*Add chopped spinach and stir in. Leave to simmer for 2 minutes.
Serve with Pounded yam or with any accompaniment of your choice.
The Yorubas call it Ila Alasekpo, the Efiks call it Otong soup, Others might just call it okro with spinach. Once i posted the photo of the meal, lots of people asked for the recipe so here it is.
2cups of Okro
Beef
Dry Fish
Honeycomb Tripe
Cow Skin
Cow foot
2 cups of chopped spinach
4 cubes of Maggi Cube
2 tablespoon of salt
1 tablespoon of dry pepper
1 tablespoon of dry crayfish
2 small scotch bonnet peppers *optional*
a pinch of dry bitter leaves
4 cups of water
2 cooking spoons of palm oil
Wash the beef, cow skin, cow foot and tripe and bring to boil with 3 cups of water, 1 tablespoon of salt, dry pepper, 2 cubes of maggi and boil till all types of meat are soft.
Wash and chop the okro into small pieces.
Add the rest of the seasoning, dry fish, bitter leaf and water and let it boil for about 5-7 minutes.
Add the palm oil and let it simmer with the meat.
Reduce the heat to medium and add the okro, stir in once but don’t cover the pot and reduce to low heat as covering the pot breaks the resilience of the okro. Let it simmer for another 5 minutes on low heat.
Add the spinach and stir in and leave on for 2 minutes and food is ready.
This can be served as a stand alone meal for people on low-calorie diets and can be served with Eba (Garri or cassava flakes), Pounded yam, semovita etc.
When some people think of beans, they assume there are only few ways you can make it. Gbegiri is soup made from beans and it is easy to make and very tasty. This is a traditional Nigerian recipe that is specific to the Yoruba People. Many Nigerian Soups have their variations. Gbegiri is on of those dishes. You can add or subtract from it to fit your taste buds. Some like it really spicy and some like it mild. Gbegiri is a Yoruba word which means ‘beans’. Vegetarians can have their version of this dish by skipping on the meat, chicken etc but still getting the protein requirement from this meal. Enjoy the Afrolems version of the Gbegiri Recipe.
INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup of beans
Red Oil
Stock (Dry) Fish
Meat
Salt
Maggi
Grounded Crayfish
Dry Pepper
Blended pepper and Tomato
Recipe
Soak the beans in some hot water; this makes it easier for the back of the beans to come off
Wash the beans until it is completely clean.
Put it in a pan and allow to boil for an hour and 30 minutes or until it is completely soft and mushy.
In another pot, boil your meat and add the necessary seasoning.
Using a sieve, extract the liquified beans. Use a spoon as this is easier, and it will help remove all the water completely.
Transfer the extraction into a clean pot and add the red oil, a little blended pepper, and dry pepper.
Allow to boil for 3-5 minutes, then add the meat stock.
Season to taste
Add the dry fish( ensure you soak the dry fish in some hot salted water before using it) and the cray fish.
Allow to boil on low heat for 10 minutes.
You can serve with ewedu (jute leaves) and pounded yam or amala.
This is a nutritious dish that is served mostly in the Southern and Eastern part of Nigeria. The food is specific to the Efik tribe amongst other dishes like; Edikang Ikong, Afia efere, Efere Abak etc. The people of the Efik tribe are located mainly in Cross River State and Akwa-Ibom State. This dish is also known as Ukazi soup and is cooked differently by the Igbos. Another name for Afang leaves is Cnetum africanum. I have prepared Afang the way the Efik people make it.
Ingredients
* Afang leaves - Shredded and Pounded
*Water leaves /Spinach – a bundle
* Beef
* Shaki (beef tripe)
*Kpomo (Cow Skin)
* Dry Fish
* Crayfish
*Dry blended crayfish
* Fresh pepper (optional)
* Maggi Cubes – 4
*Dry pepper – 1 teaspoon
*Palm oil – 3 cooking spoons
*3 cups of water
* Salt – 3 teaspoons
Method:
#Shred and Pound the afang leaves till a smooth mashed texture is achieved.
#Wash the water leaves or spinach and shred
#Wash the beef, shaki and kpomo and put in a pot to boil with 2 cups of water, 2 teaspoons of salt, dry pepper, 2 cubes of maggi and boil till the beef and kpomo are soft. Take out the shaki if need be so it doesnt become too soft and put back once the beef and kpomo are soft.
#Wash the dry fish and and the crayfish and add to the pot allow to boil for 5 minutes then add half a cup of water if the water is drying up.
#Add the blended dry crayfish and the remaining salt and Maggi cubes
#Add the water leaf or spinach and the cut up fresh pepper and allow to simmer for 3 minutes
#Add the pounded Afang leaves and stir in.
#Add the palm oil and allow to simmer for 2 minutes.
Serve with Pounded yam, Eba (Garri or Cassava flakes), Fufu or Semovita.
Edika-Ikong
Ingredients
stock fish
dried fish (I grilled fish)
crayfish
spinach
kpomo(cow skin)
beef or chicken
snail if desired
seasoning(salt, maggi, curry and thyme)
palm oil
onions
grounded pepper
Method
#Wash the necessary ingredients -boil the beef, kpomo and stock fish add seasoning and onions.
#Check if the kpomo is soft at intervals and add more water if necessary
#Add the snail and let simmer for a while (8 mins)
#with little water left in the pot add palm oil, crayfish, pepper and more seasoning if needed
#after palm oil has blended in add the spinach and let simmer for about 4 minutes
Food is Served.
It could be served with Fufu(Cassava), Eba(Cassava) and Pounded Yam
