05/05/2026
🇳🇬 Global Cookery Club | Nigeria
One kitchen. Many cultures.
This week, Christina and Angie led our Global Cookery Club through the bold, comforting flavours of Nigerian cooking, sharing not just recipes but ingredients, stories and techniques from home.
Nigeria is home to over 250 ethnic groups and more than 500 languages, meaning its food culture is incredibly diverse and cannot be defined by a single style. The dishes we explored are some of the more widely loved favourites enjoyed across the country.
We explored a menu built around everyday staples:
• Jollof rice – a richly spiced tomato rice, full of depth and flavour.
• Ewa agoyin – slow-cooked mashed beans served with a deeply flavoured stew, finished with a sprinkle of garri for added texture.
• Fried plantains – commonly known as dodo (Yoruba)
Along the way, participants were introduced to key ingredients:
• Garri – grated, fermented and sun-dried cassava, a staple across West Africa, used in many forms and adding texture and substance to dishes.
• Locust beans (iru, dawadawa, ogiri okpei) – a traditional fermented seasoning with a strong aroma and deep umami flavour, used to enrich soups and stews.
We also explored how to adapt recipes using ingredients available in the UK, including swaps for leafy greens 🥬 such as ugu and bitterleaf, while still holding on to the essence of the dishes.
